ATTENTION JULY FILERS!

[Nicole_Michel2007 0]

Hey everyone -

Just want to let you know that I am a July Filer - July 28th actually - and I received my NOA1 today in the mail.

I saw in a different post there were nearly 80 approved petitions in August last year - lets keep our heads up - I am looking at a February wedding and have already purchased my dressed - appointed my bridal party - bought the girls dresses - talked to churches - halls - florists- etc.... It's all too exciting!!

Keep your heads up!!! I'm glad to have you all around for support!

good luck, i hope you get febuary. i dont know how fast syria is right now but we're hoping to have our interview in feb or march and possibly april. I wouldnt pick a date until you have your visa. this is the most common mistake we see posted on here. everything is booked for a wedding dependant on a visa date that doesnt exist and could take longer. then the people have the choice of canceling and losing money or marrying and commiting visa fruad if they still use the K1, or canceling the K1 and going the k3 and losing all the time they waited for k1.

there are more "panicked" topics on here for booked weddings and no visa than any other topic. and the answer is always the same. never book the wedding without visa in hand. Do a search on here, you'll find lots of topics on this. If syria is fast and you can have a Jan interview good for you and congrats. but i would wait until i had the visa to book the flight to usa much less book a wedding.

you filed after we did. what does your timelime say? Noa2 in Nov? it will be december before syria gets it. you already posted on the timeline for your visa and were warned that coming from the middle east, extra background checks and extra processing is common, which can add months and sometimes years to the processing time. The Syrian embassy says it take 4 to 6 weeks but i dont believe that to be the average. i found one timeline with a fellow VJer who was usa and syria. it was 6 months total from Noa1 to visa. and they got NOA2 in 3 months. i think we are looking at NOA2 in 4 months with the fee increases in july.

Id hate to see you on here on Feb first with your wedding all ready to go and no sign of anything from the syria.

good luck, and congrats on your upcoming wedding.

Chris

Hey there - thanks for the info and concern.

We havent actually booked anything - just looking around so that we are prepared to book when the time comes. My dress - bridesmaids dresses etc are not going to change whether its in feb or july so just getting prliminary things accomplished.

I have already been in touch with the American Embassy in Syria - they have let me know what i need and assured that the process on their end should take no longer than 2 months - also told me to email back to them when i do get the approval so they can keep an eye out for his papers when they come in. I cannot help but be optimistic.

I am a VERY djetailed oriented and organized person - I have dotted all of my I's and crossed all of my t's - Twice! Right now we're shooting for Feb - if it doesn't happen we'll shoot for every month after until the time comes. Although I have not heard about anything taking longer bc of it coming from a Middle Eastern country - not sure where that came from.

Anyways - everyone has their own way of passing time and being hopeful. Mine is working 3 jobs and planning an amazing wedding!!

Good luck to you!

[Jason-Sasha 1]

that's odd though, if ours has changed but yours hasn't... we're both at California, aren't we?

(and I'm not terribly perturbed by it, if truth be told... oh, of course it's annoying, and I'd like to know what I'm doing, but I haven't made any plans, and I'm just going along for the ride )

Yes, we're at CSC also. We filed our petition to TSC and it was transferred, not that that should make a difference but I'm wondering if maybe the dates are being calculated different for TSC and CSC even though they are both processed at the same place????

I think another big factor is the foreign embassy. You may be at the same service center but your averages (posted here on VJ)should be formulated by a number of things. Like K1 or K3, foreign embassy, and service center.

[Alex and Ania 0]

Hi All,

Just got NOA1 today. I filed to CSC on July 27th. I was a bit worried about the fee increase deadline.

Cheers!

-- A

[Rob & Jin 0]

The CSC received our I-129F on 7/5/07 - and I received the NOA1 back today (7/13). We are on our wayyyyyy!!!!!

