britishdakota

Also, thinking that may be why we haven't received our first NOA yet....sent on the 10th and seems people generally get a NOA within days of receipt....anyhow

Did you fill out the form for electronic updates? The hard copies are always slower.

I think October will be the most telling month on processing times.

The U.S. petitioner must provide evidence that he/she has permission to live and work in the United Kingdom and has been a resident of the UK for a minimum of six months.

Surely that would include the biometric visa pages in addition to any entry stamps. You need to show you can live, work and reside in the UK while an entry stamp by itself would only show when you entered the UK.

Is the clearance stamp not on the visa itself? On my wife's spouse visa it is endorsed with a stamp on entry.

If she says, hey lets go down to the USA and get married and stay there.

So they travel from Canada to the USA. They stop at customs who asks, hey why are you coming to the USA. She says my boyfriend is an American and we're gonna get married and live in the USA. The POE officer most likely would say "Uh, not likely, go back home." So without research, that's what happens. Just because you're ignorant of a law, doesn't mean the law doesn't exist.

Or they can lie and say "hey we're just going to visit." But really they're not. Should that misrepresentation actually make it through, while granted it doesn't majority of the time, they may either get denied and told to do the CR1 route, or they'll be banned, for a lifetime. Burden of proof of course is on the CO but IMHO, why are you taking the chance?

You make a valid point, but in your post you left out the part where intent at the time of entry matters.

These are only things OP can clarify.

Hope they get things rolling soon. I haven't been waiting nearly as long as many other commenters but it would be nice to have a more accurate estimate!

sorry i meant oct 15th 2012 not 2013 !!

Please complete your timeline.

Once the case is complete in the US and ready to forward to the embassy the regional forums can also be helpful.

Not having your passport when abroad is a bad idea.

I'm also surprised at how long AP is taking for a British citizen.

I am so sorry to hear that.....but Congrats you made it to America!

Let me share my experience with you..... This past May I came home from spending a month in Tunisia with my fiance. I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so my POE was Detroit, then final destination Grand Rapids. When I arrived at Detroit airport and had gone through customs, I was asked to follow the blue line. Two immigration officers stopped me and grilled me for about 15-20 minutes. I was asked over and over the reason of my visit to Tunisia, I repeatedly told them I had gone there to vacation with my fiance. I was asked for my fiance's full name, date of birth and nationality. They emptied both my of my luggage's, searched in my purse, wallet, opened my laptop, etc. One of the officers took my passport ( I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN), the officer made a phone call while looking at my passport. The younger officer questioned me about my relationship with my fiance and asked me if he had paid me to marry him so he could enter the US. Then he asked if I had paid him to marry him and how much? I answered very calmly, he proceeded to ask more personal questions like " do you know what color underwear does your fiance wears?" I felt violated and humiliated, so I reacted and asked him the reason for all the personal questions. He simply said " I am an immigration officer and can ask whatever I want", so he continued to ask questions like, where and how did you meet your fiance, why are you engaged to a foreign man from Algeria, again.. why out of all the countries in the world I chose to got to Tunisia? I became very upset and told him I have had enough, I have done nothing and I feel like I am being miss-treated , I am no TERRORIST, I hold an American passport and I want to go home, I am an American citizen. At that point another officer showed up and said don't worry Ma'am, everything is okay, the officers are just doing their job. You are okay to go now...The one officer approached me and handed back my passport and said you can put your stuff back in your luggage... I said " Thanks'!

This is how I was welcome back home by my own people.... Sad but true.

My fiance is coming home the first week of October and I will NOT have him fly to Detroit, instead I will have him come to Chicago O'Hare. What a horrific experience! I can't imagine how our loved ones will feel if treated the way I was treated by officers like these ones.

File a complaint! I regret not doing it. Never got the name of these two officers.

Welcome to America!

Don't take my word for it but I'm sure I read somewhere USC do not have to answer questions to immigration. They can ask and hold you as long as needed to make any checks and searches though....

Marrying and staying in the USA with the intent to do so is fraud. The correct way would be to process the paperwork while you remain living in Canada. That doesn't mean you can't visit!

How can you marry and stay in the USA without the intent to do so? Intent only matters at the time of entry into the USA, given what OP is saying it sounds like they have done no research into this which would suggest they had no intent at the time.

I have dual citizenship. UK and Canadian so I always preset my Canadian so I don't need to travel under VWP/ESTA.

The US really doesn't care if you're a dual citizen just what you present. I got told off once for showing both.

By the way if you are really concerned about being turned around I think Dublin has pre-clearance so go through customs & immigration before transatlantic flight. At least it is a shorter flight back to the UK and I have heard denial at pre-clearance doesn't mean much.

not to say that you are lying but there is NO WAY an LPR (green card holder) can file a 130 and get approved before a citizen

It is only the stand alone I-130s that go to the NBC so wherever it went could be faster. That being said LPR spuses require a current visa number and I thought the wait on that was long.

Thank you for the support!!

It is super stressful, I just have to keep reminding myself the stress is only temporary and everything will work out.

As for the DOMA act, I went back and found out it was June 26th it got passed, but we have a terrible flight (12 hour lay overs, cancellations, etc) from Vancouver to Alabama that once we finally got here (also we didn't receive our luggage for 3 days!!) we just tried to adjust and sort out stuff, so I really didn't even hear about the change in the DOMA act until a couple weeks later.

