New here

[paujoric 0]

Hi everyone,

we are new here on VJ although we have checked this forum out a hundred times to find all kinds of info that might help us before we finally decided to join this community.

Our names are Paula from TX and Rico from Germany.

We have sent our I-129F petion to the TSC and received NOA1 in our mail on April 26 2006 with receive date of April 21 2006 and that our case was moved to CSC. At that time we still didn´t know what long waiting times and what a big mess that will cause!

On June 30 2006 we received the first RFE (new rules by IMBRA) like most of you guys got them too who still has filed for K1 with the old I-129F forms.

Paula has mailed that back off on July 03 2006 and we got notice they have received it on July 12 2006.

Since that day almost nothing has happend anymore. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Paula tried to get ahold of them but you all know that´s impossible to find out anything by phone or to talk to anybody who really could tell you anything. So the usual blah bah blah or with other words "Keep your mouth shut and wait in line!" Neither we could find out anything when we have emailed them. We think this is a very poor service and they seem not to care about our lives aren´t eternal and that couples they want to marry each other want to be together and want start their lives together as soon as possible. Paula and I, we are both not the youngest anymore (40++).

Anyway, I can´t remember exactly anymore what date it was when they told us the preinitally process was finished and the remaining processing time would be less than it was estimated at the begin of this horror trip. I think that was when they told us about they received the RFE back.

It doesn´t matter anyway since from the 90-120 days processing time what once we found out about nothing is left anymore.

So now all in a sudden we noticed our case was touched on August 17 2006 but no change in the status yet. Well, for sure our hearts started to beat a bit faster and we thought maybe we are coming to an end now.

Wrong thinking! Yesterday our case was touched again and this time with a change of the status message...

Our so much beloved CSC has mailed us on August 21 2006 another request for evidence or additional information concerning our petition.

Now what the heck are they still wanting? We have sent in everything we could think of, from all the papers and forms they were required to lots of pictures, flight tickets or boarding passes from my trips to Tx or Paula´s trips to Germany. We even have sent them the NOA for an extended stay when I was in TX last time in December and had planned on staying until end of February and the lovely guy from the INS at the airport in Houston wanted me to leave already in begin of January again because for his opinion I have spent in the US too much time within the past 2 years (May/June 2004 for 11 days-our first meeting in person- Aug.-Nov. 2004 -89 days- with tourist waiver and Feb.-Aug. 2005 with B2 visa). So I never overstayed! Well, we applied for an extention of that stay and got granted so I could stay for as long as we had planned on, from Dec 08 2005 until Feb. 28 2006...not even 3 months...less than what the B2 visa actually would allow me to stay!

Now our question...

Who else has gotten a second RFE or has any idea what they might need again from us? We have no idea!

We are trying to get all materials they might need as quick as possible and send it back immedately so our case won´t get delayed for more. This etrenal waiting and not knowing what´s gonna happen and when something is gonna happen really sucks! How is anybody supposed to plan on anything like e.g. me to cancel my lease contract for my apartment here, to sell my car which I still need or all the other things you have to think of and take care for if you are going to move to another country for good.

They ask you what kind of wedding you have planned for. Ha, what a joke question! How are we supposed to plan a wedding in advance if they even can´t tell us exactly how long this whole process is gonna take.

It is absolutly amazing how some people think the can waste so much time of someones lives by them not to let know us anything at all and them to just hope we will keep our mouths shut and just sit and wait.

The sad part is, there actually isn´t anything we can do, they have the longer arms and we are depend on them.

Anyway, please post what experience you have made concerning a second RFE. To me that looks like it´s only another trick to keep people qiete for another one or two months. There goes one week until we will get their mail, there go another two weeks in case I need to mail anything to Paula and one more week or even longer until they will get it on their desk again.

Thanks bureaucrazy! (LOL...no spelling mistake)

We wish all you guys good luck and all the best for your future and that things will work out for all of us before too long.

