seems like filing for K-3 was a mistake

[neel06 0]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

[zolanden 0]

Correct.

[MargotDarko 0]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

The K3 should go through NVC and the embassy faster, but some people haven't been gaining much time with it recently. However, it has been seeming to me that people get I-130 approvals faster when a I-129f is filed than when it isn't.

EDIT - As you don't have approval for either, it's still possible that the I-130 will be approved first and forwarded to the NVC first, in which case your spouse can proceed to apply for a CR1/IR1 visa.

Edited July 16, 2007 by MargotDarko

[pushbrk 12,245]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

The K3 should go through NVC and the embassy faster, but some people haven't been gaining much time with it recently. However, it has been seeming to me that people get I-130 approvals faster when a I-129f is filed than when it isn't.

EDIT - As you don't have approval for either, it's still possible that the I-130 will be approved first and forwarded to the NVC first, in which case your spouse can proceed to apply for a CR1/IR1 visa.

We really don't have enough data to draw the conclusion that I-130s alone are approved faster than when both petitions are filed. Be careful not to draw conclusions of cause and effect from consecutive events. It's the most common logical fallacy. Google "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc."

[abvlit 0]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

The I-129F can sure be a headache. The additional fees, transferring to different service centers, coupling with I-130, withholding the I-130, etc.. If I could do it over, I'd just stick with the I-130 and not both. They're like oil and water, they just don't mix.

[LvivLovers 39]

I also filed both I-130 and I-129F and became worried that maybe I slowed down the approval on my I-130. So I compared the approval percentages for people that filed both ways....I didn't see any big difference either way.

Edited July 16, 2007 by LvivLovers

[Sangrita 0]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

That's what I'm thinking too. I just started a new topic at the CR1/IR1 section to find out, how many of the february and march ONLY I-130 filers, did not get the approval notice yet.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78472

Edited July 16, 2007 by Sangrita

[LvivLovers 39]

hmmm when i look around now i see people who only file the I-130 get an approval at a much faster rate then those who file both the I-130 and I-129.

I have been waiting for over 4 months for an approval... and this point it seems that my I-129 will take the same amount of time to process as my sole I-130 would have taken. Am i correct?

seriously, this K-3 visa thing needs to be scrapped since its not doing what it was intended for.

That's what I'm thinking too. I just started a new topic at the CR1/IR1 section to find out, how many of the february and march ONLY I-130 filers, did not get the approval notice yet.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78472

You can easily check this information yourself by doing clicking on Immigration Timelines then clicking on Timeline Search. Many people are too lazy to post, so the Timeline Search will probably give you more accurate results and the data is already available.

[Sangrita 0]

You can easily check this information yourself by doing clicking on Immigration Timelines then clicking on Timeline Search. Many people are too lazy to post, so the Timeline Search will probably give you more accurate results and the data is already available.

Thanks... I found it, but I think, something is wrong with this data base. I searched for CR1/IR1 Visas, CSC only, with I-130 NOA1 between 03/01/2007 and 03/31/2007. I found 21 records. From this 21 records, three filed also for K3 - why are those people in this data base?

Ok, now I'm watching at the "Statistics for searched results":

Total records: 21

Pending: 21

Num with 1st NOA received: 3 (????) - I think, this are my three K3 records

Num with 1st and 2nd NOA received: 0 (????)

[Catou1181 0]

One thing that hurt us K-3ers recently is the backlog at the service centers which resulted in NOA1s being sent late, for example mine took a month. Because of that, there's a good chance my I-130 gets approved first, which Im starting to think won't be a bad thing, since I have to go through slow Montreal no matter what.

Hopefully we'll know soon if it was a mistake, but I think having both doors open, the IR-1 and the K-3, isn't a bad thing.

[LvivLovers 39]

You can easily check this information yourself by doing clicking on Immigration Timelines then clicking on Timeline Search. Many people are too lazy to post, so the Timeline Search will probably give you more accurate results and the data is already available.

Thanks... I found it, but I think, something is wrong with this data base. I searched for CR1/IR1 Visas, CSC only, with I-130 NOA1 between 03/01/2007 and 03/31/2007. I found 21 records. From this 21 records, three filed also for K3 - why are those people in this data base?

Ok, now I'm watching at the "Statistics for searched results":

Total records: 21

Pending: 21

Num with 1st NOA received: 3 (????) - I think, this are my three K3 records

Num with 1st and 2nd NOA received: 0 (????)

I get similar results when I do this search just for CSC. 21 total records found....3 appear to actually be K3 and not CR-1/IR-1...that is just a mistake by the people who filled out their timelines. Of the 21 records that were found, all 21 had NOA1 and 12 had NOA2 for the I-130...2 of the 3 that were actually K3s had NOA2 for the I-129F. So really the accurate results on this I think would be 18 total records that are CR-1/IR-1 and 12 approvals or about 66.6% approvals for IR-1/CR-1 only.

[LvivLovers 39]

I did some further analysis...

If I do this search for all service centers for March, I find 39 total IR-1/CR-1 records (4 of which really appear to be K3 records since they also have I-129F filed). I count 25 NOA2s for I-130 or a total of 25/35 approvals or 71%

If I do this search for all service centers for March, I find 50 total K3 records. I count 1 NOA2 for I-129F only, 5 NOA2s for both I-130 and I0129F, and 11 NOA2s for I-130 only, for a total of 17/50 approvals or 34%.

