Daynel - I'm crossing finger and toes for you to be next (sorry everyone else) We'll be worrying about our CR1 process together, I just know it!! You had said they were just doing K-3 visas, but so far they haven't given us anything for our K-3 so there is hope for you.

Ralu&Doru - Thank you so much! I have been reading guide after guide after guide trying to figure out all the short cuts. I'm just trying to figure out the basics that Cody needs to gather before he heads my way. This time in 10 day's he'll be in my arms and then 5 days later Nikole will be here =) I just don't want his 3 week visit to put our application too far behind. I promise I won't go into labour early....she's got to wait for her daddy hehehe

okay so as you know my i-130 application was approved on may 16.
i noticed it was touched on may 18 and i just thought it might be them getting it ready for it to be sent to nvc.
however, it was touched again today may 19 and yet it doesn't say forwarded to nvc.
does anyone else have this happening or am i just being used as a touch whore again?

I CANT BELIEVE I FINALLY GOT A TOUCH TODAY DONT KNOW IF IT MEANS ANYTHING IM JUST GLAD ITS NOT LOST! I ONLY GOT A TOUCH ON THE I-129 SO WHO KNOWS! IF IM THIS EXCITED OVER A TOUCH IM GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE MY PANTS WHEN I GET APPROVED LOL.

Hi

Another touch today for both petitions.

2/12/2008 I-130 & 129F mailed together to CSC
2/19/2008 NOA1 recieved for I-130
2/23/2008 NOA1 recved for I-129F
3/14/2008 I-129F touched due to request to fix the Typographical error. Recieved an email that they will fix the error during adjucting the case.
5/12/2008 Both I-129F and I-130 are touched.
5/13/2008 Both I-129F and I-130 are touched.
5/14/2008 Both I-129F and I-130 are touched

I-130 & I-129 F approved on 5/12/2008.
NOA2 Recieved for both on 5/19/2008.

Thanks
Venkat

wow lots of touching and another approval for us febuary people! they sure are whippin us out fast this week! hopefully lots more in store for this upcoming week!!

we seem to be doing very god considering three weeks ago we were all sitting biting our nails waiting for something....anything to happen. hopefully the pattern keeps going till we're all approved and can go through the nvc together.

yes its going surprisingly fast! pretty much approval after approval! im hoping it stays this way!

my birthdays june 1st.... i'd love a nice bday present *hint hint uscis*

Called the embassy today and papers are there so packet 3 should be in my mail box at the end of this week. Just in time for my husband to send the Affidavit of Support.

We will be having his father as a co-sponsor. Does anyone know how this goes? Do they have to write an affidavit each? I'm a little bit confused and since the "lawyer incident" I can't say I really trust the lady... I'm double and triple checking everything so SHE doesn't do anything stupid like when she prepared IR1/CR1 papers for my husband to sign although with both petitions approved the I-129F goes to NVC. I just want to bang her head against the wall now that I-129F IS AT THE EMBASSY... still trying to figure out what she was up to...

So any info on the affidavits would be helpful. The embassy in Bucharest requires I-134.

Congratulations for the newly approved!

I also did the hint hint today on the phone with the embassy and the very nice lady says it can be done. I can get an interview scheduled in 1-2 weeks since I have packet 3 sent back to the embassy. Husband's birthday was yesterday but I'm hoping for a present for my B-day in June 26. That would be a wonderful present for me and him also, you're right Danyel . All the best of luck!!!

If you find out exactly what you have to do let me know cause I'm not sure if we're going to have to do the same thing. There is a whole set of I-864 applications that I know you get sent for the I-130 process at the NVC. You may want to look at the I-864a and the I-864 because so far those are the two I have understood you need to file when using a co-sponsor. Does he currently live with his father or not? What did the lawyer say for you to do?

Weird thing is I just realised you, me and Danyel not only have close time lines but also have close birthdays. Strange how things work out!

Vernon, I'm going K3 route so next step for me is I-134 affidavit of support and other papers required from embassy in packet 3 (visa applications, police certif., medical, photos etc.) and finally the mighty interview. My guess is you are cr1/ir1 since I130 got approved. Usually NVC mails you on your next step but I'm not really familiar with that process. All I know is that as compared to K3 when you gather info for the embassy, for ir1/cr1 you have to sent it to the NVC and the embassy only has your interview.

That's all I know untill now and I hope I'm not wrong but I'll keep you posted on how things go for me. About your questions, yes my husband is living with his family now and about the lawyer I don't know what to say.. I cannot trust her... She's preparing the papers tomorrow. I guess we'll see.

Take care!

