Filed I-129f and then I-130

[Corgent 93]

Anecdotally, I came across hunny&me's timeline and noticed their fast approval (50 days). I saw that they filed an I-129F approximately two weeks after filing their I-130, so I decided to do the exact same thing. I waited two weeks after submitting my I-130 and then submitted my I-129F. I received an even faster approval (44 days). But then you also have timelines such as top_secret's who did not file a K3 but still received approval in 48 days. So speaking as someone who filed a K3 and received fast approval, even I find it hard to reach any conclusions.

[ohiohopeful 53]

21 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 

I have notice a few people doing that - filing K3 thinking it will speed up their I-130.  Logically, how would it speed up the CR1?  It is another form that will need to be reviewed by USCIS.  Although they have been administratively closing the K3 because of the ongoing CR1, they would still need to do their due diligence in reviewing the K3 and to see if there is a CR1 from the petitioner, and wait for that to be adjusted before closing the K3.

 

One recent poster from last week was excited that their K3 was denied, thinking it meant their CR1 would be proved soon.  Others responded to that post that their CR1 was approved when they got the notice of the K3 denial.

 

In their excitement, it seemed to not be noticed that his case took about a month longer than the normal processing time for his service center.  It is great he got approved, but it doesn't seem great if it took a month longer than average.

 

A K3 just adds more workload to a department that has a lot already.  It makes no sense that applying for a K3 somehow magically speeds up the process, unless it somehow makes USCIS work harder?  Like the K3 turns them into Santa's elves?

 

If someone thinks they legitimately qualifies for a K3 (I believe 3 we're granted in 2020 to military petitioners?), then submit one.  But knowing that the K3 will be denied and submitting it just because it is free is madness.  

 

Thought i'd add my opinions/experience in response to your points, just for more input on this.

 

In my position, we submitted I130 and it sat in Nebraska. After 7 months (The longer estimate), we phoned and asked them to check the situation, they looked in to it and informed that my case had been transferred to Potomac with no notification at all. So this now meant that I was expecting 11-17 months, if I remember correctly. (much larger in any case.)

 

After waiting, researching, understanding, I decided to file the I129F. Within 2 months I had my K3 denied, and my I130 approved. Could this be coincidence or just luck, absolutely.

 

My points:

- Someone's timeline may show they are over the estimate; but in actual fact their case could be at a completely different service centre without them knowing

- Why would K3's go to the back of the I130 queue; meaning people want USCIS to work harder on the submissions? Surely we imagine one pile of I130's and one pile of K3's. Having someone check the K3's each month, even to reject them, means your application has been seen. Anecdotally it seems that the K3 is picked up, and the corresponding I130 is pulled at the same time to review. It seems then that the officer rejects the K3 as they are now reviewing the I130. This allows them to reject the K3's, as it seems they are not preferable in any case.

 

Although this may mean people jump the queue - this is entirely a legal route, and is a viable option to people separated from their family members. Dissuading people from using tools at their disposal seems a harsh stance, I do believe it sped my application up, although i'm still sat waiting at the NVC stage!

 

Would love to hear your feedback - discussion is great so far!

[Ovid3 22]

13 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

In that same post Ovid3 mentioned they filed a K3 and got an approval for their I-130 when their K3 was denied.  Per Ovid3's timeline, they submitted the I-130 in Feb 2021 and was approved in Sep 2021 - 7 months, which is the tail end of the 4-7 months processing for NSC.  Again, this does not show any evidence of the K3 speeding up the processing of the I-130.

I cannot speak for other timelines, but I'll react to mine at least. My case was received in NSC, but swiftly moved to Texas (were is stayed until approval), well before I submitted my I-129f. At the time, Texas estimates were standing at over 11 months. My case was approved in 7, which was substantially faster than most applicants at TSC at the time (some of them who submitted around my time are unfortunately still waiting for their case to be processed as I write). As I said at the time in a monthly filers thread, correlation does not imply causation and my case had already been under review for a long time, so approval was bound to be processed eventually. In my case, the K3 did not seem to make any difference and I was more startled by the coincidence between us uploading additional documents and our case behind reviewed the next day, which is something that a few other VJ members had also witnessed right around that time. At any rate, my K3 was then logically denied on the same day.

 

I cannot venture to say whether the K3 trick works or not in order to speed up the I-130 process. My timeline is not one of those examples. What it does show is that received K3 will be left untouched until I-130 is approved and then be denied without review, which seems to have been the practice of USCIS for a little while now. This is why I believe that flat denial of K3 without any sort of RFE or NOID only comes on the back of approved I-130, which does not mean that such approval is faster.

The rationale behind the K3 trick, if I understand it correctly, was precisely to use this logic of K3 being only denied following I-130 approval by enticing USCIS to process the I-130 faster in order to get rid of both the I-130 and the K3, the assumption being that the officer would want to get rid of unnecessary paperwork (especially since K3 is still paper).

[hunny&me 274]

8 hours ago, Corgent said:

Anecdotally, I came across hunny&me's timeline and noticed their fast approval (50 days). I saw that they filed an I-129F approximately two weeks after filing their I-130, so I decided to do the exact same thing. I waited two weeks after submitting my I-130 and then submitted my I-129F. I received an even faster approval (44 days). But then you also have timelines such as top_secret's who did not file a K3 but still received approval in 48 days. So speaking as someone who filed a K3 and received fast approval, even I find it hard to reach any conclusions.

@Corgent, glad it went fast for you too.  Just my analogy was that when K3 was received and reviewed - those without questions for I-130 of any kind, may have been luck with approval.  I was not expecting mine to be fast especially of few name changes.  But instead of just attaching documents, I noted the name changes on the Cover Letter of my K3, and submitted docs in tabs.   Anyway, at NVC stage now, they seem to have 3 months backlog.  Took us a while to submit docs as NBI Clearance appointment was not until December 1.

 

@SteveInBostonI130, I just read the entire topic, you mentioned you are looking for timelines.  Myself and @Corgent are examples.   It maybe our luck.  I was following other timelines before I got married last year and seen same to 2 people.   When I filed, Vermont was 9.5 -13 months.  Our plan last year was to meet-up to satisfy 2-year requirement, so I have the I-129F K1 ready.  But just a month before my travel, I learned about Utah wedding.  So my trip, became a wedding trip and filed I-130 online.  When I got back to US, I have my K1 packet ready, so I adjusted it and mailed it as K3.  Which ever gets my husband here faster, I'll take it!