MAY 2023 K1 to NOA2 to NVC to EMBASSY

[GinoNiña 182]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:39 PM, WestHighlander said:

Everyone gets it. Technically, the I-797 IS the NOA2. It just means the USCIS has finished dealing with your case and is moving you over to the NVC. Unfortunately, there's currently a three-month backlog at the NVC, so it'll probably be the end of August / beginning of September before your petition reaches the NVC. 

I dont think the backlog is at nvc. Its the transition between uscis and nvc. According to this, they are right on time: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html

When we get our noa2, uscis is done with us. they have nothing to do with us anymore. the travel time between them and nvc is very slow. my opinion. 

 

[WestHighlander 64]

34 minutes ago, GinoNiña said:

the travel time between them and nvc is very slow. my opinion. 

True, but it looks like that's deliberate. Rewind about 6 months to the end of last year, and the turnaround time from NOA2 to "Ready" at NVC was about 6 weeks. Then, in January, USCIS brought a ton of new staff on stream to clear the backlog of petitions, and since then the number of cases processed daily has almost tripled. The problem is that while USCIS' capacity has increased massively, the NVC's capacity has stayed exactly the same, so they're asking USCIS to hold completed petitions until they have space for more, and it's that holding time which is getting longer and longer. At the moment it looks like the holding time is inceasing by around 30 days for every calendar month that passes because USCIS is operating at approximately triple the speed that the NVC can handle. Unless the NVC brings more staff on stream in their offices (which there's no sign of them doing), it looks like the delay between NOA2 and "Ready" at NVC will continue to increase until USCIS has cleared all of their backlog, which won't be until sometime in 2024. 

[GinoNiña 182]

I dont get it. if you go to the link for  nvc web and read about their timeframe. they are operating at a normal  pace. They have the current creation timeframe and case review within a few weeks..

[Vulpis 26]

2 hours ago, WestHighlander said:

True, but it looks like that's deliberate. Rewind about 6 months to the end of last year, and the turnaround time from NOA2 to "Ready" at NVC was about 6 weeks. Then, in January, USCIS brought a ton of new staff on stream to clear the backlog of petitions, and since then the number of cases processed daily has almost tripled. The problem is that while USCIS' capacity has increased massively, the NVC's capacity has stayed exactly the same, so they're asking USCIS to hold completed petitions until they have space for more, and it's that holding time which is getting longer and longer. At the moment it looks like the holding time is inceasing by around 30 days for every calendar month that passes because USCIS is operating at approximately triple the speed that the NVC can handle. Unless the NVC brings more staff on stream in their offices (which there's no sign of them doing), it looks like the delay between NOA2 and "Ready" at NVC will continue to increase until USCIS has cleared all of their backlog, which won't be until sometime in 2024. 

If your speculation is true, then that's an unfortunate reality that we're just gonna have a 1:1 trade of wait times and everyone is just gonna be waiting the same amount of time as the systems were predicting before USCIS started blasting through cases.

[GinoNiña 182]

On a separate subject. has anyone been filling out their I-34 form yet? this form is confusing as hell....

[0508 57]

1 minute ago, GinoNiña said:

On a separate subject. has anyone been filling out their I-34 form yet? this form is confusing as hell....

no i haven't started this yet but i have started the ds-160. i thought the ds-160 was only valid for 30 days but our lawyer said we could start it...! the amount of documents is unreal lol

[Pangoleen 66]

On 6/1/2023 at 4:13 AM, Bh_sarah said:

[...] but now some people are reporting USCIS is telling them to wait 180 days, which is ridiculous seeing the I-129fs expire in 4 months.

Where have you heard that? Every time we've managed to get a hold of an agent we got the 90 day spiel personally. Almost 18 months in and I'm just so tired, we're only 10 days away from the deadline now and the idea of USCIS even then potentially refusing to do anything about it sends chills down my spine. Would probably hire a lawyer at that point.

[Bh_sarah 942]

1 hour ago, GinoNiña said:

I dont get it. if you go to the link for  nvc web and read about their timeframe. they are operating at a normal  pace. They have the current creation timeframe and case review within a few weeks..

The NVC timeframes page takes in consideration the cases that already arrived to them, not the approval day of the cases that USCIS is sending to NVC. Example: they say they are working on cases received on May 4th. But from what I’m seeing, these are cases that were approved in March, which would mean USCIS took 2 months to send the case to NVC. I’m saying that because I haven’t seen any April case yet get a positive answer from the NVC inquiry, all they are getting is that they have not received the case yet.

 

26 minutes ago, Vulpis said:

If your speculation is true, then that's an unfortunate reality that we're just gonna have a 1:1 trade of wait times and everyone is just gonna be waiting the same amount of time as the systems were predicting before USCIS started blasting through cases.