I got an RFE today, now I have to wait to see what they want. Does anyone know what kinds of things they usually ask for? I hope its something easy!

its usually nothing major, just typos and stuff.

you can call the rfe line and find out what they need you to fix.

if you scroll back a couple pages on this thread, i posted a link to the number for the rfe line and how to get to a live person on the phone.

good luck

I cant seem to find that link. I did call the number from the email and talked to a lady and she said that it was just sent out today so i have to wait 15 days to see if i get it in the mail and that she cant see what they are requesting. Dam now I have a headache!

thats probably the same number....

Ralu&Doru - Oh I know you're going K-3 route, but I know with our affidavit of support it gave instructions how to have a co-sponsor and fill out for that person. I just assumed they would have the same courtesy for those who were filling the K-3 visa. Normally people in my position would just have to wait for instructions from the NVC on when to jump and how high, but thankfully people have put up manuals as to how to do things quicker. You can now pay the fees online and download all the forms so you don't have to wait weeks on end for things to come in the mail. Hopefully that will speed the process up because I have read that some people wait 8 weeks and others wait 6 months. I am not willing to spend another 6 months waiting for someone to find enough time to bother to look at my case.

zawjatsaid - Sorry to hear about the RFE, hopefully it is nothing too serious! Have you gotten any news as to what was wrong?

Danyel - So I had a thought today ya know on the time table thing you made for our filers. Well what if you put the approval date as well as which application was approved in red. That way others can see if they are approving day after day or if it's a weekly thing or whatever. What do you think?

Is anyone else having trouble signing into the USCIS website? I get to the log in page and then after I type all my information in and it just goes blank. It loads and loads and loads some more but nothing else ever happens. I'm starting to get a little annoyed cause I want to see if it is listed as being forwarded to the NVC yet or not.

Okay so I don't know what was wrong with the site but it finally let me in.

So now I have another question for those who have been approved. After your approval notice was sent did they keep touching your case or not? Once they had sent it off to the NVC did they some how show on the site that it had been forwarded?

I just read a horror story about a woman whose case sat at the California Service Center waiting to be forwarded to the NVC for almost 8 months lost somewhere in the mail room.

Vernon

You can call NVC with the WAC number, they will provide you with NVC Case Number. I got the NVC Case number for both I-130 and I-129F. NVC Number is on the Visajourney Wiki.

Thanks
Venkat

Well you are very right.. But aren't you supposed to have I-864 (I think that's the number) affidavit of support with CR1/IR1?

this is strange... after reading Vernon's post I checked USCIS site and finally I-130 appears as Approved (although we received NOA2 two weeks ago) but it also shows that both my petitions were touched May 19 How can I-129F get touced since it's already at the embassy They probably moved I-130 to a dusty shelf awaiting AOS

Venkat - Thanks! I have the NVC number however I have yet to get through to the system. So far I have had nothing but a busy signal and one can only take so much of that before they start looking for another way of getting around things.

Ralu&Doru - Hahaha yeah we fill in different forms but I figured if they explain how to have a co-sponsor on one they should do it on the other. Sorry I wasn't trying to confuse you =) I don't know how they can touch something if they don't have it. Mine was marked approved about a week ago and we have yet to get our NOA2 so I guess I'm opposite you. At least you know where your applications are and you have a high hope of being done with this all this stuff sometime soon.

This is all I know so far, on the 19th I got a touch on the I-129f only then the 20th I got an email from cris saying they sent a request for evidence and I called the number to see if I could find out why and what they needed to be told that it was to soon ( being sent out that day) and to wait for it to come in the mail 15 days and if I didnt get it to call then, I looked at my file again and seen the date for the I-129f change to the 20th and nothing on the I-130. I looked through my list of things I sent with the I-129f and noticed that I didnt have copies of my divorce papers in it so I think that might be it and someone said it could be they want a certified copy of my marriage license. I hope its something easy! Now I get to just sit here and wait.Not easy for me (Im very impatient) Thanks for all the well wishes. I hope everyone else is doing good on their journey.

Hi,

I've been calling NVC for the past four days to to get my case # for the I-129F & I 130.

They received the I-129F at the NVC on 5/19 and they have forward it to the foreign embassy on 5/21.

As of today they haven't recieved the I-130 at the NVC. NVC told me to wait until 90 days.

I have called the USCIS and visited the local office in my city but, they weren't able to give me more information than saying the I-130 has been approved. They weren't able to tell me if the I-130 has been forwarded to the NVC or not. I'm just worried that my I-130 is just going to sit somewhere and not get forwarded to the NVC.

