Seeking assistance in understanding messages from NVC and USCIS

[Btranquilo 2]

Yes a I-129F petition only has a 4 month shelf life afterwards. You must have the visa interview within that time frame. If you don't you have to extend it or it's closed. It's unlike the I-130 which never dies unless completely denied.

Both petitions will be sent to the NVC, regardless of what the NOA2 says. You need to call the NVC to find out what exactly is happening. If they have closed the I-129F or if they processed it and sent it onto the embassy. They may have done either one and if they closed it then you will continue processing at the NVC regardless of what you may want. If they did not close the I-129F then you wait for contact from the embassy before you can continue with the K3 (or however the K1 would normally work in the beneficiary's country, that is the path the K3 follows). The embassy or consulate also can close the I-129F and require you to finish processing on the CR1 instead, which is the path the I-130 started initially. If the embassy contacts you then you can choose to go that route or ignore it and follow the CR1 path at the NVC. At most it may shave 1-2 months off the NVC time but as I said before, the K3 is an inferior visa, so if 1-2 months is worth 1k and extra time waiting for a green card and thus citizenship down the road, then you can try to pursue it.

Thanks very much NLR for the additional information.

I will review this with my wife (now living in Costa Rica although she is a citizen of Nicaragua); as I now understand it, if she did obtain a K-3 visa the visa would be valid for 2 years and would allow multiple entries. However, as you have emphasized it would require an "Adjustment of Status (AOS) petition to be filed here in the US and (from VJ information) I understand this would probably take 6 months+ and also would require an "Employment Authorization Document" (EAD) which (again from VJ information) takes approximately 90 days +/-. The other salient factor as you point out is the additional cost of approximately $1,000 compared to the CR1 route. Please correct me if I am wrong about any of the above.

My wife is a Nicaraguan living in Costa Rica primarily for employment reasons and her job is fairly low-paying and also the crime level where she lives is troubling for her and her daughter (the plan for her daughter is to live with family in Nicaragua for the first year my wife is here in the US). Our plan upon her arriving in the US is for her to concentrate on acclimation to living in the US and learning English and trying to reduce her Spanish accent; I doubt that she would want or need to begin working here in the first 3 months anyway; also there are low-cost classes here in Portland for ESL and accent reduction. The cost factor of an additional $1,000 is not a huge factor to me and most of that would be recouped by saving on what would almost certainly be another trip for me to Central America from Portland, OR. The issue of her becoming a US citizen is probably a bit further down the road regardless of which visa she obtains.

I have my Nov 17 info-pass appointment with USCIS local office and, along with the information you have been so generous in providing along with others plus the information from VJ, at least I believe I know much more to be able to make the best decision/s in coordination with my spouse.

Thanks again to you and I hope this information may also be useful to others on this journey or thinking about the process.

[Btranquilo 2]

Here is an update and summary on my "cases" of filing both I-130 and I-129F petitions for my spouse's visa.

1. The I-130 petition was approved by USCIS in September, 2014 and sent to NVC for processing. On Nov. 12, 2014 I received the "Welcome Letter from NVC and have iniated "Step 1 (Choose an Agent" and am waiting for to move to Step 2 "Pay Fees". The welcome letter indicates the interview for my spouse will be scheduled at the US Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica (where she is currently living). The NVC letter indicates this case has a NVC case number "SNJ###########".

So, I am assuming the I-130 petition is proceeding normally and in about the average timeframe as indicated on VJ.

2. The I-129F petition was approved by USCIS on the same date as the I-130 petition (September 2014) and was also sent to NVC. On Nov 6 I received an email from NVC indicating the 1-129F petition was returned to USCIS for review. This message from NVC indicates this case has a NVC case number "MNG########" with "Chargeability" to the US Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua. I am assuming the reference to the US Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua is because we were married in Managua and the instructions for the I-129F petition require the "...beneficiary apply for a K-3 visa in the country where the marriage to the US citizen petitioner occurred."

3. Meanwhile, I had a "Infopass" appointment last week at the local USCIS office here in Portland, OR - (I was hoping to be able to talk to the USCIS staff person who recommended to me back in March, 2014 that I apply for both the I-130 and I-129F petitions); however that infopass session was basically a waste of time since there was a very new staff person that I met with (the other staff person who recommended filing both petitions was off that day); the new staff person first told me that the I-129F petition was only for US citizens not yet married. So basically it was like I was conducting traning for her explaining the process of petitioning with both the I-130 and I-129F and after about 30 minutes talking to her supervisor she came back and said "yes, the 129F was sent back to the Nebraska USCIS center for review and the I-130 was at NVC".

So, based on everything I have read on both the USCIS and NVC websites, the information here at VJ and after a few more reviews of the responses to my message of 11-6-14 on all of this, it seems to me that my best course of action is to simply continue with the NVC process on the I-130 petition and not worry or do anything related to the I-129F petition which is back at USCIS - Nebraska.

At the same time I cannot understand why / any implications of the I-130 being referred to the US Embassy in Costa Rica and the I-129F being referred to the US Embassy in NIcaragua. Perhaps that makes no difference if the I-130 is processed and the I-129F petition is "administratively closed" as some (Ryan H, Ketsuban, and DNP2014) seem to suggest in their replies to me.

So, does my decision to simply proceed with the I-130 process at NVC and let the I-129F process at USCIS make sense? Should I do anything about the I-130 reference to the US Embassy in Costa Rica / the I-129F reference to the US Embassy in Nicaragua issues?

Thanks again for reviewing this and any advice or guidance.

All the best,

Btranquilo