I-129F filed at California Service Center and still not approved

[Am & Ra 19]

Hello Visa Journey Friends:

Filed I-129F with first notice date of 11-9-15 and still no approval, I understand how batches are taken for review before approval. However,In my Visa Journey timeline it says:

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between December 12, 2015 and December 15, 2015*. and I've also noticed many approvals through 11-17-15.

If this date range has passed or your application is past due per USCIS processing times then you should consider calling the USCIS to inquire on your petition. If you have been approved please update your timeline.

I filed at the California service center. Rapid Visa was the agency that filed our I-129F Petition and told me our package was very nice and complete. Please answer any of the following questions if you have direct experience with any of them.

• What do I say when I call USCIS?

• Has anyone else called them and got an answer to why case status remains Case Received?

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

Please only respond if you have direct experience with my situation.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Amy & Randy

[Tahoma 2,291]

You are well within time limits. If you call the USCIS, they are going to tell you to call back in a couple of months.

Once your petition is approved, wait a couple of weeks and then start calling the National Visa Center (NVC) until they give you your MNL case number.

Once you have your MNL case number, you can go ahead and pay the visa application fee, schedule an interview, and complete the medical.

[Am & Ra 19]

Does "Case Received" mean my case hasn't even been seen or touched yet?

When USCIS does the initial review of your case does "My Case Status" remain as "Case Received" or does it change to something like under review?

[LionessDeon 2,060]

The adjudication date at the bottom of your timeline is just an estimate. Some take longer. Normal processing time is 5 months. Back in 2014 it took longer than that if your were at TSC. That's when CSC took over and the expectation became to expect fast NOA2's When we filed we got NOA2 within 65 days and I thought that was super fast.

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

The guides can help explain the process.

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

[Am & Ra 19]

Thank you for your reply; however, your answer didn't relate to any of the questions I asked.

[tarzan31 27]

Keep in mind that Visa Journey is not in any way an official immigration page. You will not get status updates on the page until their is either an RFE or Approval. As others have stated, the process can be very time consuming. I was one of the TSC backlogged applicants whose original I-129F took 222 days from receipt of NOA1 to NOA2. There may very well be people who have expedited cases who get early approval, miltary preparing to deploy. You never know. VJ adjudication estimates are not official USCIS estimates. You are not past processing time. As of today, current processing time for CSC is 5 months for I-129F. That means you cannot put in an inquiry until 5 months from NOA1 date has passed.

http://www.uscisprocessingtimes.org/uscis-service-centers/california-service-center-processing-times/

Hello Visa Journey Friends:

Filed I-129F with first notice date of 11-9-15 and still no approval, I understand how batches are taken for review before approval. However,In my Visa Journey timeline it says:

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between December 12, 2015 and December 15, 2015*. and I've also noticed many approvals through 11-17-15.

If this date range has passed or your application is past due per USCIS processing times then you should consider calling the USCIS to inquire on your petition. If you have been approved please update your timeline.

I filed at the California service center. Rapid Visa was the agency that filed our I-129F Petition and told me our package was very nice and complete. Please answer any of the following questions if you have direct experience with any of them.

• What do I say when I call USCIS?

• Has anyone else called them and got an answer to why case status remains Case Received?

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

Please only respond if you have direct experience with my situation.

[ARosario 2]

Hello Visa Journey Friends:

Filed I-129F with first notice date of 11-9-15 and still no approval, I understand how batches are taken for review before approval. However,In my Visa Journey timeline it says:

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between December 12, 2015 and December 15, 2015*. and I've also noticed many approvals through 11-17-15.

If this date range has passed or your application is past due per USCIS processing times then you should consider calling the USCIS to inquire on your petition. If you have been approved please update your timeline.

I filed at the California service center. Rapid Visa was the agency that filed our I-129F Petition and told me our package was very nice and complete. Please answer any of the following questions if you have direct experience with any of them.

• What do I say when I call USCIS?

• Has anyone else called them and got an answer to why case status remains Case Received?

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

Please only respond if you have direct experience with my situation.

Hi. To sum up my answer to your questions, let me share our experience. Our NOA1 was dated 10/20 so assuming that the estimated process with CSC is 35 days, we expected to hear something atleast towards the last week of November, but nada. No update from USCIS. So we called USCIS to ask why people who filed later than us are getting approved. The agent told the usual 5 months processing from USCIS. So it wasn't a help at all. Now, after almost 2 months of waiting, we called again and requested for a Tier 2 agent, the agent said that there has been lots of holidays so that's one of the reasons of the delay, but NEVER said anything about our case. The agent just advised my fiancé to call back if we haven't heard anything until the last week of January. He again asked if there are chances to know what's going on with our case, or what's causing the delay if we schedule a case inquiry in the field office, but the agent said it won't make any difference. And we will only know that our case has been touched if our case status says "Request for Additional Evidence was mailed" or either "I-129f is approved" other than that we don't know if someone is looking on our papers or just stuck on the desk.

Goodluck to us!

