As a K1 applicant stuck at TSC, I turn to you all for help and hope

[Cody and Daisy 373]

Well it's kind of hard to book a wedding within the 90 day limit given with the visa, and i'm sure you can sympathize.

I guess our other argument is that we both can't work. We are basically both living with our parents right now, working temporary dead-end jobs that dont exactly benefit our careers. I know everyone else is going through this as well, so it's not a unique reason by any means.

Please don't take what I'm about to say as hard or nasty or offensive., I just want to point out the harsh truth so you'll understand.

You have no chance of getting an expedite based on the fact that you book and planned a wedding before even having the visa in hand, it was ridiculous to spend that much on a wedding that you didn't even know you would have the visa for.

Most of us ( and this is because no one can plan a proper wedding in 90 days, and you shouldn't even wait the full 90 to get married anyway) have a courthouse wedding, and then plan something for later on once we either have AP or a green card.

You said you can't work but are working?

When your fiance (sorry I don't know if it's you or not) comes to the states, they won't be able to work for 3 months anyway... At least.

I feel like you really need to research more into the process, check the uscis website for current processing times so you can see where you are, looking ahead at AOS so you know what you're in for. And stop the wedding plans as best you can.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Cody and Daisy

[BritAbroad2015 61]

Hi strifescenario,

I feel your pain. I'm at the latter end of this journey. I'm originally from England, and like you we definitely did not anticipate how long this journey was going to be. We applied March 2014 and I was eligible to come to the US on a K1 in the November of 2014. I did have to change my wedding date, not too bad for us as we had a small one planned and just required us moving reservations and luckily we had a very understanding church who changed our date. So 8 months approx. was what it took for us. We did call up to change our address whilst we were being processed at TSC as my husband moved house, 5 days later we got our NOA2. Not sure if this is just a coincidence or somebody forgot to put us back in the pile of K1's to be processed, but we seemed to be approved faster then others whom had applied in March. Your fiancé isn't moving any time soon? Address change??

With regards to not coming to the USA... I came 5 times during the wait... no problems at all. Just proof of a job back home seemed to suffice. So yeah I think it should be absolutely fine. If I hadn't done that, the wait would have been much harder.

On another note, my advice would be to work as many hours as you can whilst in Canada. Once you get here, there is yet more waiting for an EAD (permission to work).... its been 3 months and I'm still not allowed to work yet or go back home until my paperwork is cleared by USCIS. They definitely don't make it easy, but it will be worth it and remember to celebrate each milestone. Its easy to say, and I definitely wasn't the best at being patient... but I hope yours comes through ASAP.

Let me know if any questions,

Cheers,

Amber

[TabeaK 516]

You can sign up for an account on the USCIS page and put your case number there for tracking. There is a "last updated" field. Most likely, this will state the date of when it was put into the system until you get your NOA-2. Based on a user who spoke to USCIS, since the website upgrade as of December 9th, only "Case received", "Approved", "RFE", "Denied" and "Forwarded to NVC" are listed. No more changes of ARN numbers nor "touched".

[strifescenario 6]

Please don't take what I'm about to say as hard or nasty or offensive., I just want to point out the harsh truth so you'll understand.

You have no chance of getting an expedite based on the fact that you book and planned a wedding before even having the visa in hand, it was ridiculous to spend that much on a wedding that you didn't even know you would have the visa for.

Most of us ( and this is because no one can plan a proper wedding in 90 days, and you shouldn't even wait the full 90 to get married anyway) have a courthouse wedding, and then plan something for later on once we either have AP or a green card.

You said you can't work but are working?

When your fiance (sorry I don't know if it's you or not) comes to the states, they won't be able to work for 3 months anyway... At least.

I feel like you really need to research more into the process, check the uscis website for current processing times so you can see where you are, looking ahead at AOS so you know what you're in for. And stop the wedding plans as best you can.

Hello!

Your response is fair about the wedding planning - and our plan is also to have a courthouse wedding when we get the documents. To say that we should 'stop' planning it now is kind of impossible given that we've already paid for it but I appreciate your concern for our financial well being. Yes, I am working - in Canada, at a job that has nothing to do with my degrees and is in no way helping me advance my career. I can't exactly easily find a temporary job in my field (which is defence & security) given that these jobs generally take months to get hired at and are also not keen on hiring temporary workers. Part of the reason why we decided to apply for the K1 is so that we could expedite the process of me being able to legally work in the United States.

What is this AOS acronym? I don't know what this is, can you please clarify? We are checking the USCIS site every day, we've signed up for every notification imaginable, we check processing times daily, and are doing our best to handle the situation.

