<3

Great. This will be a very big help to us, CSC filers.

Haha, seems like my advice probably won't be heard here on VJ but you can rest assured, I will take this info when the time comes that I'm at the 5 month mark (July 2011).

I'm a registered voter as well as having my own private practice in the health field. Definitely fit the demographics of what our elected officials would listen to when they need votes come election time.

Good luck with our K1 petitions being approved below the average time line.

Hello Everyone! So I've noticed numerous posts about Vermont K1 Filers who have written or tweeted their Congressman/Representatives and have seen a success with their concerted effort.

When it comes to Calfornia 129F K1 filers on VJ, I don't know if anyone has tried to contact/tweet their State Representatives/Senators. Maybe its our West Coast mentality of taking things at a relaxed/chilled pace than other areas of the country.

I have a suggestion on our October/November filers who are still waiting for their NOA2 approval from the CSC. Instead of contacting your Representative, how about we contact California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The reason I am suggesting all our efforts on Senator Feinstein is that she plans to run for the 2012 elections, and when someone wishes to be re-elected, there is a better chance she will listen to the citizens who will decide her senatorial fate.

The other senator, Barbara Boxer isn't up for re-election until 2016 so to me, our voices won't be as heard as well compared to Senator Feinstein. This is just a suggestion to everyone who is concerned about the CSC's slow action on approving our K1 petitions.

I'm only in the two month wait period so I don't expect that my petition will be expedited any time soon but if the CSC would approve the 4-6 month Filers in a timely/quicker fashion, it would only benefit everyone in a quicker timeline.

Below is the address to send a letter to Senator Feinstein as well as the link to print out an Immigration Assistance Form you would need to send with your letter if you want help with your petition.

http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ServicesForCalifornians.Casework

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

One Post Street, Suite 2450

San Francisco, CA 94104

Let me know if anyone agrees or whether or not I wasted my time posting this.

Hello

To those foreign nationals who are already in the US.. After everything is settled for you there, were you able to get a job? Is it easy or hard to get one? Well, I think it'll depend on your field or what you finished. Plus, the faith and confidence you have within yourself and of course the determination. My fiancé really don't want me to work when I get there but I insisted.. You know, I want to be productive. I know my priorities are. Top of the list is my family (my husband and our kids), next is the job..So a part time job will do.. Any thoughts? Wanna share? Come on now, lets talk!

Good advice from the above posters. In case you aren't aware, the minimum wage is $8/hr in California (I could be wrong..lol). Roughly that translates to 360 pesos/hr. If you plan to work to send money to family in the Philippines, the monthly earnings for a part time position would be helpful. If you plan to supplement your fiance/husbands income, it would help a tiny bit.

Often times, if you plan to work in any restaurant/customer service type position, I think its important to have good communication skills and be able to speak/understand the English language. My fiancee sometimes gets a "nose bleed" whenever I speak to her in English since I talk fast (supposedly).

To me personally, it would be better to go for some schooling/training in the States so that you can get a position that will pay more than the minimum wage in the future. From what I've read, sometimes the college degree/education isn't transferrable to a position here in the States (with the exception of some health field degrees).

Found a smoking deal while I was there last month, It close to Davao. Great Deal, We gave the lady 30 days to move out, I didn't take pics when I was there, since I hadn't planned on buying one until this deal fell into my lap.

Hopefully I should have pics in a few days, and Will post them. It has a big ole Mango Tree and a Durian Tree on the property. It's a bedroom with 2 baths and a covered garage, Huge kitchen it's about 1,600 sq ft.

Are you planning on moving there? Or have your fiance's family/relative move in? Beware of squatters who will know that a house doesn't have a live in tenant.

Good luck!

Oh yes, the ring. She doesn't think I'm bringing one, but I am. She will be very suprised!

Thanks for the info. I'm real new to this and I will probably 'lean' on this forum heavily during our journey

Best,

Jim

You're already one step ahead than most couples who are doing the K1 visa and find VJ after being with their loved ones and not saving/documents to show proof of a relationship. Of course, don't forget the engagement ring which will definitely show intent and help solidify to the USCIS that you are serious about marriage.

i know i still have possibly a long wait ahead of me but i sent my 129f in mid jan.but a question to anybody that can help? i was lookin at igors list trin to figure out what month usics is workin on and i see that there were also some unaccepted applications that go month by month ours want on there so does that mean so far so good no rfe ect..shed some light please at this piont we are at itnital review for about the last two months and no word at all..thanks to all and to this site it has been very helpful and good luck to all that are in the same boat...

