K3 Visa Viability in 2019

[Devon&Sandra 121]

On 7/13/2019 at 11:03 PM, CSTSLP said:

As I stated it’s a very small sampling, in which you can only draw a theory off of. Since the USCIS doesn’t share this information, I’m not even sure they track it ...the only way to truly know is to try. 

I did exactly the same thing - decided to try. Turn out to be great idea  

[TE and AE 39]

38 minutes ago, We Are Waiting said:

The I-129f is worth filing if you have your I-130 already on file and if your case is in Nebraska. I have seen where more than 6 ppl have filed the i-129f that got denied but it forced them to make a decision on their i-130. It is free to file and can cut the wait time in half so why not file it. Even if you have to pay the AOS fees so be it. The main thing is your loved one will be here. 

You are absolutely correct.  I’m traveling to Morocco every three months at $1000+ a pop.  Even if they decide to do the AOS fee for the K3, if my husband is in the states in 1/2 the time it still ends up saving me thousands of dollars commuting back and forth. 

[JulienR 92]

On 7/12/2019 at 11:05 PM, David & Olga said:

What year are these cases from? Recent 2019 cases? 

All in the past 14 months, 7 of the 9 I-129F in the lats six months, 4 in June as more people are trying this way now.

 

On 7/13/2019 at 10:48 PM, NikLR said:

VJ  is user input only.  People can put the wrong visa type and dates. To have validation for your statements you'd need information from the USCIS. 

It's not a statement, it's an observation. The I-129F application was confirmed by the users on VJ. The fact that there are more cases as more people are trying it is also circumstancial evidence that the two are linked.

[NikLR 13,227]

If it helps it helps.  Start a spreadsheet like other people do and get some VJ statistics going so you have some sort of evidence. 

[LC2010 41]

@CSTSLP Thank you for compiling all the data in one place! I was driving myself nuts clicking through all of the profiles of recently approved people and trying to figure out who had filed the I-129f. 

 

Is it ironclad proof? No, of course not, and you aren’t saying that it is. But what you’ve already provided is absolutely relevant “evidence” - and I say this as lawyer who has a very technical understanding of the word! 

 

[Devon&Sandra 121]

2 more I129f denials / I130 approvals today in Nebraska.

PD 02/28/19 and 03/05/19 both I129f sent 06/12/19.

found on fb group Nebraska alliance

[JeanneAdil 6,491]

great idea if it makes Nebraska move faster

 

but it is unfair for to the people who filed ahead of these filers

it jumps later filers to the head of the process and puts the others back/  it is like cutting ahead in a waiting line

[portorusa 431]

3 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

great idea if it makes Nebraska move faster

 

but it is unfair for to the people who filed ahead of these filers

it jumps later filers to the head of the process and puts the others back/  it is like cutting ahead in a waiting line

I disagree. Those who file I-129f do a big favor to other filers, especially the future ones. By a courageous example, of how things should be done. 

This is the only way to make the government agency (Nebraska SC, and USCIS in general) change. When Nebraska doesn’t give a sh...t about people, who can take care of us but us??

I say this, Hey, all Nebraska I-130s, UNITE! File I-129f now! And fight the government together!🚩🚩🚩

[TE and AE 39]

4 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

great idea if it makes Nebraska move faster

 

but it is unfair for to the people who filed ahead of these filers

it jumps later filers to the head of the process and puts the others back/  it is like cutting ahead in a waiting line

I also don’t agree.  Everyone has the right to file the I129f some do, some don’t. It’s about the only thing you can control.

[geowrian 22,337]

This is all assuming that the I-129F results in a speedier I-130 adjudication, which is far from anything but speculation at this point.

Everybody filing more forms is not going to speed anything up...not sure where that idea came from.

Edited July 18, 2019 by geowrian

[portorusa 431]

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

This is all assuming that the I-129F results in a speedier I-130 adjudication, which is far from anything but speculation at this point.

Everybody filing more forms is not going to sped anything up...not sure where that idea came from.

Excuse me? Aren’t you following the Nebraska thread? More and more people are filing I-129f, and ALL get their I-130 approved within a month from I-129f priority dates. No exception!

By my estimate, it’s already 11 approvals here on VJ and at least 2 on FB.

[geowrian 22,337]

Yup, proof 👍

[Devon&Sandra 121]

7 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

great idea if it makes Nebraska move faster

 

but it is unfair for to the people who filed ahead of these filers

it jumps later filers to the head of the process and puts the others back/  it is like cutting ahead in a waiting line

Do you have any data showing that K3 filers have any influence on approval times for other people? 

As from I see the processing time of 11-14 months happened before people start filing I129f, and people in Nebraska are still approved in 11-12 months like it was in March before all K3 started...

I think it is a bit unfair to accuse people of backlog on simple assumption. 