We have most of the paperwork ready that will be required of me when I'm called for an interview, so in that regard we're are ready as we can be.

[Arthurobi 1]

TSC has the longest processing time so be prepared to wait for a long time. Ours just got approved after a 6 month wait about 2 and a half weeks ago

[Chalandrae 29]

Hello,

First off, welcome to visajourney.

I am sorry to hear you were send to TSC, my fiancé lives in the same state as your sand we were sent to TSC too.

Sadly, I do not think the date of september will be met. We sent our app in July 2014 and are about to book our interview. Took us 6 months to be approved. The idea of a courthouse wedding might not be interesting to you, but believe me, it is the easiest. You can then save up for a ceremony if you would like to, and no rush to plan everything withing the 90 days.

Since we applied in July, I went there 3 times. I never had any trouble at the customs. Be sure to tell the truth and have ties to your country. I find it easier to book a round trip and show them my return ticket. They might ask question about your fiancé, it happened sometimes. But remember, it is at the discretion of the officer to let you through.

Do not stress, and don't look away when you talk to them, there shouldn't be any issues at all.

If you have any questions, you can send me a message and I will answer it =)

[strifescenario 6]

Hi strifescenario,

I feel your pain. I'm at the latter end of this journey. I'm originally from England, and like you we definitely did not anticipate how long this journey was going to be. We applied March 2014 and I was eligible to come to the US on a K1 in the November of 2014. I did have to change my wedding date, not too bad for us as we had a small one planned and just required us moving reservations and luckily we had a very understanding church who changed our date. So 8 months approx. was what it took for us. We did call up to change our address whilst we were being processed at TSC as my husband moved house, 5 days later we got our NOA2. Not sure if this is just a coincidence or somebody forgot to put us back in the pile of K1's to be processed, but we seemed to be approved faster then others whom had applied in March. Your fiancé isn't moving any time soon? Address change??

With regards to not coming to the USA... I came 5 times during the wait... no problems at all. Just proof of a job back home seemed to suffice. So yeah I think it should be absolutely fine. If I hadn't done that, the wait would have been much harder.

On another note, my advice would be to work as many hours as you can whilst in Canada. Once you get here, there is yet more waiting for an EAD (permission to work).... its been 3 months and I'm still not allowed to work yet or go back home until my paperwork is cleared by USCIS. They definitely don't make it easy, but it will be worth it and remember to celebrate each milestone. Its easy to say, and I definitely wasn't the best at being patient... but I hope yours comes through ASAP.

Let me know if any questions,

Cheers,

Amber

Hi Amber,

Thank you so much for your response - stories like yours make me feel much less alone in this situation. My fiance isn't planning on moving to California without me, but we were considering the option if this would have an influence on having our case transferred to CSC to get it processed faster. Alas, from the responses I've received so far it seems like it wouldn't make a difference so we'll probably just wait.

Hearing that you were able to visit is excellent news for me. I am guessing that you had some sort of a letter from your employer stating you had a job and were expected back at work on such and such date? Does that suffice? Did you have extra questioning at the border?

I am also surprised to hear from a couple of you now that are you are not allowed to work when you get your K1 and enter the states. I have read that the K1 actually gives you permission to work immediately and that you can also apply for a temporary 'permission' to work while you wait for your adjustment of status. Is this not the case? Please clarify.

Again, thanks so much for your response! I really appreciate everyone's story and feedback!

[rtor1 52]

Hi,

As many have said you definitely won't get expedited because you're investing 40K in your wedding. If so, I bet many of us would just do the same.

Unfortunately I think your wedding date is a little bit tight and I truly hope you make it because I know exactly how much is stressing dealing with the wedding and etc. I booked everything for september (I am a June Filer). I noticed that in the majority of the contracts there was a cancellation policy and when the date was changed 6 months in advance there would be charges. You can try to contact your vendors and explain the situation and push your date (To be very honest with you I would think about a 2016 wedding in your case because we know that TCS is taking more and more and I am not sure if DACA will affect it somehow).

I have no idea about your Embassy but you can check canadian timelines and also read the Reviews: Embassy/USCIS & POE here and select your country so you will have a clue!

Good luck!

[strifescenario 6]

Hello,

First off, welcome to visajourney.

I am sorry to hear you were send to TSC, my fiancé lives in the same state as your sand we were sent to TSC too.

Sadly, I do not think the date of september will be met. We sent our app in July 2014 and are about to book our interview. Took us 6 months to be approved. The idea of a courthouse wedding might not be interesting to you, but believe me, it is the easiest. You can then save up for a ceremony if you would like to, and no rush to plan everything withing the 90 days.

