Processing time Texas Service Center

[valentinanola 17]

Hi everyone,

It's me again

Me and my fiance are filing for K1 visa and I'm also going to join a new company at the end of the month, reason being they have an office in New York and they'd be more than happy to transfer me there once me and Jon get married.

The company I'm joining has been extremely understanding and have committed to help through the transition, but they would like to know an approximate timeline.

I am aware that this is variable and it can be affected by different factors and no one can give me and exact estimation, but I was looking online and saw that the Texas Service Center (which is where our petition will be sent to, as we're filing in New Jersey) has had issues in the past, where they took 7-8 months to process the application and send the NOA2, due to not having enough staff or something like that. I would like to understand if anyone is aware if this situation is still ongoing and if Texas Service Center processing times are still being affected by a lack of adjudicators. I am 99% sure we won't get any RFEs as we triple checked the petition and hopefully we won't have issues, but after reading some material online I got worried.

Thank you very much for you help again,

Valentina

[Georgia16 2,858]

Only CSC (California) is doing K-1 visas.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Georgia16

[valentinanola 17]

Only CSC (California) is doing K-1 visas.

I wasn't aware of that, I thought it was going to be sent to Texas? I mean, that's what I read on the internet so far?

[yuna628 9,528]

As of early last year TSC is no longer handling K1 cases (I promise. Yes really. I promise.). Your case will be handled by CSC. Despite CSC being the fast service center right now, because of increased workload, things have slowed. You should still expect some sort of movement within a few months. This is not a guaranteed statement though. USCIS' official time chart is a standard 5-6 months. That is regardless of if a center is faster than this, or slower than this. Even if you got out of CSC within say, 3 months time (they may be on March atm possibly), CSC can be slow to send the approved petition to the NVC sometimes. Once the case eventually reaches the consulate in the country where the interview will be conducted, you will still have the medical and interview process to complete, which has their own time lengths of waiting.

As the USCIS advises, never make any plans. And this process is not easy to predict how fast it will go.

Btw: You will send the case to the Texas Lockbox (as it says to do in the instructions), and they will move it on to California from there.

Edited June 7, 2016 by yuna628

[Georgia16 2,858]

I wasn't aware of that, I thought it was going to be sent to Texas? I mean, that's what I read on the internet so far?

Yeah they are send to a lockbox in Texas but it's not the same as the Texas Service center.

[valentinanola 17]

As of early last year TSC is no longer handling K1 cases (I promise. Yes really. I promise.). Your case will be handled by CSC. Despite CSC being the fast service center right now, because of increased workload, things have slowed. You should still expect some sort of movement within a few months. This is not a guaranteed statement though. USCIS' official time chart is a standard 5-6 months. That is regardless of if a center is faster than this, or slower than this. Even if you got out of CSC within say, 3 months time (they may be on March atm possibly), CSC can be slow to send the approved petition to the NVC sometimes. Once the case eventually reaches the consulate in the country where the interview will be conducted, you will still have the medical and interview process to complete, which has their own time lengths of waiting.

As the USCIS advises, never make any plans. And this process is not easy to predict how fast it will go.

Btw: You will send the case to the Texas Lockbox (as it says to do in the instructions), and they will move it on to California from there.

Hi, thank you for your reply.

Yes I am aware that the lockbox and the service center are two different things and the petition will then be transferred to the designated SC.

I didn't know TSC wasn't handling K1 visas anymore, but thank you guys for letting me know!

I know I shouldn't make plans, and I haven't. My employer just kindly asked me if I could provide an approximate timeline, but they're not seeking any specific date. I thought I'd ask because after seeing what the situation was in Texas, I got a bit worried.

But I'm very grateful for your help

[Rc123rc 528]

Like everyone said, everything gets sent to the lockbox in Texas and they just send everything to California (CSC) CSC is only center processing K-1 currently. The ETA for an K-1 NOA2 without an RFE is generally 80+ days right now with 3-4 months a definite possibility. They only have 25% approved from March according to VJ Timelines so you can get an idea. We are March 24 and only 1 out of 17 approved so far. Add 3-4 weeks for being sent and processing through NVS and then 2-3 months at your consulate. Good Luck!

[Pitaya 2,576]

~Moved from K1 Process to USCIS Service Centers Forum~

~Inquiry about TSC~

Edited June 7, 2016 by Pitaya

[lucid 4]

i think texas is handling immigrant visa. correct me if i am wrong

[yuna628 9,528]

i think texas is handling immigrant visa. correct me if i am wrong

Incorrect. As stated in posts above.

[valentinanola 17]

Like everyone said, everything gets sent to the lockbox in Texas and they just send everything to California (CSC) CSC is only center processing K-1 currently. The ETA for an K-1 NOA2 without an RFE is generally 80+ days right now with 3-4 months a definite possibility. They only have 25% approved from March according to VJ Timelines so you can get an idea. We are March 24 and only 1 out of 17 approved so far. Add 3-4 weeks for being sent and processing through NVS and then 2-3 months at your consulate. Good Luck!

Hi, what do you mean when you say that only 1 out of 17 was approved?

[Rc123rc 528]

Hi, what do you mean when you say that only 1 out of 17 was approved?

Hi, at the time I wrote this, if you look at Igor's List,

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?cfl=

for all application, there had been only 1 out of 17 applications with an NOA1 Date of 3/24/2016 that had a NOA2 date listed (Approved)

today, 6/13/2016, if you look at the list, it has changed to 3 out of 19 applications with an NOA1 Date of 3/24/2016 that have a NOA2 date listed (Approved). We're not one of them so, it's been 81 days since our NOA1 date. This is in line which what I said in my previous post.

Good Luck!

P.S. CSC USCIS gets about 4,000+ new K-1 applications a month.

Edited June 13, 2016 by rcripps

[valentinanola 17]

Hi, at the time I wrote this, if you look at Igor's List,

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?cfl=

for all application, there had been only 1 out of 17 applications with an NOA1 Date of 3/24/2016 that had a NOA2 date listed (Approved)

today, 6/13/2016, if you look at the list, it has changed to 3 out of 19 applications with an NOA1 Date of 3/24/2016 that have a NOA2 date listed (Approved). We're not one of them so, it's been 81 days since our NOA1 date. This is in line which what I said in my previous post.

Good Luck!

P.S. CSC USCIS gets about 4,000+ new K-1 applications a month.

I've noticed some applications from April have been accepted, I hope yours has too by now!

[Rc123rc 528]

I've noticed some applications from April have been accepted, I hope yours has too by now!

Thank you. We got the approval the morning of 6/14/2016. Maybe you brought us some luck. Good Luck on yours!

[valentinanola 17]

Thank you. We got the approval the morning of 6/14/2016. Maybe you brought us some luck. Good Luck on yours!

Oh my god that is so good! So happy for you I wish you the best!