What is the most frustrating part for you?

[Dutchster 1,107]

20 minutes ago, Deanwinchester said:

Any tips on making it go by faster or do you think it was just the luck of the draw?

There are no ways you can fasten the petition processing. No lawyer, no good evidence, nothing. It's a matter of NBC processing -> Field office processing. Once NBC is done processing your petition, you'll get a notice "Interview is ready to be scheduled for an interview" and the petition is being send to your local field office for an interview. Then you want to track their processing times. Some get waived some have interviews. 

[Unidentified 2,930]

1 minute ago, Dutchster said:

There are no ways you can fasten the petition processing. No lawyer, no good evidence, nothing. It's a matter of NBC processing -> Field office processing. Once NBC is done processing your petition, you'll get a notice "Interview is ready to be scheduled for an interview" and the petition is being send to your local field office for an interview. Then you want to track their processing times. Some get waived some have interviews. 

She is doing K1 not AOS.

[AshMarty 360]

The hardest part for us was definitely the AOS portion when my husband was waiting for his AP/EAD. It took about 5 months for the date filed to receive his EAD. He was okay not working the first month or two but after month three he wanted to contribute to the household and was getting bored at home waiting for me.

 

We also saved up a lot of money for this AOS period while we were doing K1 which was perfect (I picked up a PRN position and my husband picked up some side projects to make extra cash). You will likely want to purchase a second car, we were hit by another driver that ran a stop sign which totaled my car during this period also. In that 5 month AOS period we had to purchase two cars, pay for a wedding, and pay for immigration. We were grateful for our planning prior to him moving here to make it all work out. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by AshMarty

[Dutchster 1,107]

Just now, Unidentified said:

She is doing K1 not AOS.

Well yes but since she was replying to my AOS response, I figured I'd explain how it kinda works during that period of time. 

[Deanwinchester 11]

Just now, Dutchster said:

Well yes but since she was replying to my AOS response, I figured I'd explain how it kinda works during that period of time. 

So when it comes to the K-1, do you have any tips on making it faster?

 

Thanks for any and all advice!

[Unidentified 2,930]

3 minutes ago, Dutchster said:

Well yes but since she was replying to my AOS response, I figured I'd explain how it kinda works during that period of time. 

Okay, sorry. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't getting the two mixed up.

1 minute ago, Deanwinchester said:

So when it comes to the K-1, do you have any tips on making it faster?

 

Thanks for any and all advice!

We (at least 2-3) have already told you: there's nothing you can do to speed up anything when it comes to immigration. Sorry.

[EmilyW 1,430]

Ditch the lawyer.  That will make it go faster.

[rrobin0609 387]

Personally, the worst part for me (and my I-129F was approved a week and a half ago so we still have the rest of everything to do) was getting an RFE for information that had already been provided, and then seeing people who received RFEs after me have a TAT of a few days. I had sent my response three days after I found out what they needed (passport photo and proof of citizenship) and it was expected to be delivered 3 days later. But thanks to USPS, it arrived 10 days after it was sent. Then the new website didn't update for another 5 days saying they had received it. I was terrified that while an admin was picking it up from the PO box, that it fell out of their bag to be lost forever. Then after it was reviced and I saw RFE TAT of a week or less, I started panicking it was lost all together, maybe knocked into a trashcan or under someone's desk.

 

I could have held out and waited and been fine if the RFE never had been sent, but it had to be since they somehow misplaced pages of my petition over the course of 6 months. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have signed up for notifications. Just let it come to me in the mail and forget about the waiting time. I didn't check online from November until the middle of may when I was issued an RFE. Once I got that RFE, I checked every 20 minutes and was sending myself into a tizzy.

[Deanwinchester 11]

Just now, EmilyW said:

Ditch the lawyer.  That will make it go faster.

LOL  

[Deanwinchester 11]

Just now, rrobin0609 said:

Personally, the worst part for me (and my I-129F was approved a week and a half ago so we still have the rest of everything to do) was getting an RFE for information that had already been provided, and then seeing people who received RFEs after me have a TAT of a few days. I had sent my response three days after I found out what they needed (passport photo and proof of citizenship) and it was expected to be delivered 3 days later. But thanks to USPS, it arrived 10 days after it was sent. Then the new website didn't update for another 5 days saying they had received it. I was terrified that while an admin was picking it up from the PO box, that it fell out of their bag to be lost forever. Then after it was reviced and I saw RFE TAT of a week or less, I started panicking it was lost all together, maybe knocked into a trashcan or under someone's desk.

