Sorry for not replying sooner. I have been ignoring VJ while trying to get my evidence for the RFE together. I received the RFE notice via email on Monday night but did not receive the hard copy indicating what the problem was until yesterday (Thursday). First this is what the RFE read:

"The petitioner and the beneficiary must have met in person between January 10, 2005 and January 11, 2007. Submit evidence of meeting the beneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petition. The primary evidence may include airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), copies of passport pages that show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the USCIS to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary within the two years. The secondary evidence may be film dated photographs of the petitioner and the beneficiary together. The following DOES NOT constitute evidence of meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards....Pursuant to 8C.F.R. 103.2((11) failure to submit ALL evidence requested AT ONE TIME may result in the denial of your application".

First, I have to say that we did not find VJ until after we filed the I-129F. We sent in about 40 pages of emails, all pages of our passports, and tons of photos of us together in both the US and UK (not film dated because we only have digital cameras). We did not save boarding pass stubs and at the time saw no reason to send in receipts.

So I have spent the last day compiling E-tickets/itineraries, pertenant bank and credit card statements & various receipts. Like I said, we have no film dated photos but thank goodness we were actually in the newspaper together on several occasions for things which were job related (which included pictures, full names & dates). A coworker is also sending a letter on letter head which vouches for when and how we met in the US. Now we will just cross our fingers that it is enough evidence.

Best wishes to you guys.

Thank you for the heads up. Again, I'm sorry for your delays with the RFE. What a pain!!! We didn't find VJ either until after our petition was sent in. I am now concerned that we will more than likely receive an RFE also. I'm surprised that they sent you one when you sent in copies of your passport pages. You know this is the thing that I find most upsetting (without having the knowledge of VJ) is that the petition directions in and of itself were very vague. Well, fingers crossed that this won't delay you too much and that you have enough evidence compiled for them to make a decision. Take care, Jen

Jen,

Just FYI, I called USCIS when I got the RFE hard copy. The customer service rep said that "the passport pages do not really show that you and your fiance met...maybe you were just visiting the UK on vacation....many people visit the UK on vacation."...(and vise versa for him flying into LAX apparently). Which is also the case with most other "primary evidence" they are looking for (receipts, airline ticket stubs etc. don't indicate both of our names on the same piece of paper). We did meet in Peru once and so we both have passport stamps with the same date of entry into Peru (so we really highlighted that in this go around). However, because it was work related, we have no hotel/spending receipts etc.

Just wanted to give you a little insight into their way of reasoning...if you think you may not have sent enough evidence the first time, maybe start gathering more now. It has taken me a couple days to get all the evidence together. ...I know it's silly but that you all understand...I cannot stand to wait 1 more day than necessary. The scariest line of the RFE was, "...failure to submit ALL evidence requested at one time may result in the denial of your application." ...so it had better be right this go around!

Anyways, good luck and keep us posted.

***I-129F (new form)***

2006-01-31 I-129F Sent to Chicago
2006-02-07 I-129F NOA1
2006-02-12 I-129F Forwarded to Vermont SC
2007-04-06 approved!

Congratulations!

FWAGUY,

Thanks for the 4/14 update at http://fwaguy.250free.com/K-1VisaView.htm

George

Wow, this is making me skeptical about the evidence that I sent in too...I too sent in a packet prior to finding VJ...all I sent in was photos, passport copies, military orders, letters from both of us and small really insignificant things...now I kinda feel worried.

