Greetings! and I-129F Overview

[AT & JP 1]

Hello all!

My fiance and I are assembling the i-129f package at the moment. We are hoping to get married in September, as his housing contract ends in October.

We plan to submit the package this month in January, hopefully hear back in June-July, have the interview with the US Embassy in London in July-August, and then have him come here to the US with K-1 in hand for us to get married in September-October. Does this sound doable? I wasn't sure because the processing times are scary (the VJ processing times say that the i-129f can be anywhere between 1 month in the case of the CSC and 5 months for TSC??) and wanted to hear what others thought about my particular situation. I reside in Massachusetts, so that means that my servicing center will be TSC? I don't want it to be beyond 5 months but 1 month sounds way too soon for us anyway.

This is all pretty exciting, but also terrifying! So far this website has been so invaluable in this endeavor. Thanks for your help

Edited January 19, 2016 by cphim

[Unshakable Faith 493]

That sounds like a pretty good timeline but I wouldn't set any dates in stone just in case though. As far as service centers, all I-129f petitions have been routed to CSC since March of 2015. Although that could change at any time- I don't see it happening at the moment because TSC is still backed up it seems. There are still some people waiting from March of 2015 that have not had their petitions approved yet.

CSC is going anywhere from a month to 5 months. Just prepare well and don't put out any money if it's not refundable for dates because anything could happen that delays this process. When he gets his visa in hand, book away!

Also, if CSC goes too fast, there are always ways to delay the process for as long as possible- so you should be fine there.

[AT & JP 1]

Thanks for your quick reply! Unfortunately, with my fiance's housing contract up in October, IDEALLY we'd like to leave that bit in stone. Beyond that, he would be without a place to live and will have to go back to live with his parents (which he would really hate to do, as he is turning 28 this year and hasn't lived with his parents for like a decade or so) and we are looking at that as the worst case scenario.

Conversely, I would hate to make it so that we submit the i-129f now and are approved too soon! Closest to when his contract expires is ideal, since he'd have to continue paying rent with his housemates anyway, and he does have a wedding of a close friend's to attend in September before making his way to the US for us to get married ourselves. lol. Would it be possible for him to fly back and visit for something like that, if we were forced to get married beforehand?

But what do you mean by delaying the process? How would one do that beyond the 6 months that the K-1 is good for? And how in the world is it that some people are having their i-129f approved in 1 month while others still have theirs pending from March 2015?? It boggles the mind.

Sorry for all the questions!! There is just so much to learn about all this stuff.

Edited January 19, 2016 by cphim

[JR loves JR 196]

Ah delay tactics... you can delay fairly easily. Let's say you submit your petition on the 20th. And that you're one of the lucky ones who gets it approved at CSC in one month (Feb 20th). It will get sent to the NVC and then shipped to the London embassy (let's say March 1st). London will then send out a letter telling your fiancé about getting the medical and the police certificate (etc). In most countries, the fiancé can take a bit of time to schedule their medical and then they can take a bit more to schedule the interview. I believe that the approved petition has an expiration of 4 months (I'm not 100% sure exactly how many months but your NOA2 would give the specific date) after the CSC approves it. And that expiration can be extended if the embassy feels that you have good reasons to do so. After approval they will then print a visa in his passport that must be used in 6 months. So even if your whole process was done by the end of April he wouldn't have to arrive in the USA until sometime in October. So he should be able to stay in London until the end of September without the two of you needing to stall the process much.

Edited January 19, 2016 by JR loves JR

[baron555 934]

Hello all!

My fiance and I are assembling the i-129f package at the moment. We are hoping to get married in September, as his housing contract ends in October.

We plan to submit the package this month in January, hopefully hear back in June-July, have the interview with the US Embassy in London in July-August, and then have him come here to the US with K-1 in hand for us to get married in September-October. Does this sound doable?

Maybe

I wasn't sure because the processing times are scary (the VJ processing times say that the i-129f can be anywhere between 1 month in the case of the CSC and 5 months for TSC??) and wanted to hear what others thought about my particular situation. I reside in Massachusetts, so that means that my servicing center will be TSC?

I believe all petitions are being sent to CSC at this time.

I don't want it to be beyond 5 months but 1 month sounds way too soon for us anyway.

Plan for 10 months, be happy with 5.

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

You are also speculating that everything will go perfectly as well, your proposed timeline is just fine if it all goes off without a hitch.

However the Service Center could kick back an RFE (Request for Evidence) which will delay your timeline.

Then it will go to the NVC, and they in turn could kick back an RFE which would cause another delay.

