K-1 Timeline

[ChinBer 4]

Hi everyone. My fiance and I sent our k-1 package on Augus 24 and receipt notice was received on 28th of August. Would like to ask what is the usual processing time for the k-1 visa? Cause currently I am working at Saudi Arabia and going to wnd my contract on last week of February. Cause I don't know if I will have interview will be here or in my country Philippines. 

Anyone has gone through this? Or any idea about this? Thanks guys.. 

[KULtoATL 1,551]

8 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

Hi everyone. My fiance and I sent our k-1 package on Augus 24 and receipt notice was received on 28th of August. Would like to ask what is the usual processing time for the k-1 visa? Cause currently I am working at Saudi Arabia and going to wnd my contract on last week of February. Cause I don't know if I will have interview will be here or in my country Philippines. 

Anyone has gone through this? Or any idea about this? Thanks guys.. 

Currently it's taking at least 4 months to get NOA2.

 

What processing embassy was listed in the I-129F? You can interview at SA if that's listed in the I-129F and if you're legally present and living in SA. However, if SA is listed in the I-129F and you want to get processed in PH, best to get your US petitioner to contact USCIS and put in a request to update the elected processing embassy before you get NOA2.

 

If changes only asked to be done when the case file is with NVC and/or an embassy, they'll usually push it to one another and nothing gets done quickly and PH will get delayed in receiving your file.

[geowrian 22,336]

I was in the exact same situation. My filiipina fiancee (now wife as of Sunday!) worked in KSA when we filed. But her contract was about to end so we transferred it to USEM. NOA2s were taking ~30-40 days when we filed, but ended up taking over 90 days due to slowdowns and lots of petitions being submitted shortly before ours.

 

1 hour ago, KULtoATL said:

What processing embassy was listed in the I-129F? You can interview at SA if that's listed in the I-129F and if you're legally present and living in SA. However, if SA is listed in the I-129F and you want to get processed in PH, best to get your US petitioner to contact USCIS and put in a request to update the elected processing embassy before you get NOA2.

You can't change the selected embassy while the petition is at USCIS. I tried via both phone and letter. I was told you can change it once it's at NVC, and a couple people have had success, but 18 phone calls, 2 emails, and an AskNVC request ended up being futile and I had to transfer it after it arrived in Riyadh. @OP: Check my timeline for an idea of the timeline. It only added a couple of weeks overall to the ~6-8 month process to do the transfer from Riyadh to USEM.

[ChinBer 4]

Thank you for the answers! @geowrian congratulations! I still have 6 mos in SA before my contract ends here. So you had the embassy transferred when your papers are already in Riyadh Embassy? 

 

@KULtoATL thank you. SA was written in our I-129F. We are still waiting for the NOA1. 

[geowrian 22,336]

3 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

Thank you for the answers! @geowrian congratulations! I still have 6 mos in SA before my contract ends here. So you had the embassy transferred when your papers are already in Riyadh Embassy?

Thank you!!!

 

Correct. Once the case was received in Riyadh from NVC, we sent an email to USEM to request transferring the case to them instead. About 2 weeks or so later we got a notification that USEM received the case and we could schedule the interview once we had everything ready.

[ChinBer 4]

@geowrian you just send an email to US Embassy for the transfer? This is transfer to which country? PH? Are they strict about this transfer? 

[geowrian 22,336]

3 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

@geowrian you just send an email to US Embassy for the transfer? This is transfer to which country? PH? Are they strict about this transfer? 

Yes. The US Embassy in Manila (USEM) only accepts transfer requests via email. Yes, this was to transfer from Riyadh to Manila. They didn't seem too strict...we just put that her work contract was ending and she was returning back to the Philippines. We also included the case number, her full name and DOB, my name, and attached the bio page of her passport to verify her identity and that she was a Filipino citizen.

Edited September 14, 2017 by geowrian

[ChinBer 4]

7 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Yes. The US Embassy in Manila (USEM) only accepts transfer requests via email. Yes, this was to transfer from Riyadh to Manila. They didn't seem too strict...we just put that her work contract was ending and she was returning back to the Philippines. We also included the case number, her full name and DOB, my name, and attached the bio page of her passport to verify her identity and that she was a Filipino citizen.

Thank you so much! I think this is very helpful to me. I hope everything will work out just fine. How long before they responded to your email for transfer? 

Edited September 14, 2017 by ChinBer

[geowrian 22,336]

12 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

Thank you so much! I think this is very helpful to me. I hope everything will work out just fine. How long before they responded to your email for transfer? 

Good luck! You should be fine.

 

Well, honestly that was the most frustrating part. We put in 2 requests prior (via email) and got back completely generic replies that didn't help at all. Each reply took one or two business days (but seemed longer at the time!). Then the third time, they actually acknowledged our request. A few hours after they acknowledged the request, we got an email that the request was approved.

