Josh B K

Awe @emeditz what a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing it, and encouraging us. I also love languages and am thinking of teaching English as a volunteer; so, we all (Ayda, you, and I) have a lot in common. With regard to your decision to stay in the US, I think you are doing the best you can - the best you know how. You are right that maintaining your US income will likely be a huge asset to Ayda and you as you continue your lives together. I don't think the wait will be too much longer for any of us. I'm mentally preparing to wait until end of 2025 for the whole process soup to nuts, and I'm hopeful we'll have USCIS approval by end of 2024. Hang in there!

Let's Talk, Friends One of the purposes of this site is to get information from the community of humans struggling with the USCIS. Practical information like processing times, tips, and experiences can help all of us feel more comfortable. Knowing a little more can take the sting out of our helplessness before a system we cannot control. The facts are great, but I also think the personal connections can help us too; so, I'd like to propose we include some "get to know you" info here on this thread. How did you meet your spouse? I met my partner on a beach in Mexico while I was visiting to fix up an investment property. I was at a restaurant on the beach that featured a popular evening fire-dance show, and I saw them sitting at a nearby table alone. I made the rare choice to risk a cold, stranger-to-stranger introduction in Spanish, a language I was just beginning to learn. Though we took it slow, I think it was a love at first sight kind of experience. We dated for 2.5 years before we decided to get married. We were married in the town where we met, and we celebrated on the rooftop of the building in which we live. Family from the US and Mexico came to celebrate with us, and we had a wonderful night of mariachi and dancing. Where do you and your spouse/family live now? Because I had a flexible career, after meeting my partner, I decided to stay in Mexico. I've been living with my partner here in Mexico for 3.5 years. Though I love Mexico, I never intended to make it my primary residence. I'm eager to get our visa so we can move back to my hometown, Seattle, WA. I'm not sure if my partner will like life in the US or Seattle specifically, but we are going to give it a try. I'd love to see my partner get access to better jobs with good pay, benefits, and time off, and as for me, I'd love to get back to the cool weather, mountain hikes, skiing, and friends of Seattle.

