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I will certainly send an inquiry. Is revalidation normal and if that's the reason, is there anything required of us to get the case on track to be selected for the embassy shipment? I suppose I can ask that of NVC as well. Just wondering if you know.

I tried USCIS and could not get a live person. Feared this. They always hang up on you and refuse to give a live person. i looked at the USCIS account online and am even more confused. The case.. was approved? Not the petition? Why would they send out another NOA2 and what does USCIS have to do with it?

The USCIS number is the same, yes not sure if there will be a new NVC case as a result though and if I have to wait the 2-4 weeks again

But I requested a case number and have been running status checks on it for six weeks…

Hey all: I just got another NOA2 in the mail. We received the first one the first week of March, Notice date 3/1/24, valid from 3/1-6/30. The new one has a new notice date of 5/8, valid until 9/7. Is this normal? What does it mean? Is there a duplicate case at the NVC? Is this just them getting a jump on an extension, halfway through the validity dates for some reason? How does this affect our timeline? No other updates have been sent from USCIS or NVC. Thanks for any info.

CONGRATS! That is super weird, agreed. It prompted me to CEAC check but no movement here. Ah well. So happy for you!

How long ago was your K1 and what was the length of time between NVC and the embassy? I feel like ten weeks is a lot longer than older reported timelines, which is why I'm getting worried. But I have no idea how to go about it. Senator got back to me today to say the reasons have to be valid to expedite, so maybe that's another way of saying I'm not being patient enough..? I didn't realize I was asking to expedite anything lol

As my fiance and I used aliases through our roleplay for a couple years prior to our romantic relations, I offered context in my declaration of intent. This is also due to the fact that our Discord handles were not blatantly associated with our legal names, yet I wanted to provide evidence of our frequent, daily contact through call length and frequency. Ultimately it depends on if this is needed evidence/clarification in the context of your relationship. I personally felt it provided a preface to how I met my fiance, and a foundation for our developed relationship. But I would keep it very simple and clear if you intend to use this information: note the clarification of identities in a cover letter, or your declaration. And keep the screenshots relevant to whatever proof you are trying to provide. As many of these cases are coming from online relationships now, I can see how evidence of online contact might be a useful piece of evidence of a bona fide relationship. Just be intentional and clear with it, and keep it as a supplement to the focus on being together in person, since those meetings are part of the requirement and regular online contact is not. EDIT: do not include your Discord/Whatsapp handles on your actual I-129F petition. This is not what is meant by aliases, which are prior legal names. Again, other parts of your packet such as your written declaration/cover letter can provide context to corroborate any evidence using handles.

Already on it! Submitted a request to my senator, just gotta drop off the waiver at the federal building. Hopefully she can get some answers for us.

100%. Gotta lean on each other here, it's going to be a rough stage. When the embassy says, "Check with the NVC", they must know that means a dead end for everyone inquiring. All we can do is sit in the dark.

Yep, same. I was in a panic when I got the mail. Thought this is very early for USCIS to send something, is it an automatic denial? Nope, just one of like a dozen copies I have of my birth certificate, lol. They're easy to order from my state so I figured it wasn't a big loss if they kept it.

The back and forth on this is absolutely maddening. I was under the same impression, that embassies request cases be sent to them as their workload allows. I messaged the embassy for a status on the embassy, as in when they expect to make more requests from NVC and was told "your case is not here, talk to the NVC". I can't even lol Just going to sit tight and HOPE I'm not needed to poke anyone else with sticks. We're at ten weeks since it was sent to DOS, by the way.

