Sending our I-129F peition this week; question about USCIS services centers

[Loki_Go 126]

Good morning!

So the proposal happened last Saturday (yay!) and we're filing out the initial petition. SO is filing from Ohio. We've always been under the assumption processing times are averaging around 8 months from now so that's what we were planning to, however last night I read this thread on VJ:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/538432-process-for-the-mailing-and-receiving-of-i-129f-petitions/

and that suggests Ohio petitioners are transferred to California, which means the processing time would be actually less than 2 months. Is that right?

If that's true, we're not prepared to move that quickly. How much time can we take after we receive our NOA1/NOA2 packages? Ideally we want to move around October or even November.

I hope that makes sense. My terminology for all this isn't the greatest, so I hope you all understand what I'm trying to ask.

[Zedayn 485]

I wouldn't worry about it getting processed too quickly. You can easily delay coming to the US until Oct or Nov.

There are 2 ways you can delay:

• The visa is valid for 6 months from the date of medical. You can wait up to 6 months AFTER you have your visa to enter the US.
• The NOA2 petition approval is valid for 4 months, which can be extended, usually automatically, by the embassy. You can wait up to 1 year to have your visa interview after your petition is approved.

Even if you are processed extremely fast at CSC, you are still going to be waiting a few months until your visa interview. If you had your visa interview in June, which is 3 months away, your visa would likely be valid until December.

[Loki_Go 126]

Excellent. Thank you very much!