Since, my I-130 has been approved for my wife I would like to go with the I-130 route instead of the K-3 route. At same time I don't want to cancel my I-129F and not know when the I-130 will make it to NVC and when my wife will get a visa interview.

Does anyone have any advise on how to let NVC know that I would like to go forward with my I-130 but, at same time not to have K-3 cancelled incase I-130 doesn't make it there in a reasonable time.

Venkat,

Since your I-130 and I-129F both have been forwarded to the NVC, what route are you planning on taking. Do you know what you have to do if you want to go with the I-130 route?

Jigs, I am planning to go K3 Route. Do I need to tell the NVC that I am using K3 route?. Or NVC automatically forwards K3 to embassy?. Which Consulate in India is your case forwarded to?.

zawjatsaid - I'm guessing the RFE was for the fact that you didn't include your divorce decree in there. That's nothing too serious then and luckily you have an idea of what is wrong so you can have it ready to send back as soon as you get the letter. Keep us posted on how things go!

By the way what does "zawjatsaid" mean?

So after a week of waiting and calling....waiting and calling and waiting some more, I finally got through to the NVC automated system. They have no record of my I-130 meaning it hasn't been sent to them. Does anyone know how long it takes for the California Service Center to forward the case to the National Service Center? Or maybe a short cut to get them to do it a little faster?

On a happier note, Cody is expected to arrive on Thursday (May 29) but just found out from work that they are going to be closed till Wednesday morning so he doesn't have to work all weekend. He's now trying to move his flight so he can get here earlier cause Nikki (our daughter) has been threaten for the past two days to come early. I guess we'll see what happens!!

thank you I will keep you posted. I hope its that cuz I have a certified copy with me and can easily get more. I really hope thats it. They still havent touched the I-130. Zawjatsaid means wife of Said.

Venkat,

The embassy will just forward the I-129 packet to the foreign embassy and the foreign embassy does all the paper work. The I-130 packet stays at the NVC and they do all the paper work there.

In my case, I found out yesterday that the I-129 packet has been forwarded to the embassy in Mumbi.

Now, my wife just waits for the paperwork from Mumbai embassy.

Jigs

So I just totally had a brain wave / shock / horror attack...whatever you wish to call it.

We never got a NOA1 for our I-129F application so maybe our approval of the I-130 wasn't actually a solo thing. Maybe we got both applications approved but since we never received the NOA1 and weren't able to track it and don't know it was approved.

They won't give us any information for the I-129F so I have no idea anymore!!

Could this be possible or am I just over reacting here?

Married 08/30/2007
Sent in I-130 on Feb 20, 2008 to the Chicago Center
Received notification that it was put into the system 03/10/2008 (California Service Center)

Waiting for further instructions, also wondering if we should have filed I-129F as well.

welcome jedinite i've added you to our list (first post in this thread)

i've been wondering the same thing about the k-3...but its too late now, well it would be a waste to do it now, and i'd be too scared it would slow it down


p.s you need to update your timeline, it says your k-3 but obviously from your post you only filed your I-130, which makes you a CR-1/IR-1 Filer

I got the RFE in the mail today, I sent a copoy of my marriage license in english but not arabic . So I will overnight that on Tuesday. I hope they hurry and finish my case once that gets there.

So wait you got an RFE because you didn't send it in Arabic? I thought that you were supposed to send everything in English. These people seriously confuse me sometimes!!

I know they are very confusing. but they stated that the english translation of a foreign document with out the foreign language document is not sufficient to establish a relationship for immigration purposes. Please submit the foreign language document from which the english translation was obtained. CONFUSING!!!!

Now that's just STUPID!!! It's a marriage license not a selection of emails. It says your husband and wife, no matter if it's in Arabic or in English. Sounds like they were just looking for something to be petty about. Did they say anything about the divorce decree?

If I gather correctly you only sent in the translation of an official document, but not the marriage certificate itself? If that was the case, then I'd say it's normal you got an RFE.
Immigration authorities need to be able to check whether there really was a marriage. A mere translation of something would not allow them to do that (because anyone could have written that).
Which is why normally you'd have to get the foreign document apostilled (here anyway), so that the other authority can verify its authenticity, along with a translation of the document and the apostille.

I know that our (Belgian) immigration authorities here ask the exact same hing. So USCIS asking this is not outrageous at all, in fact it's only common sense.

Nope there was no mention of the divorce decree, only the marriage license.I hope they dont do another one after I fix this. I will let you know what happens after I get it back to them.

Catt - I assumed being a marriage certificate that a translation wouldn't be just a random piece of paper that someone wrote on. If it's an official document translated by a company or something it should be verified.

zawjatsaid - Maybe you should consider talking to them about the divorce decree or sending it with the marriage certificate. Because I know if you have previously been married you have to prove that it's legally over. You may consider something to avoid having any more issues. Good luck!!

