Hi guys,

the lady my hubby talked to was very very rude and wouldnt even let him change the address. What a stupid customer service rep. However she told him, that he shouldnt call back before September 17th to check on our I-129f because it is taking at least 6 months for them to approve the K3 now. Hello? Am I dreaming? WTF? Wasnt the K3 supposed to bring spouses together faster? They really messed THAT up!

So basically we need to wait for the NVC now. Well it is better anyway but still....it is ridiculous that it should take SIX freaking months for a K3 now.

Congratulations to the American government. Man I am sooooo MAD.

sorry guys normally I am positiv but I really had to vent here

I.

This really sucks. I was hoping that I would have my husband by Thanksgiving bu twith the I129F taking SIX months to get approve I probably wont see him until next year. This really sucks. What are we suppose to do. It has already been 3 months since I have been deprived of him, in 9 days it will be my 7 month anniversary and I wont have him here.
I hope the I130 flies through and get throught NVC ( fingers cross .....praying ...............)

I am sure your I-130 will get approved soon! Sooner as the K3 I bet

I.

I sure hope so, I just realized you had you I130 approved.............congratulations

yea....so I will go for that. We were just hoping the K3 would go through soon, so I could leave Germany earlier. Cos I wont have a job and flat by the end of july anymore. But well....we will figure something out.

I.

Everyone's who's in K3 Limbo is wondering if it will be better to pursue the CR-1 if it's approved quicker. There are advantages, because the foreign spouse will be a legal permanent resident right away and eligible to work. Look, there would have been waiting no matter what, because entering on K3 means waiting for the greencard. So it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.

There's no sense being mad about what we can't control. We have to be like Buddhists and have no expectations, which are the source of disappointment and misery. We can look at the silver lining, which is this: I married a great guy who loves me, we're on the visa train, and there will be a point at which we're together again, and turkeys can stay frozen for months.

You are so awesome, Jersey Girl!!!

Seriously! JerseyGirl, keep the posts coming. I keep getting so down about this whole process, but you have a way of really putting things into perspective. Thanks for that!

Hi jersey girl,
I love your comments and you are totally right. I had expectations and I got disappointed and mad because they didnt happen the way I liked them to happen.

It is so much better not to expect anything and get surprised by good news. Normally it is my point of view but well.....guess I got lost again. I am still working on that issue .

and soooo true: There WILL BE a point when we are back in the arms of our loved ones. That is for sure.

I.




@ jersey girl: how do you know you got touched at NVC????

That's absurd and also exactly what they told me too! I'm not miffed about the time. It does all even out really...K3 or CR1. What I am miffed about is the money that we have all collectively spent towards the false hope of a K3. I mean, how many more ways can our governement find to rip us all off? It's just disgusting. The zen approach soon fades after you haven't seen your husband in a few months. Besides, it's not really my style. I just hope they take the money they have pocketed and put it to some good use...like maybe more user friendly, professional looking websites. Now, that would be a treat!

Don't know about the National Visa Center, Isabel, only USCIS. You seem to be chugging along nicely and have good reason to crack a bottle of champagne. To keep yourself distracted, why not start taking side bets on which one of your applications will get the visa quicker?

Guys, life is full of peaks and valleys, my father used to say. So if you're in a valley, be patient, because a peak is coming up. It doesn't hurt to have a sense of humor, either. But if you insist on grousing, it gets you nothing but grey hairs and high blood pressure. What good will that be when you're finally reunited?

Hey, we could start a Before-And-After photo gallery! This is me before K3: thick hair, shining eyes, wide smile on my wedding day. Then, this is me after K3: overweight, unkempt, smoking and swearing like Denis Leary, popping antidepressents and washing them down with Irish Whiskey. Yeah, that's something to aspire to.

Isabel,

Getting 'touched' means that someone updated the USCIS online status date. The NVC does not have an online status system to update, you don't get 'touched' at the NVC.

With regard to I-129f petitions, the NVC receives the approved petitions from the SCs, assigns a DoS case number, orders up the security checks, and sends them on to the appropriate consulate. Typically in and out within a week. By the time you get your notice that the NVC has received the approved petition it's generally gone already, sometimes it was gone before the notice was sent.

Yodrak

uh thanks alot Yodrak
I.




hihi very very good idea. I already realized that I have lost weight over that visa process. I am moving along pretty smooth so far (knocks on wood) and I have no reason to complain. But I have began smoking again...uhhh ok. Well some trades anyway. But hey....soon everything will be over. I love your humor

Isabel

An incredibly smart lady!!!!! From Jersey? Wild!

[/quote] Hey, we could start a Before-And-After photo gallery! This is me before K3: thick hair, shining eyes, wide smile on my wedding day. Then, this is me after K3: overweight, unkempt, smoking and swearing like Denis Leary, popping antidepressents and washing them down with Irish Whiskey. Yeah, that's something to aspire to.
[/quote]


rolling! girl you are funny!

