Understanding Process Times

[Jeremy919 2]

Hi All, 

I hope everyone is well and healthy. I am not so smart maybe, I am hoping maybe someone can make better sense of the process timeline.  My fiancé and I submitted our request in July. Sent to Texas Lockbox and then transferred to California, I checked the process times for the California customer service center on USCIS and this is as clear as mud to me. 

 

Estimated time range                    Form type                                                                                                               Receipt date for a case inquiry

6 Months to 8 Months                  K-1/K-2 - Not yet married - fiancé(e) and/or dependent child                        January 16, 2021

 

Is this 6-8 months before our process time will start? NOA2, DS-160 etc etc..  if our process time doesn't start until 6-8 months out our application will expire definitely, our application will expire in June 2022. If someone can help me understand this more, I will be elated!

[Crazy Cat 39,206]

The "Processing Time" starts when the I-129F is received.  People who sent cases before January 16, 2021 can send an inquiry for "out of normal processing time".  

[arken 4,197]

27 minutes ago, Jeremy919 said:

our application will expire in June 2022.

Why would it expire on Jun 22?

[Jeremy919 2]

8 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

The "Processing Time" starts when the I-129F is received.  People who sent cases before January 16, 2021 can send an inquiry for "out of normal processing time".  

Hi Crazycat, thank you for your response!

What you said was pretty much what the USCIS website said. I'm having an issue with understanding the meaning of the language used, and expectation.

 

6-8 months and my fiancé should expect to have her appointment for interview from July 1? Jan-March 2022 she will have her interview if there's no issues or missing info?

 

Or

 

6-8 months before USCIS will start to review our case and we must wait another 6-8 months before the entire process will finish from July 1 2021? September-November 2022  she will have her interview if there's issue or missing info?

 

I don't know what "inquiry" means. I can ask about our case?

[Jeremy919 2]

3 minutes ago, arken said:

Why would it expire on Jun 22?

If you look on the I-129F form, there is an expiration date in the top right hand corner of the document. 

[Crazy Cat 39,206]

6-8 months is the estimated USCIS processing time.  It does not include the time NVC will sit on the case until the consulate calls for it.  You also have to consider the time it will take to get an interview appointment, medical exam, police certificates, etc. .

This has been a rough year for all K-1 cases due to the pandemic.  Some consulates are still experiencing backlogs.  As reported by other VJ members, the average time (for all consulates) from filing to interview is 542 days.  Your case could be faster.

 

 

 

 

[Carlos&Gen 37]

9 minutes ago, Jeremy919 said:

Hi Crazycat, thank you for your response!

What you said was pretty much what the USCIS website said. I'm having an issue with understanding the meaning of the language used, and expectation.

 

6-8 months and my fiancé should expect to have her appointment for interview from July 1? Jan-March 2022 she will have her interview if there's no issues or missing info?

 

Or

 

6-8 months before USCIS will start to review our case and we must wait another 6-8 months before the entire process will finish from July 1 2021? September-November 2022  she will have her interview if there's issue or missing info?

 

I don't know what "inquiry" means. I can ask about our case?

Those 6 to 8 months is the estimated time USCIS will take to process your petition as of today. If nothing changes, those 6 to 8 month just cover the USCIS part, then you have NVC and embassy stages. Those procesing tinmes can vastly vary from one embassy to another. Take into account there's a massiva backlog on them .

 

I suggest you read the guides on this website, to clarify how this process works

[arken 4,197]

14 minutes ago, Jeremy919 said:

If you look on the I-129F form, there is an expiration date in the top right hand corner of the document. 

Don't worry about it, that's from internal use. Your petition validity period will be listed on the approval notice which you may get in 6-8 months, the processing time you are talking about.

[Jeremy919 2]

23 minutes ago, Carlos&Gen said:

Those 6 to 8 months is the estimated time USCIS will take to process your petition as of today. If nothing changes, those 6 to 8 month just cover the USCIS part, then you have NVC and embassy stages. Those procesing tinmes can vastly vary from one embassy to another. Take into account there's a massiva backlog on them .

 

I suggest you read the guides on this website, to clarify how this process works

I understand now. This aggregation is driving me crazy 🥴

1. 10-12 months with USCIS (NOA(x), DS-160, supporting documents, Dr. Appts, Interviews)
2. 1-2 months estimated currently by NVC (Processing for Visa)
3. Current Estimate from Ukraine Embassy 1-2 weeks

Total Time: 7.2 - 10.2 months

 

Please correct me if I am wrong.  I just want to understand approximately when I will have my fiancé with me here in the U.S. Crazycat indicated 542 days before she can travel ☹️

Edited September 14, 2021 by Jeremy919

[Crazy Cat 39,206]

5 minutes ago, Jeremy919 said:

I understand now. This aggregation is driving me crazy 🥴

1. 10-12 months with USCIS (NOA(x), DS-160, supporting documents, Dr. Appts, Interviews)
2. 1-2 months estimated currently by NVC (Processing for Visa)
3. Current Estimate from Ukraine Embassy 1-2 weeks

Total Time: 7.2 - 10.2 months

 

Please correct me if I am wrong.

USCIS does not process the DS-160 or medical exam, or interviews.

 

 

 

[Carlos&Gen 37]

I recommend you read the information posted by the user before me.

 

I don't know what your embassy is, but you are probably looking at a total time of 1.5 years.

[arken 4,197]

In simple terms:

USCIS (just NOA): 6-8 months 

NVC/Embassy (Ds160, medical, interview): 3-9 months or more depending on embassy backlogs that time.

Total: 1-2 years

[Jeremy919 2]

1 hour ago, Carlos&Gen said:

I recommend you read the information posted by the user before me.

 

I don't know what your embassy is, but you are probably looking at a total time of 1.5 years.

Ukraine embassy Kyiv

56 minutes ago, arken said:

In simple terms:

USCIS (just NOA): 6-8 months 

NVC/Embassy (Ds160, medical, interview): 3-9 months or more depending on embassy backlogs that time.

Total: 1-2 years

Ukraine Kyiv embassy is currently is 4-6 weeks.

[Crazy Cat 39,206]

3 minutes ago, Jeremy919 said:

Ukraine Kyiv embassy is currently is 4-6 weeks

Where did you get this information?

[mikeg1 2]

Its worth nothing that the 6-8 month I-129F processing times are very inaccurate.

 

We got NOA1 9/8/20 and NOA was 7/8/21... the entire time it showed 5-7 months.  I would say based on the spreadsheets found on this forum the processing time is accurate for 15-25% of the applicates for a given month.  When we got our NOA2 there were still roughly 20% of open cases from other NOA1 filed in Sept 2020.