Persepolis

On the I-129F petition you got to choose what embassy it got sent too.

On the I-130 petition however you do not get that opition unless the benecificiary is living in the united states. SEE QUESTION 22 PART B

My question is my wife lives in Iran and since there is no US embassy in Iran, how can I choose what embassy her case gets sent to?

The embassy's that process Iranian immigrant visas are Ankara(Turkey), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Naples (Italy), Frankfurt (Germany), and Vienna.

travel Visas to Italy, Germany, and Vienna are hard to get with Iranian passports, so I was hoping I could select either the Ankara (doesn't require visa) or Dhabi Embassy (very easy to get one).

Should I just request it on a seperate paper and include it with the petition? Or should I right it in the Question 22 Part B?

Go here: https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.type&OfficeLocator.office_type=LO scroll down all the way to the bottom, enter the zip code associated with your petition, and it'll tell you which field office has jurisdiction over your area.

Ok, it says the Oakland, Florida field office. But are we sure that all local field offices process I-130's? It would make sense that if any field offices were to process I-130's in Florida, it would be the Miami Field office.

Hey guys I am about to send in my I-130 tomm. I live in Florida and I am worried that my case might be transferred to Atlanta field office.

Florida has 8 USCIS field offices, does anyone know if those living in Florida get transferred to a Florida field office?

Hi, Persepolis. Cool nickname by the way, is it from that graphic novel? I love that thing.

You're in the wrong thread; this is actually for people who have got an approval on their I-130s already. There's another thread for you new Feb filers.

To answer your question here though, the current situation is kind of a mess. My approval took 111 days, approximately what yours did. I was dead average as far as I can see. Some people got approved in 30 days, some have been waiting several months, Don't panic; it's a bell curve. Cases filed after August 15 have mostly been transferred to local field offices to ease workload on the service centers. They will stop doing this soon, they say, but there is no set date. Some field offices are quick to approve, some are clueless and slow, at least one other (Atlanta) is actually refusing to process. Nothing like a bureaucracy! The Atlanta filers have a thread and they're being very vocal about it, can you blame them?

Sign up for your case updates as soon as you can (it might take a few weeks or more for the case number to appear at all) and call the USCIS for an update weekly; make sure you speak to a tier 2 rep (ISO) when you do because the first line reps can't tell you anything except that the case has been received.

Good luck!

Haha acutally no my username is not based on the graphic on novel. Persepolis was the capital of the Great Persian Empire and thus has significant historical meaning in Persian culture.

Thanks for answering my question, I have another. Who gets sent to the Atlanta office?

I live in Florida and I am worried now that I will be "transferred" to the Atlanta office due to close geographical proximity

Hey guys.

I am sending in my petition tomm. We already once got approved for I-129F fiance visa early 2012, but we decided to let the petition expire and get married in our native country. Now we are filing for I-130.

Anyway, I remember when I filed for I-129F K1 visa, we received our NOA2 in around 3.5 months. But now I am seeing both service centers are VERY BEHIND on I-130's IR-1/CR-1 almost 7 months in some cases!

However, I see members timelines who have filed on this forum and they are in the 100-150 day range for NOA2.

Can someone give me an updated estimate for NOA2? Is it really taking 6 months now a days? Or is that more from people not updating their timelines?

just want to share the NVC's email to us after 1 year of noa2... hope this will help you...

The referenced application for an immigrant visa went through the

termination process and was destroyed in accordance with INA 203(g). An

alien's registration for an immigrant visa shall be terminated if,

within one year after notification of the availability of an immigrant

visa, the applicant fails to apply for an immigrant visa.

If the beneficiary wishes to immigrate, the petitioner must file a new

petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS -formerly

known as INS). You may contact them at 1 (800) 375-5283 or visit the

CIS web site for additional information at www.uscis.gov.

The problem is I never got such an email. Either from the NVC or the Embassy. Again mine was a K1 visa so I wouldn't expect the NVC to email me.

Should I call the NVC?

Well in the embassy stage they usually extend noa 2, but I don't really know if not being In touch with the embassy changes that fact.its in your best interest just to be sure to inform them

Ok, so should I email the US embassy or NVC? or USCIS?