The point is: USCIS has to have means to verify that the documents they receive are legit. Hence the apostilles or legislations (depending on the treaty between the countries involved).
A translation of a marriage certificate, or any other document, is still just a translation. It isn't an offical document in itself at all.
How could USCIS in any way verify the authenticity of the translator (or translating company)? They cannot. Just about anyone could have written this, really.
The translation is therefore secondary to receiving (a certified copy of) an original document of which the authenticity can be verified (instead of the authenticity of the translation). There is no way getting around that. Only sending translations simply will not do.

actually anyone CAN write the translation. but yes i thought as well that it would be assumed to be sent with a copy of the original. my marriage certificate is in spanish. i had to send them a copy of that. as well as the translatiion. because what good is a translation without the document that your translating


you send it to them yet? if yes, have they recieved it? hopefully after that you'll get your approval

The point wasn't to start a "I'm right your wrong" type conversation, I was just stating how I saw things. Personally I find it petty that they worry about a translation and not about a divorce decree. However, it's neither my case nor yours Catt and so in all reality nothing that either of us says matters. It was simply a chat between two people who have been going through the same thing from the beginning and not just bashing the procedure of the USCIS. Because believe me if that was the point, there would be so many better places to start. Hopefully if you decide to par take in our thread from here on out (which you're more than welcome to do) that we can get along and see everyones views on something.

Danyel - any news yet on your side? you have been very quiet the last couple days!

nice job of ending that spat hilkka

nope no news on my end...no touching, no emails, no nada....and let me tell you IT SUCKS! i've seen even some of the january filers from k-3 & CR-1 getting approved...pretty much an equal amount of both. yet in febuary only k-3's are getting approved, what the hell?! i wish some part of this process made sense, or was fair at least! im going to wait until mid-june before i start making a fuss. i.e filing for an expitdite, and if denied, i start going to congress. by july i'll be at 6 months....so im hoping i dont have to even start that crap and they just approve my damn petition! sorry...just starting to get really upset with this process.

hahaha thanks!

i know how you must be feeling cause i used to look at the january filers and cuss because they were getting so many approvals. but then at the same time i would look at the december people weren't getting anything and feel bad for them wondering how they felt about the january people. nothing about this process makes any sense to me. i've been reading trying to figure out what happens after the uscis approves it and its back to having the luck of the draw. some people get nvc numbers in a matter of days....others wait 3 months to hear anything. currently i would just like to know which freaking application has been approved so i can figure out what im supposed to do. don't worry your turn for more madness will come soon too!!

Vernon Family, my posts weren't meant to start an I'm wrong you're right discussion either and I meant not disrespect. I joined this forum to learn. I furthermore do not want to disturb your chat. But this is important since it's so basic and other people might read this too, since this is a public thread, and get confused. Sending only translations is insufficient. Now you obviously don't have to take my word for it, but if anyone reads this before sending in documents, please check the guides on this. It's just such a needless waste of time if something like this generates an RFE.
And yes, obviously I would also include the divorce decree with translation, if this wasn't sent yet.
The good side for the person that did get the RFE: at least your case was worked on and an approval is so close, after they can resume processing! Good luck.

soooo i just got off the phone with an officer....finally, and officer and not a customer service rep who does nothing and cant even pull my case. so this lady tells me that they're up to january 31st on imediate relative petitions and that i filed febuary 10th, so shes saying i should be approved within the next two weeks, and that if in 3 weeks i hear nothing to give a call back. she laughed and said hopefully your on my desk so i can approve you.

i hate talking to these people, they always tell me something different and i never know what the hell to believe.

danyel - im sorry that she wasn't as much help as you hoped for. but at least she gave you a closer date than in the next 300 days =)

update - cody arrived yesterday which is amazing! we're supposed to check into the hospital on monday night. he's loving the belly and being a family again. still no news from the uscis about transferring the case to nvc but we're hoping that something will come about soon.

awww im glad your finally with your hubby again, i bet your elated and soon you will have you baby too! thank goodness he gets to be with you while the baby is born! good luck in the hospital

Do CR-1 filings take longer than K-3? Seems like most of the K-3s are getting approved where as us CR-1s are not. Should my wife be filing I-129F for me or will this just prolong things? It's been nearly 3 months since NOA1 was received.

well when we were all filing, the CR-1's were being processed at the same rate as k-3's but it appears as that may have changed now. i regretfully didnt file for k-3 either, but i believe its a lil late in the process for that.

Only true for CSC?