Keep in mind that igor's list is dependent on VJ members who update their timeline. There are plenty of K1 Visa applicants that are not being accounted for. As long as you keep yourself sane (like us) that it may take up to 5 months for the NOA2 notice, you'll be better off.

I'm sure there are some initial VJ members that have kept their timeline up to date...but I'm sure there are plenty of K1 applicants/VJ members that have been waiting for months for NOA2 who probably haven't changed their timelines.

Good luck

Because uscis discriminates against brown people of all countries =(

Don't worry...Be Happy. Keep in mind that having this Visa process for your fiancee is a PRIVILEGE...and not a RIGHT.

Dont let these posters get you down, file for a K1 for your g/f and fill out the papers and wait. If you are married you can have a co sponsor which im sure someone would do for you to help. Just get married and get a co sponsor.

All of these people telling you to return to the philippines, maybe they should come to the philippines and live instead? Since it seems so easy for them to tell you that

The advice you give isn't very sound. "just get married and get a co-sponsor". He stated clearly he has "no one", not including his rich aunt. If he can't count on his rich aunt who is already supporting his mom now, chances are she won't help in the future".

Often times, there is an assumption that by coming to the United States, that individuals who live in poverty in other countries (like the Philippines), can somehow change their luck and become "rich and wealthy". In the eyes of their Filipino-counterpart, the "poverty income level" set by UCSIS would be considered "middle class or higher" in the Philippines."

The solution of having him move to the Philippines to be with his fiancee is one with merit. He clearly states that there is more in life than money. And there are many ex-pats who do move to the Philippines and other countries because their $$ goes further there than it does here in the U.S.

i have had a wife and daughter she is 6 now. i have more than 1,000 right now lets not forget atm i live with my mother so 100% of my income is saved. there is a whole naion of people with children and wives/husband that arenot rich. You see them daily went you get your gas, your trip to walmart, the store the resturane, the grocery store, thelst goes on and on they all have familys. the riches in life are not found in money. Jesus has blessed me.

One's wealth was never an issue that I brought up. If you want to bring your fiance over to the States, then you have to follow the same guidelines as everyone else and have proof of income over 125% the poverty level. If you want to be with your wife, there's no reason that you can't choose to move to the Philippines and be happy there.

You are right that the riches in life are not found in money but unfortunately, its a necessity to put gas in your car, buy items in walmart and dine in restaurants.

I am a usa citizen by birth. My dads family lives in the Philippines. I visited 2009 till ealry 2010. I live with my mother in Kentucky now. I personally do not make enough income to get my finance here. That is my main thought. My mother is supported by my very rich aunt her house ect. Mom has no income. I work fastfood. I have NOONE that can co sponsor. what can i do? iThank you

Seriously, don't get married. I don't know how old you are but from the sound of it, you are young and have a lot of years ahead of you before jumping into marriage. If you can't support yourself, how do you expect to support a wife and family? The K1 visa process will cost over $1,000 once its said and done.

Hi everyone! I just wanna ask if one meeting is okay to file the I-129F form? will there be any problem about that? me and my fiancee chatted for like 7months and its everyday on skype! =) and he came here last march 04,2011 ( his staying for 21days so it means his still here until friday hehe) but the question is will that be a problem? do you think they will suggest for meet ups? because for us we are pretty sure 100% we love each other so much and we both believe its enough for a proof =) and also does age dif matters a lot ???????? im 19 and his 30 so its like 11years older than me tho he feels and act like 18 haha! jk but anyways hope someone can answer my questions! thanks everyone and godbless

The age difference you listed isn't bad at all. I'm sure there are plenty of couples who far surpass that age difference here on VJ. Its not uncommon to see 20 yr old filipinas with 40-50 yr old Caucasian men. Do I question the validity of the relationship? Its not for me to judge. To each their own but it raises an eye regarding both parties involved and its only human nature to question it especially in American society when its NOT the norm to see a couple with a sizeable age difference (20 yr old female with a 50 yr old male).

So to me, I think your age difference isn't as questionable as bigger age gaps. Good luck.

Here's some information that's not in that guide - at least not in so many words:

The I-129F form instructions list a bunch of supporting documentation you need to send in with the I-129F. If you don't include that stuff, the petition will be denied, if they even accept it in the first place.

What you have probably seen is a reference to the practice of front-loading This is where people in include significant amounts of evidence documenting the history and authenticity of their relationship, over and above the requirements listed in the I-129F instructions. I will explain the reason why, depending on what country you are applying though, you might want to do this.

Depending on what country you are in, and other details about your relationship, the local US consulate can sometimes be very skeptical that a relationship is legitimate. They can refuse to issue a visa if they think the relationship is not valid, even if USCIS approved the petition.

