Why are NOA1s not being processed?

[brvids2020 26]

2 minutes ago, metuchen said:

That's criminal. 2 months+ waiting for a receipt notice that is supposed to take just a few days. If that takes 2 months how long do they expect the other steps to take?!

 

Does the spousal visa have the same delays? 

I have no idea, but I notice k-1 visas seem to be taking more along the lines of 1 year for most people now. It was only around 6 months before this covid nonsense.

[J&J2021 25]

9 minutes ago, metuchen said:

My I-129F was received like 10 days ago, though judging by these experiences, God knows when I'll get the NOA1. The frustrating thing is when I look at the timelines of people who submitted in 2019, they generally got NOA1 in just a matter of days!

exactly 😒

[stag 51]

2 minutes ago, brvids2020 said:

I have no idea, but I notice k-1 visas seem to be taking more along the lines of 1 year for most people now. It was only around 6 months before this covid nonsense.

Wow are you kidding me? Before it only took 6 months! Man I should have started this process earlier!!

[NeonParticles 126]

2 minutes ago, metuchen said:

Wow are you kidding me? Before it only took 6 months! Man I should have started this process earlier!!

What's even worse is that some of us are going to be dealing with embassies that aren't even processing K-1 visas when we eventually DO get to that point

[stag 51]

23 minutes ago, NeonParticles said:

What's even worse is that some of us are going to be dealing with embassies that aren't even processing K-1 visas when we eventually DO get to that point

Hopefully by that time the processing time goes back to normal. This cannot be the new norm, it's not sustainable.

[davidvs 325]

1 hour ago, metuchen said:

That's criminal. 2 months+ waiting for a receipt notice that is supposed to take just a few days. If that takes 2 months how long do they expect the other steps to take?!

 

Does the spousal visa have the same delays? 

Delays appear to be across the board.

[Einhver 5]

13 hours ago, Vamp.nz said:

Absolutely agree. It’s now coming up nine weeks since ours was delivered.  It shocks me that USCIS were saying just a few weeks ago how they were running at a huge loss and needed more money and wanted to increase costs... yet our check and so many more are just sitting there unbanked... it doesn’t make sense does it

It looks like part of the reason why the lockbox is delayed is because it is processing a lot of AOS applications, and AOS applications have a higher fee than I-129Fs, so purely in terms of cashing as many dollars of checks as quickly as possible it would still make sense for the lockbox to leave I-129Fs at the bottom of the pile. They don't take the fee until they have looked at the petition and haven't found any reasons to reject it.

 

It looks like on 8th January USCIS changed the AOS filing addresses page such that fewer are now sent to the Dallas lockbox, which should mean the Dallas lockbox will be under less load going forward and the I-129F NOA1 delay should get better soon. Compare the list of states which file to the Dallas lockbox on https://www.uscis.gov/i-485-addresses with https://web.archive.org/web/20201111215552/https://www.uscis.gov/i-485-addresses from November.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,085]

3 hours ago, metuchen said:

Wow are you kidding me? Before it only took 6 months! Man I should have started this process earlier!!

I-129F processing times have gone up and down a lot over the years even prior to Covid.

Even just since the start of 2017

-- went from ~4 months from NOA1 to NOA2 in January to ~7 months in July

-- stayed there until about May 2018 (which was when we filed, and the 6.5 moths ours took was relatively fast)

-- got down to ~4 months again and stayed there until late 2019

-- started creeping up a bit

-- then covid hit and things started taking forever

 

... and that's just for the petition. NVC has generally just been taking longer. And some embassies/consulates can be even more variable than USCIS (we had extremely good timing on when our case hit Moscow to get an interview in less than two months).

 

(and lest you think this was just the previous president, there were some pretty wild swings prior to that too)

[Chauncey 138]

7 hours ago, metuchen said:

Hopefully by that time the processing time goes back to normal. This cannot be the new norm, it's not sustainable.

that's what i thought when i filed in July, its now January, I have no NOA2 yet, and my embassy still isnt processing. 

[stag 51]

Can someone clarify what happens if the NOA1 receipt date is so late that it invalidates one of my meetings which was less than two years ago? My packet was received and I have confirmation that it was received in Fedex, but is that the date they go by or the NOA1 receipt date?

[AishaniA93 108]

1 hour ago, metuchen said:

Can someone clarify what happens if the NOA1 receipt date is so late that it invalidates one of my meetings which was less than two years ago? My packet was received and I have confirmation that it was received in Fedex, but is that the date they go by or the NOA1 receipt date?

It should be ok. They go by the date of filing  

[Maria1989 403]

On 1/13/2021 at 10:47 PM, Jorgedig said:

They are processing them.  They don't 'process' petitions within the first month of arriving to the lockbox, even pre-covid.  It will be months and months before they adjudicate yours.

They do process them, pre-covid. I received an NOA1 within a week. Now post-covid nothing....... and like his my was received in early November 

[SalishSea 17,503]

5 hours ago, Maria1989 said:

They do process them, pre-covid. I received an NOA1 within a week. Now post-covid nothing....... and like his my was received in early November 

Okay, what is meant here by 'process' is adjudicate.   That doesn't happen until months after NOA1.

[Maria1989 403]

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Okay, what is meant here by 'process' is adjudicate.   That doesn't happen until months after NOA1.

Ok he asked about NOA1 which is basically the receipt that they have received your petition and are processing it. Clearly we know that adjudication means a decision has been rendered which will take months. However a NOA1 in prior to COVID was taking a week to receive 

[Charlie_SK 4]

5 hours ago, Maria1989 said:

Ok he asked about NOA1 which is basically the receipt that they have received your petition and are processing it. Clearly we know that adjudication means a decision has been rendered which will take months. However a NOA1 in prior to COVID was taking a week to receive 

No. I meant process NOA1 to mean "are they going through the process of reading through the new applications and putting them into a system to then send out an NOA1" or are they just letting them sit on a desk, unopened and not touching them? My question has nothing to do with NOA2.