kitthekat's US Immigration Timeline
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Petitioner's Name: J
Beneficiary's Name: S
VJ Member: kitthekat
Country: Singapore
Last Updated: 2014-10-23
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Immigration Checklist for J & S:
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USCIS I-129F Petition:
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Dept of State K1 Visa:
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USCIS I-485 Petition:
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USCIS I-765 Petition:
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USCIS I-131 Petition:
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USCIS I-751 Petition:
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USCIS N-400 Petition:
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K1 Visa
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| Event |
Date |
| Service Center : |
California Service Center |
| Transferred? |
No |
| Consulate : |
Singapore |
| I-129F Sent : |
2013-07-18 |
| I-129F NOA1 : |
2013-07-23 |
| I-129F RFE(s) : |
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| RFE Reply(s) : |
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| I-129F NOA2 : |
2013-09-10 |
| NVC Received : |
2013-10-18 |
| Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned : |
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| NVC Left : |
2013-10-22 |
| Consulate Received : |
2013-10-25 |
| Packet 3 Received : |
2013-10-31 |
| Packet 3 Sent : |
2013-11-05 |
| Packet 4 Received : |
2013-12-04 |
| Interview Date : |
2013-12-17 |
| Interview Result : |
Approved
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Second Interview
(If Required): |
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| Second Interview Result: |
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| Visa Received : |
2013-12-26 |
| US Entry : |
2014-05-06 |
| Marriage : |
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| Comments : |
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Processing
Estimates/Stats : |
Your I-129f was approved in 49 days from your NOA1 date.
Your interview took 147 days from your I-129F NOA1 date. |
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Port of Entry Review
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| Event |
Date |
| Port of Entry : |
Seattle |
| POE Date : |
2014-05-06 |
| Got EAD Stamp : |
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| Biometrics Taken : |
Yes |
| Harassment Level : |
0 |
| Comments : |
There was a bit of a line, took about 15-20 minutes of waiting, before I saw the CBP officer. He was very friendly and welcoming, and sent me on to secondary. There was no questioning in secondary, just another 15 minute wait till I was given some documents back and told to proceed to baggage collection. |
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Adjustment of Status
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| Event |
Date |
| CIS Office : |
Seattle WA |
| Date Filed : |
2014-05-30 |
| NOA Date : |
2014-06-05 |
| RFE(s) : |
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| Bio. Appt. : |
2014-06-19 |
| AOS Transfer** : |
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| Interview Date : |
2014-11-20 |
| Approval / Denial Date : |
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| Approved : |
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| Got I551 Stamp : |
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| Greencard Received: |
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| Comments : |
Original biometrics appt scheduled for July 2nd, managed to do an early walk-in on June 19th at the Tukwila, WA office.
Status changed to "testing and interview" on July 16, 2014.
Interview date received Oct 16, 2014 (for Nov 20, 2014). |
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Employment Authorization
Document
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| Event |
Date |
| CIS Office : |
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| Filing Method : |
Mail |
| Filing Instance : |
First |
| Date Filed : |
2014-05-30 |
| NOA Date : |
2014-06-05 |
| RFE(s) : |
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| Bio. Appt. : |
2014-06-19 |
| Approved Date : |
2014-07-11 |
| Date Card Received : |
2014-07-18 |
| Comments : |
Requested expedite due to pending job offer. |
Processing
Estimates/Stats : |
Your EAD was approved in 42 days. |
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Advance Parole
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| Event |
Date |
| CIS Office : |
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| Filing Method : |
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| Filing Instance : |
First |
| Date Filed : |
2014-05-30 |
| NOA Date : |
2014-06-05 |
| RFE(s) : |
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| Date Received : |
2014-07-18 |
| Comments : |
Requested expedite for EAD - AP was approved at the same time as EAD. |
Processing
Estimates/Stats : |
Your AP was approved in 42 days. |
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Member Reviews:
Consulate Review: Singapore
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
December 17, 2013 |
| Embassy Review : |
I arrived at 920am (interview was scheduled for 1015am). There was no queue. I showed the guard my appointment letter and he asked me to wait for security to wave me through. I entered the room with the security scanner. There were some backpacks and luggage bags with tags stored there - and they will also keep your mobile phone if you need them to. I didn't bring mine with me.
Once you leave that room, you turn left and left again and go up the long-ish walkway. The building you want is at the end of the walkway, to the right. Show the lady inside your appointment letter and she will tell you to go to the visa room (first room on the left).
The visa room was pretty crowded and seats were all filled. I pressed the first button (immigrant visa) for a queue number (006). They were currently serving 003. All immigrant visas are first heard at window 7. What they say about people being able to hear everything you say is absolutely true. There's maybe a 2-3 step distance between the first row of seats and the glass windows.
Took about 45 minutes for my number to be called at window 7. The famous "asian guy" asked for my passport, my birth certificate plus one photocopy, police certificate, two passport photos, I-134 and supporting evidence, and any other proof of my relationship I wanted to submit. Just as a note, the girl before me didn't have a photocopy of her birth certificate and had to pay $1.30 for the embassy staff to make a copy. They must use some high quality paper lol. She also had regular-sized passport photos instead of the large US-sized ones so she had to get a set of two from the photobooth in the far corner of the room for $10. They did not ask for the ds-160 confirmation page (it was already sent in with packet 3).
