Antonia & Dian

I got a hold of a really nice officer but sad news for me....they had ordered an RFE yesterday but the person I spoke to isn't allowed to tell me what it's for...it's so frustrating after waiting over 4 months to get an RFE and knowing that it's going to take longer now, until I get the letter in the mail, once they receive it back and then waiting for the approval....I am so disappointed at our system it's unreal 

Hi, I have been following this thread for a while now but didn't have much to add since it's a waiting game.  I know the wait is killing everyone cause I am at 114 days (Sent 1/23 and received on 1/24 and Notice date 1/27).  But I wanted to write about my experience to encourage others to do the same if they felt the same.  I have not received an Approval letter yet and I was getting anxious and I was worried that there was something wrong with our application.  So on 5/18 I called USCIS and they gave me a Referral number and said an officer would call me back.  Later that night I received a call from one of the officers and he said that he had my case right in front of him and that I was approved and that everything looked fine and that I should receive my NOA2 in 2-3 weeks.  I thought it was strange that since we were approved, that it would take that long to receive the letter.  I waited, finally today I wanted to test my luck being my fiance's birthday, I hoped to give him good news.  I figured that I would just try to call NVC and ask if they received my case yet.  The lady at the center told me they opened the case on 5/18 (Weird and ironic since I called the California Center and they told me they had it right in front of them).  But anyways, to my surprise they gave me a case number and invoice number and said that this week the case should be leaving to go to the consulate in Naples, Italy.  Sorry, this is so long, but for anyone waiting, I would call the center and see what they say.  I was lucky, and I hope it would be the case for others waiting a long time.   The app still says "Case received" and I have been only informed by calling.  I haven't even received the NOA2 in the mail yet, but I have the case number and invoice number.  Hope this helps someone out there waiting...God Bless and good luck to everyone!

@dbmathis , @Antonia & Dian , @aradracing02 , @minkh , We are still waiting, (t's been 124 days for us now ). We contacted the Senator 5 days ago and haven't heard anything from them as well. I pray all of the January files left, will get a result soon!.

Yeah I'll send you a PM with my letter  

It honestly helped me a bit, because now I know my case is not lost lol and it's not buried in a box on the shelf. But rather on an officers desk... here's the response I got if it helps out any bit ... 
 
"
Hey Antonia – here is the response I got back from USCIS. Typically, when a case is with an officer, it is only a matter of time before a decision is issued – assuming they don’t need to request additional evidence. I would expect you will hear something directly from USCIS with 10-14 days but obviously they say it could be up to 30. Keep me posted, 
 
Re: I-129F Petition: 
Petitioner:
 
Good afternoon ....,
 
Thank you for your inquiry to California Service Center (CSC) Congressional Unit.
 
Our record confirms that the above referenced case is under review with an adjudication officer. The review is expected to be completed within 30 days. Please feel free to contact us if your constituent does not receive a notice of action* within 30 days. 
 
 *A notice of action may be in a form of Approval Notice, Denial Notice, Transfer Notice, Request for Evidence, Notice of Intent to Deny or Notice of Intent to Revoke.
 
We hope the information provided is helpful.  If we may be of assistance in the future, please let us know.
 
Respectfully,"
 
then i I asked when this email had been received ... 
"Hi Antonia – happy to help. I got the message Friday night (May 12). I know they are backlogged on a lot of applications right now but it’s good to hear your case is with an officer."

No problem. I googled who my congress person is, I think every state has different districts and there's a congressman or woman assigned to each district. You can put in your zip code and congress representative in google and it should come up. On their website there should be a contact tab and see if you can send them an email, they'll reply to you and ask for your receipt number and your fiancés name and they'll send you a form to sign for privacy info release and once they send it to USCIS, they have 48 hours to reply to your local rep. 

I sent a one page letter on how the fee has doubled and their processing time has doubled, how it's not fair that cases after mine have been approved, how the first week of May no one had any notifications on approvals and just said all that was a big concern and if I can get their assistance with sending an inquiry and thankfully it was done really fast. 

OMG guys! After 122 days, finally my fiancé and I got our approval (NOA1 date of January 13th). I cannot help but wonder if it is linked with the request we sent to our congresswoman on the 9th, but it would be very early. As our notice date says the 10th. I was so down and sad lately and now I am so relieved. In 2-3 months I will get to be with my loved one. My packet 3 is ready to be sent as soon as the case is assigned! 
 
Got an email from our lawyer while I was at work, I had to call my fiancé right away, and he was just getting home and sure thing he found our NOA2 in the mailbox as well! 
 
Just like everyone else, case still says received on the website.

Congrats! I'm also from Oregon so it's good to see that the letter comes within 4 days of approval. 