Paula and Rico

[SteveInge 0]

Hi, welcome to the VJ club!

I guess you'll find a whole lot of people here who completely understand your story and who know exactly how you feel.

We have also filed with the TSC and were then transferred to CSC. Our NOA1 date is 23 March, IMBRA RFE also end of June and since then, no news. Also frustrated that we always get the same standard answers from USCIS and that we have no idea of what exactly is going on.

No second RFE yet for us, but you're for sure not the only one who received a second RFE. If you look at the first thread in the K1 forum you'll find a thread about RFE's (it's the first one listed).

Good luck!!!

[Nagishkaw 510]

i view it as a trick question...' when do you plan to marry? ' . since the k-1 is an INTENT to marry, how the heck can anyone answer that??? certainly no one can make concrete plans when they do not know for certain when and if a visa will be issued. I believe I stated that in one of my letters to them. Welcome aboard. God Bless you on this miserable journey. forgive me, i am not in the best of moods today, suffice it to say, just GOD BLESS .

[paujoric 0]

i view it as a trick question...' when do you plan to marry? ' . since the k-1 is an INTENT to marry, how the heck can anyone answer that??? certainly no one can make concrete plans when they do not know for certain when and if a visa will be issued. I believe I stated that in one of my letters to them. Welcome aboard. God Bless you on this miserable journey. forgive me, i am not in the best of moods today, suffice it to say, just GOD BLESS .

Thank you SteveInge and jabree for your posts.

well, we can say we are not in a good mood either and we really had better trips than this one LOL.

but we just can´t give up and will have to go through it.

What concerns the advice to check out the RFE list here on VJ so I can´t think of anything we would not have sent in except CSC might complain about Paula´s birth certificate which is only a short one. At that time when she was born there were no long forms available yet.

I have sent in an international birth certificate what they better won´t complain about because that is like the name already says INTERNATIONAL standard and multi language.

I never heard before they might ask for anything about my income here in Germany. What would that be useful for me to send them any papers about how much I make here? We are not gonna live in TX and work here in Germany. LOL

So I guess we will just have to wait and see what the mail man will bring us hopefully before too long.

And the jouney goes on and on and on and..........................................

[SteveInge 0]

Have you also send them copies of the stamps in both your passports. That seems something they frequently ask.

Can I also ask you a question? Are you still allowed to travel to the US (under VWP)after the INS officer made that comment? This is getting one of my concerns. I've also became a frequent traveller to the US and I'm getting a bit concerned that the next time I might be denied entry.

Thank you

[paujoric 0]

Have you also send them copies of the stamps in both your passports. That seems something they frequently ask.

Can I also ask you a question? Are you still allowed to travel to the US (under VWP)after the INS officer made that comment? This is getting one of my concerns. I've also became a frequent traveller to the US and I'm getting a bit concerned that the next time I might be denied entry.

Thank you

we haven´t sent in any copies of stamps in our passports because we thought sending copies of the tickets and boarding passes plus about 20 pictures all taken over the past 2 years in TX or here in Germany would be enough evidence we have met in person.

what concerns your question about me traveling to the US so I still have my valid B2 visa and actually could travel back but there is always the risk you might get sent back at the airport because they assume you are trying to get married there and in that way to go around the long waiting process.

I didn´t wanna take the risk of spending so many euros on a flight ticket just to fly one time there and get sent back immedately. Paula was here again in May for 4 weeks. Also I wanted to be here in case really something was happening so I could care for everything that might be needed from me here immedately.

Like I said, no matter what that officer said, I got my stay extended from the USCIS in Mesquiete TX and have this black on white and even have sent a copy of this approval. It cost us 179 dollars I believe but at least I wouldn´t do anything unlawful or wouldn´t have overstayed.

