WestHighlander

Well, folks, I got there in the end. Just got back to Scotland from London after my interview on Friday morning at the US Embassy.. And we were APPROVED. What a bloody palaver it's been getting here, but it was worth it in the long run. This feels like the right time to offer huge thanks to everyone in this group who has helped me out with advice and info over the last two years. The timeline: I-129F filed: January 7th, 2022. NOA1: January 13th, 2022. NOA2: May 10th, 2023. NVC case number: August 17th, 2023. Medical: August 24th, 2023. Interview: September 22nd, 2023. APPROVED: September 22nd, 2023. Total time from filing I-129F to approval: 20 months and 15 days. Visa expected in the post sometime in the next 7 - 14 days.. Planning to fly over to Washington State on or around October 31st.

Well, we made today's mail-shot.. After 20 months, it's finally heading for London. 🙂 My fiancee got the K1-FTP e-mail this morning. Here's hoping that goes to "ready" before too long.

Very relieved to report that we finally got our case number today after 93 days via our fourth public inquiry. 🙂 Hopefully it'll be in the mail to London by the end of next week..

It's been over a month since our first public inquiry, and that's when we got the "awaiting data entry" reply. The second one (two weeks later) said the same thing, and they haven't replied at all to the one we sent after that. Fingers crossed that we're all in the same shipment and get updates next week..

Yes, my fiancee sent another inquiry off yesterday morning after we passed the 90-day mark. Fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath.. Some people I've been speaking to tonight in the UK K1 Visa Facebook group are reporting waits of nearly 120 days, so I'm resigned to another 3 - 4 weeks before we hear anything. Anything earlier will be a bonus!

OK, so I'm officially starting to get slightly concerned now.. Still no case number after 91 days, and the NVC hasn't replied to our last public inquiry (sent nearly 2 weeks ago on July 26th). Anyone else over the three-month mark and still in limbo?

Congratulations! At least you can get into the CEAC system now and track it. I'm on Day 85 now.. Still no case number, and waiting for a public inquiry response from last Wednesday (July 26th). I'm hearing about some people waiting over 120 days for case numbers at the moment, so hopefully we're not still waiting at the beginning of September..

We just sent in a third inquiry to the NVC; hopefully we're not pushing our luck! We're on Day 79 since NOA2 (May 10th), and we've had three "awaiting data entry" replies over the last three weeks, so it's definitely been there for a while. My boss is getting impatient for me to give them a date when I'll be quitting, but I can't even give them an estimate until we get the "Ready" update through CEAC. I've seen a few people with NOA2s around the same time as ours getting case numbers this week, so hopefully ours is imminent. Yours too, @Bh_sarah. Fingers crossed..

Hello, folks.. My fiancee and I are rapidly approaching the point where I'll have to make an appointment for a K1 visa medical in London (we're on Day 77 since NOA2, awaiting NVC case number), and I'm collecting all the documents I'll need to take with me. I'm wondering if anyone with experience of the process can tell me if I'll have any problems due to being unable to obtain a letter from the consultant who treated me almost 10 years ago for liver disease. I was extremely ill at the time (May 2014), and I was diagnosed with idiopathic cirrhosis of the liver. It's the only major illness I've ever had in my 51 years, and fortunately I recovered well; the consultant at the hospital discharged me after three years' close monitoring and my condition has been stable ever since. When I knew I was going to have to go through the visa medical, I called the hospital to try to obtain a letter from the consultant who treated me at the time, but he has retired and is no longer available, so the only record of my illness will be whatever appears on my GP summary. Will this be enough to satisfy the physician at the medical, or is there a possibility I'll be denied on medical grounds?

We did do one public inquiry last week.. Apparently they've received it and it's awaiting data entry. Our plan was to give it until 90 days, then query it again if my fiancée still hasn't heard anything. We didn’t want to antagonise them by pestering them constantly and risk getting shoved to the back of the queue!

It doesn't look that way.. We filed in January 2022 and waited over 16 months before being approved on May 10th. We're 65 days in and still nothing from the NVC, so it doesn't look like there's any connection between waiting time for approval and waiting time for the NVC.

For anyone needing a UK ACRO, the processing times are not too bad at the moment. I sent my application off a couple of days after our petition got approved on May 10th, and I had the certificate in my hand by June 1st. Mine was pretty simple for them to do, admittedly, because I have no record at all, so some applications may take a bit longer.

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.

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.

Yep, that sounds about right time-wise. I hope I can get the visa in my hand by the beginning of October because I have to give the council a month's notice of moving out of my house and I would rather not have to buy any more fuel for the heating if it drags on into the autumn! Also, it's Tana's birthday on November 1st, so it would be nice for her if I could get over there by then. As for the wedding itself, we had a chat about it a couple of weeks ago, and what with the time-line looking the way it does, we decided to just go ahead with a "paper wedding" as soon as I arrive (i.e., just get married at the city hall with a couple of witnesses), simply so we can get the paperwork to file for AOS right away. We'll have the "proper" wedding sometime next summer rather than try to squeeze it in as a rush-job around Thanksgiving.