JANUARY 2023 I-129F K1 FILERS

[J&D1008 376]

Hello...Welcome!

 

For those who have just filed your I-129f application with USCIS, this thread has been created for your needs and for you to be with others experiencing different aspects of this journey. This is a place to ask questions and to share experiences. All are here to learn together.

 

Stay patient because this is a long process currently running 15-17 months for your NOA2 or petition approval by USCIS (first stage). Then your petition will be sent to NVC which runs about 6-8 weeks processing (second stage) and finally your interview at the embassy (third stage).  Also, do not compare yourself to others....Some will receive NOA-2 faster than others, some will be stuck at NVC for longer and then finally some will receive interviews fairly quickly at embassy. STAY PATIENT! 

 

Please create the timeline in your profile. Also note that USCIS goes by "Received date" :

 

Example

I-129 F Sent - January 2, 2023

I-129 F Received - January 6, 2023 (NOA-1) 

I-129 F - Notice Date - January 10, 2023

 

In this example your NOA-1 should be January 6. This will help you fill out your timeline properly. 

 

 

 

 

[Play 57]

I-129F Sent -  December 29, 2022

I-129F Received - January 05, 2023

I-129F - Notice Date - January 09, 2022 (NOA1)

 

Hoping this process goes by fast. 

 

Did you requested an Expedite ? J&D1008

 

On 1/2/2023 at 6:37 PM, J&D1008 said:

Hello...Welcome!

 

For those who have just filed your I-129f application with USCIS, this thread has been created for your needs and for you to be with others experiencing different aspects of this journey. This is a place to ask questions and to share experiences. All are here to learn together.

 

Stay patient because this is a long process currently running 15-17 months for your NOA2 or petition approval by USCIS (first stage). Then your petition will be sent to NVC which runs about 6-8 weeks processing (second stage) and finally your interview at the embassy (third stage).  Also, do not compare yourself to others....Some will receive NOA-2 faster than others, some will be stuck at NVC for longer and then finally some will receive interviews fairly quickly at embassy. STAY PATIENT! 

 

Please create the timeline in your profile. Also note that USCIS goes by "Received date" :

 

Example

I-129 F Sent - January 2, 2023

I-129 F Received - January 6, 2023 (NOA-1) 

I-129 F - Notice Date - January 10, 2023

 

In this example your NOA-1 should be January 6. This will help you fill out your timeline properly. 

 

 

 

 

 

[J&D1008 376]

7 minutes ago, Play said:

I-129F Sent -  December 29, 2022

I-129F Received - January 05, 2023

I-129F - Notice Date - January 09, 2022 (NOA1)

 

Hoping this process goes by fast. 

 

Did you requested an Expedite ? J&D1008

 

 

No Expedite at any stage. When we applied USCIS was about 6-8 months for NOA-2. After that we got stuck at NVC waiting for interview. And once we applied for AOS everything moved super quick. Greencard in 3 months. 

[Play 57]

1 hour ago, J&D1008 said:

No Expedite at any stage. When we applied USCIS was about 6-8 months for NOA-2. After that we got stuck at NVC waiting for interview. And once we applied for AOS everything moved super quick. Greencard in 3 months. 

I imagine the reason for AOS moving fast is because of the K1 process time which add up to make it easier for them to make a decision.

[J&D1008 376]

1 minute ago, Play said:

I imagine the reason for AOS moving fast is because of the K1 process time which add up to make it easier for them to make a decision.

Honestly it just depends. I have seen on FB and know personally of ppl who filed for AOS end of 2021 and early 2022 still waiting for GC. Some taking 3-6 months while others waiting 12-15 months. Some get the EAD card really fast and then the GC takes forever. 

[Play 57]

1 hour ago, J&D1008 said:

Honestly it just depends. I have seen on FB and know personally of ppl who filed for AOS end of 2021 and early 2022 still waiting for GC. Some taking 3-6 months while others waiting 12-15 months. Some get the EAD card really fast and then the GC takes forever. 

