March 2015 K-1 Filers

[gtessier 17]

RFE update...

40 days since CSC recieved the necesary documents and nothing. Nada. Zilch. Crickets....

The VJ estimate on our timeline states "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between May 12, 2015 and May 15, 2015* (RFEs at the California Service Center typically add an extra 30 days, which has been added to the estimated processing time)."

We are well past that now. While I realize that in their response on 4/22 they give themselves 60 days for a response, it's not a lot different than telling people to wait 30+ days for a case number when calling NVC when we all kow they take 7-10 days average. Further, there have been others here that had the RFE for the same dating site (same dating site, in fact) RFE issue, and they got their NOA2's long ago.

I don't consider this RFE to have been something that is our fault and avoidable. It was an arbitrary misintepretation by an adjudicator that clearly misunderstood the IMBRA law and how it pertains to dating sites. USCIS/CSC has approved thousands of K1 visas from the same dating site as they have been in operation for over 20 years. Even if there is some question as to which site is an IMB or not, how about keeping a cheat sheet at your desk that tells what sites are IMB's and which are not? Considering this should be an error on their part, would it be unfair to think that they could get it processed in the usual 7-10 day timeframe, rather than 40+ days?

So we are getting frustrated now. Our 4th of July plans that could have easily been met are out the window now. Impossible to make and sort of wedding plans at thisw point. So I need to take some sort of action now and looking for opinions and advice. Here are my options:

1. Email the USCIS ombudsman and ask for help. They may reply and say just wait another 20 days before asking them to step in for assistance. Or they may help given the nature of the situation.

2. Contact a local immigration attorney and ask for help. It's possible they have contacts at CSC that they can call and nudge the application along.

3. Drive down to CSC in Laguna Niguel (they are 20 minutes away from me) and make a personal appearance and ask what the F is going on.

4. Wait 20 days and hope someone finally notices it sitting abandoned on someone's desk.

Let me know what y'all think.

[Amhara 460]

RFE update...

Here are my options:

1. Email the USCIS ombudsman and ask for help. They may reply and say just wait another 20 days before asking them to step in for assistance. Or they may help given the nature of the situation.

2. Contact a local immigration attorney and ask for help. It's possible they have contacts at CSC that they can call and nudge the application along.

3. Drive down to CSC in Laguna Niguel (they are 20 minutes away from me) and make a personal appearance and ask what the F is going on.

4. Wait 20 days and hope someone finally notices it sitting abandoned on someone's desk.

Let me know what y'all think.

Gosh, what a hard situation! I would say first try 3, then 1. I don't think you would get a lot of response with 3, but the good thing is that the service center is in Laguna Niguel, so maybe there will be a bit of a ripple? I think you are right about 1, but that is also the best way. You can mention that the RFE wasn't even completely valid (although they can ask for whatever they want to).

Your wait is longer than mine. We have been waiting for about 28 days from when the petition hit the embassy; now we are hoping that they didn't lose the petition! That would be terrible - I had a lot of good stuff in there! Even an original document or two...(I think I have scanned copies though.) One good thing for my situation is that our petition is there. One good thing for your situation is that someone has looked at it, and you are on the cusp of NOA2! Also, you may have an 'easy' embassy too.

Just trying helps a little bit. Not being able to do anything drives us crazy! I can't imagine what TSC folks were able to do with themselves. Especially with the anticipation of a transfer in March, then nothing but disappointment happened. I say all that to say that just trying something will help you.

I highly disagree with 2. Not only will they charge you several thousand dollars that could go towards a trip to visit your fiance, but they really don't have any influence on governmental agencies; even if they say they do. It would be unethical for a federal employee to 'move a petition up' because he knew someo and they could get fired for that. If such a lawyer existed, all the TSC people would use him or her!

Keep us posted!!

Edited June 1, 2015 by Amhara

[TabeaK 516]

RFE update...

40 days since CSC recieved the necesary documents and nothing. Nada. Zilch. Crickets....

The VJ estimate on our timeline states "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between May 12, 2015 and May 15, 2015* (RFEs at the California Service Center typically add an extra 30 days, which has been added to the estimated processing time)."

We are well past that now. While I realize that in their response on 4/22 they give themselves 60 days for a response, it's not a lot different than telling people to wait 30+ days for a case number when calling NVC when we all kow they take 7-10 days average. Further, there have been others here that had the RFE for the same dating site (same dating site, in fact) RFE issue, and they got their NOA2's long ago.