GOOD LUCK,and welcome to the long wait

[StillThePrettiest 3]

I think another big factor is the foreign embassy. You may be at the same service center but your averages (posted here on VJ)should be formulated by a number of things. Like K1 or K3, foreign embassy, and service center.

but isn't the date currently showing the one estimated for NOA2? that should be similar, and based on the same data, for everyone... I agree; what happens next will be quite different for all of us, but this first step should be pretty much the same (in theory, anyway )

or have I misunderstood something?

[Jeraly 4]

Mine's now showing Dec 3rd As we're punching a time clock that isn't exactly ideal but I guess we just have to take what comes and keep our fingers crossed

Not feeling too bad about Jeremy leaving - we still have a couple of days and it does make a huge difference knowing that one way or another we'll be together this time next year - even if we don't get the K-1 in time...

The ink I am waiting to dry is the printer ink!!! I have them all laid out still on my mum's bed and I figure I'll just wait til they are mostly dry then try and write on them really carefully

Ok - off to check USCIS (still no touches but then that may be a good thing...) then down to cook our Sunday Roast See you all (in the internet way!) soon!

x

[Jeraly 4]

Just digging around. As we are still a little unsure about how our projected dates work this might shed some light onto the subject:

When we are not meeting our service level goal, the date posted will reflect the filing date of cases that are being completed. It should be noted that while in some instances reported processing dates may appear to have regressed due to this change, they do not reflect a lengthening of USCIS processing times, but simply the change in reporting. Our goal is to provide accurate projections and thus give customers clear expectations as to what they can expect as a processing time.

(Ref: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/Processtim...viceCenter=CSC)

Not sure how helpful that is but it could explain the sometimes crazy fluctuations

[rosa.sputnik 0]

Just digging around. As we are still a little unsure about how our projected dates work this might shed some light onto the subject:

When we are not meeting our service level goal, the date posted will reflect the filing date of cases that are being completed. It should be noted that while in some instances reported processing dates may appear to have regressed due to this change, they do not reflect a lengthening of USCIS processing times, but simply the change in reporting. Our goal is to provide accurate projections and thus give customers clear expectations as to what they can expect as a processing time.

(Ref: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/Processtim...viceCenter=CSC)

Not sure how helpful that is but it could explain the sometimes crazy fluctuations

Eventually... they cashed the Money Order on August 16th... we filed July 23rd (TSC)

Oh my God... at least something happened!!!

Now... how do we get a case number?

They don't seem to catch up with NOA's...

[StillThePrettiest 3]

look at the back of the cheque, for a number starting with three letters and an 07 for the year (for example, mine starts WAC07...)

[English Muffin 59]

Just digging around. As we are still a little unsure about how our projected dates work this might shed some light onto the subject:

When we are not meeting our service level goal, the date posted will reflect the filing date of cases that are being completed. It should be noted that while in some instances reported processing dates may appear to have regressed due to this change, they do not reflect a lengthening of USCIS processing times, but simply the change in reporting. Our goal is to provide accurate projections and thus give customers clear expectations as to what they can expect as a processing time.

(Ref: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/Processtim...viceCenter=CSC)

Not sure how helpful that is but it could explain the sometimes crazy fluctuations

Eventually... they cashed the Money Order on August 16th... we filed July 23rd (TSC)

Oh my God... at least something happened!!!

Now... how do we get a case number?

They don't seem to catch up with NOA's...

Because you paid by money order I'm afraid you'll have to wait for your NOA1 in the mail to get your case number.

Gillian

[rouguewave 7]

I have no idea where I actually entered the following originally, but here in this thread was my intention!

I don't know if anyone would be interested in the information, but I've been working on some tools to 'mine' the data on the USCIS site. It's all public information, after all, and I've been curious how many petitions get filed each day, and how many are I129F petitions.

I have the code all done but the USCIS has thrown me a curve - they have monitors in place that check how many requests are coming from a given IP (or possibly gateway), and they 'shut off' access for 2 or 3 days if you exceed whatever the limit is. There is a flood check for a short duration, and after I slowed my requests down (one lookup every 15 seconds) I hit a longer duration monitor that also shut me down.