It all depends you are right, i had a friend he went through the AOS in 3 months while another took6 months for the residence to arrive.

[JojoandTomas 204]

On 1/14/2023 at 6:05 PM, J&D1008 said:

No Expedite at any stage. When we applied USCIS was about 6-8 months for NOA-2. After that we got stuck at NVC waiting for interview. And once we applied for AOS everything moved super quick. Greencard in 3 months. 

Yeah processing times were still slow back then but better than they currently are. My petition took about 6 months (RFE) and then about 2 weeks after I sent my RFE response for USCIS approval. So about 7 months.
 

 I did expedite at NVC though

[slavaskii 885]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:41 PM, J&D1008 said:

Honestly it just depends. I have seen on FB and know personally of ppl who filed for AOS end of 2021 and early 2022 still waiting for GC. Some taking 3-6 months while others waiting 12-15 months. Some get the EAD card really fast and then the GC takes forever. 

Yes, it's all quite random, but I haven't heard of such speedy green cards in a long while - congratulations! Those who filed in August 2022 are almost all universally still waiting, most assume we'll wait out the full 12+ month USCIS estimates. A lot of it is definitely tied to your local FO, Baltimore and Atlanta are notorious for being exceptionally slow.

[J&D1008 376]

1 hour ago, slavaskii said:

Yes, it's all quite random, but I haven't heard of such speedy green cards in a long while - congratulations! Those who filed in August 2022 are almost all universally still waiting, most assume we'll wait out the full 12+ month USCIS estimates. A lot of it is definitely tied to your local FO, Baltimore and Atlanta are notorious for being exceptionally slow.

Really! Ive seen about 3 ppl on FB who filed AOS in august and received greencard in December. Its the K1 Visa Group on FB. Im not sure the FO but mine went to chicago and moved pretty fast. 

[slavaskii 885]

26 minutes ago, J&D1008 said:

Really! Ive seen about 3 ppl on FB who filed AOS in august and received greencard in December. Its the K1 Visa Group on FB. Im not sure the FO but mine went to chicago and moved pretty fast. 

Wow - that's quite incredible! In my FB group, only one even has an EAD. It's much of the same in the AOS threads here, it seems. Do you happen to know what your estimated time for AOS was at the closest FO to you?

[J&D1008 376]

16 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Wow - that's quite incredible! In my FB group, only one even has an EAD. It's much of the same in the AOS threads here, it seems. Do you happen to know what your estimated time for AOS was at the closest FO to you?

Im in NYC but i sent the AOS to Chicago. I only did biometrics in the city and everything else was done in Chicago at the National benefits center. So im not to sure what the local FO was. 

[Level-With-Me 7]

Hi everyone 👋

 

I-129 F Sent - January 9th, 2023
I-129 F Received - January 12th, 2023 (NOA-1) 
I-129 F - Notice Date - January 13th, 2023

 

While I'm obviously a complete nervous wreck over this entire process, I do worry about two things that could potentially hold up our case - but I might be overthinking everything.

• My fiancé was formally adopted by his stepfather when he was 3 or 4. He was able to order a copy of the adoption certificate which I included in the packet. He never knew his father and before he was adopted by his stepfather, he had his mother's (maiden) last name.  The adoption certificate he gave me was a bit of a joke, which leads me to my next concern...
• My fiancé hails from a (very) small island named Jersey, located between France and England.  Per a Google search and more in depth research, Jersey is technically not part of the UK. It's a self-governing, crown dependency of the UK (they literally have their own money, and it's so cute). Basically, how my fiancé has explained it, they have their own rules and laws, but if they ever got in trouble and for whatever reason needed help, they'd be protected and/or assisted by the UK (war, disease, disaster, etc). However, his nearest embassy that he'll be interviewed at is London, and his passport classifies him as a "British Citizen". I've visited and it's a very unique little place, literally only 5 miles x 9 miles to give you an idea of the size. I should also note that Jersey actually has a handful of Embassies on it's island, but U.S. isn't one of them. 

