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

[Chalandrae 29]

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?

I have not selected my interview date yet, but I heard it was busier. I will send you a pm this week once I have my date. We are working differently because I have to go back for a dress fitting in may.

The first time I went I brought a letter from my employer, they can be handy but it was more confusing for us than nothing. If you have any type of utility bills that could be used too. Otherwise, just my ticket with the date I was coming back was fine. As I said, it is up to the officer to decide if they will let you through or not.

[raven52 233]

I really wish you found this site before you started the "K-1" as there is so much useful information here.

I will quote one "golden rule" used by some moderators here, "NEVER, ever, never, plan one thing, reserve nothing, buy no airline ticket UNTIL you have your visa in your passport

as, you never know what will happen!"

The Filipino situation is "just" in one respect, as if living in that country, and ask for visa, it is expedited, as needs to be, as back to back

typhoons in 2013 and 2014, as "totally devastated" that country's major population area's, people living under bridges, and in card board

boxes, etc, been there seen that!

As for planning what and when for an NOA2.,.,me and my wife (Filipino) waited 186 days at VSC, as it was a dreadful wait.

I made the trip to Cebu, Philippines in Jan. 2013 to pick her up, and bring her to the USA, she failed the medical and was detained 2 and

3/4 months more and I went back in April 2013, and finally got her out of there. IT WAS 10 months 4 days.

Was it dreadful, and painful, YES!

Was it worth it?

Heck yeah!

Plan well, "plan nothing, absolutely nothing," and play "their" game!

You will really appreciate it when it does happen, and I wish you no bad luck as we had, waiting, IT is part of the process!

This will not be easy, and it will be long! But, getting married, and doing CR-1, is twice as long!

[MSCastillo 27]

Just a little bit of hope you do have is that there were much less applicants in November and Decemeber so these may be processed faster than the months previous.

However you do still have to wait through august, september and october which are quite large months.

I hope you can make it! We've planned our wedding and paid for everything because we wanted it to be the real thing with everyone there like we would if we weren't in this situation. so i completely understand your frustration there! its so hard to do things in such a backwards way sometimes

[Britandconfused 2]

Hello and welcome to Visa Journey!

I don't have anything to add in the way of answers to your questions, I agree with what other members have written. I just wanted to reach out as a fellow TSC hostage and reassure you, you are not alone! I filed end of November and have gone from hoping for an August wedding to hoping I at least get my visa before the year is up. It's a horrible situation to be in, being apart from your loved one, not knowing when you will be together in the same place and having absolutely no control over the process. After dating long distance for three years, I gave up my job last summer in order to spend three months with my now fiance (the max time allowed as a tourist) so that we could spend some time together in the same place before deciding our next mmove. He proposed on the last day of my stay and we filed to our K1 visa end of November. Now I'm in limbo. It's not possible to get short-term work as a mental health counselor so I'm stuck looking for temp work while I wait. Fortunately I have a supportive family and wonderful friends which makes the wait more bearable, but it's really tough, especially since, like everyone else, we have no idea when I'll get my visa.

I really hope you get your visa in time for your September wedding. While I agree it would have been a good idea to wait at least until USCIS processed your paperwork to book your venue etc., the fault lies with USCIS not you. A 9 month wait is longer than it should reasonably take to process a simple K1 visa. It's disgraceful how long it's taking TSC to process applications.

I wish you all the best in your visa journey, feel free to PM me anytime if you want to vent!

[TabeaK 516]

The last post clearly is against the VJ TOS, so I will not even comment on it. Do not encourage people to commit illegal acts & fraud!

@OP: If you have the option to move the ceremony and not be out of so much money, do so! It is more than 6 months away, maybe there are possibilities.

[AliciaBenCampbell 2]

Hey!

I am to a Canadian and dealing with TSC. We applied march 2014 and are still waiting on his petition. We got a RFE In December wanting proof we were getting married in 90 days... And it says online we should hear back on march 3rd.