I think this is true for the cases approved in the first wave and cases from April 22 and forward. I was expecting to be approved in 440 days, then they started speeding up and I thought I’d be approved in 400 days like the filers in my month… but nope. So I’m getting the NVC wait without having traded anything on the I-129f phase

 

23 minutes ago, GinoNiña said:

On a separate subject. has anyone been filling out their I-34 form yet? this form is confusing as hell....

I-134? I won’t do it now because the form expires on July 31st. I’ll wait for the new version as I’m not expecting an interview until September.

[Vulpis 26]

6 minutes ago, Bh_sarah said:

I think this is true for the cases approved in the first wave and cases from April 22 and forward. I was expecting to be approved in 440 days, then they started speeding up and I thought I’d be approved in 400 days like the filers in my month… but nope. So I’m getting the NVC wait without having traded anything on the I-129f phase

I'm expecting my NOA2 later this year; I'm just watching and sometimes participating in these other threads to gauge how things are going. I sincerely hope that increases aren't going up lockstep cause that would mean potentially adding another year on top of the wait times for those who are filing this year. AKA  a true 1:1 trade of wait times and it just ends up sticking at 600+ days from start -> interview.

[Bh_sarah 942]

Just now, Pangoleen said:

Where have you heard that? Every time we've managed to get a hold of an agent we got the 90 day spiel personally. Almost 18 months in and I'm just so tired, we're only 10 days away from the deadline now and the idea of USCIS even then potentially refusing to do anything about it sends chills down my spine. Would probably hire a lawyer at that point.

Someone on the FB group called and reported the agent said 180 days. I would disregard that. Seems they keep adding 30 days to the count whenever people keep calling, it’s crazy. 

[Bh_sarah 942]

11 minutes ago, Vulpis said:

I'm expecting my NOA2 later this year; I'm just watching and sometimes participating in these other threads to gauge how things are going. I sincerely hope that increases aren't going up lockstep cause that would mean potentially adding another year on top of the wait times for those who are filing this year. AKA  a true 1:1 trade of wait times and it just ends up sticking at 600+ days from start -> interview.

Ohhh I see. Let’s hope they address the NVC delay soon by hiring more people and ramping up processing. Or else it will only get longer with USCIS speeding up (assuming it’s NVC that is backlogged and USCIS not sending petitions in time because of that). I don’t think I ever thought about the quantity of days until interview, I hope I get to the end before 600 seeing I’m on day 463 haha I just don’t know anymore.

[GinoNiña 182]

58 minutes ago, Bh_sarah said:

The NVC timeframes page takes in consideration the cases that already arrived to them, not the approval day of the cases that USCIS is sending to NVC. Example: they say they are working on cases received on May 4th. But from what I’m seeing, these are cases that were approved in March, which would mean USCIS took 2 months to send the case to NVC. I’m saying that because I haven’t seen any April case yet get a positive answer from the NVC inquiry, all they are getting is that they have not received the case yet.

 

I think this is true for the cases approved in the first wave and cases from April 22 and forward. I was expecting to be approved in 440 days, then they started speeding up and I thought I’d be approved in 400 days like the filers in my month… but nope. So I’m getting the NVC wait without having traded anything on the I-129f phase

 

I-134? I won’t do it now because the form expires on July 31st. I’ll wait for the new version as I’m not expecting an interview until September.

You  have a point on I-134. 

So the reason behind uscis not sending the noa2 to nvc is because they are backlog? I checked on the vj timelines and noticed February was the last month filers waited only for 30 days. Then came  March at 60 days. Then cricket for April. It doesnt make sense. does not add up. 

[FilledesEtoiles 336]

8 hours ago, Vulpis said:

If your speculation is true, then that's an unfortunate reality that we're just gonna have a 1:1 trade of wait times and everyone is just gonna be waiting the same amount of time as the systems were predicting before USCIS started blasting through cases.

I have been looking at the average time for case creation over the past few years, and it's about 2 months average. So that doesn't change much, I think we should stay positive. The rest of the process after that will be different for everyone as it depends on the local embassy and available appointments.

[FilledesEtoiles 336]

8 hours ago, 0508 said:

no i haven't started this yet but i have started the ds-160. i thought the ds-160 was only valid for 30 days but our lawyer said we could start it...! the amount of documents is unreal lol

Can you please post the link for that? I thought we needed a case number in order to start it?

[Tere2022 62]

I’m in the same boat as this group so I understand the frustration. I’ve accepted that it’s going to take at least 3 months. So seeing all these discussions about why or whether it is 2, 3, or 6 months seem to only add to the stress you all may be feeling?

 

let’s be happy we got our NOA2 and go enjoy life for another 1-2 months before we freak out again 😊