Hi guys.

Well as you can see from my timeline I applied for my fiance (now my wife) for Fiance visa (I-129F) last Sept. (2011) and we received our NOA2 in Jan (2012). A few weeks later, the NVC sent the documents to the Turkish Embassy. They sent me an email to submit the documents. However, I let my NOA2 expire (Expired in May 2012) because we wanted to marry in Iran as is the native custom and file the CR-1 instead. We married a couple months ago in Iran.

Well now I will be filing for the CR-1, I was wondering if I have to notify the Turkish embassy that I am "OFFICIALLY" canceling my Fiance visa petition? I mean it has been almost a year since we received the NOA2 (around 11 months) and its been 6 months since the NOA2 expired. So the petition has expired (I ASSUME), but I thought maybe I have to "officially" tell them in order to file again for CR-1.

Do I have to tell them or will I be fine just submitting my I-130?

Congrats on your NOA2 !!!

Thanks, Embassy sent me an email saying they received the case last week and to go online and get Packet 3.

Do you have an answer to my question about delaying the interview till July? How can I go about doing this?

My NOA2 expires in May and I need till end of March to get all the forms ready because I am waiting on my fiance's passport to be able to fill out one of the forms that asks for passport# and expiration date. Plus I don't graduate till April and I need time to be able to have everything ready and prepare her for her interview.

Bismark, you haven't even reached that stage of the process yet. How can you make such a sweeping, authoritative statement?

I know for a fact that some embassies don't care whether you fill out the DS-156 online or not. Knowledgeable longtime VJers like Gary and Alla will back me up on that. Other embassies care very much.

The moral of this story: follow your embassy's instructions.

Do we put the passport picture on the box that says it or does the embassy do that?

I got my NOA2 Jan. 18th and yesterday (Feb. 8th) the Ankara embassy in Turkey, sent me the email for Packet 3 and confirming they have my case.

A few questions:

How long do I have to send in Packet 3?

My fiance has been waiting for her passport and it will take at least a month to come in. I have 80% of the forms ready to send her (Her English is still weak), but am waiting on her passport in order to be able to fill out DS-156 (requires passport information).

Also I will need till next month get all the co-signer information ready to send to her as well.

How can I ask to have my interview in July?

I heard NOA2 expires in 4 months so that means my would expire in May. I graduate in April and need till July to be fully ready for the interview. How can I request this? Should I include a signed letter with Packet 3 asking for a July interview date?

If you have a co-sponsor you will be fine. You can only have ONE.

I am in the same boat, I graduate in 3 months (but mine is with a bachelors) then in a year for Law school

waiting from nvc send my case forward embassy taking so long they received my case january 20th still waiting to send forward (

Same here NVC received my case on the 27th (from the case # they gave me I can tell it was the 27th) and they said they would notify me when it was sent to the embassy. I just emailed them again today, so hopefully I will get a response on Monday.

Hello guys,

I am new to this forum, and I have been going through bunch of threads the last week or so and it has been very helpful.

I have applied for a k1 129f visa for my fiance in Iran. I send in to TSC, and got my NOA1 on October 13th, 2011. I have not heard anything from them since, I have couple of question for you guys:

1) On my I-797C, in the bottom it gives USCIS office address and it is the VSC, so I am guessing VSC is processing my case?

2) Hopefully soon when I do receive my NOA2, how long does it take to get an interview (Abu Dhabi Embassy), and what is done in the mean time? Has all the background checks, and processing already being done during between NOA1 and NOA2, or would there be more between NOA2 and interview date?

I would really appreciate your help!

Nice to see a fellow Persian on here

1) Yes the VSC is processing your K-1 visa, which is good since they are currently the faster of the two processing center. (CSC is the other one). Generally it takes around 4 months to get the NOA2.

I got my NOA1 on September 19th and got my NOA2 on Dec. 18th and I too had my case at the VSC.

2) After it is approved the case is sent to the NVC where the case is put into the system. You can then contact them to get the case number which is then used when you call the embassy to see if they have received your case.

My case was entered in on Dec. 27th at the NVC and I received a case number. I am currently waiting to hear back on if it has reached the Ankara, Embassy.

