Bh_sarah

This was super interesting to read, even though it's certain things changed from 2007 until now. Thank you for sharing it!! This question though: "I filed my now-husband's I129F about 2 years ago through Vermont. We are currently in the AOS phase and stuck due to FBI name check. Up until this point we were 'poster children' for the way K1 immigration SHOULD work - 106 days from filing to visa approval." 106 days. Imagine that!

I've skimmed through some and also got into a WhatsApp group and this is so true. I understand not anyone can deal with obsessing with data and processes like we do here, but people that simply had more than a year to understand it/get prepared, don't seem to know the first thing about it. Some confuse NOA1 with NOA2, some still think it's 8 months for approval, some think it's all processed in perfect order, etc. It's funny when people get NOA2, get all happy, but instantly freak asking everyone what's next... you should know what's next! haha it's like my family asking every week if I had any news and suggesting impossible solutions to make it faster when they have no idea what we're dealing with. Patience is key – and I say that as a person with little patience.

Can't say anything about March, but February 22 has had approvals since I started tracking, and no, the majority isn't expedite. Only 8 cases were expedite while 22 were not, and there are few expedites still waiting to be approved or were approved but haven't seen any movement in months. In my honest opinion, people tend to think USCIS do things in received, chronological order and only processes expedites sooner, that is not the case at all. They work in monthly groups and depends on the USCIS officer and the case as well. While one March 22 case got approved, that doesn't mean AT ALL that they are actively working in March, and the same applies to November, just because someone in date later than November was approved, doesn't mean they abandoned the month. It's unfortunate to see this, that's honestly why I stay away from FB K1 groups. Every case is different, we have no control over USCIS work, we are all in the same boat waiting for approvals. People can see it as unfair but they gotta think their case will also get approved before someone else's case filed earlier and I'm sure other people will look at it and say it's unfair as well. No need to create this terrible atmosphere of jealously and contempt.

Oooh, that looks great! Might try the same @mw & rg k1 idea on February cases too on Excel! Haha It’s great to visualize it illustrated like that and by week!

I second that! It would be great if we could make another K1 RFE Master List. Some people still post their RFE on the topic, but the Google sheet hasn't been updated in years.

Oh, gotcha! Thank you! (Thanks for pulling all of this as well, not an easy task!) I see now the 'in progress' bar, my bad. It might match the other months number then, I just automatically assumed people are giving up on the K1 due to the waiting times and AOS and going the CR1 route, but I'll wait for the final numbers. My assumption can be really wrong seeing how many filers join Visa Journey only to find out here that their lawyer's 6-8 month estimative is WAY off, it's sad.

I had to dig into my chat with my fiancé to find the date they changed from 12 months to 15.5 and it was November 2nd, 2022. So 4 months now. Talking about low numbers of cases filed… not sure if the numbers will go up any more on @Obllak's tracking but February 2023 total cases surprised me. Seems people are going through other immigration routes? I know February has less working days and I will have to see March to see if the cases ended up being received this month, but comparing to 2022 it is a significantly lower number. What do you all think?

If you're looking at the total numbers (not daily ones), it's just high compared to approvals because they were denied/rejected from the start. People that filed incorrectly, were ineligible to start with, got the wrong form, didn't pay the right amount, etc. And I noticed K3s that are approved show as "Case Closed Benefit Received by Other Means". That means the I-130 was approved, so they closed the 129f. Now, I don't know about denied K3s... Maybe it does happen that the I-130 is denied and the 129-f is then also denied at the same time.

I only tracked twice and in no detail because there wasn't anyone doing it. Now @Ngillet is working on it and posting numbers on the January thread:

Yep, that's how I read it too. It adds up each month, so July has a 1506 backlog because of the previous months pending/untouched being added.

Hi, February 2022 filers! We're in March, so that means we all are already a year into this. Unfortunately there hasn't been a lot of movement in February, but fortunately they started working on January so maybe we'll start seeing approvals in a month or two (being hopeful here!). So far these are the numbers up until the last day of February: 112 Approvals and Closed Cases 273 Denied and Rejected Cases 10 RFEs/RFERs 2974 Untouched Cases 94 Withdrawals You can find the whole data here. But please note that I don't run a script, so this is an approximate data from CaseTracker. Since the cases are scanned by groups of 500, there are a few January and March cases in the first and last groups, as well as there might be scattered January cases in other months groups I do not consider. I try to update this weekly and I do track expedites from as back as May. If anyone finds a script and wants to run it, please don't feel intimidated in any way and post them here as well!

