I notice a lot of you have time lines of how long everything took. I have been looking on ins websites for at processing dates and I am getting nervous. I am hoping you guys can give me a bit of hope and encouragement.

I met Mark (from the UK) in 2004 online, after over a year of talking online he called me for the first time in June '06. We met in person for the first time in September '06 and had such a good time he was back again at the end of October. In March '07 Mark flew back and we took the whole family (my four kids from a previous marriage, Mark and me), and went to Disneyland and SeaWorld. Mark was back at the end of August and we all went camping on our first "family camping trip", then we had an early Christmas the second week of December when Mark flew out again and we went to a tree farm together to pick out Christmas trees.

Because Fall is my favorite season we set a wedding date for October 15, 2008, we filed our paperwork and sent off the money for processing in Feb. '08. We were sure by the time the wedding came around everything would have gone through. We got back a paper in the mail (basically a receipt) that gave us a web page to look up processing times. According to the site, in April they were working on K1 Visas from October '07. This would be about a 7month back log if I am thinking correctly. If that is the case then that means we might not get any kind of response or reply until September. We have already booked the place for the wedding ceremony and the honeymoon, we sent the invites out in April, and we have guests who are flying in from all around the globe, (Germany, UK, Belgium, other side of the USA) just to see us and be with us at the wedding. We have invested about $7000 so far in the wedding alone. So what happens now? I don't want to have to start the whole process all over because we have gotten married. But it isn't just us who have invested money at this point either. Over half our guests have reserved hotels and airfare already. The pastor from our church has been great and is even doing our premarital counsellings with me in her office and him on speaker phone. I love him more than I have ever loved anyone and I want us to be able to get married and be together as soon as possible.

California is our processing place. Does anyone have any helpful or encouraging words, or even some facts on what to expect?

Thank you so much.
Rebecca

I understand your dilemma! A couple of things...

-CSC will NEVER show any processing dates shorter than 6 months. If you look at Igor's list for CSC it shows that they are currently working on December and January. We're hoping to see some February filers by the end of this month.

-Also, a lot of information right now is very skewed. They raised the K-1 application fee last July (don't ask how much it used to be...you DO NOT want to know...trust me) and there was a HUGE rush of applications in June and July last year, trying to beat the fee increase. That backlog is mostly through, CSC is still the slower center...but they seem to be averaging about 4 months right now...then a couple of months for your embassy, and he can come here (use the timeline feature above to get an idea of how long your embassy takes).

My fiance is in Canada and we're honestly hoping to have him here by the end of August...we filed in February and August is definitely looking possible to get him here. You should be fine with an October date. Just to be safe, I would avoid making any non-refundable deposits. On the wedding front...I would talk to all of your vendors and explain the situation, they will probably be very lenient with you because of the extenuating circumstances. What a lot of people are doing (me included) is having a civil ceremony right after the visa is approved, just to satisfy the legal requirements. Then having a renewal of vows/big wedding later on...just to avoid all of the stress about whether they'll be losing deposits or not.

Welcome to VJ and good luck!

I really wish i had some encouraging words but i dont. As you have filed with the CSC, it's very hard to say when you will get the visa. Realistcly your looking at 6-8 months. As for all the money you have spent and organising, i aint sure if you can get your petition expedited in anyway. Im sure someone out there can give you more advice on what to do, if you can.

Good luck and i really hope you can get this sorted in some way.

I was also hoping that everyone could explain all the terms. I thought I had looked everything up but after reading a few posts it seems I do not know very much at all.

Feb '08 - filed our papers for K1-Visa 129F
Feb '08 Received a receipt in the mail - Notice of Action (Notice Filed Feb 11th)

so now what happens? What all are we waiting on? What are our next steps to take?

Some points that may help or complicate the situation...
1) I do not make enough according to the guidelines so a long time friend of mine will be sponsoring Mark, instead of us going by my income

2) Mark currently works for a company in the UK that has it's major branches here in the USA. We are hoping he can transfer to the USA... but will that mess up our K1-Visa process if he comes over first on a work visa? How long does it take to get a work visa?

Thanks everyone so much!

hey i just wanted to say hi and welcome to a fellow us/uk couple and cscer!

i can't really answer your question, as i'm fairly new to this myself, as a may 1st filler.

all i can tell you is that when we filled out our time line, from the data on visajourney it states we might be adjudicated as soon as october 13 i think it said last time i looked. i think it gets the data from other peoples timelines and then does the maths. i've also noticed that there have been some january fillers getting thier NOA2s this month. but then its the government (i know its cos they are busey )and there are no garentees. there are some who have had to wait longer.

sorry i can't give you much more solace than that.

Please read the K1 Flowchart here. It gives you a step by step list of what is coming up and what to expect. It's under the Guides at the top of the page which are super helpful.

You are waiting on your NOA2 (Notice of Approval 2) Basically, waiting for the USCIS to approve your I-129F Petition.
Then it is sent to NVC (National Visa Center) and then onto the UK Consulate where they send you package 3, then they issue an interview date. That is where they approve the K1 visa for Mark.

Having a co-sponsor is fine as long as they meet the requirements.

Work visas are hard to get and completely different from a K1. A K1 is for someone who is wanting to come to the U.S. to marry a U.S. citizen and then apply for a green card. Work visas are simply for people working for a period of time in the U.S., then returning to their home country.

If he does get the work visa he'd have to go back home to have his interview in the U.K. then re-enter to activate his K1...I don't even know if you can have both at the same time...I'm sure you can, I'm not too knowledgeable on work visas so, I'm sure someone else can help you.

I echo pretty much everything Laura said. I also wanted to point you here. It is a list of common abbreviates, terms, and forms that we talk about here on VJ...it should help you when you're trying to figure out what someone just said to you.

Co-sponsors are fine...just so that you are clear: YOU will still need to submit an affidavit of support, even if you don't make enough money. Because you are the visa sponsor, you have to submit one along with your co-sponsor. From having read other people's experiences with co-sponsors...make sure your co-sponsor has read all of the paperwork that they will need to sign well beforehand (there should be a link from the K-1 visa flowchart...just click guides above). Someone else had a situation where their co-sponsor backed out at the last minute after having read the actual affidavit of support wording. They were scrambling right before the interview to find someone else so that they would qualify.

Also be sure to fill out your timeline here on the site. It will give you a rough estimate on when you'll get your NOA2 and at the same time helps out our other members

It's not going to take 8 months unless there are problems with the application - you should be looking more like 6-7 months. I think if you filed Feb 11 then you can look for a Sept interview. Don't pay too much attention to the estimated adjudication date on the timelines as those numbers are hopelessly scewed from the delays experienced last year with the filing rush. We will probably see some Feb approvals in the next 3-4 weeks with a lot of activity in June. Stay positive.

Usually within 4- 4 1/2 months currently for CSC to send NOA2...unless there are unexpected RFE's....that set us back a month....

Good Luck!