Mrs_D

I feel for you and completely understand how you are feeling. I cannot believe how long this whole thing takes. I also don't understand why they just don't hire more people with all the unemployment we have here. It makes your relationship stronger but it also puts it under alot of stress too. I Skype with my wife every day and try to visit every few months until she gets approved and can come to the states but it's obviously not the same as living together.
We're all suffering, so please keep that in mind when making any decisions. The people handling our paperwork ought to be ashamed of themselves to keep couples waiting so long. Hang in there!

geez - there were 2 groups affected by DACA -
1] K-1 visa chasers at CSC and
2] all I-130 stand-alone petitioners
The stuff going down for the I-130 crowd was abysmal, in many places.

I think the key word is "frustrated". As others have said, this is a highly emotional experience, and for people who are separated from the ones they love, it really hurts to think "someone else" is getting better treatment.
But....sometimes when people reply on VJ, they come across with the sensitivity of a chainsaw. There are many people on VJ who have "been there, done that", and they do know more than newbies do. Some replies are helpful, and others are so condescending so as to make the original poster seem like a stupid dweeb.
We are a community - and we are made up of a diverse group of people - language, culture, age, and education.
Perhaps we need a forum called "Letting Off Steam" where we are allowed to vent without anyone else passing immediate judgement!
Conspiracy theories are counterproductive, and dangerous. There are millions of people trying to get to the United States. Each of us has a unique story, even though we are filling out the same forms.
VJ is a place for emotions - but hopefully being kind, gentle, and helpful will keep us all sane.
If you have a question, check the forums first to see if that question has already been answered.
If you choose to post a reply to someone's question, or even someone's rant, be nice.
If you are frustrated, then say so, but don't continually whine. It won't get you anything any faster.
My favorite posts are all the congratulations that people choose to post when someone finally crosses the finish line!
Sukie

I just received this e-mail from my senator's office.
Thank you for your correspondence regarding the status of your I-130. My office received a response to our inquiry with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and was informed of the following on Thursday, September 12, 2013:
"A review of our systems shows that Case MSC XX XXX XXXXX, Form I-130 filed by (Wife) on behalf of (Husband) was received in our office on 02/21/2013 and is currently pending. At this time, the stand-alone Immediate Relative Form I-130 petitions are being sent to the NBC for transition to the local field office of jurisdiction for adjudication. Due to the current workload at the field offices, our current processing time for I-130 applications is approximately 9-12 months "

And, of course I had to vent so I sent a response to my senator's office:
Thank you for this information concerning my husband's petition. Of course this information is disappointing because we have waited so long. We left Barbados in July 2012 and I have seen my husband a total of 2 weeks during that time. My husband and I have two, small children (ages 2 and 6) and this process has been extremely hard on our family. Now, it appears, that it might take two years for our family to be reunited.

This situation is unacceptable. I paid a fee ($420) to have my husband's petition reviewed and while I didn't expect our case to be approved overnight, I would expect it to be looked at within a reasonable timeframe. If you visit the VisaJourney web site, you can see that K-1 filers (Fiance's petitions) are being processed much quicker while married persons with families are now taking 9-12 months just for an I-130 approval.

I really hope that the backlog at USCIS is being brought to Senator Warren's attention. I voted for her and the delays at USCIS are devastating families.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND PASS IT ON
http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-uscis-dhs-decrease-wait-time-for-i-130-petition-for-alien-relative#share

I wasn't asking it in a judgmental way. I was just wondering cause I see a lot of that on these forums and in every day life with people wanting to immigrate here. I Big age differences. I know this raises some red flags and the OP and her partner have a big hurdle ahead of them.
If you are happily in love then that is a wonderful thing and I am happy for you. I hope you and your husband are together soon.

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!

Why wait? It's important that they realize the system is failing us, their constituents. I will do the same when the time comes (unless a modern miracle occurs). Every VJ'er should do it. I am thinking about starting a thread specifically for instructing VJers how this is done.

I feel I am getting a complete run oh round. It has been over six months already, still no NOA2. I even did that waste of time infopass, what a joke that was. I can not believe what they are doing to us. I wish there was something we could do to get straight honest answers from the tier two officers. I bet they have a meeting everyday to be informed what they will tell us callers when we do make the call. I also wonder if the nbc is fully staffed with humans not animals. Maybe the officers are scheduled 8-6with a lunch break from 9-6. I'm so angry with this system we have in our lovely country..

I just wrote a review of the Sydney consulate, but I thought I'd share a bit of our experience here:
Basically, when the interview was nearly over, the officer said everything looked good, save for one thing: proof of my the joint sponsor's (i.e. my dad's) US citizenship. Well, I sent a copy of my dad's passport to the NVC, but it was no where to be found. She kind of acted like she didn't believe I sent it in the first place. So, she gave me a 221g form and asked me to email a copy of the passport ASAP and that the visa would be granted once that was processed. She kept my husband's passport and we've just emailed off the electronic copy we kept on file of my dad's passport, so hopefully all will be fine.

Moral of the story: don't put it past the NVC or the consulates to not lose some of the things you send. We have electronic copies of every piece of our application, so it really wasn't that big of a deal to just send it when we got home. It is, however, really frustrating when you work so hard to dot your i's and cross your t's and provide everything you can and the response you get is 'Oh, yeah, we just lost it. Whatevs.' It adds time to an already lengthy process and makes you scramble to do something you've already done once. I know it's been said on here a million times before, but always make copies and always just kind of assume that some of the things you send might just disappear into the ether.
I'm probably being a bit complain-y, which is silly, considering we basically as good as have the visa. I'm also fortunate that I live with my husband, so the extra time this hiccup may have added isn't that big of a deal. I just wanted to mention my experience, because I really thought I had organized and taken care of everything they would possibly need. And I had, actually, but it didn't matter in the end, because they still lost something. I just wanted to remind everyone to be prepared for anything!