Since we applied in July, I went there 3 times. I never had any trouble at the customs. Be sure to tell the truth and have ties to your country. I find it easier to book a round trip and show them my return ticket. They might ask question about your fiancé, it happened sometimes. But remember, it is at the discretion of the officer to let you through.

Do not stress, and don't look away when you talk to them, there shouldn't be any issues at all.

If you have any questions, you can send me a message and I will answer it =)

Hello!

Thank you so much for welcoming me to the site and for your response and congratulations on getting your NOA2! That's excellent news! Actually, we are not having a religious ceremony, we're just having a ceremony and reception at the same place. I guess our worst case scenario now is if we don't get the K1 in time, we're considering just having a 'party' on that date with all our family and friends and then I will return to Canada and await the K1 and then once I get it I can go back to the states and get married at the courthouse (which was our initial plan anyway).

Did you present any extra evidence to show your ties to Canada? Was there extra questioning? Also, you mentioned that you've booked an interview - how many days did it take between when you got your NOA2 and your interview? I'm guessing you're going to the one in Montreal, am I wrong to believe that it's busier than the one in Vancouver?

[Cody and Daisy 373]

Well I'd just hope that you'll get an approval in at least July, you might have a chance then. Any later and I don't think you will.

AOS is adjustment of status.

Is for your green card.

Along side it you apply for EAD (work authorization) and ap (advance parole).

Which both take about 60-90 days

AOS can take up to a year or more.

So unless you have a job already offered in the states, you won't be able to expidite your EAD.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Cody and Daisy

[BritAbroad2015 61]

No problems at all. I also found this site quite late into the process... but it is useful for answering questions and just for reassurance that you're not alone! Ah, my fiancé was already living in the USA during this process, he moved to a new house within the same area and we updated the TSC so all correspondence would get to the right place. Soon after we got our approval. But, don't bother changing address if not moving. Just thought I'd share our situation.

Actually, because I found the site late I had no idea that visiting my fiancé might be a problem. I naively just came to visit him for long weekends (always with a return flight). They did always ask me about whether I had a job back home, and the company name and what I did. But I never had paperwork. Saying that, there's no harm in taking a letter with you. Every little helps right!

With regards to working and leaving the USA after applying for AOS and arriving in America, you have to apply for the authorization to work and leave the USA ( also known as EAD and AP respectively). You can do this with your AOS application, its just a few extra sheets of paper to fill out. It is advised on USCIS website that this should take 90 days, we are on day 85 and still we do not have authorization. So yeah, its better to know this in advance. I definitely wasn't prepared for it... its not too bad in the beginning... but its definitely boring if you're used to working full time/enjoy working. Let me know if any more questions on this, im still going through the process... but will definitely update you when I am eligible to work.

I hope you have enough time to sort out wedding plans since this delay at TSC seems to be holding up applications. Good luck and best wishes.

[yuna628 9,527]

It is entirely possible to plan a small wedding that fits comfortably within the required 90 timeframe: and here's how.

In our case we went and searched out everything ahead of time, and picked where it was we wanted. The dress and everything has already been purchased. Obviously due to time constraints we aren't planning anything lavish but, after speaking to the wedding coordinator at one venue, it didn't require a lot of notice at all for what we planned (it will be different I assume if you're planning something big as it seems you might be). Now, keep the following in mind, once your fiancé has visa in hand you have up to six months from the date of the medical to enter the US. If you're having a big wedding? That's plenty of time to get it fleshed out and reserved. We aren't planning on waiting as long as that when he has visa in hand, and most likely will wait until we have NOA2 or probably the interview appointment date itself to book the venue. I know having an actual wedding instead of just going to the courthouse seems like it's difficult (and it is) but if you're flexible and creative it can be done.

As for a maximum wait time of 9 months? Well it's certainly not too far off the mark. But the thing is there's just no way of knowing, you know? Could be as long, longer, or shorter than expected. Getting to NOA2 is just the first hurdle, it's waiting for the interview and everything that's the second hurdle. I applied in October, and if I'm optimistic our case might get looked at in May/June. So if you applied in December you'll have some months to go after that to get to NOA2... and who knows how long after that for your interview.

K1 doesn't allow you to work immediately, because you need further authorization. You'll need to apply for Adjustment of Status, with EAD and AP. You can check out how to do that on the guides here. It's pretty important and something that needs to be done shortly after you're married. So you will expect that you won't be able to work for a period of time until that paperwork comes through and you're authorized to do so (first with the EAD and then the Green Card).