That's funny

Only problem I see with trying to be positive is that we are really being passive.

The "SYSTEM" is very very broken and we sit on our hands hoping everything will be alright? Not knowing if or when our spouses will have permission to join their mates? This is 2006 and the VISA centers still lose documents... approved submissions are lost in the mail... and what is their answer? Oh just wait 30 days? HUH? Then what... wait another 30 and so on and so on?

What worries me most is that this is yet another sign of the American spirit that our founding fathers had is basically non existent. We just sit back and say oh well...

God bless America and save her too please.

i am totally with you on that...

the waiting time doesn't matter that much but all the money that we spent by pursueing both ways is just ridiculous [especially if you don't have a job and have to pay it all from your savings - if you have any!]

Your choice to pursue a K3 visa or not. The government has given you an option, they haven't coerced you into using it.

Yodrak

maybe I got this wrong then, but this side here even tells you to pursue both ways [in the guides] and I thought that's what you have to do...

Don't get me wrong, it is a nice option to pursue both, but you never know where you are at with any of the two...

sannie,

Then blame VJ if you're upset about the extra cost of following two parallel paths, or again yourself for not understanding both the pros and cons underlying a recommendation to follow both. Because the K3 is purely optional and it hasn't been as attractive as it once was for quite some time now. (And with IMBRA it may be even less attractive.)

Yodrak

we have been on 10 months, 4 days AR/AP, we had 2 interviews, 2 field investigations, expired medical < 1 year lapsed> , expired police reports. the K-3 ultimately got cancelled. why? because, the CR1 just arrived at the embassy. so now we are seemingly starting this mess all over again. from the start.

Now This really sounds insane!
I am even afraid to ask what happened......

With all due respect, if you pay for a "service" you should receive that service and you should receive it in a timely fashion! I never said that anyone was coerced into anything. I doubt than many people (speaking from experience) know much about the immigration process before they actually get into it. So when you hear that there is a "faster" route, it would only be human nature to try it. How many times have you heard someone say, "You're married. Can't he just come over here?" My husband and I did a LOT of research before we filed and even knowing all we knew, there are volumes that we didn't know. I don't think many people do much research. I think this site does a great job, but I refuse to keep my eyes closed about the ways of our beloved government. People come here for help and not to be belittled for actually having an opinion.

simply the CR1 arrived that the embassy after all that mess..




you know what.. I will say this. they are RIPPING US OFF!!!!
yes the goverment does give you the Option to use. it but, its all in whom you talk to.
those from muslim nations have the hardest time being able to use it!!! because of the security checks.
K-3 is to allow your spouse to wait for the I-130 approval!! then explain why we are apart
1 1/2 years! tell that to those been apart this long. there are compleate familys apart because of this. those familys are unable to make use of the K-3 option!!!

so right there the goverment already knows your gonna be on AP/AR and we all know it expires so fast.
while you sit on AP/AR. that little 165.00 + fee is all kick back money for the goverment! why not give me my 165 dollers back since it was THEM that cancelled the K-3.






I agree...
i was not approved or denied. so where my 165.00??????????????
where my refund. the service i paid for was to have my visa approved or deneid.
so again where my refund be at?




in our case it was NOT VJ that said file K-3
its was USICS. I did not even know who VJ was!
they said file I-130 when we get receipt, submit I-129f .

MrsWhizz,

It seems to me that you did get what you paid for - you paid for an I-129f petition to be processed, and it was processed. [EDIT: I see that your petition has not yet completed processing. You can allow it to continue, or you can withdraw it, up to you. Either way you will not get a refund on the fee paid, and it can be debated whether that is 'fair' or not, but there are examples in the private sector where once one has signed up and paid one is committed so the government is not unique in this aspect.]

Whether an approved I-129f petition turns out to be useful or not is another story, but one makes the choice of whether or not to submit it on the chance that it will be approved well in advance of the I-130 petition. Then to complain about it when the USCIS gets the I-130 petition approved relatively quickly seems a bit ironic.

Just out of curiosity - do you complain to your life insurance company about the premium you paid last year and then you didn't die? Essentially that's what the K3 visa is - insurance against delayed processing of an I-130 petition. When the K3 was first introduced it was a sure bet. It isn't anymore.

If you did the research you say you did, and then decided to buy the insurance (or place the bet), then you've got nothing to complain about. (Neither do those who didn't do the research, for that matter.)

Yodrak

DEFINE PROCESS????????????????????????
because they look at it.. its considered processed? give me a break. I dont think anyone
goes into applying the I-129f only to have it processed - we go into this wanting adjudication.

shonjaved,

You paid the $165 for an I-129f petition to be processed, not for a visa application to be processed. And the petition was processed, and it was approved.