So, when I say that his adoption certificate was a joke, it's a single piece of paper that gives my fiancés former name, his new name, his mom's name, his stepfather's name, and his mom and stepfather's job title, along with the date that the adoption/name change took effect - late 80's, but the certified copy is dated for 2019. It's quite comical to look at, because it doesn't look "official" at all (I joked that it as whipped quickly on a Microsoft word doc), but since Jersey is such a small place, I imagine their documents probably don't look as official as a large country such as the US, which I'm used to seeing. Hopefully, USCIS won't think it looks sketchy.  

 

Regarding Jersey and this entire process, when discussing timelines and comparing my case to others', I honestly have no idea if I should be comparing to other UK cases, or if Jersey is a whole other beast. I keep going back and forth in my head, since his "local" embassy is technically a flight across the sea in London. 

 

Of course I chose to fall in love with a wonderful man who's lived his whole life on a small, unknown island LOL. 

 

Good luck to everyone else who's starting their journey! 

[Vulpis 24]

Hello!

 

I-129F Sent: 20 January 2023

NOA1: 26 January 2023

 

So begins the waiting game, hopefully 12-13 months only! I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to have enough money and free time to go visit Germany every 3-4 months for 1 month at a time, so this will go by quickly. I do worry about our case from time to time, as my worrywart brain can think of stuff that can turn up RFEs and delays.

• We're both transgender, which means name and gender marker changes. I've been gathering our paperwork together for everything, but I still worry it is not enough.
• I obtained my US citizenship by being adopted (IR7 immigrant class, given away by my birth parents to family friends). I've been tracking down adoption records and filed FOIA requests with USCIS to get as much stuff as I can like the I-485. However, there's still key documents that are missing due to my disorganized adoptive parents like my passport from my home country, first US passport, green card. Mom claims there's no certificate of citizenship since it wasn't automatically given at the time and she didn't wanna cough up the extra money for it. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Vulpis
grammar

[meladee 160]

@Level-With-Me Regarding the Jersey thing, since you are going to be going through the London Embassy, you should be safe to compare your timeline & case to other UK cases, there's no part of the process that would be different. If you are still interested in finding more cases like yours, you could also look for beneficiaries who are from Guernsey or Isle of Man, which operate the same as Jersey.

 

As far as the adoption thing, in the UK you actually don't need paperwork to change your name. You can change your name by "usage", so as long as that's the name he has used, that's his name. So even if the adoption paperwork is questionable, it shouldn't be impactful.

[Level-With-Me 7]

On 2/27/2023 at 2:26 PM, meladee said:

@Level-With-Me Regarding the Jersey thing, since you are going to be going through the London Embassy, you should be safe to compare your timeline & case to other UK cases, there's no part of the process that would be different. If you are still interested in finding more cases like yours, you could also look for beneficiaries who are from Guernsey or Isle of Man, which operate the same as Jersey.

 

As far as the adoption thing, in the UK you actually don't need paperwork to change your name. You can change your name by "usage", so as long as that's the name he has used, that's his name. So even if the adoption paperwork is questionable, it shouldn't be impactful.

Thank you very much for your input! I didn’t think about Guernsey / Isle of Man, I’ll definitely poke around and take a look at those timelines! ❤️ 

 

Would you mind if I ask you one more question? I’ve heard during the interview, they’ll usually take the passport of the beneficiary (temporarily). In my fiancés case, this is his only form of ID, since he doesn’t drive where he lives, as it’s a pretty walkable little place. And since his interview will be at the embassy in London, he’ll need his passport to fly back home. Do they make exceptions to this rule regarding holding into the passport? 
 

if you’re not familiar or can’t answer, I totally understand. It’s just something that has been on my mind 😊

Edited March 1, 2023 by Level-With-Me