We booked our flight like, two months in advance with no notion of DOMA as well, so I don't know how we would prove that other than verbally convincing the immigration people? Can airports/flight centers provide old flight history information at all? To prove we booked the flights way before we new anything about the change in the federal law.

Thanks!!

When you enter the US from a Canadian airport you go through pre-clearance so it would be your intent at that time. If that was on the 25th and the ruling was handed down on the 26th I don't see how you could have had intent to adjust status.

The other thing is that it is for USCIS to prove intent at the time of entry, it seems plausible that you got married on a whim following the weeks of news articles about same-sex marriage being legalized.

Any evidence that you had intended to return would be useful, work expected you back etc.

On another note, if your finances are tight you should look into the income requirements and possibly a co-sponsor.

Not jet, we just have a contact and I'm "working" to get a job offer. It should take one month.

You have an employment contract and you're "working" to get a job offer while on a B2....it doesn't even sound like you're status now so extending is not going to happen.

If you get a job offer what will you do? From the sounds of it you have no work authorization anyway.

Posted Today, 09:55 PM

I have filed I-130 for my husband on feb 26 at chicago lockbox, recieved case number on march 4th with priority date of 28 feb. It starts with MSC which means it was sent to NBC. Its been six months still no approval letter, I have called so many times they say that there is a backlog at NBC. Don't know how long its going to take for the NOA2 to come.. any ideas of what should I do?

Yes keep ringing them - that's what my husband did, Ours was MSC too, took 6 full months to be approved. Then it took 6 weeks to get to NVC !!! it has been with NVC now for 3 months and we are still waiting approval. !!!

Ours was filed 4th january 2013.

Can you fill out your timeline? It is useful for predicted dates and for others to compare to.

Hopefully they will hurry up with your application. Looks like the NVC is taking longer than the I-130s used to take to process.

One think you are overlooking is that the UK requires foreign nationals subject to immigration controls to have a visa to enter the UK with the intent to marry. This applies whether they intend to stay or not.

If you do get married and then want to move to the USA you will need to go through the CR1 process, at the moment this is incredibly slow.

You can apply for a K1 to enter the USA to marry, you will need to marry in the USA within 90days of entry and then adjust status. Currently this process is much faster at getting into the USA.

Actually, you can't do anything that someone COULD be paid to do, so be careful with that.

That seems like an incredibly wide rule. Surely someone could be paid to do anything?

*ponders* i know what you mean about A4. What do they use?? Lol.

I think the official term for their paper size is US legal. It is a pain when putting lots of documents together but then again the official documents never seem to be same size, the UK marriage certificate is stupidly long.

Everyone I have ever spoken to about this, on this forum or legal advice has said the safest option for Canadians is to file the I-130 for consular processing. She can stay for her allowed time, and should be able to visit if she has ties to Canada although the CBP normally life as much time in as out. This process is currently incredibly slow.

The risk with AOS is the accusation of visa fraud. The risk of this would partially depend on what was said at the point of entry and other evidence, e.g. any life event that made you decide to stay, did she quit her job before leaving, does she still have property there etc. The accusation of visa fraud could complicate things for you will likely cost plenty in legal fees and if found guilty could cause her a lifetime ban on entry to the USA.

Some people have said intent is not an issue, there could well be recent immigration rulings on this which would be helpful if other members above could elaborate. As for the lawyer I'd try to get a second opinion.

I believe one May filer at least has received NOA2, but their case was sent to CSC. There are a bunch of us overseas May filers whose cases have also been sent to Overland Park, KS, so abroad filers no longer seem to get "special" treatment.

If I had known more about the process before (and our immigration plans) I would have tried to do DCF. That seems the only way to get a decent I-130 turn around time these days

It needs to be a certified copy which means from whichever officials deal with the register of births. That would include the original birth certificate or an official copy, the best thing to do is probably to get the family to send it. I think most couriers offer a document service.

they signed an Islamic marriage contract, it is legal and binding as a marriage. They are not eligible for a k-1

Thanks for clarifying, as I said in the UK it must be registered but I guess attesting completes the process.

Anyway when you petition for an alien relative by filing form I-130 it will be dealt with in the USA as you can only file at the consulate if you (the USC) are a resident of that country. When it comes to the beneficiaries interview and such that will be at the consulate where he lives. The process can take a while to get there at the moment it could be as long as 12 months, so if he will still be living in the UK in 12 months time his interview will be there.

It's a miracle! I never thought I would see this!

On September 5, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

Good luck to the rest of you Feb Filiers!

Congratulations.

Regarding marriage as I understand from the visa process all that matters is if it is a legal marriage. From the UK's point of view it sounds like it was not legal as you did not register the marriage; if the marriage is attested will you be legally married in Pakistan?

the 130 process right now is too fluid to predict since there will be a new facility adjudicating these petition types

chances are very low that the current filers will really hit the 8 month mark

I wish I had your optimism! Thanks for the information thought, I hope those 800 new employees get to work soon.

How do you figure that this has nothing to do with a CR1 spousal visa when that is what my husband was trying to find out how to track the progress our petition for a CR1 visa?? Its difficult enough without someone moving our posts to somewhere that we won't get any help or answers to his question

Completing your timeline will you the most accurate prediction of processing times.