Your husband paid $100 for his visa application to be processed, and it seems he's getting a lot of processing for his money (although I'm sure you'd both prefer a quick approval).

Yodrak

shonjaved,

I believe I've already answered your question? You've got an adjudicated, approved, I-129f petition. You may or may not have a legitimate complaint about the visa processing - for the purpose of this discussion I'll stipulate that your complaint is legitimate. But you've got no complaint with the USCIS over the I-129f petition - they did what you paid them to do, and you even got the decision that you wanted.

MrsWhizz does not have her I-129f petition processed yet, nor does she need it anymore. But the USCIS has put some time and money into it, and more important to her she does already have an approved I-130. She opted to buy the insurance, and as it turns out she won't need to collect on it. If only we all had 20-20 hindsight.

Yodrak

Your idea of "timely" and the gov't's idea might be completely different. USCIS feels that they *are* speeding right along by adjudicating the majority of cases within 6 months. Not long ago, 3 year waits were not at all uncommon.

There is a Guatemalan fellow living in my city who has received some press lately. He came to the US 15 years ago and applied for asylum becasue of the threats on his life for organizing a union in Guate. Eventually his wife and children joined him here, waiting while his case was pending, and pending and pending. Do you know that he just now had a court date on the issue and the judge *denied* it because the political climate in Guate NOW does not warrent an asylum grant. The whole family has to return to Guatemala after living and working here for 15 years. Life isn't fair. Get used to it.

If people "hear" that the K-3 is faster, it's incumbant upon them to research it and find out how it's faster, or it's faster for *what* exactly. The K-3 was "faster" when I-130s took 3 years. If the i-130 takes the same amount of time, that is an *improvement*. There is no petition that you should rely on being processed in less than 6 months, IMO.

Now, where exactly were you belittled for having an opinion?

Actually, I wasn't talking about myself being belittled.

it was not approved or denied. it was CANCELLED..uff I did not get a fancy
were cancelling your k-3 petition notice either.

you make it sound like " let me pee pee on your leg call it rain" if anyone sayes anything then its
" uff at least you got water "

shonjaved,

You're I-129f petition was, at some point, approved. If it hadn't been your husband would not have had a K3 visa application before the consulate to be put into administrative review (or administrative processing, whichever term you prefer).

From what you've posted, the I-129f petition may still be in approved status. It appears to be the K3 visa application processing that has been cancelled.

Yodrak

HI guys,

wow i didnt expect that to become such an interesting discussion. Today that I slept one night over that whole issue again I have some different thoughts about it.
I think paying that fee is not the worst thing (since we spend so much money on other things after that). I dont think one can blame anyone.....well. As already mentioned before USCIS believes probably they are moving along really fast (compared to other things) I mean what are 6 months to them? Nothing. And I dont wanna know how many petitions they have to process! We here on VJ are just a very small amount. And honestly if you could travel on a K3 to the US and already having the CR1 at the NVC....would you complain about the fees because you then decide ah well we are doing AOS in the US instead? It is everyones own choice to take the K3 route. I actually consider it just as a lucky option if you get the K3 fast and BEFORE the CR1.

And I do think it is a very good thing that the american government reforms the immigration law. Sure we are stucked in that process now (at least a part of us) but if they would do it later there would be other people in that situation. So it really doesnt matter when they pass a law or reform a bill. It always affects people and their pending applications.

Chin up, we all will be together with our loved ones. Sooner or later.

I.

well, i didn't get the information to follow both path from this side originally... and it didn't sound like a "recommendation" either, but more like a 'requirement" to file both petitions.

the actual thing I AM complaining about is that you never know where you are at with any of these two petitions... nobody can give you information when it makes sense to cancel one process and only pursue the other...

we, as the petitioners, are required to submit documents accurately and in a timely manner - but we never really get any response regarding the status of our cases.

Well, I researched the K3 before we applied and had a good idea of how long it was taking to process. I *didn't* know that IMBRA would affect my husband's petition, and I still don't understand what's going on with the processing of K3s. If we'd known they'd stop processing K3s received after March 6th we would've found the extra cash to submit it a couple of days earlier. If we couldn't have done that and had known what their process was we wouldn't have bothered with the K3.

Then I still have no idea what you meant.

No one could have anticipated the IMBRA related problems, it's true that that is 'just one of those things'. I was responding more in the vein of having heard the same complaint over the past year and a half or better.. people often feel ripped off by the K-3 now, even tho it is doing what it has always done & its the I-130 that sped up.
I didn't mean my comment to say that you should have known about the March deadline and done something differently.



Well, it *is* a requirement to file the I-130, which you could say leads to both visas.. I don't know what else to say to that.

