Just wanted to touch base with anyone else out there waiting on an approval of the I601 from London.
We've almost been 'pending' for 11 weeks. Does anyone who recently got a response know how long its currently taking? We were told 12 weeks at the embassy in Dublin but don't know how accurate that is.
These last few weeks are the killers but at least my husband (the USC) is over for a week from October.
Hope to hear from some fellow penders!

We are waiting as well!!!! Its only been 3 weeks for us but I know when you get closer to the 12 week mark it is a killer. Luckily I am living in England now but last time we went through this I was in the states without him....man that was draining. Yeah they told us 12-15 weeks when we went to the US Embassy in London.

Wishing you all the good luck in the world...we all need it!!! We hope to hear by the time the baby is due......

Thanks for the response and congrats on the baby. Good thing is that life goes on despite all these delays I guess.
I'll be thinking of you and will let you know when we hear!
All good wishes....

My application got to the 12 week mark yesterday and I still have plenty of names ahead of me on the list. When it was submitted the Embassy told me 12-16 weeks but they have not exactly been speeding through the cases in recent weeks. This waiting is an absolute nightmare but it's got to end at somepoint. Will let you know when I hear something about my case so you have an idea of how long it's currently taking them.
Nick

seems like hell I know and I feel for you all, we were told 12 weeks and it happened in 12 weeks !!! they seem to stand still for ages and then all of a sudden there is lots of movement, just got to grin and bear it but it does happen!!! Good luck to you all, we know what it is like to be in that type of hell !!!

Any news from you waiting wanda? I noticed three people are now complete this week! It just a waiting game!!!

Hi Nick, thanks for the response. Looks like we're at more or less the same stage.
Any chance you have the weekly status reports for the last couple of weeks in July. We have been tracking since then (we're a bit obsessed!) but did not keep copies of the July reports, so can't track since our file went into the queue

Sorry but I haven't been keeping copies of the status reports, although I wish I had been. All this waiting is driving me crazy!! No update since Oct 5th.

Know the feeling. Think these last few weeks are the worst. Hang in there. Maybe there'll be one of those rare Monday updates today.

An update today (Oct 19). Any chance you're the completed Nick???? Only one in two weeks...
I know it unfortunately wasn't us!
Not sure what sort of order they use because today's 'completed' has only been on the list 10 weeks and there were several other 'pending's' ahead of it....

No, the single London case completed wasn't us. The Embassy originally said 12-16 weeks and next Thursday will be 16 weeks for us. They refuse to give any updated timeline to my lawyer so I'm going back to see if my Congressman can discover anything. Going at around 2 cases per week is kind of pathetic ... they don't seem to realize that they're dealing with people's lives here. We're slowly going insane!

Small flurry today and three more completed including a 'London' one. Fingers crossed for you......

Hi all! We just literally mailed our I-601 in today, so now the waiting begins!

Could someone post the link to where you are watching the queue? I need something to truly torment myself with in the coming weeks *sigh*

Also, my husband had his medical at the end of March 2006 and we understand that we must have our visa and travel within one year of that or...what? will he have to go through another medical?

Thanks!

Hi Annasherwood

Welcome to the waiting game! I'm not sure what the story with the medical is but I'm sure someone else here will.
The link to the website to monitor progress is http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/forms/i601_status-web.pdf

Welcome to the madhouse ... I mean waiting room! It will probably take a few weeks for your case to show up on the page kindly linked to above by Waiting Wanda, mine took about 6 weeks. Since mine appeared on that page I have been waiting 16 weeks and have still heard nothing. 11 cases so far in October is still painfully slow, but you gotta keep smiling, right?

wow, Rinkle, you're on 22 weeks???? oh lord, that's really horrible...i had visions of getting out of here in 12-15 weeks (like they told my husband at the embassy)...*sigh* does it make any difference what your waiver is for (a more complicated case, one with jailtime, perhaps taking longer)? Ours is just a 'simple' one-off cannabis possession from 11 years ago...

Anna

Hi Anna,
The Embassy originally told me 12-15 weeks also, but that timeline doesn't start until they acknowledge receipt of your paperwork which can take another 6-8 weeks. I have tried going through my lawyer and my congressman to find out eaxctly what is going on but they just say not to believe any timelines put out by the Embassy. It makes no difference what the waiver has been requested for. As long as you have a good case and you have well documented waiver letters, etc I'm sure you'll be ok ... I know it's just hard to wait.
Nick

i've had a horrible day, and i am so sick of England (no offense intended) and have been in tears since about 4pm and now to hear that it might take over 5 months to get out of here has just sunk me to new lows...i'm beginning to despair, as much as i try to be bright and cheerful around my other half, i just feel like i can't stay here anymore----i want to go home; i hate it here...

sorry for the rant, and i apologise to any Brits reading this, but it's getting dire...

