K1 Visa Timeline

[Whodey 9]

First off, I sincerely apologize because I'm sure this question is asked 100 times a day and I'm just not seeing it in another thread. I'm just curious what kind of timeline we are seeing these days? Google is giving me all types of different answers and my lawyer isn't giving me a better timeline either. My fiance is from Ecuador and we sent in our application at the end of September. Our application is at the California Center which looks like the ideal place from what I have been able to gather from Google. It's been 4.5 months since we have filed. When should we realistically expect to wait until the next step? 

 

[powerpuff 6,640]

According to USCIS, currently it’s taking 6-8 months to adjudicate I-129f’s. All I-129f applications go to California Service Center (a small number is transferred to Vermont, but that’s usually for cases that need extra security clearance).

link: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

 

Realistically, it’s taking closer to 8 months right now. Sometimes longer. Keep checking the link, about a month or two ago the processing time was 7.5 to 9.5 months. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by powerpuff

[Whodey 9]

Thank you. That gives me a better understanding of what to really expect during these crazy times. I can deal with a 8 to 9 month wait now that we are almost 5 months in. Some of the sites on google were saying 1.5 - 2 years. 

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, stevenputt71@yaho said:

I can deal with a 8 to 9 month wait now that we are almost 5 months in. Some of the sites on google were saying 1.5 - 2 years.

 

Maybe those estimates include the holding period after petition approval + embassy stage.  1.5 to 2 years wait time from petition filing to visa on hand is looking more and more likely during these COVID times.

 

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

Here ya go:

 

Latest times for VJ'ers.

 

[NoMansLand2020 298]

10 hours ago, stevenputt71@yaho said:

First off, I sincerely apologize because I'm sure this question is asked 100 times a day and I'm just not seeing it in another thread. I'm just curious what kind of timeline we are seeing these days? Google is giving me all types of different answers and my lawyer isn't giving me a better timeline either. My fiance is from Ecuador and we sent in our application at the end of September. Our application is at the California Center which looks like the ideal place from what I have been able to gather from Google. It's been 4.5 months since we have filed. When should we realistically expect to wait until the next step? 

 

Timeline to what? NOA2 or visa in hand? Each case is different and timelines could vary drastically. Is Ecuador even processing routine visas? 

 

We filed in December of 2019 and still can't even get an interview. Though we are dealing with the Philippines which hasn't been processing routine visas since last March. 

[MarieJames 48]

10 hours ago, stevenputt71@yaho said:

Thank you. That gives me a better understanding of what to really expect during these crazy times. I can deal with a 8 to 9 month wait now that we are almost 5 months in. Some of the sites on google were saying 1.5 - 2 years. 

The 8-9 month wait is just the first part, the websites you were reading were probably including estimates for the embassy stage. After USCIS approves your petition you wait for an interview, and currently many embassies are not even processing K1 visas. Historically the USCIS stage was the longest wait, but the pandemic has turned everything upside down. 1.5-2 years total is probably a reasonable estimate right now.

[Whodey 9]

I guess I'm a little confused from some of these comments. I was under the impression that when we filed there would be a 6ish month wait before anyone even looked at our case. Once someone looked at our case and sent us to the Interview portion of the process, it would go quickly and we would be able to get married 2 to 3 months later. A total of 9 months start to finish.

 

Am I living in a Fantasy World with that timeframe? I think someone mentioned that they filed in December of the 2019 😲

[MarieJames 48]

17 minutes ago, stevenputt71@yaho said:

I guess I'm a little confused from some of these comments. I was under the impression that when we filed there would be a 6ish month wait before anyone even looked at our case. Once someone looked at our case and sent us to the Interview portion of the process, it would go quickly and we would be able to get married 2 to 3 months later. A total of 9 months start to finish.

 

Am I living in a Fantasy World with that timeframe? I think someone mentioned that they filed in December of the 2019 😲

We've been waiting almost exactly one year - we filed in February of 2020. We got NOA2 in September 2020, and our case has been stuck at the NVC because London isn't processing K1 visas right now. It's fully dependent on your embassy. Usually things would move a little faster, but lots of places are not open/not processing K1s due to the pandemic. 

