JD2

My coworker got her interview: 12/27/24 NOA1 1/17/25 Biometrics Reuse & Active Review 1/27/25 Interview Scheduled 3/4/25 Interview Date

You have to add it manually to your online account. I put my online account number in the I-129F and I still had to add it manually. That was back in 2021 so things may have changed.

Did biometrics today then a couple hours after got an update said Case is Being Actively Reviewed. 12/11/24 - I-751 NOA1 1/22/25 - Biometrics 1/22/25 - Active Review

There's also the issue that, assuming it works, the more people do it, the less it'll work.

"Once USCIS approves the I-130 petition, the immigrant visa is available and there is no longer eligibility for K status. Since your immigrant visa petition has been approved and an immediate relative visa is available, your spouse no longer requires the issuance of a K-3 visa to await adjudication of the immigrant visa petition. Therefore, your I-129F visa petition is denied." Correct. By law, the K-3 is meant to come to the US to await I-130 approval. They can't administratively close an I-129F for no reason. I think by regulation, USCIS must issue a NOID before denying any petition unless you no longer qualify (like in our case). Now, who knows if it actually helps or not. I did see someone post that on Lawfully that the average time to denial for an I-129F for K-3 was significantly less than the time to approval for an I-130. If you assume they were denied due to approved I-130, you can deduce that the K-3 helped to some extent but those are a lot of assumptions and Lawfully is probably a small sample size too.

When I was thinking about the I-129F, so many people told me theoretical problems with it but I've never seen a single case of someone hurting from filing other than a little bit of time and postage. If a K-3 were approved, there would have to be some freak delay in the I-130 at USCIS so would it really be so bad? I saw a case on here. I'll try to find it. If I remember correctly, UK beneficiary, I think Chicago based petitioner. During Covid, USCIS asked for an interview of the petitioner (which the I-130 form instructions says is possible). But, due to Covid, the field office was closed so they were stuck. He filed the I-129F and actually got a K-3 approved and his wife came over and adjusted status.

They can't close the K-3 without a reason. Mine was closed after I-130 was approved. I've never seen one closed without a valid reason and that is almost always I-130 approval.

So just staying and doing Adjustment of Status is not an option? She has to go back? If time to work authorization is your main concern, then CR-1/IR-1 is probably faster than K-1. Y'all can get married and file now but still consular process. You don't have to wait for her to leave.

There's a K-3 group on Facebook.

It's very simple. Only takes like 30-45 minutes and most of the evidence you already have from the I-130. I debated this myself when I filed. But, I concluded it shouldn't be up to individuals to self-restrict benefits they are legally allowed to apply for. It's up to Congress to get it's act together and change the laws.

They don't want to approve the I-129F and issue a K-3 so they quickly approve the I-130; or somehow it gets the attention of USCIS and they adjudicate the I-130. If nothing else, it gives an earlier case inquiry time. I and my brother both did it for our wives and we both got approvals in roughly 2/2.5 months. Did it help? or would we have gotten freakishly fast approvals anyway? Who knows? but it was free, easy, and I was worried during Covid and wanted to do everything I could.

They can go to any of the service centers. Ours went to Vermont.

If someone filed by paper at the Elgin Lockbox, how do we fill out our timeline? There's no option for Elgin. Only Online, Phoenix, Dallas/Lewisville, and Nebraska.

A co-worker of mine just did it. Her package was delivered on Dec. 28th and she got her SMS with case number on Jan. 15th and her money order was cashed on Jan. 16th. She filled the reduced fee section out but also wrote in her cover letter that she was applying for the reduced fee. She also put all the evidence she could to prove she qualified (her last 3 years tax transcripts, last month's pay stubs, and her last W-2). Might have been overkill but she figured it overlapped with other sections (e.g. tax transcripts). I don't know if it was the right move but she got her case number and they cashed her payment so we shall see.

My spouse is waiting for citizenship to change her name. It's free at that time and the form has a space for name change.

Sure, I would agree as long as the attorney, and more importantly their paralegals and associates, are savvy and conscientious. The last thing you want is to have to pay someone thousands of dollars then have them put more work onto yourself. I hired a lawyer for our I-130 and that happened to us. Repeated typos and misspellings and errors. And so I figured if I'm supplying everything and double checking everything anyway, why do I need them?

Why did you use an attorney? It's so simple.

You need to press your attorney for a refund for their mistakes and leave public reviews so others are aware. This is unacceptable.

Why not just get married and consular process for a CR-1? Then you'd have the Green Card rather than having to adjust status after getting a K-1. But, yes, you can file the K-1 while here.

Hello, asking for a coworker. She filed by paper because she qualified for the fee reduction. She mailed her paper N-400 filing on Dec. 23rd. It was delivered to the P.O. Box in Carol Stream, IL on Dec. 29th. But, her money order has still not been cashed and her G-1145 SMS has not arrived. Is this normal? Why is it taking so long?

I believe it but OP said the goal was to bring fiancé here as fast as possible

Is that still the case? Looking at the timelines, the K-1 seems to have picked up pace even when filtering for the Philippines. We withdrew our K-1 and filed CR-1 because K-1s were no better at the time. But, maybe things have changed post-pandemic?

You could include photos of the ultrasound or medical records. And/or, ask the doc to write an affidavit. We included records of our fertility treatment.

Got the biometrics appt. So far: 12/9/24 - Shipped; 12/11/24 - I-751 NOA1; 12/16/24 - Appeared on myUSCIS; 1/22/25 - Biometrics; National Benefits Center

I'm guessing they're consular processing so they'd have to go to a panel physician. If their panel docs are anything like India, they won't do anything without an interview letter. maybe contact the consulate or NVC and try to add the newborn on?