[/quote]

Wow, this is making me skeptical about the evidence that I sent in too...I too sent in a packet prior to finding VJ...all I sent in was photos, passport copies, military orders, letters from both of us and small really insignificant things...now I kinda feel worried.
[/quote]

Yeah me too! i submitted passport entry and exit stamps, emails to friends and family describing Enamanuel, digital non-dated photos, and my hostel receipt. but nothing says both of our names on the same page! and worse, i don't have anything else to submit!!! i was pressed to find just that much. you'd think they would consider the whole application together -- like that the dates of emails, calls, and text messages from the Proof of OnGoing Relationship start right after us meeting. ?!??? guess they don't? ugh!

also, i think i may have put my information in wrong on my time line. you guys are listing the Notice or Received date of the NOA1? my received date is Jan 29th and notice date is Jan 30th to CSC. i'll update my timeline.

its a long wait, but i just discovered you guys and really, i was prepared to wait until late July to hear anything. i am still afraid to believe it will be so much sooner!!! anything faster would be AMAZING!! i met a French girl in Ecuador who couldn't get a visa for him to come to France. Eventually she went down there to get married, but they were separated 14 months!! poor thing!

autumn

I'm sure that the employees at USCIS have good days and bad days and deciding if your "evidence" is enough is fairly subjective. I'm sure that other people who did not find VJ until they had filed their I-129F did not include all the evidence that they are now requesting from my finace and I and still got approved. So hopefully you will be OK.

Whenever I see a fwaguy update with the days-since number slowly rising, I get this voice-over in my head like in a bad movie with someone in the jungle, keeping a diary . . .

"Day 82.. . we've begun to run low on food. Morale in the camps is low, the natives are getting restless. . . . "

Very well said!

But the fact itself, that the CSC is so slow in approving January filers, is rather sad and frustrating

I've been always wondering whether there might have been more petitions filed in January (compared to November or December for example) - thinking of all those couples that got engaged over the Christmas like we did...

Well, who knows. Let's just hope the CSC will pick up speed and we all get our NOA2's asap!

I just keep hoping that rather than movement actually being slower at CSC, things are slower HERE at VJ. By that I mean, fewer Jan filing couples joined this site and contribute data, which might make it look like there is less movement because there's no one reporting the dozens gettig approved daily, right?

Kinda?

Maybe?

Well, I'm going with it anyway.

Wow, thank you so much!!! I am worried about being able to find the kind of evidence that they will want if we get one, but I will start the hunt now. I completely understand how even one day is excruciating (sp?). We did fly to New York together, but unknowing at the time that we would be needing this, he threw the airline stubs away. The tickets were bought on Orbitz...but I will call them and see if there is ANYTHING they can do. We also had professional pictures done at a studio, I will call him and see if he can print up the pics with dates. Thats about all I can think of. Like you, we have tons of pics in the US as well as the UK, but all digital with no dates. Other than that, I guess all I can hope for is that the immigration officer that goes over our petition hopefully took his happy pill that day, got laid...whatever floats his freakin boat!!! The line of your post about the failure to submit all evidence could result in denial of your petition, yeah that looks pretty scary. I really hope for you that you gathered the evidence they were looking for. Hopefully the next officer to look at your file is not such a pucker butt!! And one more thing, if they are looking for more detailed evidence of the petitioner and benificiary meeting, then WHY is that one of the things that they list for evidence on the petition directions???? And WHY don't they list on there that the pics MUST have dates listed on them??? Are they just setting us up for failure? Last night I had some customers that went through the K1 process (English) so of course we got in this detailed discussion of their journey...yeah, it was hell for them too. They said the immigration officers were just cruel. Immigration lost their papers twice, and then sent them a notice (after the woman had received her visa and arrived in the US) saying she had 36 hours to leave the country. I hope that none of this happens to any of us. Hmm, anti-anxiety meds might be in the works for me!!!!! Anyhow, please let me know what happens next for you, I really am pulling for you!!! Ali, are you directly in Reno? If so, your not too far away from me. Hope you have a good day. Jen.

I know my troop is feeling restless and low on morale! lol That was cute by the way! Reserve energy is being depleted by finishing up my last class before graduation.

No touches, RFE, or NOA2.

Anyone approved?

Pulling NOA1s and NOA2s after Jan 1, 2007, 5 more NOA2s after last week's 26 were entered in the timeline status page:

CSC 20
NSC 7
TSC 4
=====
TTL 31

A little progress!

