Countries with fastest process times

[brothasmith 0]

ive noticed some countries start to finish process is less than a month on average .  why is this ? a competent consulate or service center ? am i interpreting the stats wrong ? for example for Thailand the average time is 21 days based on the last 3 months  . seems unreal and Ecuador is only 14 days which seems almost impossible 

[SalishSea 18,080]

What part of the process are you referring to?  No one gets a K-1 visa after 2-3 weeks obviously.

[brothasmith 0]

if you go to K1 stats and it says Avg. Days between Consulate
Receiving Information from NVC
and Actual Interview

[SalishSea 18,080]

17 minutes ago, brothasmith said:

if you go to K1 stats and it says Avg. Days between Consulate
Receiving Information from NVC
and Actual Interview

Are you referring to VJ stats?

 

It does vary by consulate, considerably.  COVID has also impacted the wait times as well.

[Redro 4,611]

52 minutes ago, brothasmith said:

ive noticed some countries start to finish process is less than a month on average .  why is this ? a competent consulate or service center ? am i interpreting the stats wrong ? for example for Thailand the average time is 21 days based on the last 3 months  . seems unreal and Ecuador is only 14 days which seems almost impossible 

You need to look at the big picture.

How many people are applying for K1 visas from those countries/ consulate. 

 

December 

Bangkok 47

Guayaquil 19

Manila.      376

November

Bangkok.    51

Guayaquil.    15

Manila.          192

October 

Bangkok.       27

Guayaquil.     18

Manila.          192

 

More applicants. Longer waiting times. 

And I believe some consulates were not processing K1s for a few months so they have bigger backlogs to clear. 

Not sure where the beneficiary is. But, you can check out how many visas are being issued per month. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-nonimmigrant-visa-issuances.html

 

Also check out timelines for Thailand

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?op6=All&op66=All&op7=Thailand&op1=3&op2=&op3=1&op4=1&op5=5%2C6%2C8%2C10%2C11%2C13%2C14%2C15%2C16%2C17%2C18%2C20%2C21%2C22%2C25%2C26%2C27%2C28%2C108%2C110%2C111%2C208%2C210%2C211&cfl=

 

Only two interviews conducted in 2022 and the last interview conducted in 2021 was in October. Not a lot of people completing timelines. 

 

Ecuador has one interview in 2022 and another interview 2021/12 but then the next is from October

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?op6=All&op66=All&op7=Ecuador&op1=3&op2=&op3=1&op4=1&op5=5%2C6%2C8%2C10%2C11%2C13%2C14%2C15%2C16%2C17%2C18%2C20%2C21%2C22%2C25%2C26%2C27%2C28%2C108%2C110%2C111%2C208%2C210%2C211&cfl=0

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Kor2USA

[Chancy 6,243]

*** Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to K1 Progress Reports ***

 

[WeekendPizzaiolo 47]

18 hours ago, brothasmith said:

if you go to K1 stats and it says Avg. Days between Consulate
Receiving Information from NVC
and Actual Interview

Hi,

 

I realize it could be confusing. It was for me at first, but after a while you learn the bureaucracy. Indeed, weeks from start-to-finish is sadly too good to be true. The Consulate Receiving Information from NVC is a very late stage step in the process. Notice in the screenshot below, there are quite a few other steps before this that cumulatively add almost a year to the process:

• step 1: file I-129F and wait for first notice that filing was received (NOA1) - 14 day average
• step 2: wait for USCIS approval of I-129F and received second notice (NOA2) - 232 day average
• step 3: file sent by USCIS received and scanned by US State Department at National Visa Center (NVC Received) - 1-4 weeks (not shown above.. mine took 2 months!)
• step 4: NVC sends file to consulate (NVC Left) - 125 days
• step 5: consulate receives approved I-129F (Consular Receives) - ~1 week (consulate received, not show above)
• step 6: time between consulate receiving I-129F and interview (Packet 3, Packet 4, DS-160, Payment, and Interview) - 17 days
• step 7: visa issued if everything goes alright - 1-8 weeks (maybe even longer)

I would venture to guess that steps 4 and 6 have the most variability from consular post to post. Consulates tell the NVC when they are ready to process another batch. This is based on their workload and local circumstances. Some get more applications. Some get less. Some have more COVID restrictions. Some have less COVID restrictions. Some countries are considered high fraud based on historical statistics so they impose higher scrutiny that adds delay. Others are considered low fraud. Some countries adapted to COVID quickly. Other countries imposed a hard lockdown and strict requirements for reopening. All of these factors contribute to variation in processing times.

 

My consulate, Montreal, which is known for being most of the most efficient due before COVID was extremely slow due to local restrictions. I was stuck in step 4 for over twice the average listed above. I take an optimistic view. The K-1 stats averages are probably biased towards the pre-vaccine, long lockdown reality when many countries did not yet adequately adapt. As such, the average wait times might not reflect actual processing times if one applied today.

 

HTH