K1 visa question on when to start

[KimAdvent 0]

Hi all. I just joined after reading all the instructions and many posts here. I need some advice on when to submit paperwork. My fiancé is from Tunisia. But right now he has a work visa and is working on a carnival ship. He will be on the ship for about six months.  Do I need to wait until he is back in Tunisia to submit paperwork? I live in the US. Thank you for your help. 

[geowrian 22,338]

You're plenty fine to file now...current processing times are 9-12 months. The I-129F alone is taking 6-7 months.

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

5 hours ago, geowrian said:

You're plenty fine to file now...current processing times are 9-12 months. The I-129F alone is taking 6-7 months.

What is the reason for the long delay now of day?

[geowrian 22,338]

18 hours ago, Chris Duffy said:

What is the reason for the long delay now of day?

The I-129F is just severely backlogged still. Then there's about an extra month delay (over the normal delay) before USCIS sends the approved I-129F to NVC for some unknown reason...I don't anticipate that to hold up, but who knows what will happen so I listed current processing timelines. Then 1-3 months for the interview, depending on embassy.

So low end is 6+2+1 months, while higher end is 7+2+3=12 months.

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

5 hours ago, geowrian said:

The I-129F is just severely backlogged still. Then there's about an extra month delay (over the normal delay) before USCIS sends the approved I-129F to NVC for some unknown reason...I don't anticipate that to hold up, but who knows what will happen so I listed current processing timelines. Then 1-3 months for the interview, depending on embassy.

So low end is 6+2+1 months, while higher end is 7+2+3=12 months.

Why are they backlogged?  I have seen them get slow like this back in 2011,  and then a couple years later they are pushing out approvals in 7 to 30 days like they were in 2015.

 

It seems like ebb and flow in processing time.   

[Naes 12,205]

1 hour ago, Chris Duffy said:

Why are they backlogged?  I have seen them get slow like this back in 2011,  and then a couple years later they are pushing out approvals in 7 to 30 days like they were in 2015.

 

It seems like ebb and flow in processing time.   

Lots of reason, election year, new administration policies, more rfes etc.

 

for the timelines I'll add one thing because NVC timelines recently got better.

 

NOA1-NOA2 180-220 days (the average changes big depending on the month july is around 220, August is getting at 180-190 at the moment)

 

noa2-NVC is about 1-3 weeks (however there are still some cases out of this because of the backlogged caused in November) and rest depends on your embassy.

 

so 6-7+1+1-2 months, 8-11 months seems like the average.

[geowrian 22,338]

3 hours ago, Chris Duffy said:

Why are they backlogged?  I have seen them get slow like this back in 2011,  and then a couple years later they are pushing out approvals in 7 to 30 days like they were in 2015.

 

It seems like ebb and flow in processing time.   

It's pretty much an ebb and flow still.

I believe the main cause for the current backlog was a surge in all sorts of petitions starting shortly before election time - I-129Fs, I-130s, I-485s, and N-400s. The change of administration tends to cause people to panic (not specifically related to Trump....just any change of administration). The most unusual of those was the N-400s...normally there's not much change on those but this time there was.

 

2 hours ago, Naes said:

for the timelines I'll add one thing because NVC timelines recently got better.

Woohoo! I'm glad to hear they got that sorted out finally. We went on our honeymoon (finally!) last week and missed the updates to the monthly threads.

[Naes 12,205]

7 hours ago, geowrian said:

 

Woohoo! I'm glad to hear they got that sorted out finally. We went on our honeymoon (finally!) last week and missed the updates to the monthly threads.

Wow that's so nice! Hope it was wonderful! Arranging honeymoon must be so hard on k1 (I gave up at the moment)

 

Hopefully one day once this process is done... we will see ours too 😊