[yuna628 9,533]

Hello Visa Journey Friends:

Filed I-129F with first notice date of 11-9-15 and still no approval, I understand how batches are taken for review before approval. However,In my Visa Journey timeline it says:

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between December 12, 2015 and December 15, 2015*. and I've also noticed many approvals through 11-17-15.

If this date range has passed or your application is past due per USCIS processing times then you should consider calling the USCIS to inquire on your petition. If you have been approved please update your timeline.

I filed at the California service center. Rapid Visa was the agency that filed our I-129F Petition and told me our package was very nice and complete. Please answer any of the following questions if you have direct experience with any of them.

• What do I say when I call USCIS?

• Has anyone else called them and got an answer to why case status remains Case Received?

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

Please only respond if you have direct experience with my situation.

VJ is not an official agency, therefore the timeline estimate you have, is merely an estimate. There is no need to call the USCIS, and they will not give you any information other than to wait. You are well within processing times. If your case has reached 6 months of waiting, then you might try to call them, but they will probably still not provide you with any information. If you have your NOA1 with your case number, you can continue checking the status of your case at the USCIS website.

[Ted & Janine 31]

Hello Visa Journey Friends:

Filed I-129F with first notice date of 11-9-15 and still no approval, I understand how batches are taken for review before approval. However,In my Visa Journey timeline it says:

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between December 12, 2015 and December 15, 2015*. and I've also noticed many approvals through 11-17-15.

If this date range has passed or your application is past due per USCIS processing times then you should consider calling the USCIS to inquire on your petition. If you have been approved please update your timeline.

I filed at the California service center. Rapid Visa was the agency that filed our I-129F Petition and told me our package was very nice and complete. Please answer any of the following questions if you have direct experience with any of them.

• What do I say when I call USCIS?

• Has anyone else called them and got an answer to why case status remains Case Received?

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

Please only respond if you have direct experience with my situation.

I have a friend that used to work for the old "INS" and he still works for the Federal Government. I have picked his brain with "what if's" and "what's next". Fortunately he still has contacts that that have helped answer my questions.

• When they review your case does “My Case Status” at USCIS remain as Case Received or does it change to something else like under review? Does it mean my case hasn’t even been seen or touched yet?

It will continue to say "Case Received" until they have completed reviewing your petition or if they find the need for more evidence (RFE). There are several agencies that collaborate with the reviewing of biographical and biometric data. When all of that is returned to USCIS, that is the point when your "Case Status" will change. It's kind of like putting a puzzle together and when complete, they announce "Done!" or "missing pieces". So the answer to the second part of your question is: No, it does not mean that it has not been touched.

In conclusion: If you call and are given the run-around... it's because they simply cannot see the progress on your case... unless, you talk to a tier 2 rep. Chances are, they will say the same thing. Right now, they are operating at 90% staffing due to the holidays. The next two weeks are 3 1/2 day work weeks meaning staffing will be skeleton because of vacation days for senior employess. I am one of those lucky ones that received the NOA2 in 30 days. However, I was fully prepared for 6 week (or longer) wait. If you're signed up here https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do you can track your case. Although, it's my understanding that they have gotten away from sending "touched" notices unless there is a problem (I never received any).

Hope that helps you. Good luck

Edited December 19, 2015 by Ted & Janine

[Am & Ra 19]

Thank you Ted,

I appreciate you answering the questions I asked and not just telling me what I already know about approval time frames. My two worries are we met through a Christian Social website, Christian Filipino. I did report on the I-129F application that this was not a marriage broker site. I also now have email from them stating in their terms of service that they are not subject to IMB rules,which I printed out. They also sent me an email stating they were not an IMB, so I am prepared to mail this to USCIS in California if I receive RFE for this reason.

This is what I wrote after checking no about IMB on the I-129F application: I Randy_______ met Amy______ at Christian Filipino website, (christianfilipino.com). This website is not an international marriage broker as defined by section 3(4) of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005. This website is an entity that provides dating services between United States citizens or residents and other individuals who may be aliens, but does not do so as its principal business and charges comparable rates to all individuals it serves regardless of the gender, country of citizenship, or residence of the individual.

The other worry is my passport photo which was done at Walgreens who offers this service, they were 2X2 but after sending in photos with I-129F I noticed the measurement from top of my head to chin were over the specification that USCIS has asked for.

If anyone here on this post has dealt with delay or approval, or has knowledge of in regards to these two issues please explain to me how everything unfolded before you got NOA2. Thank you

[Ted & Janine 31]

Christian Filipino is a well known and respcted site to most agents here in the US and Philippines. I met my fiance' on a sketchy dating site. Only mentioned that I met her on a dating site called LoveAwake. I was no where near as thorough as you were.

I had my passport photos done at CVS with similar results as yours without any problems. Worst case scenario would result in a RFE. They will send you an email and/or text stating "USCIS has sent an RFE letter". You will have to wait until you are in receipt of the actual letter. It will list each RFE and the action you will need to take in order to correct it. Usually takes 2 to 6 weeks for USCIS to approve. You can look at Igors's RFE master list and see different types of RFE's issued. I did not see any for face size or orientation of passport photos. There are a few RFE's for missing passport photo's.

You should be good to go

Has anybody else had or heard of issues with passport photo's?