Now when it comes to traveling ... I have never had a problem and I go down every 9 days .. I work a 9/5 schedule so I fly there for my. 5 days off and have been doing this for 2 years and have never been stopped. As long as your honest with everything you have nothing to worry about . I have entered thru Calgary , Edmonton and toronto. I also have entered thru Houston taking the red eye . So you will not have a problem.

Hey!

I am to a Canadian and dealing with TSC. We applied march 2014 and are still waiting on his petition. We got a RFE In December wanting proof we were getting married in 90 days... And it says online we should hear back on march 3rd.

Now when it comes to traveling ... I have never had a problem and I go down every 9 days .. I work a 9/5 schedule so I fly there for my. 5 days off and have been doing this for 2 years and have never been stopped. As long as your honest with everything you have nothing to worry about . I have entered thru Calgary , Edmonton and toronto. I also have entered thru Houston taking the red eye . So you will not have a problem.

[baron555 934]

H Our application was received on December 22, 2014 and it has been silent ever since.

Should be, you're well within the min 5 month time-frame and definitly within the 10 month time frame you should have planned for from the beginning.

After hearing nothing for a month, we began looking at their processing times and were horrified to find out how behind they were.

They are not behind, you are just seeing how many cases are in front of yours.....a lot.

We have already invested a lot of money into our wedding, so at this point we can't turn back.

Bad idea, you may lose your money. Aren't you thankful that at least you can visit? Many other can not during this process.

1) Does anyone know the specifics behind the backlog at TSC? Why is there such a drastic difference between their processing times versus those in California and Vermont? Is this the first time that they've had this kind of backlog and what are the chances that it will be reduced?

Not the first time. I can remember when California was slow, then back further Vermont and there was a time when Texas was faster.

2) Can you request for your application to be transfered from TSC to another processing center?

No

I ask this because my fiance and I are planning to move to California - so if he moves there before hand and changes his address, will the application be transfered to CSC?

No

3) Is there anything WE can do to raise awareness of the backlog and to force TSC to reduce the backlog and process our applications faster?

No

Should we call them everyday?

No

Should we email them?

No

Who should we contact and what can we do?

Second Tier Manager

I have read that some of you have written to your senators - has this ACTUALLY produced any positive results in terms of getting your application processed faster?

Not really, for most it just seems that way since they called about the same time their case was being gotten to.

What about involving immigration lawyers?

They will take your money and have no affect.

4) I've also read that people applying from the Philippines get their application expedited.

In places where there is a humanitarian crisis, expedites are possible.

Does this mean that there is an hierarchy for countries whose applications get processed faster rather than others?

Only where the next crisis is.

If so, what is the hierarchy and what is it based on? Is there any kind of clauses or exceptions that help you process your application faster?

No, please stop. You have to wait.

5) Is there any way to reason with them to get an interview faster?

No

6) Since applying for the K1, I have not re-entered the United States.

Your choice....which you should be thankful you have that. Many do not.

I've read that although it is NOT illegal for K1 applicants to travel to the states, immigration officers at my local airport have advised me I wouldn't be able to travel until I got the K1.

Bad adivce.

Given that we have no idea how many more months this will take,

Plan for 10 months, be thankful for 5.

I believe that it is absurd for them to expect for us to be apart by denying me entry into the states.

It is what it is.

I have a job here, I also volunteer, my family is here - so if I am able to provide them with proof of ties to Canada and a return ticket - do I have a chance of being able to enter the states? Has anyone done this?

Many have, all the time it seems for Canadians.

[tcgator 1]

Patience is key throughout the whole process with USCIS. We applied in June 2013 for our K1 and received the approval in September 2013, so I guess we were really lucky in that sense. I was a little stupid in not having all of our paperwork ready as soon as we got the approval, so I would suggest you do that and then schedule your interview for as soon as possible. I made the mistake of not doing that and then we ended up having to wait like 2 months for the interview date and then my husband eventually got here at the end of January 2014.

Just know that K1 is only the beginning, and each step comes with a lot of money, paperwork and waiting. We applied for AOS (adjustment of status/greencard) in March 2014 and are still waiting, almost one year later.

I would suggest you contact all of your wedding vendors and ask to change to a later date. I'm sure they would be willing to work with you and you shouldn't lose your deposit. We got married at the courthouse and then had our wedding ceremony several months later. Now we have two anniversary dates to celebrate!