 

I think 9 months start to finish is a little unrealistic even in normal times. Right now lots of people are waiting 9+ months just for USCIS to look at their petitions. It's hard to guess a realistic timeline since everything is still so up in the air. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by MarieJames

[Whodey 9]

2 minutes ago, MarieJames said:

We've been waiting almost exactly one year - we filed in February of 2020. We got NOA2 in September 2020, and our case has been stuck at the NVC because London isn't processing K1 visas right now. It's fully dependent on your embassy. Usually things would move a little faster, but lots of places are not open/not processing K1s due to the pandemic. 

 

I think 9 months start to finish is a little unrealistic even in normal times. Right now lots of people are waiting 9+ months just for USCIS to look at their petitions. It's hard to guess a realistic timeline since everything is still so up in the air. If you fill out your timeline so we can see where you're from people will be able to offer more help! 

I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio and she is from Quito, Ecuador. We filed out I-129F in September and received a letter from USCIS on Sept 18th stating that they received it. That's where we are at in the process. I realized the Pandemic would slow everything down, but with more and more people working from home these days, I was hopeful that the delay would be just 1 or 2 months. This whole process has been eye opening in regards to the Immigration process in the United States 🤬

[SalishSea 17,772]

2 hours ago, Whodey said:

I guess I'm a little confused from some of these comments. I was under the impression that when we filed there would be a 6ish month wait before anyone even looked at our case. Once someone looked at our case and sent us to the Interview portion of the process, it would go quickly and we would be able to get married 2 to 3 months later. A total of 9 months start to finish.

 

Am I living in a Fantasy World with that timeframe? I think someone mentioned that they filed in December of the 2019 😲

In previous times, it worked that way.  For the past year of the pandemic, not so much.  Ours was 8.5 months start to finish in 2018.  

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,090]

On 2/8/2021 at 10:29 AM, MarieJames said:

I think 9 months start to finish is a little unrealistic even in normal times. Right now lots of people are waiting 9+ months just for USCIS to look at their petitions. It's hard to guess a realistic timeline since everything is still so up in the air. 

It's not really unrealistic in normal times; we were under 9 months from date sent to interview from a late May 2018 start (and while we were faster than average for then, it wasn't by very much). Granted, due to a little bit of luck we hit the highly unpredictable Moscow embassy (which seems to randomly take a month or two off from processing K-1s every so often in normal times) at a good time and so were less than six weeks from petition arriving at Moscow to interview. And that was at the tail end of the super-slow (by pre-pandemic standards) I-129F processing from mid-2017 to mid-2018. The big question post-pandemic will be how long it takes to clear backlogs.

[Lu & Ni 30]

On 2/8/2021 at 1:38 PM, Whodey said:

I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio and she is from Quito, Ecuador. We filed out I-129F in September and received a letter from USCIS on Sept 18th stating that they received it. That's where we are at in the process. I realized the Pandemic would slow everything down, but with more and more people working from home these days, I was hopeful that the delay would be just 1 or 2 months. This whole process has been eye opening in regards to the Immigration process in the United States 🤬

As far as I know, the consulate in Quito is not processing K visas, only the consulate in Guayaquil.

And even then I feel like they're taking long in Gye as well 🥲

 

[Bri&Alejandro 82]

No one can say for certain since we have never dealt with anything like this. 1.5 to 2 years may be the reality. Right now you are waiting for USCIS to approve the petition. Pre covid that took 4-6 months for a normal case. But USCIS is delayed, so the estimates on their site are likely accurate (6-8 months). From there, the petition has to go to the NVC, then to the embassy, then an interview is scheduled. Most of the embassies have not been processing since last year, or processing very little. Keep in mind that they have a years worth of backlog to get through on top of the petitions that are still getting added every day. The reality is we are all in this for the long haul. 
 

For some perspective, we sent our petition in December 2019. We were approved in March 2020 and still waiting for our petition to be sent to Colombia. 
 

It’s going to be a waiting game but just stay patient! Hopefully things will begin to speed up this year.