I don't consider this RFE to have been something that is our fault and avoidable. It was an arbitrary misintepretation by an adjudicator that clearly misunderstood the IMBRA law and how it pertains to dating sites. USCIS/CSC has approved thousands of K1 visas from the same dating site as they have been in operation for over 20 years. Even if there is some question as to which site is an IMB or not, how about keeping a cheat sheet at your desk that tells what sites are IMB's and which are not? Considering this should be an error on their part, would it be unfair to think that they could get it processed in the usual 7-10 day timeframe, rather than 40+ days?

So we are getting frustrated now. Our 4th of July plans that could have easily been met are out the window now. Impossible to make and sort of wedding plans at thisw point. So I need to take some sort of action now and looking for opinions and advice. Here are my options:

1. Email the USCIS ombudsman and ask for help. They may reply and say just wait another 20 days before asking them to step in for assistance. Or they may help given the nature of the situation.

2. Contact a local immigration attorney and ask for help. It's possible they have contacts at CSC that they can call and nudge the application along.

3. Drive down to CSC in Laguna Niguel (they are 20 minutes away from me) and make a personal appearance and ask what the F is going on.

4. Wait 20 days and hope someone finally notices it sitting abandoned on someone's desk.

Let me know what y'all think.

You are still within normal processing times, hence, sadly, you have no recourse.

Give it some more time. Not much else you can do. Lawyer cannot move things along either until you are out of normal processing times and is a waste of money.

You can try the ombudsman - showing up in person won't hurt either.

I know it sucks, I have gotten the spiel about processing times so many times by now - I'd kill for a RFE!

[Amhara 460]

I know it sucks, I have gotten the spiel about processing times so many times by now - I'd kill for a RFE!

Hang in there, TabeaK! I hate to see how long you and others have waited so far. Another couple from Afg filed late September and they just got NOA2 last week! (Kinda interesting that they just might have their interview around the same time as us...) One good thing is that TSC has dramatically cleared out the overaged petitions on other visa petition from last month. Well, it seemed like that to me anyways. When I looked at the timelines, they were behind on everything, but now they are caught up on just about all except for the K-1's. But then again, 'caught up' means within 5 months. I think the wait would be easier if it were closer to the 5 months, not 7-9 months for the USCIS stage - then lying about the wait times to inquiries... And the huge approval discrepancies are ####### too. If CSC was running at 3 or 4 months and TSC was running 4 or 5 months, no big deal! But a majority of the year compared to two weeks? Disgraceful!

Btw, I hope you share with us when you get your NOA2! I think I am following your timeline.

[ambrolla 4]

Your wait is longer than mine. We have been waiting for about 28 days from when the petition hit the embassy; now we are hoping that they didn't lose the petition! That would be terrible - I had a lot of good stuff in there! Even an original document or two...(I think I have scanned copies though.) One good thing for my situation is that our petition is there.

Hey! Sorry to jump into your conversation but my embassy didn't "receive" any documents too. I'm actually getting frustrated now I'm just reeeeaaally hoping that my bf can come in July.. Hopefully embassy will find our documents soon!

im (petitioner) going to russia to my fiancee on the june 10th. and i am planning on and hoping to find interview date around june 20th.... lets see...

that status tracker is little weird i see

My boyfriend and I calculated our budget and realized that I can either go to Russia and be with him during the interview or we can go to Florida and have our little honeymoon when he'll get there. So yeah

And still not reply from the embassy Hopefully I'll hear something from them this week..

[Amhara 460]

Hey! Sorry to jump into your conversation but my embassy didn't "receive" any documents too. I'm actually getting frustrated now I'm just reeeeaaally hoping that my bf can come in July.. Hopefully embassy will find it soon!

Try doing what Sabrina and I did. If your ceac.gov is saying it arrived at the embassy, then look up the DHL delivery status. It at least gives you a tool; I will use the proof of shipping documents if I need to inquire at the NVC.

[ohmymy 2]

OMG. I was able to contact NVC and they gave me a case number and an invoice number but when I go to CEAC and check the status by entering the case number the lady gave me, it doesn't work. LOL. So I tried to play with the numbers, by switching 2 numbers, it worked. But I want to make sure that is my case number. So that means I have to call again.

[Farrieress 18]

Hey! Sorry to jump into your conversation but my embassy didn't "receive" any documents too. I'm actually getting frustrated now I'm just reeeeaaally hoping that my bf can come in July.. Hopefully embassy will find our documents soon!