So my next try will be to slow my code WAY down (maybe one lookup every 2 to 5 minutes), but I have already determined that the average number of petitions received by the California Service Center is around 4000 (or more) (my code has a binary search component that can determine the number of petitions in about 14 searches). To determine which are I129F petitions (or any other type) I have to query each individual petition. Once I know which ones are I129F, I log the numbers so that I can watch for status changes on subsequent days.

So if I query 1 case every 2 minutes, it will take 8000 minutes, or 134 hours, or nearly 6 full days. And that's just to locate the receipt numbers for a single day. To scan all of July (our filing month) will take about 117 days (21 fiscal days in July, or so)! I would eventually like to give this code to VJ so they don't have to rely on users to input timelines, and they would gain access to a ton of more petitions. I have already contacted VJ and they are interested - if I can get it to work.

Why do all of this? Because I can, and I want to. It's an interesting technical challenge. Would there be anyone out there reading this who would like to donate some of their computer time? I could provide you the code (it's written in python) along with the instructions, and we could split up the days in July of 2007, in order to locate the petitions we're interested in.

I've also requested of the USCIS that this data be made available in an off-line form so I don't have to query it online so slowly. If they agree, and I'm not holding my breath, then this would all be moot, but I thought I'd see if there is any interest, other than my own!

I was also intrigued about this and did a little experimenting on my own. I didn't realize that you could enter ANY sequence of codes into the USCIS website and it'd pull up the information about that application. I'd be careful about asserting that it is "public information", but clearly based on the way the USCIS contractor has coded the app its "publicly accessible".

An idea that occurred to me might be a workable alternative and spread the effort as thin as it could possibly go, while spreading the workload among those who would benefit the most. The idea would be to code the executible process as an applet that would execute when VJ users access a common location (e.g. VJ Home) or function (e.g. Calculate Timeline). The applet might do a small number of queries of the USCIS website and pass the retrieved information back to the VJ db where it would be stored, mined, and tabulated.

The key would be to make sure its implemented in a fashion that passes IP of the executing system (VJ user) rather than the applet source (VJ server) where the code is located and data is stored. I'm sure you'd figure out that you'd have to implement a queue to store numbers and state (e.g. initial query, follow-up query), as well as checking to be sure that those given to process actually executed to completion. You could also schedule the work queue based on common sense heuristics to establish priority (e.g. more important to determine TYPE of app, not likely to change within days after changes).

I'm sure the VJ Commander would want to see it all tested, but might be willing to provide statistics on potential places where the applet might run from. This could give you an indication whether the theoretical method would work. Another key would be to make sure that the applet execution wouldn't slow down VJ User access to the VJ site. That would just be annoying.

[totes 0]

I have no idea where I actually entered the following originally, but here in this thread was my intention!

I don't know if anyone would be interested in the information, but I've been working on some tools to 'mine' the data on the USCIS site. It's all public information, after all, and I've been curious how many petitions get filed each day, and how many are I129F petitions.

I have the code all done but the USCIS has thrown me a curve - they have monitors in place that check how many requests are coming from a given IP (or possibly gateway), and they 'shut off' access for 2 or 3 days if you exceed whatever the limit is. There is a flood check for a short duration, and after I slowed my requests down (one lookup every 15 seconds) I hit a longer duration monitor that also shut me down.

So my next try will be to slow my code WAY down (maybe one lookup every 2 to 5 minutes), but I have already determined that the average number of petitions received by the California Service Center is around 4000 (or more) (my code has a binary search component that can determine the number of petitions in about 14 searches). To determine which are I129F petitions (or any other type) I have to query each individual petition. Once I know which ones are I129F, I log the numbers so that I can watch for status changes on subsequent days.

So if I query 1 case every 2 minutes, it will take 8000 minutes, or 134 hours, or nearly 6 full days. And that's just to locate the receipt numbers for a single day. To scan all of July (our filing month) will take about 117 days (21 fiscal days in July, or so)! I would eventually like to give this code to VJ so they don't have to rely on users to input timelines, and they would gain access to a ton of more petitions. I have already contacted VJ and they are interested - if I can get it to work.