Which leads us to an interesting wrinkle. The consulate is allowed to deny a visa based on information they uncover during the interview, that they feel USCIS did not have when they approved the petition. They are also technically allowed to ignore any evidence that is brought to the interview. But, and this is the important point, they are not allowed to disregard evidence that has passed through USCIS's hands - that was included with your initial application and ignored by USCIS [because it's not requested by the I-129F instructions or, strictly speaking, relevant to the approval of the petition] but forwarded by them to the consulate along with your approved petition.

So by front-loading - by including lots of extra relationship evidence with the initial petition, you can force a skeptical or openly hostile consulate to consider relationship evidence they would much rather ignore, and it makes it much harder for them to issue a denial based on the invalidity of the relationship.

ahhh..

I followed the K-1 guide here on VJ but didn't know the reasoning behind it til now. It definitely was a lot of work but I can see why its worth it.

i'm just like you in the sense that im also asking the same questions you posted up there.. we filed in late NOV 2010 and we're still waiting for our NOA2.. I don't know what's up with USCIS and/or CSC as to why it's taking them so long to get over with initially reviewing our papers..but just the same, we wait.. it's been 4 long months and everyone says we're on the normal timeline.. whew! we cant wait to finish this K1 process.

Yah, even though its stated on USCIS that its a 5 month processing time frame which I think many applicants would accept but when others similar to one's application (same Embassy, same local Consulate, etc) get a quicker response by several weeks, one has to wonder whether some "cleared" background is sitting in some pile being covered by new I-129F packets.

I wouldn't assume that per se - while it's true the USCIS 'initiates background checks' during the Initial Review, these checks are not initiated in the first few weeks, and throughout the 3 or 4 months we wait. From my understanding, these checks happen within 5 minutes of an adjudicator pulling your petition out of the box they're working on (4-5 months after the petition arrived) and if things are a little complicated, (you share a name with a convicted felon etc.) the adjudicator initiates in-depth checks and puts your petition aside until the extra checks clear (within the day? a week? maybe someone in some small county has to pull the physical file by hand from a records collection and takes 10 days to get back to the adjudicator?).

There is such a lag time to get to the next stage because there are many more petitions coming in every day than adjudicators to process them. The one-month approvals are wonderful and infuriating but I doubt they are anything more than bureaucratic manipulation of the system for the sake of appeasing someone's superior with better numbers.

Thanks for that bit of insight on the K1 process. I know in California with state budget cuts and employee furloughs, I am assuming there would be less man-power to process the hundreds of visa applications in a timely fashion than maybe in the past...just speculation

i sent my petition in via express mail in november of 2010. it's been slightly over 4 months since the date in which my petition was confirmed recieved (november 12). is there anything me/my fiancee do in the mean time to speed things up?

I feel for you guys since the "take a ticket and you'll be the next in line" doesn't seem to work with USCIS regardless of what Service Center its from. As I've read from other forums, you might have to write, tweet or call your local congressman. As for my application, I don't mind waiting since I know there are others like yourself thats been waiting much longer.

I'd like to give you an answer but I really can't. I do want to say though that I can feel the frustration in your post. I do like the questioning in your post because I can see myself (if) in the future making a post similar. I'm about to send my petition in the mail in about 8 hours. I've put together a pretty thorough package and I might say that it looks impressive to me, when I open it and look through it. I may be able to answer if putting together a nice clean package makes a difference, in the future. For now, I hope your questions get answered because there isn't enough straight forward answers to straight forward questions anymore. Keep asking your questions in a "to the point" manner though, it usually keeps the "timid know-it-alls" from replying with unnecessary info. Good luck on everything!

Matt

LOL..I hope I didn't come across as "frustrated" in my post....just was curious to learn more...and of course, if it was somewhere on here how the process works, I might have missed that forum or couldn't find it...lots of great info on VJ...

Good luck Matt with your application...and by the way, I followed the guidelines provided on here on how to "package" the I-129F so I personally am taking that out of the equation for the quick move from NOA1 to NOA2.

Can everyone share how the USCIS system works where some applicants who applied in Feb. 2011 can go from NOA1 to NOA2 within 30 days versus others who have had sent their I-129F in November 2010 and are getting close to the average wait of 150-180 days to get to NOA2 and are still waiting for a response?

