Information about procedure

[martako 8]

Hello,

I am really confused about the procedure. What is going to happen after I sent my petition to Dallas?

We already received the USCIS Acceptance Confirmation email:

"Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS Texas Service Center for processing. Within 7-10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number XXX. With the official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) you may visit www.uscis.gov where you can check the status of your case using My Case Status. We suggest you wait until you have received your Form I-797 before checking My Case Status."

Is this the NOA1?

How long does it usually takes to get NOA2?

And what is next?

Thank you so much guys! :-)

[KayDeeCee 4,902]

Yes, that is the NOA1 receipt notice.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1flow

[martako 8]

Thanks..

Ok then, after I receive NOA2 (it will take a while I guess) then they going to send it to National Visa Center (NVC). What is that and what are they going to do?

[Megan & Luke 93]

Thanks..

Ok then, after I receive NOA2 (it will take a while I guess) then they going to send it to National Visa Center (NVC). What is that and what are they going to do?

This will help a lot: http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1flow

If your state was filled in correctly, you were assigned to the Texas Service Center. At current processing times they are running NOA1 to NOA2 about 7 to 8 months. The standard processing time for I-129F should be 5 months, however TSC is backlogged severely. That email notice is your NOA1, however you should also receive a hard copy in the U.S. mail within 30 days.

Once your petition is approved (NOA2) it is sent to the NVC (National Visa Center). This is a pitstop between USCIS and your fiance's embassy/consulate. Here the case is assigned a case number and forwarded to your fiance's embassy where they expect to have their interview scheduled. This step can take 30-60 days depending. Lately TSC approved petitions are averaging 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive at the NVC. At around the 2 week mark you can begin contacting them to see if they have received it. NVC forums -> http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/83-national-visa-center-dept-of-state/

After a case number is assigned, within a week or so NVC will ship off the case to your fiance's embassy. At this point your fiance will need to get their medical exam completed, file the DS-160 visa application, pay for the visa fee, schedule the interview, etc.. That is much more embassy or consulate specific that I can't go into too much detail. If you want information about post-NVC, see the consulate specific forums here -> http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/100-regional-discussion/

Since you are a recent filer a lot of these timeframes can change - no one knows what will happen with TSC in the coming months, or NVC for that matter. The process should remain the same but you'll always want to watch the forums here and keep up to the date with the official NVC and USCIS websites.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Megan & Luke

[martako 8]

Thank you so much for the great answer :-)

Edited February 10, 2015 by martako

[KayDeeCee 4,902]

No one sends their petitions directly to the service centers. Everyone sends their petition to the same address as indicated in the I-129F instructions, the Dallas Lockbox intake facility. From there they are sent either to the CSC(California Service Center) or the TSC(Texas Service Center) for processing. This usually depends on what state you reside in. The TSC is more backlogged and has slower processing times than the CSC.