I129-F payment

[Bill&Jade 0]

Hi all,

My fiance and I have just filed the I-129F at the California service centre. We have received the case number to track our case by which is great...but when they went to cash the cheque from my fiances account the funds were not available. His bank had taken longer to transfer funds from one of his accounts to the other and therefore it wasn't there in time. We regret not being prepared properly. We just didn't know it would happen the day after they received everything.

Now he has to wait for an invoice to come through, which will instruct him how to pay the $455, to which bank etc. The USCIS say that he can't do anything until he receives the invoice. They won't tell him any more that that. So now we wait.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? We'd like to get an idea as to how long it will take for the invoice to arrive.

Thanks!

[az110965 252]

Typically the USCIS will return the petition if the check won't cash due to non sufficient funds. I've not heard of USCIS sending an invoice before.

Just curious as to how you received a case number. Usually the case number is on the back side of the check after it is cashed and most folks view the check online to obtain their case number. For those who pay by money order, the case number is not normally obtained until the I-797 (NOA1) is received in the mail...

Good luck,

Alan

[Bill&Jade 0]

Hi Alan,

We have both called the USCIS and both times were told about this invoice thing. Apparently once you receive the invoice you have 14 days in which to resend the payment, if you fail to do that then the petition will then be sent back. We checked our case status (received in the post) on the USCIS website and it said that we were on the Initial Review stage. The lady at the USCIS said that the case number will always get issued on receipt of the petition then they take the payment and if they come across any problems they will then contact the petitioner.

Hopefully this is something new they are introducing.

Jade

[az110965 252]

I'm glad you were able to talk to a live person at USCIS and hopefully they'll begin processing of your I-129F once the funds are receipted.

You'll most likely see "initial review" for most (if not all) of the time your petition is at CSC - some folks status never changes online and then they "magically" receive their NOA2 in the mail. I saw my status change from "initial review", to "touched" to approved within a space of less than 24 hours, so don't lose hart if you see your status stay the same for a while.

The good news is that CSC processign is going fairly quickly now and most filers receive their NOA2 well before the posted 5 month processing guidelines.

Best of luck to you and your fiancee.

Alan

P.S. Don't forget the stamp on the envelope when you re-send your payment!

[Bill&Jade 0]

Thanks for the status information. That was a great help to know.

My fiance actually received the invoice today! So payment is off on it's way now!!

Yes, it does look like the process is moving quite quickly. That definitely is good news.

All the best with the rest of your case, and thanks again.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Bill&Jade