So, it seems that unlike what I said previously, there IS a difference in processing times at this moment. It was about the same when I ran this a couple weeks ago, but now many new CR-1/IR-1 approvals have come in and it's changed completely. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.

I can say one thing though...it's very frustrating that no matter which path you decide to take in this immigration process, it seems that there is always something that USCIS does that makes that path suck equally as bad as all the rest...there is no clear cut best way to do this and the problems with each path are constantly changing.

For example, if you file I-130 only, it can take a really really long time or may even come to a complete stop.

If you file K3 and follow it all the way through only pursuing K3, (which is supposed to be quicker), it now seems it is taking longer to get approved than the I-130. So any time you might make up at the NVC gets lost in the USCIS. Way to go guys! lol

If you file K3, but really want to pursue I-130...think again. I-130 will stop being processed unless you file another form to start it moving again...which adds a nice fat 6 month+ wait to your time making it completely useless! Again...good job USCIS!

They really get you no matter what you do. Honestly, they couldn't do much worse if they tried, and I really do wonder if this whole mess is on purpose! Ok...I'm going to try hard to not rant any more about this tonight...but you all know what I'm talking about!

[neel06 0]

I did some further analysis...

If I do this search for all service centers for March, I find 39 total IR-1/CR-1 records (4 of which really appear to be K3 records since they also have I-129F filed). I count 25 NOA2s for I-130 or a total of 25/35 approvals or 71%

If I do this search for all service centers for March, I find 50 total K3 records. I count 1 NOA2 for I-129F only, 5 NOA2s for both I-130 and I0129F, and 11 NOA2s for I-130 only, for a total of 17/50 approvals or 34%.

So, it seems that unlike what I said previously, there IS a difference in processing times at this moment. It was about the same when I ran this a couple weeks ago, but now many new CR-1/IR-1 approvals have come in and it's changed completely. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.

I can say one thing though...it's very frustrating that no matter which path you decide to take in this immigration process, it seems that there is always something that USCIS does that makes that path suck equally as bad as all the rest...there is no clear cut best way to do this and the problems with each path are constantly changing.

For example, if you file I-130 only, it can take a really really long time or may even come to a complete stop.

If you file K3 and follow it all the way through only pursuing K3, (which is supposed to be quicker), it now seems it is taking longer to get approved than the I-130. So any time you might make up at the NVC gets lost in the USCIS. Way to go guys! lol

If you file K3, but really want to pursue I-130...think again. I-130 will stop being processed unless you file another form to start it moving again...which adds a nice fat 6 month+ wait to your time making it completely useless! Again...good job USCIS!

They really get you no matter what you do. Honestly, they couldn't do much worse if they tried, and I really do wonder if this whole mess is on purpose! Ok...I'm going to try hard to not rant any more about this tonight...but you all know what I'm talking about!

It is seriously a catch 22 situation. I am seriously troubled by how the immigration system of our country runs. For example- whats the point of this whole K-3 business if it is not going to help reunite family members quickly. A family friend went the I-130 route recently and her spouse got his visa in 8 months. i have been waiting for my stinkin approval for 5 months... i feel let down by this whole k-3 visaaa thing.

[Parachute4U 1]

See Lvivlovers that will teach you to do the right thing, actually get married, bring her over her as your spouse, when you could probably have had her here by now as your fiance, been cheaper and you could have lived in sin for 90 days. ! Guess it's no different than my grandma shackin up with her male friend for years because they would have lost social security benefits if they actually got MARRIED. Sorry I said that word. So much for family values.

Are you sure your spouse isn't a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist ? Would be here in a month or two if they were !

[LvivLovers 39]

See Lvivlovers that will teach you to do the right thing, actually get married, bring her over her as your spouse, when you could probably have had her here by now as your fiance, been cheaper and you could have lived in sin for 90 days. ! Guess it's no different than my grandma shackin up with her male friend for years because they would have lost social security benefits if they actually got MARRIED. Sorry I said that word. So much for family values.

Are you sure your spouse isn't a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist ? Would be here in a month or two if they were !

Haha. True enough. I also am very very disappointed in the way this process has worked. Originally, I talked to a lawyer about this and he said that a K1 visa is quicker than a K3 visa because for a K3 visa you had to first file the I-130 form. So after looking at this, I'm thinking that's what 10 days difference....no big deal...I wanted to go ahead and get married. I had no idea that it would also just be slower simply based on the fact we are married. I'm just baffled that these people can't see how backwards every aspect of this system is. Honestly, I believe the whole system is a sham anyway. Terrorists can and will just come in anyway...all of this process is really bogus. They don't care that anyone can just walk across the border whenever they want. Personally, I think they just grant us all visas just based on the simple fact that we did the right thing and filed! lol Can you imagine how fast the USCIS would be out of business if it was a company and was competing against other companies? There I go ranting again...but I can't help it! I've never dealt with something so incredibly inept in my whole life. Sad thing is, I was only a few weeks off of doing DCF...I even had my appointment with the embassy to file the I-130. Then of course, Jan. 23 happened....anyone want to guess after Jan. 23 whether or not the US embassy notified me in any way shape or form that they were no longer accepting I-130s and thus we shouldn't show up for our appointment? Hell no! lol Par for the course. Please God just give us all the strength to get through this!!!