And it is open to everyone and LEGAL so tu can also “cut the line” as you call it 

[JeanneAdil 6,491]

9 hours ago, Devon&Sandra said:

Do you have any data showing that K3 filers have any influence on approval times for other people? 

As from I see the processing time of 11-14 months happened before people start filing I129f, and people in Nebraska are still approved in 11-12 months like it was in March before all K3 started...

I think it is a bit unfair to accuse people of backlog on simple assumption. 

And it is open to everyone and LEGAL so tu can also “cut the line” as you call it 

i have no data

that is what i am reading from the above poster who said doing 130 and 129 together gets it faster

i said "not fair to those who applcations are waiting ahead of these"

[geowrian 22,337]

1 hour ago, Devon&Sandra said:

Do you have any data showing that K3 filers have any influence on approval times for other people?

I don't, but I don't see why data is needed for this:

t1 + t2 > t1

t1 = time to adjudicate an I-130 for a spouse

t2 = time to adjudicate an I-129F for a spouse.

Since time machines don't exist yet (AFAIK) and the amount of time to do literally anything is more than not doing it, the total time is increased by having both forms to process.

Given that USCIS processing of petitions is entirely fee-funded and there are no additional fees involved for the I-129F, there's not a basis that they would increase staffing to handle the additional load. The only other way it could speed things up is if the filings resulted in a change of priorities to focus on those cases over others, but that's more of a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation - it would still impact other people, just a different set of them.

 

To what degree it impacts others is purely speculation. Maybe it would be completely negligible. Maybe not.

USCIS provided information on completions per hour per form type (https://www.aila.org/advo-media/whats-happening-in-congress/congressional-updates/uscis-responds-to-letter-from-86-house-members), but there's no way to determine from that data how long the I-129F or I-130 actually takes for a spouse (plus I-129Fs for a spouse are handled by different service centers than those for a fiance, which would still muddy the waters). Maybe it's an extra minute per case? Maybe it's closer to 5 minutes? Maybe it's just a couple seconds to click an extra button? Who knows. When you're dealing with the sheer volume of cases (~350,000 I-130s for an IR at a service center annually) , the impact can be months of delays for just minutes extra per case.

 

=====

 

The concern I have with the suggestion that filing the I-129F for a K-3 may improve processing times is that it's working with on both small amounts of data as well as incomplete data.

1) The small amount of data is a factor already noted - there's just not a large sample size to draw a conclusion, and VJ only makes up a small number of cases. And even then there are biases in the types of cases seen on here compared to the total data set (I suspect VJ would have more individuals engaged with their own process than the average, or those who use agents or attorneys).

2) There are definitely people who submitted an I-129F for a spouse that had their I-130 processed quicker than the average. Some of those cases have been noted in this thread. But how many did the same and were processed roughly around or longer than the average? How does that compare to the total set of domestic filers? These aren't things we know and the tracking systems available to us just don't do a good job of answering those questions. For instance, a quick search on VJ of K-3 cases from 1/1/2018 onward with an approved I-130 comes up with 1 case from 2018. The actual number should be greater but that gets lost as the K-3 path is closed, so there's not a reliable way to obtain or track the data...just asking people and hope they respond, or waiting until somebody announces it. But both of those methods are heavily prone to bias - cases that don't have anything out of the norm going on aren't likely to be tracked, which skews the numbers.

 

I apologize in advance if this rubs anybody the wrong way...

Topics like this pop up every so often on VJ. It's usually among members that have not been dealing with immigration quite as long or intricately as others. They're hopeful. They think there's another way. There's some secret. There's something else they can do to impact the timeline.

The fact is that if there was such a thing, you would be seeing it all over. I would be jumping to provide the info, as I'm sure others would too. The vast majority of the VJ community aren't trying to find ways to ensure the process takes longer than it does. Many (likely most?) of us have endured the family-based immigration process, with at least a decent chunk of them having endured separation during the process.

 

If doing the I-129F did somehow improve the corresponding I-130's processing timeline in a reliable way, trust me that you would start to see a lot more people file both. Nobody wants to be separated longer than necessary, and the number of people that are fine with the longer timeline (they aren't in a rush) is likely a small minority. And at that point, the benefit is quickly eliminated and there's just more paperwork for both USCIS and petitioners.

 

To be clear, I'm not discouraging finding out if there is currently a meaningful difference in timelines. But don't miss the forest for the trees, and don't go into it looking for data to support the conclusion...it often leads to seeing patterns that aren't really there.

People have been filing I-129Fs trying for a K-3 for several years after they were regularly issued, and no association has been identified with I-130 processing times in those years. If there was an association in the past, it somehow missed everybody's radar. If it's something new, it seems really, really unusual to suddenly implement a priority on those cases over regular spousal visa cases.