Financial documents he took from my pile:
- I-134
- ITRs for 2012 only
- W2s for 2012, 2011, 2010 and the duplicate copies
- Offer letter (my fiance started a new job 2 months ago)
- First paystub from my fiance's new job
- Printout from my fiance's HR portal stating his YTD earnings
- J's Digital bank statements (not signed by a bank officer or anything like that - just computer printouts)
Documents he returned:
- Duplicates of all the documents above except the W2s.
- ITRs for 2011 and 2010
Note on the I-134 supporting evidence: He asked me if I had copies of my own bank statements. I was a bit stunned because I didn't think it mattered. He said that would only apply if I was intending to support myself in the US. I said, is self-supporting allowed in the embassy in Singapore? He said, sure, why not?
Also, the girl before me did not have any ITRs or W2s but she did present an offer letter from her fiance's current job (they both graduated recently I believe) and did not have to submit any additional documents.
Proof of relationship submitted:
- Chat logs from whatsapp and skype sorted by month
- I had a scrapbook of photos, cards, pictures of gifts sent to each other, receipts, etc that I slid under the window. I asked if I could get it back later on and he slid it back under the window and asked me to show it to the consular officer during the 2nd interview.
Then the questions started:
- So you work in xxx, what do you do?
- Tell me more about your duties. What kind of policies do you oversee?
- Have you ever been denied a visa?
- What is your marital status - single as in never married? How about your fiance?
- Do you or your fiance have any children from a previous relationship?
- How did you and your fiance meet and when?
- What kind of website was that? How did you end up dating someone from a writing website?
- Have you been to the US? When was your last trip?
- When did you first meet your fiance in person? How long did you stay? Where did you meet?
- Has your fiance ever been to Singapore?
- How many times have you met? (I answered just the one time early this year, and he paused and said, that's still fine.)
- Have you ever lived overseas?
- You listed xx countries as countries you visited in the last 5 years. What was your purpose for the trips?
- Did your fiance ever tell you how much he earns? How much?
- What is your fiance's job? What does he do?
The first interview was pretty relaxed and friendly overall. He asked me if I was excited and ready to move over to the US and made some small talk about being a civil servant and internet security measures in government offices. He then gave me my xray and two forms - a "document submission letter" and the instructions for registering with aramex. He checked if I'd read the pamphlet on domestic violence - I had - so he didn't make me read it again.
There were 12 applicants in the immigrant visa queue (mostly families) and they all went ahead of me and the other girl who was also applying for a fiance visa. After about 2 hours, we were pretty much the only two left. She was called first and after her I was called to window 6.
The American consul apologised for the wait and asked me how to pronounce my fiance's surname (it's not a common surname). He said, "So, your fiance is based in [town in Colorado], huh? That's the area I'm from, though I haven't been there in a while." Then he asked:
- You met on a writing website - what site is that?
- What do people do on that website, what is its purpose? How do you meet people there?
- How did you end up from talking about writing to your fiance coming over to visit you? (I corrected him and said that I was the one who visited my fiance and he laughed and said, sorry, my bad.)
- What do you both write?
- Is your fiance published? What kind of publications - print or digital? Can you name me three publications he was published in?
- Why do you remember those three publications specifically?
- Do you still write? What kind of writing?
- What did you do when you were in Colorado? Did you take any day trips?
- Was the trip to Colorado Springs the only day trip you took?
- Did you ride the railway up to Pikes Peak? [he started reminiscing about how long ago it was since he went up there last lol]
[At this point I volunteered to show him the scrapbook and he took it - he looked at the railway tickets, the pictures from a concert we attended, several pictures of us eating out, receipts from gifts, postcards we sent to each other, etc]
- Why have you and your fiance only met once? (he asked this a few times)
- Where does your fiance work? Is it a new position? How long has he been working there?
- You submitted your fiance's 2012 income tax returns. [At this point I passed him the rest of the ITRs] Where was your fiance working previously? What did he do there?
- Why did your fiance move to Colorado, was it to take the job? Where does he intend to stay after this?
- Are you having kids or planning on having kids? [I said no and he asked me if I was sure repeatedly ].
- What do you and your fiance talk about? What are your common interests? [I briefly mentioned Dr Who and he seemed to really like that and made some small talk about the 50th anniversary :D]
Finally, he said that my fiance's income was borderline. I was a little shocked. So I said, but isn't he quite a bit over the poverty guidelines? He hemmed and hawed and checked a printout of the I864P and said "the poverty guidelines for 2 is 19,000 or thereabouts and your fiance is barely over 20,000. Or am I reading this wrong?" I verbally calculated my fiance's annual income and he accepted that we were nowhere near the poverty line. Phew.
Then he asked me to register with Aramex once I got home and that he felt our case was "pretty okay." Woo!
Edit 26 Dec: The embassy contacted me on 18 Dec and asked me to go back on 20 Dec because they forgot to have me affirm that everything I submitted in the DS-160 was true (they do this by fingerprinting me a second time). It was a minor hassle but it didn't delay my timeline by much at all. Status went into "Adminsitrative Processing" on 20 Dec (same day I went back) and changed to "Issued" on 24 Dec.
(updated on December 25, 2013) |
| Rating : |
Good |
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Timeline Comments: None yet, be the first!
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(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
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