I´m sure if we were not going through the K1 process I could travel back to TX without having any worries. The big question only would be how long they would grand me to stay. When once I filed for the B2 visa here with the US embassy in Frankfurt they told me I could stay for 6 months for as often I want and the visa was valid for 10 years. That was incorrect because always the office at the port of entry will tell you if you can stay for as long as you want. I guess it depends if that officer has a good day or a bad one. But you always have the option to file for an extended stay with the local USCIS office which mostly get approved...just for a little fee of around 180 dollars. LOL

money rules the world!

[Arazia 0]

From what you've said, I'm guessing they want to see the passport stamps or something of the like to validate your trip. The thing about boarding passes/tickets is that you can have them and not use them. The actual passport stamps validate that the tickets were used and you actually went to that country.

Of course, I'm not an expert by any means, as I haven't even started this process, but that seems likely.

Goodluck.

[paujoric 0]

From what you've said, I'm guessing they want to see the passport stamps or something of the like to validate your trip. The thing about boarding passes/tickets is that you can have them and not use them. The actual passport stamps validate that the tickets were used and you actually went to that country.

Of course, I'm not an expert by any means, as I haven't even started this process, but that seems likely.

Goodluck.

Well, I guess in about 3 or 4 days we will know more and we will get told what now again they still need and how they can delay the whole process for a few weeks or even months longer. If it really will be a copy of the passport stamps so that wouldn´t be any problem except of the slow mail from here to TX. But within 2 weeks it probably could be back on their desk. Just wondering how long it will lay there again until it will get touched next time.

Anyway, welcome in the club and good luck for you guys to go through this journey and maybe things will work out faster for you than for most of the people here.

When we filed our petition in April we still hoped we maybe would be together in October but this dream we have given up about by now and I´m glad I didn´t cancel the lease contract for my apartment yet. LOL I might have to sleep under a bridge then.

Now we still hope for us to be together for good by Christmas but even this hope gets a little smaller every new day.

Hey, where did yu guys met online? don´t tell me on Pogo like Paula and I have met. LOL

[SteveInge 0]

We met in Bandera, Texas!!!!!!!!!

If it can be a relief, from what I've seen on here, a lot of cases get approved right after CSC receives the second RFE.

[kitkat1 5]

The only thing you can do is wait and see what the RFE is for. Maybe you forgot to sign a form. Maybe you didn't provide enough evidence. Once you receive the RFE, send it back fed ex or ups so you can track it. Then your approval will come.

p.s. Nobody asks you what kind of wedding you are planning (the very nature of the visa makes this rather impossible) or suggests that you should quit a job, cancel a lease etc.

There is no rhyme or reason to this process and as you know now, you cannot make any plans based on the timing.

[paujoric 0]

>>>SteveInge

thanks for giving us a little more hope LOL

We have met in Dallas for the first time but you know what?

We have planned on getting married in Banderas on ranch.

Haven´t made any exactly wedding plans yet, that´s just impossible at this time but it is something we have talked about and we both would like very much.

>>>kitkat1

Somone from the USCIS in TX where we originally have filed, has told us to write a little statement and to add it to our petition that we are intend to get married within 90 days after I will enter the US and they told Paula it would be good to also tell them what kind of wedding we have planned on.

[SteveInge 0]

Wow, cool!!! Actually, we have considered that also!!! Maybe we can have a little reception together one day!

[paujoric 0]

Wow, cool!!! Actually, we have considered that also!!! Maybe we can have a little reception together one day!

Hey, that´s a good idea.

I just hope that will be before the day when we will get retired.

[Ecalos 0]

I'm half expecting an RFE because I don't think that the USC birth certificate was a state one... I'm pretty sure it was from the hospital, and I read in the RFE thread that was an issue, so there's one possibility. I will agree though... coming from Canada I don't need a passport to enter the US so there was no point whatsoever in photocopying mine... I showed them the passport at the border, they looked at it and waved me through. Coming from Germany though they may want to see your entry stamps. If that is what they ask for remember to photocopy -all- of the pages of your passport.

Welcome and good luck