Once it reaches the embassy they will send your fiance Packet 3 (which is usually done through email) once she sends back the required forms the embassy will issue her an interview date. Hard to say when that it is as it varies embassy to embassy and how much backlog they have, but it generally is within 2 months. The NOA2 petition has an expiration of 4 months so they generally interview before than.

After the interview your fiance most likely will be put into administrative processing (since she is Iranian) further background checks will be done. Since she is a woman, the background checks will be much faster than male Iranians. The background check can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. No way to tell. Once administrative processing is complete she will return to the embassy to receive her visa.

I don't understand, if you want an interview in July, how about "Monday, July 2, 2012"?

Well my NOA2 validity is only 4 months.

I got approved Jan. 18th (give or take) so 4 month validity would mean my NOA2 expires May 18th. Which means I would need an extentsion to be granted...correct? I see on the embassy website, several K-1 visas CR-I visas who have interview dates in June/July.

I am worried that is all

I don't want to send my Packet 3 when the time comes and get packet 4 saying congrats your interview is on April 2nd (for example) because I do not graduate till end of April and I need time to see her and make sure everything is organized.

Should I tell this to the embassy PRIOR to sending in Packet 3?

How does scheduling interview work?

Do all embassy's let the Fiance schedule the interview or do only some allow that? I was under the assumption that the embassy emailed you (Packet 4) or sent you a letter saying the date THEY SET UP FOR YOU. But I see that some users are allowed to sign up for the interview themselves.

Does this vary per embassy?

I got the case number (ANK#) and they said that I will be notified once it is forwarded to the assigned US Embassy/Consulate General.

So what now guys?

So I have received the NOA2, waiting for NVC to confirm that they received it and release case #

Have a few questions

1) After sending in Packet 3, how can I request for my interview date to be later on?

I graduate in late April and would like my fiance's appointment to be in July so I have time to prepare and gather more evidence (ie. vist her one more time) and accompany her to the interview as well.

The Interview dates are as follows for the ankara embassy:

NO FEB. INTERVIEW DATE BECAUSE OF CONSTRUCTION

Monday, March 5, 2012

Monday, April 2, 2012

Monday, May 7, 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

I see on the embassy sitee that several K1 visas (and CR-1 visas) have interview dates scheduled for May and June even July, how were they able to do that?

THANKS

The timelines are not accurate. You will be less nuts if you do not look at them.

True for the longest time mine said Jan. 12-22nd then about a month ago it switched to Jan. 22nd-Feb-12 or something then it changed to Feb 7-Feb 22nd. That's when I stopped coming here lol, I wasn't in a rush. Then it CHANGED BACK to Jan. 12-Jan 22nd.

And I got my NOA2 Jan. 18th

Same here,. NOA2 was approve on the 9th and NVC still hasn't received it.,

NOA2 was approved Jan 18th, so I still got some waiting to do. They said they haven't received it either. They are probably a little backed up because of Christmas holidays last month

Thanks for the help everyone!

I called up the NVC today and spoke to a person, they were able to tell me that my case had been forwarded to the Tokyo Embasy on Jan 19th. However the system still says that my case has not been received yet. It seems the trick is to talk to a person.

I will call tomm as well. I got my NOA2 on Jan. 18th and sent an email and they replied today saying they haven't received my case yet.

Anyone have ideas?

1) In the instructions it says to use N/A on Packet 3 forms, unlike the 129F it doesn't say you can use "none"

So for questions like: Spouses name, list employment history (she's never worked), list children under 21, etc.

Do I put N/A or NONE?

2) Does the Ankara embassy (or most US embassy's) assign us a interview date or do we call and choose?

Reason I ask is I need my appointment to be in June or July at the EARLIEST. This is for a variety of reasons. Anyway I just recieved my NOA2 and its only valid for four months. Can I ask them to give me a later appointment date?

3) How will my fiance know when to send in packet 3?

I have the ankara embassy and they do everything through online forms on thier site. So should I even expect to recieve a letter or should my fiance in Iran expect to recieve a letter at all?

Thanks

Why were you denied after being in administrative processing?

APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ecstatic... Praying for you that are with CSC.. Your time soon come!

Well the waiting journey is finally over! Congrats!