Edited March 1, 2015 by yuna628

[Ms Hogan 295]

Welcome to the boards. You've already been given a lot of helpful responses and some serious doses of reality. It is unlikely that your case will be approved in time based on the trends of late. It is unfortunate that you consulted an immigration lawyer who gave you the wrong information. But if you dig around in these boards you will see that is typical. You made plans thinking you had all the information you needed but sadly that was not the case. But at this point, none of that matters so there is no point being frustrated or worried about that. You can't do anything about it according to what you've said BUT you might want to explore that further. I don't want to add to your worry but please think through this... you have a lot of different scenarios to deal with.

IF you don't have your K-1 in time... which is probably the case... you can of course try to come as a visitor in order to attend your own wedding. Yes, that sounds crazy BUT you'll need to be very prepared if that is the case. As a Canadian it is usually easy to visit America. However, when you get to the border, each and every time, it is going to be your job to convince the border officer that you are going to return to Canada afterwards and not try to stay. So if you don't have a good job and a lease and strong ties to Canada now, you might want to get that fixed up in the meantime so you can prove you'll be returning to Canada afterwards. The rest of this scenario is that you need to decide if you just have a massive party but aren't actually married at that time OR if you do get married you'll be having to go back to Canada to start again as a CR-1 applicant instead. This doesn't make sense. So if there's a way for you to party like you're married without having your actual ceremony yet then that seems like the best course of action as strange as that is.

If you do have your approval you'll be able to go through with all the plans as normal and it's simple.

If you can't cancel your plans then you're going to have to do a lot of work to make sure you don't miss your own party. Don't assume they'll just let you in. You need to be prepared.

You could get lucky. When I did my application starting back in 2012 people around me were taking 10-12 months to get through. I got lucky and landed on the right desk at the right time.

You need to do all of your work and preparation ahead of time so that you don't cause any delays. The second you get asked for the next pieces you need to be ready to go. That is the only way you can speed up this process. You have no grounds for an expedite. You are going to have to be patient and hope for some serious good luck and someone who doesn't run into any glitches in your application once they look at it. Be sure to be prepared with next steps. Study the guides, read, read, read in the Canada forum and the K-1 processing forums.

Good luck with everything!

[HK12 273]

I am also surprised to hear from a couple of you now that are you are not allowed to work when you get your K1 and enter the states. I have read that the K1 actually gives you permission to work immediately and that you can also apply for a temporary 'permission' to work while you wait for your adjustment of status. Is this not the case? Please clarify.

I will point out that there IS a "temporary" employment authorization for K1's after they have entered the US, but since it is only valid as long as the I-94 is valid (for 90 days after entering the States) and it takes about 90 days for them to process your employment authorization, the whole thing is being lead ab absurdum. At best, you would be able to work for a few days. Not worth the ~ $300 you would have to spend on it.

Wait until you apply for AOS, and send the EAD application along with it. It will be free of charge if filed concurrently with AOS. The employment authorization usually takes between 60-90 days from the NOA date. Seems like it is leaning more towards the 90-day-mark nowadays, and I am not sure how processing times will be affected with the current immigration reforms pending.

Immigration points out very clearly that you should not make any fixed plans until the visa has been issued. But I know you know that. Hopefully, you will be able to reschedule. My husband and I had to schedule five different dates for the wedding (luckily, our venue did not cost anything) and then picked the one that fit best after the visa had been issued.

[loladolly 51]

Thanks for the link to the visiting thread! I'll check it out!

Sorry! One more question if maybe you know! I just read that you can apply to expedite your application. But I can't see the exact criteria for this for K1 applicants or what the process looks like. Do you know anything about this?

40K ??? Holly s.... I hope you can get some of that money back at least...

Just like everyone told you, your best bet is to have a courthouse wedding and plan something "big" for later on. My husband and I got married in July 2013 within the 90 days frame and we are only having the church wedding and reception this april in my home country., so over a year and a half later (normally was planned for september 14 but a pregnancy delayed things too)

Back when i applied in august 2012, i was sent to CSC and they were the one with the backlog at the time, because of the DACA. It took 8 months for me to get my NOA2, shameful... Also no expedite posible for me as well, my husband and I already had a 1 year old son at the time, he was 2 when i returned, got my visa in june after rushing the paris embassy to give me an appointment asap (got booked from one day to the next on the phone, no packet 4 involved and i had done my medical early to rush things). I couldn't visit because i had overstayed my VWP so that sucked. There is a new wave of DACA coming through and i don't know how this is going to affect current K1 applicants.

Just wanted to tell you that i am feeling for you, i went through this and felt as hopeless as you and did everything in my power to rush things, including contacting a congressman or senator (maybe you could try this, telling them about the 40k you already spent)