Anna

HELLO ANNA

I HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT GETTING OUT OF HERE! I HAVE BEEN HERE NOW FOR 1.5 YEARS AND I AM SO READY TO LEAVE. NOW I AM HAVING MY FIRST BORN OVER HERE AS WELL, WHICH WE DIDN'T INTEND ON! ONLY BENEFIT IS THAT HE WILL HAVE LOTS OF HEALTH ISSUES AND IT HAS WORKED OUT GREAT AND THE DOCTORS AND NURSES HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL! NOW WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE OUR BABY AND I WILL SEE IF I SAY THE SAME STILL!

WE ARE WAITING FOR OUR 601 ALSO! WE HAVE BEEN ON THE LIST SINCE SEPT. 13TH NOW! NO SIGN OF EVEN MOVING FROM 'PENDING' TO 'UNDER REVIEW'. WE JUST HOPE TO KNOW SOMETHING BY THE END OF THE YEAR. FINGERS CROSSED AND THAT IT IS POSITIVE NEWS!!!!

i'm sorry to hear your little one will be having a hard time; i guess i should be grateful for what i have, altho it doesn't feel like much at the moment...i can't have kids and we aren't able to adopt here in the UK so i want to get home to america asap to start that process...it feels like my whole life is on hold, and all because he got caught with less than 30grams of cannabis 11 years ago...12 million illegal immigrants in the country and we have to go through this ###### (excuse my french)...

i've been here for 7 years and have just about had it; i want to go home where there is parking and people drive normally and it isn't dark at 3 in the afternoon and people are friendly...i just want to go home

i hope you have an easy delivery and baby is happier than you're expecting...

anna

We've finally got the GREAT news. APPROVED!!
Took exactly 15 weeks from when they first posted it on the website and 16 from when they recieved it.
Just so your not panicking if you're 'completed' but haven't heard anything yet, ours was posted it as completed last Tuesday the package still hasn't arrived at the embassy in Dublin (week later) and no one has called us.
By Friday we couldn't contain ourselves any longer and rang Dublin who knew nothing about it and then UCSIS in London where they confirmed it had been approved.
Finally yesterday I was sent a letter through our lawyer so a relief to have it in writing.
I really really hope everyone here gets theirs soon. It really is a hellish wait.
Any news Rinkle?

Wow, fantastic news for you guys!

Still no news on my case. What date was your paperwork received by the Embassy in London?

Thanks for the congrats Rinkle. Hope your not too disheartened - you've definitely got to be in the next week or so. The toughest place I know...
Embassy in London said in the approval letter that they'd recieved it on July 12. They posted it for the first time on July 20th I think, so it would have been 15 or 16 weeks from when they actually got it.
But who knows.
We've been monitoring all the cases every time they change it and a couple have just appeared, stayed at pending for two or three weeks and then gone to completed, while others have been 'under review' or 'pending' since we got on.

Anna, I hope you're feeling better. Completely understand the gauntlet of emotions this stuff throws up.
Hang in there. It does end.

Congrats Anna

Glad you finally get to move forward and move back to the states! That is the news that we are hoping for as well. I think we are only on about week 8 though. We just hope to hear something by the end of the year. Baby will need a operation so as long as it is a positive and we know we can move back we will be ecstatic!

Our first wait is for me to give birth. I would rather do it in the states but since my husband can't be with me we have opted for us just to have it here.

Well congrats again!

Keep us posted!!!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for the waiver and the baby. What an exciting time (though worrying too no doubt).
Just as info, we never went to 'under review' went straight to 'completed' from 'pending'.
Many of them don't seem to go to under review so don't think you're getting left behind!

congratulations, Wanda (no longer Waiting Wanda)!!!!!

i'm feeling marginally better, altho still feeling very hard done by that i will probably have to wait until April or May to get home...

still waiting for them to update the online list; any idea how often they update it? we posted our waiver paperwork 11 days ago...

Anna

Advise Please, we submitted our I601 paper work to London on 14/10/07, the payment was taken on 24/10/07 but we haven't received anything back from the embassy nor is our application on the status list on the website. Does anyone know if the sixteen weeks processing time is from when the payment is taken or from when your application appears on the status list.

Fingers crossed for all of us waiting!!