Then it will go to the London Embassy, then you need to book your medical, and fulfill the Packet 3 requirements (this takes time).

Then you need to schedule an interview (If no appointments are available you will need to wait ... another delay)

Then after the interview you have the possibility to go into AP, and be stuck there for an undetermined amount of time.

There are so many things that can delay this process, try not to work on anything with a set in stone timeline.

[Unshakable Faith 493]

Thanks for your quick reply! Unfortunately, with my fiance's housing contract up in October, IDEALLY we'd like to leave that bit in stone. Beyond that, he would be without a place to live and will have to go back to live with his parents (which he would really hate to do, as he is turning 28 this year and hasn't lived with his parents for like a decade or so) and we are looking at that as the worst case scenario.

Conversely, I would hate to make it so that we submit the i-129f now and are approved too soon! Closest to when his contract expires is ideal, since he'd have to continue paying rent with his housemates anyway, and he does have a wedding of a close friend's to attend in September before making his way to the US for us to get married ourselves. lol. Would it be possible for him to fly back and visit for something like that, if we were forced to get married beforehand?

But what do you mean by delaying the process? How would one do that beyond the 6 months that the K-1 is good for? And how in the world is it that some people are having their i-129f approved in 1 month while others still have theirs pending from March 2015?? It boggles the mind.

Sorry for all the questions!! There is just so much to learn about all this stuff.

Being approved too soon would be a better issue than being approved later than expected. Like they stated above, there are delay tactics. Your petition doesn't expire until a year after you've filed. (I sent my petition 02/28/15, my expiration date is 02/27/16). So it could take a few months at CSC, then you've got the NVC stage where you can quickly get your case number and move on with the process or you can simply wait for them to contact you with your case number before you move on with the process. After that, it goes to the embassy where you don't have to book your appointment until you want really (as long as it's within your petition expiration date- we've ran into some issues booking our appointment and our embassy has stated that as long as we book our interview before the petition expires, we will be fine. After that, it is up to their discretion to extend it). He has until 6 months after his medical exam to land on US soil. With that being said, get your medical done as close to your appointment date as possible if you want to be able to lengthen the validity of the visa. To answer your question- after he enters and you marry and send off his AOS/EAD/AP, he will have to receive AP before he can travel out of the country and enter back into the US. So he would not be able to leave and return without AP (usually takes about 3-4 months after you file). So unless he gets here, marries, and files AOS and receives AP before Septemeber, he would not be able to re-enter the US if he left the country. The K1 visa is a one time entry visa so he's not able to use it again.

As for the differences in the service centers- who knows.... that is the age old question here on VJ!

Edited January 19, 2016 by FN&KO

[AT & JP 1]

Thanks so much for the responses everyone! You have all helped to make it so that my fiance and I both have our feet firmly planted on the ground. We will do our best to plan for the unexpected and create a Plan B of sorts, just in case this process takes us beyond October. Fingers crossed that won't end up being the case, but we know better now that anything can happen.

Something else has gotten me worried, though. I'm anxious that I may not make enough to have a compelling Affidavit of Support for when the time comes for one to be requested. Last year in 2015 I made give or take $25k after taxes. I recently received a promotion and it'll be bumped up slightly to something like probably $27k but still it isn't much at all, and I doubt it will be considered since it only happened this year in 2016. Will this be a big problem for when they look at the Affidavit of Support? Unfortunately with how things are I'm not making very much and he makes much more than I do, not to mention has a good savings tucked away for when he eventually moves here, while I have next to nothing because I've spent most of my money to afford our visits to one another, paying off school loans, etc.

What can I do if they deny us this because I don't make enough? Is there such a thing as a 'co-signer' for this type of situation?

Edited January 20, 2016 by cphim

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

For a 2 person house you only need to make just shy of $20k, and yes you can definitely get a co-sponsor.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Chris and ZhiJia

[AT & JP 1]

Good to know! It's a load off my mind. When I was looking at all those blank spaces asking for stocks, bonds, mortgages and real estate ... I just kept thinking of all the 0's I'd be putting on the form! And NOT the good kind, lol.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Good to know! It's a load off my mind. When I was looking at all those blank spaces asking for stocks, bonds, mortgages and real estate ... I just kept thinking of all the 0's I'd be putting on the form! And NOT the good kind, lol.

Assets are not even a requirement. Someone that meets the income requirement would not even need to fill out that part of the form because they have no need to use assets to qualify. You would find a co-sponsor that meets the requirement for their own household size plus the foreign fiance(e).