sitamari

My I-129f Request for Fiance visa has been approved as of yesterday, in 29 days!! Today is my birthday and getting the email that it had been approved was the best birthday present ever! I am pretty shocked that the request to expedite worked. I read a couple forums that talked about it though, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to try. I had a few people ask me about what I did to request the expedited process so I thought I'd put it in the forums in case others were interested as well.
So here's what I did:
I called the USCIS at 1-800-375-5283 on August 16th and followed the prompts regarding the fiance visa process until I was able to get a customer service person on the phone. I just asked her about the possibility of requesting an expedited case and she read off the expedite criteria (see below) and asked me which one applied to me. I told her that I didn't know how financial loss was measured, but I would lose one week's pay if we don't get the visa this year. I have arranged to take a week off unpaid from work in December in order to go to Jamaica and bring Lance back with me, but it can only be used this year. She just typed in a service request that said just what I told her, and told me someone would review it in approximately 5 days and would let me know if they needed further information. On Wednesday (the next day!), I got an email from USCIS requesting more information. Here's what it said exactly:
"The status of this service request is:
Your request for expedited processing has been received. We are unable to determine whether your request meets the expedite guidelines established by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services due to lack of information in your request. However, you may submit a letter/documentation as to your financial loss to self/company You may fax the letter/documentation to..."
On Friday August 19th, I faxed the letter to the number they had given me. This is what I did - I typed up a 1 page letter explaining that I had arranged to take time off in December to go get Lance and bring him home with me, and that I would lose the time and a week of pay (I included the dollar amount of the one week of pay) if we didn't get the visa this year. I also put a couple extra lines in about why I want to go help him relocate (i.e. there are members of his family I haven't met yet), and apologizing because I initially thought the entire process took about 5 months and that's why I arranged to take the time off in December. I was very polite and just stated the reason why I was requesting the expedited processing. I also had my boss type up a simple letter on company letterhead confirming that I have arranged for an unpaid week off in December and that I cannot roll that time over to next year.
I didn't get a confirmation from the USCIS that they received the fax or receive anything else from them until last night (August 24th) when I got the following email:
"Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)
Your Case Status: Post Decision Activity
On August 24, 2011, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice."
Honestly, I'm pretty shocked that this worked. I figured I would probably have to have a much better reason involving life or death or something, but I think they just look at your request and as long as it makes sense and seems valid, and you can support it, then I think they will consider it. Either that, or we just got really really lucky.
Anyway, I hope this helps!!
Oh - I included the criteria from the USCIS below.
Good luck!
Sita
Expedite Criteria per USCIS:
All expedite requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and are granted at the discretion of the Director. The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the expedite criteria have been met. The criteria are as follows:
Severe financial loss to company or individual
Extreme emergent situation
Humanitarian situation
Nonprofit status of requesting organization in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States
Department of Defense or National Interest Situation (Note: Request must come from official United States Government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to our Government)
USCIS error
Compelling interest of USCIS
Note: Discretionary expedite requests for petitions and applications that have Premium Processing Service available will not be considered for expedite processing. The only exception is when the petitioner is a not-for-profit organization designated by the Internal Revenue Service. For information regarding premium processing, please refer to the premium processing webpage.
If you have already filed your application or petition:
You can make an expedite request by contacting the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283. The NCSC will take a service request and forward your expedite request to the office with jurisdiction over the application or petition. You also have the options of 1). visiting your local office by scheduling an InfoPass appointment or 2). writing a letter to the local office or service center.

I agree, people who have more extreme emergencies should apply for the expedite and should also receive it. Unfortunately I am not the USCIS and cannot control their decisions. I personally decided to request it based on my information and I'm happy the USCIS made the decision that they did. I thought this was the kind of group where I was supposed to share good news and share the information I was learning about the process with others going through the same thing, but I am new to this group so maybe I misunderstood.

I agree, people who have more extreme emergencies should apply for the expedite and should also receive it. Unfortunately I am not the USCIS and cannot control their decisions. I personally decided to request it based on my information and I'm happy the USCIS made the decision that they did. I thought this was the kind of group where I was supposed to share good news and share the information I was learning about the process with others going through the same thing, but I am new to this group so maybe I misunderstood.