 

Here's the email we sent that finally worked:

[BENEFICIARY'S NAME]
[BENEFICIARY'S ADDRESS]

[BENEFICIARY'S PHONE NUMBERS]


RE: EMBASSY TRANSFER FROM RIYADH TO MANILA, PHILIPPINES
NVC CASE NUMBER: [NVC CASE NUMBER]
CATEGORY: K1
PETITIONER: [PETITIONER'S NAME], DOB: [PETITIONER'S DOB]
BENEFICIARY: [BENEFICIARY'S NAME], DOB: [BENEFICIARY'S DOB]
PASSPORT NUMBER: [BENEFICIARY'S PASSPORT NUMBER]

Dear Sir/Madam:


I am [BENEFICIARY'S NAME], a Filipino citizen, and the beneficiary for a K1 visa with a case number of [NVC CASE NUMBER]. I am currently working as a nurse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and my contract is set to end. In view of this, I will be needing my passport as I process my exit clearances and papers until the final visa is issued by my employer. I understand the medical and k1 visa interview and possibly administrative processing (wherein my passport is needed) will coincide the processing of my exit. So in order not to compromise the processing of the K1 visa, my fiance and I decided to transfer the case from Riyadh to Manila. I will be staying in Philippines after I exit from here.

I humbly ask for your utmost consideration regarding this matter.


Sincerely Yours,

[BENEFICIARY'S NAME]

Edited September 14, 2017 by geowrian

[ChinBer 4]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Good luck! You should be fine.

 

Well, honestly that was the most frustrating part. We put in 2 requests prior (via email) and got back completely generic replies that didn't help at all. Each reply took one or two business days (but seemed longer at the time!). Then the third time, they actually acknowledged our request. A few hours later, we got an email that the request was approved.

 

Here's the email we sent that finally worked:

[BENEFICIARY'S NAME]
[BENEFICIARY'S ADDRESS]

[BENEFICIARY'S PHONE NUMBERS]


RE: EMBASSY TRANSFER FROM RIYADH TO MANILA, PHILIPPINES
NVC CASE NUMBER: [NVC CASE NUMBER]
CATEGORY: K1
PETITIONER: [PETITIONER'S NAME], DOB: [PETITIONER'S DOB]
BENEFICIARY: [BENEFICIARY'S NAME], DOB: [BENEFICIARY'S DOB]
PASSPORT NUMBER: [BENEFICIARY'S PASSPORT NUMBER]

Dear Sir/Madam:


I am [BENEFICIARY'S NAME], a Filipino citizen, and the beneficiary for a K1 visa with a case number of [NVC CASE NUMBER]. I am currently working as a nurse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and my contract is set to end. In view of this, I will be needing my passport as I process my exit clearances and papers until the final visa is issued by my employer. I understand the medical and k1 visa interview and possibly administrative processing (wherein my passport is needed) will coincide the processing of my exit. So in order not to compromise the processing of the K1 visa, my fiance and I decided to transfer the case from Riyadh to Manila. I will be staying in Philippines after I exit from here.

I humbly ask for your utmost consideration regarding this matter.


Sincerely Yours,

[BENEFICIARY'S NAME]

Thank you so much for this! So this is the email that you send and then finally approved the transfer?😊 Does your fiancee had the medical exam at SA? 

[geowrian 22,336]

8 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

Thank you so much for this! So this is the email that you send and then finally approved the transfer?😊 Does your fiancee had the medical exam at SA? 

Correct.

The medical exam will need to be at SLEC (in PH) if you interview in Manila.

[ChinBer 4]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Correct.

The medical exam will need to be at SLEC (in PH) if you interview in Manila.

Okay, I will take note of this. This is St Lukes right? Cause I am so worried about this since my contract will end on February 2018. Did she still need the police clearance here in Saudi? 

[geowrian 22,336]

4 minutes ago, ChinBer said:

Okay, I will take note of this. This is St Lukes right? Cause I am so worried about this since my contract will end on February 2018. Did she still need the police clearance here in Saudi? 

Yes. SLEC = St Luke's Medical Center Extension Clinic.

 

We got the KSA police certs (plus had them translated to English). That said, KSA police certs are only required by US immigration if you still have KSA residency, so they were never requested at the interview. I'd say it's better safe than sorry so get them while you can (you can only get them in person from within KSA).

[ChinBer 4]

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Yes. SLEC = St Luke's Medical Center Extension Clinic.

 

We got the KSA police certs (plus had them translated to English). That said, KSA police certs are only required by US immigration if you still have KSA residency, so they were never requested at the interview. I'd say it's better safe than sorry so get them while you can (you can only get them in person from within KSA).

Thank you, thank you. I find this very helpful to me.😊😊 thank you for answering my queries! And finally you're together! 😊 Hoping for us too.. 

[ChinBer 4]

@geowrian hi. Do you remember the email address of the US embassy that you sent in the letter of embassy transfer? Thank you!