Frustrated with Processing Times

[SalishSea 17,970]

28 minutes ago, nschristiansen said:

I know that! You guys didn’t have to be so mean. I just tried to say what our friends did and how that person could have done things if he wanted the process to be faster. I never said that I’m an expert or anything. Because I am not. Either you all accept it or not, it’s how it happened. If you don’t want to believe, it’s fine. I’m not going to argue or reply here anymore. Just please try to consider, even after all those years and readings you did and spent, maybe one or two things you missed or changed over time. 

Bottom line for OP:   Adjusting status from within the US is not an option, since it would require lying to CBP and committing immigration fraud.

[TBoneTX 45,591]

2 hours ago, nschristiansen said:

I’m not going to argue or reply here anymore.

Member has indeed closed her account, so no need to argue with her any longer.

[Mr. Ross 13]

On 10/14/2022 at 3:19 PM, DorfMaster said:

This may be a waste of effort, but I am curious if there is any faster way to get my spouse-to-be into the US and living with me, as she has been struggling financially. I studied as much as I could the differences between K1 and CR1 (with K3) and was advised by a friend that works in immigration that we should go K1 route. We filed our 129f at the end of July this year and it we got NOA1 that it was received on 1Aug2022 and had begun processing at the California center. The approximate timelines are pretty disheartening. My fiance is a Canadian citizen, if it matters any.  I was just curious if we had made a mistake and should have just gotten married over there and filed for the 130. I wasn't sure if there was any way for her to move here while waiting on this processing timeline, had we went the other route. I read that the Biden administration was going to work to get times down to 6 months, I don't know if there has been any change to be hopeful for though. Thanks!

USCIS has been allocated $275 million dollars by the congress to hire new employees.  By October 2023 the K1 visa process will hopefully be a 6 month process from NOA1 to NOA2 once the new employees get properly trained.

[CaLi90 56]

On 10/15/2022 at 1:55 PM, DorfMaster said:

Alright, I might have to see if there are any around. It seems ridiculous that the whole immigration process is based around paperwork and a faceless entity lol.

Honestly I wouldn’t waste your money on lawyers. You have two options, stick with your K1 or get married and apply for spousal visa.
 

If I did mine over again, I would 100% choose to go the spousal visa route, I waited almost 2 years to get my K1 and was lucky my AOS only took 8 months, most are taking 12-15 months at least.

 

Problems I personally encountered:

K1 took 21 months (CR1s at the time were being approved quicker).

More expensive and time consuming as you have to pay and fill out forms for both K1 and AOS.

SSN was frustrating to sort and not having a bank account or Drivers License for 8 months. 

Not being able to work and have an income for many months. 
 

Many fiancés think this will be fine but when you could be waiting well over a year for an EAD/AOS decision on top of the K1 processing time, the lack of income, relying on the other spouse, and honestly you get bored just being at home. Even in NYC, the first few months were great, exploring and keeping busy, but then it just drags on and I have never wanted to work so much! Lol. This is from the beneficiary’s point of view. 
 

I understand you don’t wish to pay two sets of house bills, I get it, but until either the K1 or CR1 would be approved, this is just how it is. The problem is when the K1 is pending and you’ll be traveling, TSA could ask for ties to their home country to make sure there’s no move attempted, if your fiancé gets rid of their apartment, then you are questioned, it could look like an illegal move and they have a right to not let them in to visit. Unless she decides to move in with family over in Canada, and keeps her job etc. 

 

From the UK we get a maximum of 90 days on ESTAs, I think Canada is 6 months from what I have read. And only being an hour apart is incredibly lucky! Most fiancés are located far around the world and can only visit a couple times a year because of how expensive it is and work obligations etc. 

 

I’m just saying from my experience and if I was in your position, I’d get married and apply for CR1 and visit as much as possible, considering you’re so close to one another. Two months of waiting for the K1 is not a long time, so I would get out of that now and take the CR1 route. 
 

Good luck with your journey!

 

[Erik and Glydyl 26]

One thing to consider is that you would be starting the process over again from day one and though its only 2 months in, I read somewhere that USCIS is receiving an average of 850 new applications per week and the most they have been able to process so far is around 550 so they've been falling farther and farther behind each week since you filed your application. So you would start farther behind now than when you filed 2 months ago. I would be grateful you got your NOA1 when you did and hold onto your spot in line. I can empathize with you and how hard it is to wait so long. I have bad social anxiety and have no friends or family other than my fiance and the wait for me is hard and very sad because I am completely alone and she is on the opposite side of the planet, but I got my application in just a couple months before you and I would not want to go to the end of a line all over again that has grown so much since I first stepped into it.