Why do all of this? Because I can, and I want to. It's an interesting technical challenge. Would there be anyone out there reading this who would like to donate some of their computer time? I could provide you the code (it's written in python) along with the instructions, and we could split up the days in July of 2007, in order to locate the petitions we're interested in.

I've also requested of the USCIS that this data be made available in an off-line form so I don't have to query it online so slowly. If they agree, and I'm not holding my breath, then this would all be moot, but I thought I'd see if there is any interest, other than my own!

I was also intrigued about this and did a little experimenting on my own. I didn't realize that you could enter ANY sequence of codes into the USCIS website and it'd pull up the information about that application. I'd be careful about asserting that it is "public information", but clearly based on the way the USCIS contractor has coded the app its "publicly accessible".

An idea that occurred to me might be a workable alternative and spread the effort as thin as it could possibly go, while spreading the workload among those who would benefit the most. The idea would be to code the executible process as an applet that would execute when VJ users access a common location (e.g. VJ Home) or function (e.g. Calculate Timeline). The applet might do a small number of queries of the USCIS website and pass the retrieved information back to the VJ db where it would be stored, mined, and tabulated.

The key would be to make sure its implemented in a fashion that passes IP of the executing system (VJ user) rather than the applet source (VJ server) where the code is located and data is stored. I'm sure you'd figure out that you'd have to implement a queue to store numbers and state (e.g. initial query, follow-up query), as well as checking to be sure that those given to process actually executed to completion. You could also schedule the work queue based on common sense heuristics to establish priority (e.g. more important to determine TYPE of app, not likely to change within days after changes).

I'm sure the VJ Commander would want to see it all tested, but might be willing to provide statistics on potential places where the applet might run from. This could give you an indication whether the theoretical method would work. Another key would be to make sure that the applet execution wouldn't slow down VJ User access to the VJ site. That would just be annoying.

This sounds great but you might want to check and see what you agreed to when you initially joined the USCIS site, just because something is accessible on a website doesn't mean that it is necessarily legal to query and extract information, especially personal information. I'm not opposed to the idea at all, I just wouldn't want to see anyone or the group get in to any trouble and/or risk any pending petitions.

Just some thoughts.

[janaus 0]

Mine's now showing Dec 3rd As we're punching a time clock that isn't exactly ideal but I guess we just have to take what comes and keep our fingers crossed

Not feeling too bad about Jeremy leaving - we still have a couple of days and it does make a huge difference knowing that one way or another we'll be together this time next year - even if we don't get the K-1 in time...

The ink I am waiting to dry is the printer ink!!! I have them all laid out still on my mum's bed and I figure I'll just wait til they are mostly dry then try and write on them really carefully

Ok - off to check USCIS (still no touches but then that may be a good thing...) then down to cook our Sunday Roast See you all (in the internet way!) soon!

x

Have u tried laser printer as ink smudges?

I don't even know what date to put on the cards and really haven't made any wedding plans yet. So my family went ahead and tentatively reserved a hall which I had to have them cancel. IT's a shame since it was really nice...

[Bill y Bella 0]

There are 57 July filers who currently have Nebraska or Texas on their Visa Journey timeline.

Since all of these petitions are being adjudicated in either California or Vermont, it seems to me that VJ statistics and projections would be more accurate if all the timelines showed either California or Vermont as the service center. As it stands now, any USCIS actions on the Nebraska and Texas petitions will not have any impact on the projections of CSC and VSJ petitions.

I believe the hard copy of the NOA1 shows where the petition is being adjudicated.

Does anyone else think it would be better for all of us if members with Texas and Nebraska petitions changed their VJ timeline service center to California or Vermont?

[NonyGuy 0]

so I just checked the list....

is it REALLY true that only 4 May filers have gotten their NOA2 from CSC??

This can't be right. Tell me I'm wrong