Sounds like you two are both on a similar time frame.
The updating seems to be sporadic. A big flurry of activity and then nothing for weeks. But sometimes they update on a Monday or Tuesday, so maybe tomorrow?
We got 'put up' about a week after filing but only becasue they happened to update the website shortly after receiving our paperwork. And we never recieved a reciept of application at all so I wouldn't worry about that once you're on the board...
Off to the embassy Tuesday so fingers crossed it all goes well...

is that common practice then, Wanda, to have to go to the Embassy after approval? Do they not just send you a visa? or do they have to check your paperwork again?

Good luck!!!!!!

Anna

Not sure what the procedure is through London but presume you'll have to go back to the embassy to acutally get your visa. The waiver just lifted the ban to allow me to get a visa. Its not an actual visa and for that I have to show up in person.
Also had to get a new police certificate because it's been more than six months since my original was issued.
Fingers crossed it all goes well tomorrow and I can head back for a couple of weeks on Friday!

i hope all goes well for you!!!

re: police certificates---ours was issued last december; would it be worth it to request another one in the new year to have on hand so we don't have to wait another 40 days?

WOO HOO!!!! We're on the list!!!! i just checked the list and they've updated it today and there we be!!!! How long is the average wait after you appear on the list?

Hope things went smoothly for you, Wanda



~

We have not move up yet on the list! We were entered in the system about 9 weeks ago! Does anyone have the average length of how long it is taking for each category? Just curious....

Still not on the list
this really is a waiting game, I suppose I have to get used to the idea it could be the end of March. My wife, USC , really not happy she has to stay here longer than she expected.......

Took 6 weeks for my case to show up on the list. | have now been waiting for almost 18 weeks and have finally made it to the top of the pending list! Hopefully shouldn't be too much longer. I think my wait has been way longer than average.

i certainly feel her pain!! when did you submit your paperwork, mac?

and rinkle---why do you think it took so long to get your appeal on the list?

maybe i'm asking questions that have no answers; i believe information is power, and i feel completely helpless against the US Immigration Service!!!

Anna

Anna
we submitted our paper work 15th Oct, we checked the credit card and it was charged on the 25th Oct , so I know they have the paperwork we just don't know what they are doing with it!!

Winkle
hope yours goes through quickly from now.

I wish I could just forget abpout it for the next 16 weeks but it doesn't work that way for me....

the whole immigration process is so bizarre...we submitted our paperwork on 1 Nov and we're already on the list...i'm glad, obviously, but i don't understand it...

and mac, i know what you mean about just wanting to forget about it; i've marked out the next 22 weeks on my diary, and i'm calling airlines about shipping our dogs, looking at classified ads in the US to buy furniture and find a flat----anything to make it seem closer to happening!!!!

Anna

They seem to stand still for ages and then all of a sudden there is lots of movement, just got to grin and bear it but it does happen!!! Good luck to you all, we know what it is like to be in that type of hell !

Hello there all , I was married in the US in July 2005 , and after a two week honeymoon returned to the UK, Im now waiting for a I 601 to go through as i was a naughty lad when i was young, ive been waiting since June 2006.. anyone know the Processing times? im still stuck in pending after all this time, i was told 12 weeks was maximum. What do i need to do to speed up this process as im seeing similar cases go through the whole process in less than 8 weeks

Waiting on a 601 since June 2006 is VERY unusual for London. I would have your wife contact her Senator or Congressman to make an inquiry to London USCIS to ask what is happening with the case.

Crikey, I thought I'd been waiting a long time! Sorry to hear that you've been on the list so long. The Embassy originally told me 12-16 weeks, but I've now been on the pending list for almost 19 weeks. I have a congressman and a senator looking into it but so far neither have been able to get any information for me.

Did you ever receive a note from the Embassy that they received your paperwork? If you've been on the pending list for over a year that's outrageous!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving to all---next year in America!!!!!

I agree next year in America! Happy Turkey Day!

I see by your time line, that your bundle of joy is not that far away- only 4 days! I hope you have an eventful delivery and congrats.

Hi all, just wanted to update you from 'the other side'.
All went well with the interview in Dublin after the waiver was granted, got the visa and came back to the US on Friday the 16th of Nov.
Heart was pounding at immigration in Washington D.C. but everything was fine and they didn't so much as bat an eyelid when I handed them the package from the embassy which includes a letter on the waiver being granted apparently.
Its rather weird being back initially - funny how you want something so badly for ages and then you have a sort of culture shock when you get it. But now I'm loving being here again.
Still thinking of you all - it really is the most stressful of times - but it does end!
Take care.

Good to hear you made it safely back home. I'm really looking forward to suffering from some culture shock, soon hopefully!

Baby came on Saturday night! He is in hospital with a emergency surgery but doing very good!

Now we hope everything else is okay with the immigration and babies recovery!