Getting a K-1 adjudicated

[habibi & me 0]

Salams (Hello) to all! It has almost been 4 months since me and the honey's visa has been at the california service center. Our time is almost coming up to get our visa adjudicated, however, I'm not sure who to contact at the CSC. The travel.state.gov website says you will need to ask the counselor officer to extended your visa application. Does anyone know who to contact, how do we know who the counselor officer is? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

~Moe & Ebonique

[Inky 1,111]

You need to call USCIS and ask them about the Petition.

[didopage 337]

Your NOA1 is dated Dec 1st. Your petition, and not visa, is most likely to be adjudicated in a couple of months. You can contact the USCIS but that won't be very useful before the 5 months mark. California SC is apparently processing Sept-Oct 2011 petitions right now, just to give you an idea...

[habibi & me 0]

The I-129F petition is valid for four months from the date of approval by USCIS. A Consular Officer can extend the validity of the petition if it expires before visa processing is completed.

So my petition will expire after 4 months. It takes 5 months to process the petition at the CSC. So at my 4 month mark, I just call USCIS, and ask them to extend my petition? Or do I wait until after 5 months to check the status. At that point my petition would expire, right?

Thank you both for your responses.

[didopage 337]

Your petition is not approved yet! You only received your NOA1, which is basically just a notice telling you USCIS received your petition, forwarded it to CSC and cashed your check. Right now, you are waiting for a decision to be made on your I-129F petition. If it is approved, you will received your NOA2. It is that document that has a validity of 4 months.

The CSC USCIS goal to process a I-129F petition is 5 months, and right now, that's about the time they take at CSC. You're not yet at 3 months of waiting, so you still need to wait…

After NOA2, your petition will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC), and then to the embassy.

Edited February 21, 2012 by didopage

[habibi & me 0]

Aahhhhh!! I got it now!! Yay I comprehend. lol Sorry for seeming so dense. This process is tricky. Thanks so much!

[didopage 337]

You're welcome, I know it's not easy to understand all the process. But you have time during the NOA1/NOA2 wait to do so.

To clarify even more:

NOA1 = 1st Notice Of Action = I-797C Notice of Action (officially) the one you got

NOA2 = 2nd Notice Of Action = I-797 Notice of Action (officially) the one you will get if USCIS approves your I-129F petition

First step in getting the K-1 fiance visa is to submit a I-129F petition to USCIS. Once it's approved and forwarded to first NVC, and then to the beneficiary's embassy, you will be able to apply for the K-1 visa.

I advise you to read the guides on VJ (on top of this page), and get you inform on which documents will be needed during the beneficiary's interview (begin to gather all documents as soon as your receive your NOA2).

Edited February 21, 2012 by didopage

[habibi & me 0]

Sweet! Thank you