Totally agree with you. You would think that being married and providing enough evidence of legal marriage would increase your chances but instead it looks like they just want to give out the visa to engaged people but not to the people who have gone through the marriage process. Nothing against K1 approval but I just think there is no method to how USCIS work.

To make the matter better or worse; 12 K1 approved on the 27th of August alone per Igor's list. This is insane, shouldn't have been married should have filed K-1 and waited to get married.
I am happy for all the one's that are approved and where is our turn? Punishment for being married? Come on people...

So, I had my InfoPass appointment today and got some very interesting information: 1) my case is still at the NBC, was never transferred and was showing up as "Active in System" on my immigration officer's computer as of 08/15/2013, which he said means they have started working on it and I should hear from them shortly 2) average national processing times for US citizen I-130's for your spouse is 5 months; so since we are all at 6 months now, we are over the national average and should all be granted expedites (he put one in for me just in case) 3) I recommend you all to make an InfoPass appt. if you can, you will definitely get some very useful information - do not trust those tier 1/2 jokers, they do not know what they are talking about; as quoted from my immigration officer "they are just reading from a script, if you want real-time information come in to talk to us"
So that was that - go out and take action, don't waste time on the phone! We deserve to have our spouses here, and these immigration officers realize that - he said it was weird I hadn't been approved yet since he has seen plenty of green card holders get approved, get their spouse a visa and into the country within 1/2 years max.... for God's sake we are US citizens - we have our rights... guess it's just high time to actually fight for them!
Good luck to all of us, and may our marriages and spouses and families be blessed.

My priority date is February 21 and I'm still waiting. It's ridiculous that married couples (and many people have children, myself included) have to wait so long. No offense to the K1 filers but shouldn't married people be given priority? USCIS needs to hire more people or work around the clock. lol. The world is getting smaller and people are meeting and falling in love so people filing petitions for loved ones isn't going to go away any time soon.

Interesting, so now they are going to hold off on all the I-130 adjudication until the end of September? Someone once said, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." I wish this was true in this 20th century.

This statement right here is what's called immigration intent. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, hell it's what this forum is all about.
The problem for you is that if you cut your ties and try to "visit" with your wife before you have a visa you might get disappointed at the border.
I've read 3 posts since yesterday with the same story-line, I guess geographic proximity is just very tempting.
My thoughts are this, think about your plan very carefully. Study the rules, be patient and be thankful you are on the same continent and within a couple of time zones of each other.

And, don't forget that you will need coverage for the baby once it arrives. You have to visit the doctor a lot for well baby visits and immunizations during the first two years. Do what's best for your family long-term. That's the responsibility of being in a family.

And, don't forget that you will need coverage for the baby once it arrives. You have to visit the doctor a lot for well baby visits and immunizations during the first two years. Do what's best for your family long-term. That's the responsibility of being in a family.

After January 1, 2014 pre-existing conditions can no longer be excluded from insurance policies by federal law. Thank you President Obama. Your employer will have to cover her and if not you will be able to buy her a policy on the new insurance exchanges and they have to cover pregnaency and you could get a tax credit because your employer refused to cover her and they would be fined. I am not sure how old she is but here in Maryland the premium will be about $250 per month for a 30 something non-smoker woman for full coverage halth insurance including pregnancy.

I'm pretty sure the solution to this can be quite simple.
Make the K-3 visa relevant again by changing the process of obtaining it similar to tourist visa application (but requiring a medical exam) so that foreign spouses can travel and wait for the CR-1/IR-1 process in the US. The interview can take place at USCIS local field office. If the application is not approved (for whatever reason), then the couple is given a 30-day window to file an appeal. If appeal also unsuccessful then the foreign spouse must leave the US by a given date. K-3 visa holder is prohibited from filing for adjustment of status to any other type of visa or file for asylum in order to stay in the US if CR-1/IR-1 is unsuccessful. If CR-1/IR-1 is approved, then file for adjustment of status to permanent residence.

My priority date is February 21 and I'm still waiting. It's ridiculous that married couples (and many people have children, myself included) have to wait so long. No offense to the K1 filers but shouldn't married people be given priority? USCIS needs to hire more people or work around the clock. lol. The world is getting smaller and people are meeting and falling in love so people filing petitions for loved ones isn't going to go away any time soon.

My priority date is February 21 and I'm still waiting. It's ridiculous that married couples (and many people have children, myself included) have to wait so long. No offense to the K1 filers but shouldn't married people be given priority? USCIS needs to hire more people or work around the clock. lol. The world is getting smaller and people are meeting and falling in love so people filing petitions for loved ones isn't going to go away any time soon.

April filler and still no luck.
we all should contact the right authority to make a change in this process,
12month wait is totally BS , making married people wait while K1 visa are getting approved left and right

My priority date is February 21 and I'm still waiting. It's ridiculous that married couples (and many people have children, myself included) have to wait so long. No offense to the K1 filers but shouldn't married people be given priority? USCIS needs to hire more people or work around the clock. lol. The world is getting smaller and people are meeting and falling in love so people filing petitions for loved ones isn't going to go away any time soon.

My priority date is February 21 and I'm still waiting. It's ridiculous that married couples (and many people have children, myself included) have to wait so long. No offense to the K1 filers but shouldn't married people be given priority? USCIS needs to hire more people or work around the clock. lol. The world is getting smaller and people are meeting and falling in love so people filing petitions for loved ones isn't going to go away any time soon.