There's just a few of us January folks left! We can see that the RFE rate has stayed roughly the same over the past 2 weeks, so we can only assume the approvals (that we can't see online) have remained about the same too. Something around 70 per day. My guess is that we are mostly all approved and just waiting on the letter in the mail, or approval is right around the corner.

114 days since NOA1 we are finally APPROVED!!!!! 
 
After coming home from shopping for wedding bands I opened the mail and to my surprise our long-awaited NOA2 was sitting there. 
 
We are so overjoyed! 

Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.

1/20 received 
1/24 NOA1
 
still waiting  

1/20 received 
1/24 NOA1
 
still waiting  

We are trying to stay positive, its just really hard when it seems like everyone else is moving foward while we are stuck. 

@Ermin&Zijada, @Bitofanerd, @PR&PR, @notantifun..
We still need to wait as well. My fiance just arrived home and he didn't receive this special mail from USCIS yet. I pray for all of us will get this mail soon. 

Ive got some great news for everyone. Keep checking your Mailbox. Clearly the case status/Scans are inaccurate.
I got a reply today from my Congressman's office. So either the expedite or the inquiry worked, or both. Note that my case status STILL says Received.

 
 

Congrats! When was your NOA1? 

Hello! I am January filer and today I sent an email to my congresswoman, what kind of information did you provide to your congressman? If it's not private of course, I just want to make sure I didn't ask too much of them. 
Thanks! 

Good morning all!
 
Another week starts today!  No more long, unproductive, useless weekend feelings until 5 consecutive days of approvals and RFE's arrive first!  It should be a good week for a lot of you.  I can feel it.
 
I just got back from my trip to Colombia to see my fiance.  It turned out to be a perfectly planned trip as we got our NOA2 last week and celebrated together.  She was in much better spirits and we both now can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
I've noticed a lot of emotions building up in a lot of you and wanted to share my quick advice/experience.  The weeks leading up to my NOA2 I was beginning to become a mess.  I waited 109 days and past the estimated time by two weeks. The wait and the checking and the tracking was interfering with my daily life, my work, my happiness.  It is easy to blame the USCIS and get upset over their methods, but in reality we are nothing but 1 small stack of papers among thousands and thousands of stacks of papers. 
 
It wasn't till after I got my NOA2 approval that I realized that all my pain and suffering leading up to the NOA2 was not a product of the USCIS, but instead a self inflicted pain and misery.  I was doing it to myself.  We like to think our petition is the most important one.  The only one that matters to us.  Why is MY petition taking this long?  What did I do wrong?  Why are they skipping MINE?  When will I be approved?  But as I said, each one of us is 1 among thousands being processed.  And given the unconventional approval system, it is like a lottery of sorts.  But in our lottery, we are nearly guaranteed to be a winner as it is really hard to be rejected at this stage of the process.  You would know if you would be rejected and never would have submitted the petition in the first place.  Everyone here will receive approval, or RFE then approval.
 
The best things in life are worth waiting for.
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it takes to achieve it.
 
It's like torture being away from the one you love.  But a few months will be minuscule when compared to the lifetime of happiness that follows.  And I think we all can sacrifice a few months for a lifetime of happiness.
 
And for those of you with faith, let me add my favorite words of wisdom that has gotten me thru many situations in my life.  "God has perfect timing.  Never too early, never too late.  When it happens, it will be the exact right time, and it will be perfect."
 
Good luck to everyone this week!!!!
 

I'm going to take a break from Visa Journey for a bit. The pain of seeing others getting there approvals even though they have waited less time is tearing us apart. 106 days of torture!!!! Good luck everyone.

Know exactly how you feel! I've been feeling so discouraged and even more so now that's it's Friday and nothing, we're a Jan 20th received date...it sucks being so far away from your fiancé and especially with the time difference it's so hard! My fiancé is in Bulgaria and it's a 10 hour difference, we still talk every day for a few hours but it's not the same...wish they worked in order and were fair but I guess we have to wait next week! 

OH MY GOODNESS!
 
I turned my phone off to charge because I lost hope that our case was going to get touched this week, but when I turned it on, I got a notification saying our case status has changed. FINALLY!
 
We did get an RFE, though, but it's fine. I had a strong feeling we would get one because we mentioned that we met through OkCupid and I heard some people got an RFE because of it.
 
But yeah, whatever the RFE is about, we will take care of it as quickly as we can. I'm just so happy our case was finally worked on!!! Ugh I'm so happy!!!
 

Well looks like that Rogue Box is still out there... My phone just blew up with Texts from USCIS. 80 days from NOA1... On to NVC Now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for everyone else now 

On April 27, 2017, we approved your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number WAC1790203xxx. We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

9-11pm EST is now my most anticipated part of the day haha