George

I'm just trying not to even check my status everyday. I wish I were in Colombia with Wendy...that way I wouldn't even think about the NOA2 and when I come back...boom NOA2 waiting in my mailbox.....just a dream

WHOA!!!!! JUST HAD AN IDEA!!!!!!!

WHOAAAAAAA!!

Does anybody know if the case #'s have anything to do with who's case will be reviewed next????

For example
Case #WAC00000001 just got their NOA2
Case #WAC00000002 should be next in line to be reviewed???

Maybe this way, we can at least know how many cases are before us. However case #'s are to be kept secret right?




I will post this in a seperate topic, for more feedback.

Thanks George, I feel a little better, I think? lol




If only Luis! Nice thought though! Hang in there!




I second that! I wish I were with Marlon, living it up on the beach, drinking Rum Cream and dreaming of an NOA2.... *sigh*

My Sweetie is arriving today to spend a week with me. If only we had our NOA2 waiting in the letter box when he comes back home..... I'd be beside myself with happiness. But with the speed CSC is working now - I don't think that is going to happen.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy the time with my Love-Bug now without obsessively checking our case status every other while and see you guys next week. I hope you will have some good news for me by then!!

I def. understand that, right now I am in Korea, living up life with my SO...it is just too dang cold...I want some of that beach the other person was talking about...BTW you Jan guys, hurry up and get your NOA2's...I want to be next...

Have a blast and here's hoping you will get your NOA2 while you are together!

Yes the SO visit definitly helps the obsessive checking... AND my obsessive VJing I've only been on to both sites 3 times or so since the 9th when my SO got here

Hmm, maybe something is really wrong with me! I am with my fiance in England and I still obsess over the NOA2. I don't like to think about how obsessed I would really be if we were apart like most of you guys. Lets all keep positive, we'll all have our NOA2s soon:)

Just enrolled to they gym, this should help me in the stress relief department. And also keep me away from the uscis site for a few hours of the day

What do all of you do to try to keep your minds off the wait? I need some ideas, this is just getting to stressfull. It is crunchtime.

I just joined the gym too Lucho! Maybe the waiting is so we can get hard bodies!! My parents are visiting for the next week so I am hoping they will take my mind off the NOA2.

Well, thankfully I have my last class to attend to. On my down time I play video games, read, and watch movies and StarGate SG-1! I have an exercise room in my apartments and I think I will start using it soon as it may help me!

lucho.....

do you live in long beach too?

because the 562...I was wondering

Nearby, in Bellflower...used to live in the Beach for many years.

Congrats on your NOA2

hey there everyone, i've been browsing this site - and forum - for a little while, but only just registered...

i have to say, it's depressing seeing how many of you who sent in applications in january already have progress made on your fiance visa... we sent ours in, and it was received, something like january 22 and we received our confirmation number, but that's it. when my fiance (he's the 'sponsor', as he's the US resident) has checked the site, it indicates that they are currently processing applications about 6 months in arrears, ie january 07 was processing july 06 and so on... if this is true, it means nothing will happen with ours until at least mid-july. is this correct?

Dont worry, for some reason USCIS numbers are wrong. USCIS is currently processing January cases now. As a matter of fact we have a VJ member with a NOA1 date of January 22 that has received their approval already. So yours should be coming soon....we all hope.

Incorrect. Keep reading around here, especially up in the top bar link called "immigration timelines."

The average processing time is 2.9 months (though it doesn't feel like it right now, for sure).

The six months on the official processing times site from USCIS is a cover-your-arse number to stem panicked phone calls.

Of course, if CSC continues the inactive path it's taken for the past few days, it may be closer to 6 months.

At which point, I leave this country until they get it together and wait it out over there.

No, they aren't "wrong," and it's not "for some reason." They just represent the outer limits of how long it should take. There ARE people who are in processing for 180 days, but there's probably circumstances at play (multiple RFEs or admin review, whatever). The AVERAGE is 2.9 months. USCIS hasn't been making an ongoing typo on their website, you just need to know how to look at the data and in what context. This issue has been discussed at length and frequently around VJ.