The Initial Review states "During this step, USCIS initiates the background checks of the applicant/petitioner and identifies issues that may need to be addressed either during an interview or by asking the applicant/petitioner to submit additional information or documentation. USCIS reviews the applicant's/petitioner's criminal history, determines if there are national security concerns that need to be addressed, and reviews the application/petition for fraud indicators"

Am I to assume those who get their application processed quickly have very little "history" and thus go to the next step? How about those applicants whose history has to be verified, ie: divorces, criminal history, nationality, credit or employment history, etc...is that why there is such a lag time to get to the next stage?

I've read that praying was the reason an applicant went from NOA1 to NOA2...read on a past post that an applicant had neatly bagged and sorted their I-129F application which he felt made a difference for the quick process... writing to their local congressman? or is it really just sheer luck on which USCIS employee picks up an application and approves the "Initial Review".?

Any insight from VJers who have gone through this process and can shed light how the process works is greatly appreciated.

No, unfortunately, divorce does not end the financial contract signed by the sponsor with the US government to ensure that the immigrant is not a financial burden on the taxpayers. The Affidavit of Support is finished only when one of the following happens:

1) the sponsor dies

2) the immigrant dies

3) the immigrant earns 40 quarters of insurable income (usually 10 years, although the immigrant can count the US spouse's income towards those 40 quarters so that equals a minimum of 5 years)

4) the immigrant permanently leaves the US and is no longer an LPR

5) the immigrant becomes a US citizen.

Even if you get divorced, the sponsor is still held liable to the Affidavit of Support, a contract he/she signed with the Government and not with the immigrant.

The issue of financially supporting the immigrant on a daily basis is something that needs to be addressed during any divorce discussion and addressed by the divorce decree and is a separate issue from the Affidavit of Support.

Thanks for the legal lesson. Not that it pertains to me but nonetheless, very interesting info!

I flew Air China twice in the last 4 weeks. From San Fran. to Beijing, and from Manila to Beijing to San Fran.

They lost our luggage in route to Philippines, took them 7 days to send my bag to Manila.

They are still trying to find my wives luggage, it's been over 30 days, they offered her $50 for her missing bag, I told them to keep looking. We have spent a lot of time and long distance trying to find her luggage, Last we heard it was in Tokyo and we sent Air China copies of passports and authorization letters to send her luggage back to DFW, we got a email yesterday that the bag is now in Manila. We have been back in USA over 7 days now, we are trying to get her bag sent back to USA, but of course they Air China in Manila wanted another copy of passport and authorization letter.

Air China is a joke.

Plus the planes were old and very crowded and some of the rudest staff I have ever encountered.

I would pay the extra money to avoid this airline, and avoid China in general......

Losing luggage on a connecting flight sucks especially an international one! Look on the bright side, at least your plane wasn't one that crashed.

Please share if you have flew through Air China. Thank you!

I flew on Air China as part of my tour travel to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. It was an okay flight and if you can choose your seats, that's better. You'll spend most of your time sleeping anyways so just be comfortable.

Flights are busier going out of the United States than going back.

The stewardesses are hard to understand but the only time you need to speak or here from them is during the passing of drinks and meals.

I've also flew on Phillipine airlines and I always request and pay the additional $50 to get the seats next to the emergency exits for the extra leg room.

I find your comments very offensive and Ignorant.

I agree with you!

I received my interview letter this morning informing me that my interview is at 10:00am this Thurs the 17th..!!! Are they kidding me??!!

Spoke to the DOS last Tues (the 8th) and they said the date was still 'pending'. Didn't call the DOS for 3 days and then look what happens!!

I have work commitments that I'm really not sure I'll be able to get out of...

Have to try and make a decision in the next couple of hours about whether I should email them and request a reschedule....

Aaarrggh don't know what to do!!

Call in sick and get your interview done. Not that I'm advocating telling a lie to get out of work but you may be hypothetically ill if you regret not taking that interview!

Good luck!

there is no minimum required savings.. it's america 1/2 the people are broke.

Correction, with the way gas prices are, isn't it now 2/3rds of america are broke?

My fiancé lives in Manila and has lately been receiving a lot of blocked calls and unknown numbers that she often would either miss or not answer on her iPhone. Since our K1 visa is still under initial review, I joked with her that it might be Immigration services wanting more information and that she should answer it . After all, in the application, I did use her cell number as a contact for her.

My question is if there is a possibility that the USCIS or any governing body would call the beneficiary for information? Our processing time has hit the 30 day mark so we are expecting another 100 plus days before getting our NOA2 , There's nothing remarkable for Home Land Security to be worried about myself and my fiancé in our backgrounds.

Personally, I doubt our fiancé visa application would warrant such special attention as a personal call but who knows? Maybe someone in the VJ community has experienced or heard cases of this.