I copied the table layout from February and March 2021 filers (and added a few things I thought were missing), so feel free to copy to your own spreadsheet as well! I started mine in May 2022, so only 3 months after I filed. I would say the earlier the better, there are less movement and you can track expedites and learn with it. I do use CaseTracker though, so it takes time, but then I don't need any script running. And awesome you're from Missouri! I am the beneficiary from Brazil, never thought I'd be living in St. Louis but here I am! Love happens! hahaha

Oh yes, you do have a point! But at the same time they could provide the case info only to the petitioner/beneficiary with a private online account, and then only provide transparency on quarterly or yearly reports. Let's hope they don't decide to do that in the future! haha

To be fair, sometimes I just feel so happy we are even able to publicly access these case numbers and status. Imagine being left in the dark for more than a year/only relying on personal accounts of cases being approved! I'd go crazy.

Also, they finally started working actively on January! That makes me happy as a February filer, but hoping all Oct, Nov and Dec filer are approved soon as well! 🍀

A lot of people seem to be sharing this without realizing this is for I-130 form, not I-129f. There hasn’t been much activity in February for a few weeks now.

This is mine. Not a script. I pull it manually from the CaseTracker app. Takes way more time and yes, I do rely on the app script, but works better for me at the moment.

February? 😮 Less than a year of waiting? EDIT: I see December on your timeline and now I see 2021 so it’s definitely December. Mini heart attack here being from February haha

Weird, huh? I see you're December, I'm February. Not sure why USCIS shows a different date when I'm logged in, but I go by the mail/letter one. Think it's more reliable.

Log out of the account if you’re looking for that “my case was received” screen with blue letters. You need to log out and write your case number here: https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do Unfortunately the logged option hasn’t been working for a while. And I usually don’t even use it because it shows a different received date for me and makes me confused (shows the 24th to me, when the non-logged one shows 22nd, same as NOA1 letter).

I love that you guys are talking about wedding plans – that means USCIS finally gave us some hope! Haha After a year waiting just for the petition to be approved, I'm honestly glad I didn't really make any concrete plans (such was paying for deposits). Had some dresses, photographers and venues in mind, but then the processing times wouldn't stop going up, and I kept seeing all venues fully booked for 2023 and the bridal stores I liked saying it needed to be ordered 5 months in advance... now I just want a quick wedding, a good ready to be worn dress from David's Bridal and maybe marry in the local city hall or chapel, all to file AOS quickly and start living our married life finally! haha I might start dream again when it's finally moved to the consulate but I think it will be winter and snowy and my outdoor wedding dream will also be ripped from me. But, with AOS now also being faster, we might be able to make a ceremony later in my home country or maybe a destination one in another country (if we even have the money after the fees)! We gotta keep dreaming!

Did you all see the latest video from USCIS analysis on YouTube? Doesn't come as much surprise to those following the numbers, but always good to have one more person confirming the new high in cases processed. According to him, USCIS received about 800 cases per week in 2022, and is now processing about 980 cases per week, finally starting to (slowly) reduce its backlog. https://youtu.be/VjxOXceSySc

I'd say this is because yesterday the 20th was a federal holiday – Presidents' Day. They are supposed to be back to normal today.

Based on my limited knowledge, it does seem that they think you're applying for K3, not K1, since K3 uses both I-130 and I-129f forms. I did a quick search here on VJ and didn't find any thread discussing the same situation. I would suggest posting this on a separate, unique topic and see if the most experienced members here would know/have experienced some case like yours.

I know we're all tired and stressed and frustrated, but let's not be too negative. I'm not a WhatsApp fan and I joined the group just to see what fellow filers are saying since there aren't many of us here on VJ. So far nothing made me even want to get out of it, it was actually nice seeing other people from my country there since there aren't any here on this thread. Remember we are all on the same boat so far, and to some people it's good to know they aren't alone, it helps them share their thoughts and feelings. If that's not your case, fine. I don't join Facebook groups because I like privacy, and I don't get that on Facebook. To some people VJ is too technical (and honestly the mobile version isn't the best). I like data, immigration dos and don'ts, trying to see real progress on things, and I like to do things on my own most of the time. Other people just want to maybe vent and connect with others, especially when the processing times are so high.