I'd submit that you know *exactly* where you are with either of the two petitions. They are sitting in line, waiting their turns at their respective Service Centers. I'll bet what you are frustrated about is that you don't know how many people are in *front* of you.
I can't see any benefit in canceling either, and I'm not clear why you would want to. When you start getting to visa application time, that's when you should do some analysis.

The system is not designed to give you any case-specific response, and all the calling of NVC and monitoring of email accounts and looking for 'touches' is not going to give you any idea either, really. I think that is the biggest drawback to VJ and other sites where people obsess on minutia. You should have a general idea, keep an eye on your case, but really, don't torture yourself. If they are this slow with the amount of information given out now, can you imagine what it would be like if they had to go physically look up individual cases? eek.

There's no sense being mad about what we can't control. We have to be like Buddhists and have no expectations, which are the source of disappointment and misery. We can look at the silver lining, which is this: I married a great guy who loves me, we're on the visa train, and there will be a point at which we're together again, and turkeys can stay frozen for months.

JUST A SMALL POINT.

GREAT IDEA TO JUXTAPOSE BUDDISM AND FROZEN TURKEY.

-LAST I HEARD BUDDISTS DON'T EAT MEAT!!

AND THAT TURKEY CAN TURN BAD AND DISEASED EVEN IF FROZEN. NOTHING REALLY LAST FOREVER JERSEY.........

Sorry you're in a foul mood, godsavethequeen. Better to be kind to yourself. The turkey reference (intended to be humourous) was for desperatewife, who'd hoped to have her husband back for Thanksgiving. Lighten up. We're all trying to support one another during a difficult time. After all, what's the alternative?

..........be kind yourself bunny ears!! Thanksgiving?? The celebration of the genocide of the indigenous population of the Americas!! Very amusing. They gave food and help we gave Small Pox and War. Fair swap ehh?

godsavethequeen, the fascist regime, made you a moron,

Oh my favourite Sex Pistols song......lol, NOT!!......."Pretty Vacant" was though

You actually just touched upon one of the key points of Buddhist philosophy....The reality that nothing lasts forever. Your body will eventually fade, your mind will wither, and yes your marriage in one way or another will come to an end. It is undeniable, and though it might be against our natural tendency in western culture, there is simply nothing we can do to prevent that. Suffering, loss and pain are all parts of our human existence. We can either accept it and find peace with knowing what is reality, or we can agitate ourselves and exhaust energy in an attempt to prevent the unpreventable. When we become aware of the true nature of things, it is actually much easier to be happy because our minds have accepted what is and have ceased in seeking after things that are not true.

Now I think the point that Jersey Girl is trying to make here is related to the same. Each person here WILL be apart from their loved one for a period ranging anywhere from 6-12 months. You WILL spend time and money in an attempt to get them to live with you in this country. There is simply no getting around this as it is reality. Yes there are times to be inquisitive and even vigilant with people in order to obtain information that is necessary to bring your loved one over here, but ultimately it is only to make sure that that wait goes as smoothly as possible...

I

Might consider where those Pilgrims came from, if you think their behavior was that bad....

Or do some fact checking.
Thanks for playing, though, and thank for the Sex Pistols reminder!

But I'm an Atheist. and a vegetarian

&

that sanctamonious wabbit.... Where's Elmer Fudd when you need him?

Thanksgiving?? The celebration of the genocide of the indigenous population of the Americas!! Very amusing. They gave food and help we gave Small Pox and War. Fair swap ehh?

godsavethequeen, the fascist regime, made you a moron,
[/quote]
Might consider where those Pilgrims came from, if you think their behavior was that bad....

Or do some fact checking.
Thanks for playing, though, and thank for the Sex Pistols reminder!
[/quote]


I said - "we gave Small Pox and War" meaning The Europeans. Yes I am English, my forefathers and mothers immigrating from europe to the UK, and I take my blame but will never celebrate the mistakes of the past. I will not ignore it either.

godsavethequeen,

But they do, or if they don't it's not because they're Buddhist. There are Christians and others who don't eat meat also.

Don't worry about it though, and if you find any time to research your posts before you make them spend the time researching immigration issues.

Yodrak

" If you are paying particular attention to observing practices of the three lower tantras it is important to maintain a vegetarian diet. Although it was reasonable for Tibetans to eat meat in Tibet, because of the climatic conditions and the scarcity of vegetables, in countries where there are vegetables in abundance, it is far better to avoid or reduce your consumption of meat.

There are many Buddhist who are Atheists just as there are those who believe in the more spiritual aspect of the teachings. I think in this thread we are trying to emphasize the more philosophical and psychology aspects of Buddhist teachings, which IMO can be applied to anyone's life regardless of faith or lack of faith.