Hey all: I sent the Johannesburg consulate an email today, after waiting ten weeks "at NVC"; South Africa has a notorious reputation for its government agencies taking forever to process forms. I understand that the consulate is run by Americans, but I have my misgivings about how things are going in Jo-Berg. I kept it simple: status inquiry, any word on backlogs for K1 visa interview times or needed extensions beyond the four month window on the I-797. Case number, petitioner name, beneficiary name, our emails. Been doing the DHL hack and saw something move to Jo-Berg at the end of April; nothing for this week, sadly. Which is what prompted me to poke the consulate. GENTLY. Anyone work with Johannesberg who can give advice on communicating with them? Can poking go too far? I want to avoid any setbacks to the process if our case is blackmarked for us being nags lol! I did search similar timelines but nobody using Jo-Berg for K1s who got their NOA2s in this calendar year have reported an interview date. The last one was December 2023* (with the interview in March, but I digress). Even if it's been a few years, I'd love to hear from folks who have successfully navigated Johannesburg.

Thanks for the info! As I stated, not an economist or a lawyer and this perfectly spells out the information I needed. I apologize for my attempts to make sense of this, but finally we got some real clarity on the issue. Thank you again!

Same here. We were issued our NOA2 the first week of March. Coming up on two months now. Deep breaths, we'll get through this!

A work authorization (EAD) applies to working in the US though. If the company is not located in the US and it is not liable for taxation to the US, I don't see why it's any of the business of the US if you're not violating US employment law. Edit, to present a scenario: suppose my fiance owns properties in South Africa, which he rents out as passive income. Is he expected to sell these properties in order to qualify for a work auth? How does this differ from working for a non-US country while paying taxes to the country of origin, all the while bringing wealth into the US to add to the economy? I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal. You're not working in the US illegally and therefore withholding from the IRS. There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business. If anyone can clarify this, I'd appreciate it.

Authorization via what means? Can you elaborate on this?

That's very kind of you, but we still encourage you to post your timeline to assess progress. Getting a confirmation can mean different things, depending on the stage you are in. So good luck to you as well!

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/nonimmigrant-visa-for-a-fiance-k-1.html The "date of issuance", many people assume is correlated to the visa stamp. But in order for the packet you present at customs to be valid, the medical packet itself cannot be expired. This is why six months from the medical is a more accurate way of assessing the time you have. Chalk it up to bureaucracy for not spelling that out on the .govs.

Filling out your timeline to provide us with information pertinent to the answer you are seeking is essential. Knowing where you are and who you are (petitioner v beneficiary) will better inform us of your situation.

Why would the K-1 be any faster? Bizarre.

Yeah I'm in the same boat. Although Joberg embassy is closed the last Friday of every month, that shouldn't affect NVC status updates. I will just hope they pick up more in May.

When you reach the point where your petition is improved and your case moves to the NVC, you then have to put in the actual K-1 application (DS-160) and during the interview present any updates to show your relationship remains bona fide. You may actually want to consider the spouse visa if your interests lie in having any wedding celebrations prior to her coming to the US. It's a different timeline that requires processing to occur after marriage, but my understanding is that acquiring a green card/work auth/naturalizing all take far less time overall. Might be worth researching, particularly if you haven't put in the I-129F yet. Check out recent conversations on the forums, there's a good argument to be had for going this way instead.

Hope has very little to do with your personal plan for independence, developing a healthy marriage, and going through the K-1 process. It takes a lot of resourcefulness and motivation to make things happen for you. Advice can be improved on too if you answer questions because then people will better understand your situation. If you want to make this work, I'd take full advantage of that assistance.

trackmyvisanow is a website that some people use for statistical review on the progress of their petitions. They source data from USCIS changes to make predictions on when approvals happen. I've seen some people naysay it on here as inaccurate but I discovered it before these forums and enjoyed watching the progress/algorithm shifts to faster and faster times I'm also a big logistics person so being able to review the charts and see how my day, or range of petition dates near me were progressing was super interesting. And for me, it was pretty accurate. I suppose the biggest selling point is their UI is extremely user-friendly, with easy to read data. Still trying to wrap my head around the graphs here. edit: I should also add that I got the Pro version for $12/month because I got more data, but there's a free month trial to see if the upgrade is worth it. It was for me.