We just applied for K-1, are we really looking at 26 months?

[madmanmike 191]

On 9/21/2022 at 9:13 AM, Crazy Cat said:

From the latest official USCIS quarterly stats I can find show they are processing only about half the number of I-129fs they are receiving.  

 

Actually, the most concerning thing to me is that about 40% of the applications are denied. 
 

Yikes!

[Lynxyonok 316]

18 minutes ago, madmanmike said:

Actually, the most concerning thing to me is that about 40% of the applications are denied. 
 

Yikes!

I was told that these are I-130s, where an I-129 is automatically denied.

 

I'd be personally concerned about the fact that more I-129s are received than processed every quarter - for, now, years.

[yvonme 124]

From start to finish, ours took from September 2020 to February 2022. With our K1 experience, he’s had no issues with getting a social security card, drivers license, EAD. Hasn’t been the worst experience but it was indeed excruciatingly long. It didn’t help that Australia was sealed off from the world for the entire pandemic so visiting wasn’t in the cards. I would just recommend meticulous petitions to avoid delays in processing. Our first interview appointment was July 2021, but embassy kept closing due to COVID. Then September was cancelled then finally we had one in December. 

[yvonme 124]

On 9/18/2022 at 4:01 PM, Sasha Uneek said:

 

Ahhh I'm already 4 months in and not stressed about the wait to me it gives me time to save more money, make more progress on my house, plan an small wedding.....but the benefits of CR1 would be more fitting for my fiance but ultimately this is the route we chose. Thanks for all of your insight crazy cat!

We used the wait to save money as well. We were able to pay for school and buy a second car very easily. It was long but the preparation and planning turned out to be the best thing. 

[Casjino 9]

26 months sounds ridiculous to me. We filed mid pandemic and it took us 11

months to be approved. GC was even approved in 6 months. I feel like they are trying to speed up after covid. But who am I lol 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

I wish you all the luck tho. Doing the wait while being separated is horrible. 

[Kimgaba 8]

I think it's because thinking about it the K-1 visa was meant for people that couldn't spent too much time together because of complications so it was designed to have a "try period" to see if the 2 adults can live together. Which is why there's only 1 place that takes care of it, it was never meant to have this overwhelming amount of applications I think? The I-130 has sooooooo many branches of web to get approvals that It makes sense that the vast majority of people would go that route. So thinking logically if you can do the spouse visa, do it instead. K-1 I feel is for those that may not have a better choice, but if you can and have a way to see your significant other a decent amount. Go spousal, you met them and got to know them enough time through long distance and visits to decide to marry them and the visa is the point when you're ready to move in together.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Kimgaba

[Tracy nichols 3]

Not to scare anyone but from start from Haiti it take ng us 4 yrs

[Nikobe 129]

On 9/21/2022 at 8:40 PM, Lynxyonok said:

I respectfully disagree. I'm looking at over 15 months currently based on weekly VJ mail updates. And that's growing weekly.

With all due respect, VJ currently has 14 months processing (this is a clean number based on recent approvals and cleansed data for those who simply do not update their timeline) and it has been quite constant for a while now:

 

The backlog is neither growing rapidly nor decreasing. This is still a horrific statistic for those who have trusted the USCIS to speed up the process following their March targets.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Nikobe

[Nikobe 129]

7 hours ago, Tracy nichols said:

Not to scare anyone but from start from Haiti it take ng us 4 yrs

That sounds horrible. For those embassies with large backlogs, it is a horrible situation.

In Germany, based on my understanding, it takes currently - and fortunately - only roughly a month to get to the interview (Frankfurt).

[fritz222 5]

Instead of hiring 87,000 IRS agents, how about adding some more people at immigration to get these applications done in a timley manner.

[Crazy Cat 39,644]

2 hours ago, Nikobe said:

The backlog is neither growing rapidly nor decreasing. This is still a horrific statistic for those who have trusted the USCIS to speed up the process following their March targets.

Setting targets with no real means of getting close to those targets is just part of a political game to kick the can down the road.

[lloy0076 6]

To be honest, the process will take as long as it takes; and many things could factor into it.

 

If it takes an excessively long time, it is possible a local US congress person (senator or house) - although it's likely their actual office staff rather than the elected person - might be able to get some sort of response from USCIS. And, if I recall, there is a process to sue any US Government department for a decision of some type (IANAL but I think after a very lengthy period of time, there is a way to file a write of mandamus against USCIS/the relevant party).

 

In my case, I found that once USCIS started "talking" about in-person interviews and/or biometrics they moved to interview within 6 months of that. Three of my "decisions": the initial denial at the embassy, the subsequent approval at the embassy, and the final adjustment of status were all approved by the officer(s) on the spot, with the formal letters/cards being produced as fast as USCIS ever does. The initial preliminary green card approval was delayed for a few weeks because the officer needed to check with their supervisor but that only took two weeks.

 

I wish the OP luck - use the time to get to know each other more, if you're able.

[LizaJane 13]

On 9/12/2022 at 6:08 PM, Daisy.Chain said:

They haven't changed the time but they are lowering the percentage of cases processed. It's now at 80% where it was higher.

 

My K1 from noa1 to noa2 was approved in 14 days back in 2014. The couple I'm close to was projected by USCIS at 8-9 months and they are nearly to 14 months without their noa2.

 

There's no need to panic but while I'd like to think 26 months was click bait, I'm not so sure. It's better to be realistic.

 

"The USCIS wouldn't let it wait that long" argument holds no water imho when you consider how long some of the family-based cases are.

Exactly this. Currently doing spousal visa for my husband living in the UK and it's been sitting at Potomac for 6.5 months now. I've watched the approval percentage drop steadily the entire time, and the processing times go up. And this is only the first phase, after USCIS approval it has to go to NVC where processing times have also gotten longer,  then we have to wait for consular interview for him as well. It will easily be about two years from now-not our priority date-before he can finally move here. It's quite ridiculous. 

[nghsbf 22]

For reference, our K1 was approved at interview this morning, 510 days or just under 17 months after filing in early May 2021, the backlog has only increased since then so i'd presume it will at least be longer than that. One point to hang onto is once it gets out of USCIS' hands the process speeds up considerably (at least from the UK), we've gone from NOA2 to moving in around 8 weeks. Hang in there everyone!

[Lynxyonok 316]

4 hours ago, lloy0076 said:

And, if I recall, there is a process to sue any US Government department for a decision of some type (IANAL but I think after a very lengthy period of time, there is a way to file a write of mandamus against USCIS/the relevant party).

FYI, please work with a lawyer prior to exercising that option. It's costly and may backfire.