Let's Talk, Friends One of the purposes of this site is to get information from the community of humans struggling with the USCIS. Practical information like processing times, tips, and experiences can help all of us feel more comfortable. Knowing a little more can take the sting out of our helplessness before a system we cannot control. The facts are great, but I also think the personal connections can help us too; so, I'd like to propose we include some "get to know you" info here on this thread. How did you meet your spouse? I met my partner on a beach in Mexico while I was visiting to fix up an investment property. I was at a restaurant on the beach that featured a popular evening fire-dance show, and I saw them sitting at a nearby table alone. I made the rare choice to risk a cold, stranger-to-stranger introduction in Spanish, a language I was just beginning to learn. Though we took it slow, I think it was a love at first sight kind of experience. We dated for 2.5 years before we decided to get married. We were married in the town where we met, and we celebrated on the rooftop of the building in which we live. Family from the US and Mexico came to celebrate with us, and we had a wonderful night of mariachi and dancing. Where do you and your spouse/family live now? Because I had a flexible career, after meeting my partner, I decided to stay in Mexico. I've been living with my partner here in Mexico for 3.5 years. Though I love Mexico, I never intended to make it my primary residence. I'm eager to get our visa so we can move back to my hometown, Seattle, WA. I'm not sure if my partner will like life in the US or Seattle specifically, but we are going to give it a try. I'd love to see my partner get access to better jobs with good pay, benefits, and time off, and as for me, I'd love to get back to the cool weather, mountain hikes, skiing, and friends of Seattle. Let's Talk, Friends One of the purposes of this site is to get information from the community of humans struggling with the USCIS. Practical information like processing times, tips, and experiences can help all of us feel more comfortable. Knowing a little more can take the sting out of our helplessness before a system we cannot control. The facts are great, but I also think the personal connections can help us too; so, I'd like to propose we include some "get to know you" info here on this thread. How did you meet your spouse? I met my partner on a beach in Mexico while I was visiting to fix up an investment property. I was at a restaurant on the beach that featured a popular evening fire-dance show, and I saw them sitting at a nearby table alone. I made the rare choice to risk a cold, stranger-to-stranger introduction in Spanish, a language I was just beginning to learn. Though we took it slow, I think it was a love at first sight kind of experience. We dated for 2.5 years before we decided to get married. We were married in the town where we met, and we celebrated on the rooftop of the building in which we live. Family from the US and Mexico came to celebrate with us, and we had a wonderful night of mariachi and dancing. Where do you and your spouse/family live now? Because I had a flexible career, after meeting my partner, I decided to stay in Mexico. I've been living with my partner here in Mexico for 3.5 years. Though I love Mexico, I never intended to make it my primary residence. I'm eager to get our visa so we can move back to my hometown, Seattle, WA. I'm not sure if my partner will like life in the US or Seattle specifically, but we are going to give it a try. I'd love to see my partner get access to better jobs with good pay, benefits, and time off, and as for me, I'd love to get back to the cool weather, mountain hikes, skiing, and friends of Seattle. Let's Talk, Friends One of the purposes of this site is to get information from the community of humans struggling with the USCIS. Practical information like processing times, tips, and experiences can help all of us feel more comfortable. Knowing a little more can take the sting out of our helplessness before a system we cannot control. The facts are great, but I also think the personal connections can help us too; so, I'd like to propose we include some "get to know you" info here on this thread. How did you meet your spouse? I met my partner on a beach in Mexico while I was visiting to fix up an investment property. I was at a restaurant on the beach that featured a popular evening fire-dance show, and I saw them sitting at a nearby table alone. I made the rare choice to risk a cold, stranger-to-stranger introduction in Spanish, a language I was just beginning to learn. Though we took it slow, I think it was a love at first sight kind of experience. We dated for 2.5 years before we decided to get married. We were married in the town where we met, and we celebrated on the rooftop of the building in which we live. Family from the US and Mexico came to celebrate with us, and we had a wonderful night of mariachi and dancing. Where do you and your spouse/family live now? Because I had a flexible career, after meeting my partner, I decided to stay in Mexico. I've been living with my partner here in Mexico for 3.5 years. Though I love Mexico, I never intended to make it my primary residence. I'm eager to get our visa so we can move back to my hometown, Seattle, WA. I'm not sure if my partner will like life in the US or Seattle specifically, but we are going to give it a try. I'd love to see my partner get access to better jobs with good pay, benefits, and time off, and as for me, I'd love to get back to the cool weather, mountain hikes, skiing, and friends of Seattle.

@emeditz: First, let me welcome you to the group! I'm pretty new to this site myself. I only joined this week. Second, let me express my shared frustration and empathy for the long wait. The entire process of petitioning USCIS as a citizen has made me very angry and motivated me to become an advocate for change. I made the same assumption about TSC based on the return address in my receipt letter. I need to check on my actual processing center as well. I wanted to share with you and @Cookie88 that my understanding of the data on this site leads me to believe you might get earlier responses. I'm not sure where this data comes from, and I'm still working to find out, but according to this site, CSC processing time is about 300 days from your receipt date. The data table indicates that CSC is not processing applications received in September 2023. Reference:

Mine says October 24, 2024, @Cookie88.

Hello Friends: My husband and I are part of the September 2023 gang. Here are our dates. Mailed: Sept 19, 2023 Filed: Sept 22, 2023 NOA1: Sept 22, 2023 Service Center: Texas (TSC) Spouse Citizenship: Mexico The Texas center is currently processing petitions with NOA1 dates of May 27, 2023; so the backlog has about 3 months of petitions ahead of us "septemberers". I am hoping for some of us to get responses in October 2024. The historic processing times for USCIS (all service centers) held steady at about 11.5 months for all of 2023 and 2024; so, I was hoping we would have some action by July 2023. Unfortunately, that is not happening; so, obviously processing times have slowed and the rolling statistics published by USCIS have not yet updated. (source data) Data from the state department shows that 9,837 happy couples received CR-1/IR-1 visas in June (1,824 of these were CR-1). My thoughts are with all of you as we wait for action on our petitions. Joshua