K1 Timeline Ukraine 2019

[Ruslana+Chris 0]

Hello, everyone. I'm wondering about k1 visa timelines. IT's very important for me right now, coz i'm at a crossroads, we just filed for i129f. And attorney says it's gonna be a  year or more! If it's year i can finish master degree here, if it's less like 6-8months , then i won't. soon i have governmental exams and i don't know what to do! he filled the form in Florida. 

 

 And another one, me and my family  want to visit him and his family in us, should we apply for tourist visa or just wait and don't rush? (if you had any experience like that please let me know) my family has good income to show. And i was in us before on j1 visa, actually we met in us.  

[SJordanS 343]

32 minutes ago, Ruslana+Chris said:

Hello, everyone. I'm wondering about k1 visa timelines. IT's very important for me right now, coz i'm at a crossroads, we just filed for i129f. And attorney says it's gonna be a  year or more! If it's year i can finish master degree here, if it's less like 6-8months , then i won't. soon i have governmental exams and i don't know what to do! he filled the form in Florida. 

 

 And another one, me and my family  want to visit him and his family in us, should we apply for tourist visa or just wait and don't rush? (if you had any experience like that please let me know) my family has good income to show. And i was in us before on j1 visa, actually we met in us.  

They are quoting 6-8 months for NOA2. Then there is the NVC and interview stage. Another 2 months or so. Ukraine has gotten approvals before 6 months I’m not sure what that is based on. I think he’s over quoting by saying one year from start to finish but safe answer. 

[C90 376]

37 minutes ago, Ruslana+Chris said:

Hello, everyone. I'm wondering about k1 visa timelines. IT's very important for me right now, coz i'm at a crossroads, we just filed for i129f. And attorney says it's gonna be a  year or more! If it's year i can finish master degree here, if it's less like 6-8months , then i won't. soon i have governmental exams and i don't know what to do! he filled the form in Florida. 

Currently it takes about 6-8 months from filing to approval, then it usually takes another few months to actually get your interview (depending on how quick NVC is and how quick you can get an appointment at your embassy)

If the NOA2 would come too quick, you can, once your case is at the embassy/consulate, extend the 'expiration date' of the NOA2 up to 12 months (Amsterdam consulate does it 4x 3 months, not sure if Ukraine would be the same), so you should be able to finish your exams.

 

Keep 1 thing in mind. You file the I-129F when you're ready to move to the US and get married. Extending it a few times might raise some questions  at the embassy (although you have a good reason, so you don't have to much to worry about), but try not to extend it too long, or withdraw your K1 now and file when you're actually ready. But that's only if you think you have to extend it for very long. A few weeks / months won't be a biggie.

Edited March 26, 2019 by C90

[Websters202 149]

One thing that you may find helpful is that once you are granted the K1, you do not have to travel to the U.S. immediately.  The visa is good for you to enter within 6 months of your medical exam.

 

Basically, it could take 6-8 months for NOA2 (approval); another 2 months for medical and consulate interview; and an additional 6 months after that in which you must travel.  All-in-all, you can stretch this process out for at least 14-16 months if need be.

 

For example, although I applied in May 2017 for the K1, my fiancé did not step foot in the U.S. until June 2018.

 

 

[SalishSea 17,827]

1 hour ago, SJordanS said:

They are quoting 6-8 months for NOA2. Then there is the NVC and interview stage. Another 2 months or so. Ukraine has gotten approvals before 6 months I’m not sure what that is based on. I think he’s over quoting by saying one year from start to finish but safe answer. 

From filing to being on the plane, one year would be quite reasonable.

[SJordanS 343]

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

From filing to being on the plane, one year would be quite reasonable.

agreed. at least their lawyer was realistic. 

[Shiran 1,134]

7 hours ago, Ruslana+Chris said:

Hello, everyone. I'm wondering about k1 visa timelines. IT's very important for me right now, coz i'm at a crossroads, we just filed for i129f. And attorney says it's gonna be a  year or more! If it's year i can finish master degree here, if it's less like 6-8months , then i won't. soon i have governmental exams and i don't know what to do! he filled the form in Florida. 

