P+J

NOA1 NOA2 Interview Days from initial filing to interview

2011-12-12 2012-04-12 2012-05-14 157*

2011-12-05 2012-04-04 2012-05-15 166*

2012-01-25 2012-03-07 2012-05-22 120*

2011-11-04 2012-02-01 2012-02-28 118*

2011-09-16 2012-01-30 2012-02-23 162*

2011-09-16 2012-01-09 2012-02-22 163*

It can be done and many have achieved a pretty fast turn around time...The fact that you'll be approved at VSC is in your favor in terms of arriving at the NVC and receiving KEV# in a timely manner. Tell your fiance to be prepared to clear her schedule to attend the interview any day and any time. The main obstacle is getting the NOA2 now. VSC has not performed well in that department at all lately.

in about 3 weeks i will be with sveta in ukraine for 4 weeks hopes was that mid aug have interview and sep bring her back texas so she not deal with fling alone but with how vsc has seem slow down some has anyone seen how long after uscis approval till interveiw is for kyiv lately? also if we get uscis approval mid aug would it still be doable have visa in hand in 2-3 weeks?

2-3 weeks is highly unlikely but you might be able to pull off 4-6 weeks. Vermont seems to transfer it's approved petitions more quickly to NVC on average (although some cases lag behind). So looking at the best case scenario. You're approved and you have KEV # in about 15 days. Then it arrives at the embassy about a week later. Now you're up to 21 days (but could be faster or slower). Finally give another week for input into the system (28 days). At this point it really depends on having all supporting documentation ready for the interview as well as your fiance's flexibility in terms of attending the interview at any possible date or time. Some have been able to schedule an interview at Kiev for a date only 3 days after calling (although many opted not to do this because they were not ready)or the provided dates did not work into their schedule. Kiev has a fast turn around time. Let's put the absolute fastest it could be done at around 35-40 days after NOA2. But first you'll need that NOA2 in a timely manner. VSC has not been achieving that lately...But afterwards, with a little luck. Anything is possible.

Thursdays seem to be the big day since early May.

Yup. You're right about that. Hopefully the trend will continue tomorrow.

I called USCIS today to see if they would let me file a service request... She started doing it, then said she had to check to see what date VSC is processing first. They are still claiming Jan 9th. So I asked her how often that info gets updated because they have been saying Jan 9th for over a month. She said it is updated each month on the 15th. Then quickly added that she has seen it take up to the 23rd for the update. OMG they have an answer for everything. Call back on Monday I guess.

Yeah they told me it updates between the 15th and 20th. but guess it's 23rd now too. Or maybe that's when it would be reflected in the system? who knows. I just hope we have some more luck on VJ tomorrow or Friday...Approvals rates for VJ filers have stayed pretty weak!

What does "touched" mean in your timeline? Thanks

create an account on USCIS and add your petition to it. You will see that it lists a last updated section. It indicates the last time someone physically handled your file..

Hi all. Just to give you a little background, I filed for a K1 visa using an attorney before I discovered VJ, and I've regretted it ever since finding this website. That said, I got an RFE (email notification 7/13, hardcopy was received by the lawyer today). I'm not sure if I'll actually get a hard copy of the RFE- kinda hoping I will because I don't trust my lawyer- but as of now, the lawyer is the only one who got it. It said we need proof of meeting. Here is what I gave the lawyer to send in the initial filing:

1. 14 Pictures printed on 5 pages, each picture containing a description of location, the date it was taken, and names of individuals in each picture (mostly us, but sometimes family and friends with us).

2. Flight itineraries from both Rob and myself for each visit

3. Hotel itineraries for my visits (he always stayed at my place when he was here).

4. Passport pictures and stamps (did not submit all the blank pages, just the stamped ones and the front page with the identification part)

5. Receipts from a few things from my one of my visits to London (train tickets mostly from December of 2010).

6. Not that it's proof that we met in person (of course we did, though), but I also submitted about 30 emails and handwritten cards and letters.

I'm thinking the two things I should do are get copies of every page of both of our passports and see if I can try to scrounge up actual boarding passes from our visits. Admittedly, I'm not the most sentimental person so I probably don't have that many boarding passes. Anyway, the lawyer is saying that all I submit is the passport. I obviously have little trust in the lawyer, and I'm turning to you fine (and smarter) people to perhaps give me some direction about what else I can/should provide. Should I resubmit the evidence that was previously submitted?

Any help you can provide will be appreciated

Other than submitting copies of the boarding passes, I have absolutely no clue how you would respond to this RFE. You should have satisfied the requirement merely with the passport pictures and stamps (in addition to all the extra proof you submitted which was secondary evidence anyway). Sounds like someone lost something along the way, or there was a mistake that occurred during adjudicative review of the petition. Maybe describe the circumstances of the meeting? Although really the only requirement is the submission of proof that a meeting occurred a maximum of 2 years before filing the petition. Even if the passport stamps weren't dated they should have aligned with the itineraries. A strange RFE indeed. Especially if it asked for proof of meeting. You already provided the evidence....

Oh wow 26 out of 66! Thanks for the info!

Well then they just keep skipping our petitions haha (me, Paul, vosnmars haha)

ha. I know right. They don't want to approve us. Someone must want to see how big this thread can get. Hope we're tomorrow or Friday. We need a day on here with 7-8 VJ approvals.

VSC approved a January filer (Russia) around your time period. So hang in there, almost there....