 

I could have held out and waited and been fine if the RFE never had been sent, but it had to be since they somehow misplaced pages of my petition over the course of 6 months. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have signed up for notifications. Just let it come to me in the mail and forget about the waiting time. I didn't check online from November until the middle of may when I was issued an RFE. Once I got that RFE, I checked every 20 minutes and was sending myself into a tizzy.

Wow that's good advice. Thank you for your story. I'll try not to be obsessed since that's my problem already. 

What is a TAT? 

 

[rrobin0609 387]

1 minute ago, Deanwinchester said:

Wow that's good advice. Thank you for your story. I'll try not to be obsessed since that's my problem already. 

What is a TAT? 

 

TAT is turn around time. How long it takes for something to happen in full. It took 53 days from the time I was issued an RFE to the time the petition was approved. I kept thinking "its not gonna be more than a week since we're not a high fraud country". It will probably take longer if your fiance is from a high fraud country, but it's not everything. Its currently the summer, USCIS officers want to take time off and go on vacation, I'm sure the drama at the Southern border didn't help (although it may not have hindered cases either).

 

I also couldn't stand listening to anything on immigration NPR was reporting on because I was so frustrating. Here my fiance and I are trying to follow the legal process and rather than following the legal process for asylum (I know, a nice chunk of them did claim asylum) people are just crossing the boarder. Here I was trying to put the process out of my mind and let it run its natural course, but it seemed that everywhere I turned it immigration was mocking me- "here's 10 stories from the border and all of them are talk about a parent and their infant children to tug at your heartstrings". I've always been politically neutral (if I do lean a certain way its left), but I would be driving home from work and actually scream for about a 30 seconds before turning off the radio.

[Deanwinchester 11]

Just now, rrobin0609 said:

TAT is turn around time. How long it takes for something to happen in full. It took 53 days from the time I was issued an RFE to the time the petition was approved. I kept thinking "its not gonna be more than a week since we're not a high fraud country". It will probably take longer if your fiance is from a high fraud country, but it's not everything. Its currently the summer, USCIS officers want to take time off and go on vacation, I'm sure the drama at the Southern border didn't help (although it may not have hindered cases either).

 

I also couldn't stand listening to anything on immigration NPR was reporting on because I was so frustrating. Here my fiance and I are trying to follow the legal process and rather than following the legal process for asylum (I know, a nice chunk of them did claim asylum) people are just crossing the boarder. Here I was trying to put the process out of my mind and let it run its natural course, but it seemed that everywhere I turned it immigration was mocking me- "here's 10 stories from the border and all of them are talk about a parent and their infant children to tug at your heartstrings". I've always been politically neutral (if I do lean a certain way its left), but I would be driving home from work and actually scream for about a 30 seconds before turning off the radio.

Thanks, I was wondering about that.

 

Yeah don't pay attention to immigration news, they only show the horrible. The news would be different if they reported all the happy couples, families, etc that went through the long process and came out the other side happy. Happy news, lol, not going to happen.

[Unidentified 2,930]

Yeah hearing about all of this support for illegal aliens is kind of a slap in the face for anyone trying to get here legally and have to wait years to get here. 

[Ontarkie 14,207]

~~Moved to Off Topic, from K1 P&P - The OP's question is about others experiences~~ 

[doggieandsam 765]

1 hour ago, Deanwinchester said:

Any tips on making it go by faster or do you think it was just the luck of the draw?

yes - and this is me being cheeky - move to a place with the least number of immigrants possible. that field office will have no cases pending for sure and yours will be done in record time!

 

33 minutes ago, rrobin0609 said:

I also couldn't stand listening to anything on immigration NPR was reporting on because I was so frustrating. Here my fiance and I are trying to follow the legal process and rather than following the legal process for asylum (I know, a nice chunk of them did claim asylum) people are just crossing the boarder. Here I was trying to put the process out of my mind and let it run its natural course, but it seemed that everywhere I turned it immigration was mocking me- "here's 10 stories from the border and all of them are talk about a parent and their infant children to tug at your heartstrings". I've always been politically neutral (if I do lean a certain way its left), but I would be driving home from work and actually scream for about a 30 seconds before turning off the radio.

i feel the same way. i always try to be neutral but it's just so frustrating that people like us who are doing things legally and in the right way still have to suffer through long waits etc.

 

23 minutes ago, Unidentified said:

Yeah hearing about all of this support for illegal aliens is kind of a slap in the face for anyone trying to get here legally and have to wait years to get here. 

this! we have to get through so many hoops and wait many years and pay so much for this process entire process!