 

 And another one, me and my family  want to visit him and his family in us, should we apply for tourist visa or just wait and don't rush? (if you had any experience like that please let me know) my family has good income to show. And i was in us before on j1 visa, actually we met in us.  

Nobody will be able to tell you precisely what timeline will be like in 6 months. But you do have some flexibility. Assuming you file now, and you get your 129F approved in 6 months, which is reasonably fast. Approved 129F is good for 4 months. It will take at least 1 month to transfer case to Embassy, you can get all your documents ready, medical, etc ready. Say  you schedule your interview a bit later, 3 months. After that you get your K1 visa stamped into your passport, but it is good for another 5 months for you to make POE. So you can a bit more to finish your Masters. Then after POE, your start your 90 days marriage timer. Btw, this process is not really complicated to need an attorney, they basically take money  to be a an expensive document filing service, and Kyiv Embassy, unlike many others, actually has very good and clear instructions available. Double check everything your lawyer files. They are not immune to mistakes, quite opposite actually since they have to deal with 100s of those, while you only have to worry about one.

 

Also, seeing how you are in Ukraine, I would not count on being able to get tourist visa. The denial rate for those at Kyiv is really high. That might be just a waste of $165 per person. 

[wintermute10 6]

If you look at the timelines for NOA2 approvals, you will see that the back lot has dropped a lot in the last few months.  Currently they are approving applications with a NOA1 date at the end of November.  

 

That is 4 months out from now.  Add one month to get to the embassy and then a couple well delay before the interview.  There Kiev embassy is much faster than most.  So you are looking at 6 months at the outside range.  You could delay scheduling the interview a bit, when you get to they point.  Personally I wouldn't since the visa is good for 4 months and that gives you plenty of time.  And if for some reason it's not, I believe it's fairly easy to apply for a time extension.

 

[GaryK 39]

On 3/26/2019 at 1:40 PM, wintermute10 said:

If you look at the timelines for NOA2 approvals, you will see that the back lot has dropped a lot in the last few months.  Currently they are approving applications with a NOA1 date at the end of November.  

 

That is 4 months out from now.  Add one month to get to the embassy and then a couple well delay before the interview.  There Kiev embassy is much faster than most.  So you are looking at 6 months at the outside range.  You could delay scheduling the interview a bit, when you get to they point.  Personally I wouldn't since the visa is good for 4 months and that gives you plenty of time.  And if for some reason it's not, I believe it's fairly easy to apply for a time extension.

 

 

wintermute is spot on.  The backlogs are dropping and processing times appear to be quicker.  I suspect maybe the policy change last September to summarily reject 'placeholder' packages has freed up personnel for other things and resulted in a better utilization of staff.  I could be wrong but just a hunch.  Also, over the past couple of months I have seen a lot of news articles critical of the USCIS and its turnaround time and that could (operative word) have resulted in a push to process petitions faster.

 

I have been running timeline queries and, for Ukraine petitions, the average time from sending in the petition to the NOA2 being received is 142 days (query range:  September 1, 2018 to present).  Not bad, 4.5 - 4.75 months.  There's a theory less petitions are submitted in the fourth quarter (and possibly the first quarter, too) so the average time could drop even more.  Of course, we won't know that for a while.  I'm continuing to 'number crunch' as I'm still in 'the wait' myself but hopefully on the tail end of it.

 

And as I understand it, you have more control over things once your petition is approved.  Within reason it can go as fast or slow as you want it.  I'm still working my way through the process and could be way off on some of this but a year from start to finish is realistic but, depending on the turnaround time of your petition (and your desire to get to the U.S... sooner vs. later), it could be much quicker than a year.

 

Note:  The chances of a single woman from Ukraine getting a U.S. tourist visa is slim to none and Slim just left town.

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to regional forum from USCIS service centers~~

[biotex 4]

Having just gone through the process, I can tell you that if all goes perfectly, you might get it done in 8 months. I would allow for 10, but I can totally see why a lawyer would say 12. There are many ways to get delayed.