Where it becomes important is for people who have passed the 2.9month mark by a considerable amount ("considerable" is subjective) who then seek help from Congressional offices only to be referred to the USCIS processing times. It has been and continues to be my position that anyone who gets that line needs to push harder, using the 2.9 month figure (reported in USCIS publications) and anecdotally supported by the data compiled here.

This may sound dumb but how long in days is 2.9 months?

Ok I get your point. You are correct. However, USCIS should not only state that they are processing applications from 6 months back. Yes I do believe they have that on their site timeline to cover themselves. However, they are indeed processing more January filers than July 06 filers. I do not take the USCIS timeline seriously. I go by the populous timeline here at VJ. Hopefully i'm closer to 2.9 month average than 6 months.

About .1 shy from 3 months. So about... 2 months and 24 days.

2.9 is going to vary because of the differing days in months, but I think if you look at the VJ timelines, you'll get your answer. (ie: 90days-ish. A little shy, because of the VSC filers. But realistically, 90days-ish for the rest of us)

thanks for the reassurance everyone. if the 2.9 months is truly the average, that would mean it's coming up pretty quickly for us - hopefully we're on this list instead of the 6 month one.

i did check our case number again, and the last info given is that our application is 'pending', so i guess we just simply have to continue waiting patiently...

Can you please fill in your information in your timeline? It's helps us all out! Thanks and here's hoping you get your NOA2 soon!

Another VJ member posted their NOA2 on the timeline following their Jan 8 NOA1. Now were up to 29 for January NOA1s tha post their timelines. 29/78 = 37.2% ...sigh...

I was touched on 4/11 and nothing has happened since. It was one week ago. I don't understand why they would touch it and not do anything. Either approve it or give me a RFE but don't make me wait and wonder what the problem is. I wish I wasn't even touched then at least I would think it just wasn't my time yet.

WTF

How is it that 2 Feb CSC filers received their noa2 already?!?!?!?!?!?

See link below
http://fwaguy.250free.com/February2.htm

I noticed that. How BIZARRE.

One NOA2 is the one holding the VJ record for fastest NSC/TSC/CSC approval, approved upon receipt! I believe the beneficiary's country is Cuba.....at first we when the USC posted the approval, I believe she was just as confused....and thinking it was a mistake on CSC's part to approve the petition w/out NOA1, but sure enough it was true!
The other approval....dunno, I noticed it last week also, but there seems to be something off in the member's timeline. According to it, the petition was mailed off on 1/10/07, but the NOA1 date is over a month later on 2/12. That's and unusually long time to wait for NOA1, isn't it? If we're talking about time from NOA1 to NOA2, its a little under two months, but if you count in also the time from mailing the petition (according to the member's timeline) then we're looking at almost three months, which sounds more like the CSC we've come to love....ummm, I mean hate! (Either way this VJ member has not posted his/her personal story, just updated the timeline....so its anyone's guess as to why it took a month from filing to get the NOA1 and why the petition was approved so much more quickly than some other members here.)

Both cases are examples of the "less" than part of the average # of days it takes to get approved through TSC/NSC/CSC.

Hope that helps clear up a bit....not a comforting thought especially since many more ahead of these two applications are still waiting for approval, but we can only hope everyone waiting will hear good news soon!

If I remember correctly, they sent their petition out Jan 10. So they probably counted when they received via snail mail their NOA1, and not the actual notice date. So therefore, USCIS probably received their petition somewhere around the 16 of Jan. Of course I am just guestimating here, but that would be my interpretation of what has happened.

Yeah, true...however it doesn't matter...you guys were ahead of me...by CSC standards way ahead of me...but I thought it was odd as well.

Look at March. Another Cuba got by us. Looks like someone at CSC as a soft spot for Cuba...

Wow...that is two huh...maybe there was some sort of extreme circumstances involved...

....would that extreme circumstance be the official form of govt. there, maybe?