Discrepancy in K-1 processing times

[jaysaldi 213]

On 12/30/2019 at 3:42 PM, VisaQuestions2754 said:

Thank you so much, @usmsbow and @geowrian, that's precisely the information that I was looking for!

 

Based on what you've said, it seems that:

• All I-129Fs are sent to CSC; some are referred to VSC but that's not relevant to my case
• The VSC data can therefore be safely ignored for my purposes, and I can assume (because users will have entered "TSC" in error) that all other data prefers to I-129Fs being processed at CSC
• An average application that was transferred to a visa recipient's local consulate today would have spent 139 days at CSC or in transit before reaching NVC; it would then spent a further 25 days in transit or at the NVC before reaching the consulate, for a total of 164 days of pre-consulate time: a little under 5.5 months
• The consulate that is relevant to me, the UK embassy, has a processing time of 39 days (I *think* -- I still can't find the per-consulate processing times that I am sure are somewhere on VJ). That would mean on average an applicant who would be receiving their invitation to make an interview appointment at the UK embassy today would have initially had their I-129F submitted 164 +39 days previously, so 203 days = between 6.5 and 7 months

I can't find data on how quickly somebody can then attend their visa interview. Is it a matter of weeks? Or months? And assuming the interview is successful, am I correct in thinking that the K-1 visa would be in hand when leaving the embassy, so technically the applicant could go straight to the nearest airport and get on the first plane to the US?

It depends on the embassy.  My fiancee's interview was scheduled for almost two months in the future. I have heard of others getting it scheduled in 2-3 weeks.  

 

As a general rule, you don't walk out of the embassy with the visa in hand, it needs to be prepared, printed, put in your passport, and given back to you along with a sealed envelope  containing your file that you hand to the CBP officer. Expect that to take about a week.