My boyfriend and I calculated our budget and realized that I can either go to Russia and be with him during the interview or we can go to Florida and have our little honeymoon when he'll get there. So yeah

And still not reply from the embassy Hopefully I'll hear something from them this week..

I hope you hear some good news soon.

[AllanGrace 9]

Ohmymy,

Call them again, you want to make sure you got the right number from them or u wrote it down correctly.

[Amhara 460]

OMG. I was able to contact NVC and they gave me a case number and an invoice number but when I go to CEAC and check the status by entering the case number the lady gave me, it doesn't work. LOL. So I tried to play with the numbers, by switching 2 numbers, it worked. But I want to make sure that is my case number. So that means I have to call again.

It will take several days for the number to show on CEAC. I had the same problem and so did Travis. You can call again, but it is normal. I think mine too about two or three days and I only saw updates in my evening time.

[Kyle and Linh 64]

RFE update...

40 days since CSC recieved the necesary documents and nothing. Nada. Zilch. Crickets....

The VJ estimate on our timeline states "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between May 12, 2015 and May 15, 2015* (RFEs at the California Service Center typically add an extra 30 days, which has been added to the estimated processing time)."

We are well past that now. While I realize that in their response on 4/22 they give themselves 60 days for a response, it's not a lot different than telling people to wait 30+ days for a case number when calling NVC when we all kow they take 7-10 days average. Further, there have been others here that had the RFE for the same dating site (same dating site, in fact) RFE issue, and they got their NOA2's long ago.

I don't consider this RFE to have been something that is our fault and avoidable. It was an arbitrary misintepretation by an adjudicator that clearly misunderstood the IMBRA law and how it pertains to dating sites. USCIS/CSC has approved thousands of K1 visas from the same dating site as they have been in operation for over 20 years. Even if there is some question as to which site is an IMB or not, how about keeping a cheat sheet at your desk that tells what sites are IMB's and which are not? Considering this should be an error on their part, would it be unfair to think that they could get it processed in the usual 7-10 day timeframe, rather than 40+ days?

So we are getting frustrated now. Our 4th of July plans that could have easily been met are out the window now. Impossible to make and sort of wedding plans at thisw point. So I need to take some sort of action now and looking for opinions and advice. Here are my options:

1. Email the USCIS ombudsman and ask for help. They may reply and say just wait another 20 days before asking them to step in for assistance. Or they may help given the nature of the situation.

2. Contact a local immigration attorney and ask for help. It's possible they have contacts at CSC that they can call and nudge the application along.

3. Drive down to CSC in Laguna Niguel (they are 20 minutes away from me) and make a personal appearance and ask what the F is going on.

4. Wait 20 days and hope someone finally notices it sitting abandoned on someone's desk.

Let me know what y'all think.

I would vote for #3 and then if I don't get it resolved to my satisfaction I would invoke #5 which is to call your Congressman and get them to inquire. From what I have read on here from USCIS workers, Congressional inquiry gets moved to the top. I would make it clear that this is for an RFE not for a NOA2 since they did reply to you shorter than their standard 5 months on their website for 129F applications

[ohmymy 2]

Hello AllanGrace and Amhara

I called again just now and they gave me the same case number. Amhara, you are right! The second lady I talked to said it will take few days to get into the system. She said they just came up with a case number for me today. Wow! And today was my first call to NVC. :-)

Thanks again. :-)

ohmymy

[Vladsayame 5]

@ gtessier I feel your frustration as I am waiting for our noa2 also after submitting our rfe response. And to see others getting there noa2 after a week or two from receiving theirs makes me worried of what might be the reasons of the delay. I know I sounded so impatient to hear from them sooner when i just hit 20 days and knowing u waited longer than ours but its difficult to prevent feeling that way. Only time can tell, and eventually we will get our noa2 on the least we expected. Goodluck to us

[Vladsayame 5]

@gtessier oh btw I think #3 is a nice idea, u ll be able to send your concern directly to them and make them aware. And it will not hurt as well ( what harm of just simply inquiring ) give it a shot

[ambrolla 4]

Try doing what Sabrina and I did. If your ceac.gov is saying it arrived at the embassy, then look up the DHL delivery status. It at least gives you a tool; I will use the proof of shipping documents if I need to inquire at the NVC.

Did that on May 18th and on May 19th it was delivered. But embassy says that they do not have it

I hope you hear some good news soon.

Thank you, I hope so too.. Nothing today.