[LoveMyTico 999]

if pregnancy is not a reason for expedite, financial loss due to poor planning wont even be considered. You aren't supposed to make any plans before the visa is in your hands. Do a search on here and you will see many threads on this topic.

[missingmyguy 4]

I am new here too from Canada, and my papers are at Texas. They recieved them Oct 6, and the only news I have gotten was that the cheque was cashed and a case number, not a single other word or clue. Im glad im not alone in this...its very stressful to have no time frame to plan.

[didopage 337]

the best would be to enter US as tourist and get married , though entring states with the intention to get married is a fraud

False. There is no problem with entering the US with the intention to get married, as long as the intent is to leave the US after. Entering the US without an immigrant visa (or K-1) with the intention to get married AND the intent to stay and immigrate IS fraud.

[baron555 934]

I am new here too from Canada, and my papers are at Texas. They recieved them Oct 6, and the only news I have gotten was that the cheque was cashed and a case number, not a single other word or clue.

That's normal, see below.

Im glad im not alone in this...its very stressful to have no time frame to plan.

Plan for 10 months be happy with 5. See below.

Many folks are under the impression that the service centers are terribly inefficient........see next....

On average, it takes an adjucator only 15 minutes to adjucate a petition.

So someone do the math, after waiting 5-10 months, it only takes 15 minutes to adjucate a typical case (with no RFEs).....sound very efficient to me......so do the math, assume some number of adjucators at each of the two service centers, working an average 40 hour day minus breaks and lunch and holidays and vacation....how many petitions are ahead of yours if all took 15 minutes?

A lot!

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Please review these YouTube videos we have started on "America, where is my spouse?" I am more than happy to change the title so it can include fiancés as well. We want to create awareness about this process and the suffering we are going through. I would love for some people who are stuck in AP to do a video for the channel as well.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg5UJltyO6dwPf8HqZBzjUA

We are discussing the topic here on VJ. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/538678-march-2015-support-and-rant/page-4#entry7503097

Let's band together and support each other.

[Pennycat 880]

Many folks are under the impression that the service centers are terribly inefficient........see next....

On average, it takes an adjucator only 15 minutes to adjucate a petition.

So someone do the math, after waiting 5-10 months, it only takes 15 minutes to adjucate a typical case (with no RFEs).....sound very efficient to me......so do the math, assume some number of adjucators at each of the two service centers, working an average 40 hour day minus breaks and lunch and holidays and vacation....how many petitions are ahead of yours if all took 15 minutes?

A lot!

It apparently takes just under a half hour per petition (2.16 per hour) "by hand"---but their new system rolled out last summer brought that down to .86 per hour (see article below). I'm starting to wonder if Texas and Nebraska (that's the big backlog for I-130s, I believe) were the centers this system were introduced to first. Would explain a LOT. http://rt.com/usa/173588-dhs-immigration-paperwork-government/

Also, you are making some huge assumptions and leaps of logic about the number of adjudicators at each service center, and how much they work. Can't blame you on that one because it would make perfect logical *sense* if they had the same number of people to process the same number of petitions, and reasonable people who can do basic math would make the system run this way. However, having worked either directly for, or consulting to the federal government for my entire career, I can assure you that this is very unlikely to be the case. And with the difference in processing times is really starting to prove it (21 days average to 210 days average is a tenfold difference. Unless the folks in Texas are spending their entire days streaming Netflix on their phones instead of working---also very unlikely---this is an indication of something very wrong with the workload/ personnel distribution).

[Vicky&Fritz 33]

Visiting shouldn't be too difficult. My fiancé is a German, living in Southern Ontario. He's visited several times. Its usually been cheaper for him to cross the border into Detroit or Buffalo and fly down. He only got a hard time once from an officer, when he was coming to pick me up in Buffalo. He was in the process of moving, and had some items in his car, so they questioned him. He had texts from me on his phone with my flight info, and our hotel confirmation in Canada, so they let him through.

Definitely look into pushing your dates back, if you can. Some places will let you. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Best of luck!