I guess i got 2 more months to go.. :(

Hope so man. And I hope that you will be saved from this length of time between NOA1 and NOA2. I think things will be better for the months that filed after us. February might get a little aftershock from this. But hopefully by the time they reach March things are more reasonable again. They'll have to pick up again at some point. No one should have to wait this long just for NOA2. Before this kind of wait happened occasionally. Just going through a time right now when it's the norm I guess. Hope it's over soon.

That would be great!

Yes. It will be great when we can all migrate over to that one. Good times ahead. VSC just needs to take care of business now.

haha I wonder how many threads have reached our epic length...thanks to VSC slownesss...lol

sad morning saying good bye to my baby...i couldnt look at her too long cause it brought too much tears to our eyes....YYYYYYYYYYYY USCIS YYYY?, thats all i wanna ask WHY are we subjected to this. I hope i get to hold her in 2 months...thats my only wish

Yeah. It's torture. I felt the same way when I left Dominican after our vacation. This is just taking so long. And even the rate of approvals on VJ has remained abysmal. I would think we'd be seeing more than 1 or 2 a day right now...Hopefully tonight will yield something.

well 1 approval so far on VJ today. 1/23. Definitely hope we'll see quite a few more by tonight..needs to pick up now..this week is going by fast.

Day 163

182...

are you contacting your congressman today or tomorrow? I think we will wait till Monday after we hit 6 months this Friday just so we pass the 6 months and they can't tell us we are within processing time the whole day on that 6 month's day... knowing them, it's possible haha

Yes. Decided to wait until tomorrow for the office to initiate any contact with USCIS..because knowing how they operate, I don't want to leave any chance that they try to say today is still within normal processing time haha. However, Katchoo's Congressman was able to push an expedite through exactly at 6 months..Waiting one more day for my Congressman to act isn't so bad. So I think I'll do it. Although I will phone them today to explain the situation in greater detail.

Guys, don't be alarmed by the number of RFE's that are being sent out, please!

When I went through the petitions for all of December a heck of a lot of RFE's were sent out anyway. It's perfectly normal! There are a lot of people out there that don't read instructions or do need additional information. I even mentioned it earlier in this thread that I was surprised at the number of RFE's that I was seeing. It's nothing out of the ordinary at all

Glad to hear it..It would be awful to be arbitrarily hit with an RFE after waiting so long...Just hope today I'll receive approval..

and today is officially 6 months for me..we need a good day here on VJ. CSC approvals of VJ associated timelines is still blowing us away..They'll be half way through March soon, and we can't even get them to finish January.

there is this theory about RFEs that the adjudicator gives it so the clock can restart for them and they have more time. If that is true, it's horrible and heartless but why am I even surprised?It's exactly like this whole process!

wow. if that is true, it's just down right evil and it should be illegal!

Hopefully Vermont will approve some of our petitions tomorrow. Terrible day today for VJ users. CSC was really pumping the K1s out. very disappointing. It's crazy to look at Igors list now and see the number of pending petitions. Especially for February. I wonder if Vermont will end up sending some petitions to Cali..The backlog is immense.

Not A SINGLE APPROVAL today!!! At least not in VJ. What in the world is Vermont doing?

I called today for the first time and tried to put a Service Request but got denied!! LOL!

5 Months 11 days is not long enough, like somebody previously said, 6 month is now the new 5 month.

Stay strong people!

we had a few approvals from the list Sabi compiled..They started to break into some more 1/20 NOA1s, but still limited levels of consistency....hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. We all need it!

Well, actually, it doesn't make sense AT ALL!!! saying 5 months as your normal processing time in your website and saying 6 months on phone does not make sense to me at all! In fact, nothing in this "journey" makes sense to me anymore

they make up the rules as they go along...literally...they can put a processing date in the database and even prevent the vast majority of petitioners from pushing a service request through...It's the wild west of immigration...

Please do I am wondering how does it work and if they are not going to get the same reply... Somehow I feel nothing will work but we will see

Yes. I'm very curious to see what happens. I've hit a brick wall every single time..but it seems this process is just inconsistent in every way. Some people receive service requests although the processing date is earlier than their received dates. Some have success with a congressional inquiry while others receive the same response that the petitioner is provided. ha. Seems impossible to figure anything out right now. All I do know is they need to get busy adjudicating! hope today isn't going to be this slow..

Good news ! My fiance congressman put an expedite on our petition, we hit the 6 months mark today. Hopefully NOA2 will come very soon

Also, Katchoo your received date is 1/17 when you input your receipt number correct?

did you ring them and asked? did they know what were you talking about?

I am just worrying if our congressman office knows about all those procedures...

Sabi, I will let you know what happens tomorrow when my Congressman goes for the expedite. Apparently the processing date updates this week too (according to a CSR) She expects it to change to either 1/18 or 1/20. But they still wouldn't put a service request in. But I'm going Congressional route anyway so hopefully this will do the trick..or I could get some good news tonight. But not counting on it. Seems slow again today.

No changes on the reported processing date (not surprised still January 9th) but the CSR did say that this date is typically updated between the 15th and 20th of each month...so it will be interesting to see if there is a change this week. Looks like Congressman here I come.

Good news ! My fiance congressman put an expedite on our petition, we hit the 6 months mark today. Hopefully NOA2 will come very soon

Hooray. Excellent news. I'll be doing mine tomorrow.

Our Congressman's office is contacting VSC again on our behalf this week to get an update to our RFE now that we've sent back what they need. We'll see what kind of response we receive this time. Our RFE says a minimum of 14 days for them to process, but she is calling this week anyway...

The same day they initially contacted VSC we got the RFE... like within hours...

PS: We never initiated a service request.

Interesting that they RFEd the same day as they received a Congressional inquiry. What did they RFE for? Really hoping we see a better day at VSC today.