Mrs_D

I don't have any knowledge of expediting visa's, but just wanted to send a note of support. My wife, and son, are from Ukraine, and we had similar feelings before they were finally able to get here in February. We will be thinking about you guys, and praying for you all, and that your family is brought together soon.
Having seen Ukraine's healthcare system first hand, if your daughter isn't being seen in a private clinic, I would strongly recommend that. I hope she is doing well.
Lee and Mariana

Wow! My wife just picked up her visa less than 5 hours ago! Hope the system gets restored for all the rest of you!

The first year of our marriage was not easy, we had constant arguments and to top it up my daughter was going off to College and I was on the phone with the ex a lot. There were days I wanted to chuck her out the window and I am sure she felt the same way, 4 years later there are stll times I want to chuck her out the window but then I think I would be lost with out her.
I will give credit to my wife tough, she kept her self busy walking every where she wanted to go, she even walked to the mall, which was a good 5 miles from where we lived.
I pulled some strings and got her a job at Kolhs and she eventually made some friends with Chinese women and got her self a job at a factory working the second shift.
There is a huge culture shift for them, When she started working at the factory I signed her up for direct deposit, she was pissed that she was not getting the pay check in hand that she could physically take to the bank.
Hang in there and as others have said she needs to do something, an idle mind is a devils workshop.

My husband married someone else a week before his interview. So needless to say. My journey ended April 15th, 2013.
That's why I am so passionate to helping others get their happy ever after. No tears. With pain in my heart your journeys help me heal.

I see you submitted your I-130 in September and were approved in 5 months. It took us 9 months to get approved.
You got an interview date last Friday. We are still waiting for our NVC number to be assigned.
I find it pretty amusing that you had "times of frustration" that resulted in "multiple inquiries". As far as I can tell, everything is happening pretty fast in your case. Sure, share the file (there are many free file hosting services online), but I would just like to remind you of how lucky you were. Be happy.

I wrote President Obama not for me but when I filed back in 2012 their were some cases that I felt needed attention,. I was just at 3 months waiting. Well low and behold I was approved 12 days latter. Coincidence I have no idea but it was cool. I thought a good touching informative letter. Only way things get changed is people got to raise the bar.
Of I was filing now no way I would sit back hearing 8 to 12 months to get through USCS hell naw. You do what yo need to do to get you hunni home.

Just a little PSA to shed light on many who don't understand all the delays and why 20, 30 40 days to review.
Just to be fair. Multiply your petition times about 10,000. There are currently 500,000 active I-130 stand- alone pettions at service centers which approve about 3000 to 4,000 per center a month and they go to NVC, Now obviously there isn't a person for every petition when iy gets to NVC. So just imagine.
We would all like be believe we are the only ones filing a petition and that we are special (well you are but they don't seem to get that. ). But fact is fact then you throw in weather and, what if i started looking at your case and now I am sick, or missing or arrested or whatever. Stuff happens. In this journey you must be patient and understand, its never personal they don't know you.
Think of your poor VJ mates here from Egypt some waiting since September for interviews, They been done. Case Complete. Just Imagine. Just hold on you will get there people. Breathe, Breathe. It's all well.

Thank you Saylin and here we go again for another month. Lets hope that this month, the North east will have better weather, no holidays, natural disasters or anything else. Come on NVC - lets see some action please!

I got an email from the embassy this morning. They said my husband's visa has been issued and he has to be in the States by March 9, 2014.
Most of you know our story. We were in AP 16 months when our visa got denied because the embassy said we were not legally married because I am a Christian and he is Muslim. We hired an immigration attorney and won our appeal. Our case was sent back to the embassy where we were kept in AP almost another 2 years.
My husband is strong and he kept our marriage together through the long wait.
I want to thank all my friends on visa journey that supported us and encouraged us through the years.

I received my NOA2 on January 21st, so figure I should check in now.

Thank you for all the info Saylin!
I've read posts 1 & 2, followed every imaginable question and your answers in the January thread that I am now ready to take on NVC! This is THE month for Fabian&Rossy!!

cjmax I'm sorry but I think you need to plan on having the baby in Australia as the US process is longer than your pregnancy. My wife shed many tears over this but it all worked out and we now have a wonderful baby which you will too. My wife and I found ourselves in the same position last year and our immigration plans had to be adjusted because of the timing of the baby. Actually having the baby in Vietnam made our relationship much stronger. We are more in love now than ever.
What are your concerns with having the baby in Australia? Citizenship?

I called this morning just after 9am and had a hold time of around 20 mins. On a good note though, the guy I spoke to was very nice. They are friendlier than USCIS!

This is not the first time that all of the service centers have been adjudicating I130's. They are not novices at it. This volume is also not ridiculously high. They *created* this issue, and now they are having to deal with the consequences of holding hundreds of thousands of applications for months at a time. And I don't think that they're devoting the kind of resources required to clear this backlog in a reasonable amount of time. (The K1 backlog was smaller, and when they wanted to actually clear it, they did in a fairly short amount of time.) I don't believe that there is any sense of urgency in fixing the problem. And they won't get serious about clearing it until there is enough pressure from outside to do so.

I see your point about his rights and she certainly shouldn't do things to him as a punishment. I don't disagree that the father should have rights. However, since she is pregnant, hasn't been here long, as a mother she may want to be closer to her family and familial support.
It isn't easy being a single mom here, especially if the father is not responsible, and if she has to make it on her own with a newborn baby, she will struggle a lot. She shouldn't have her life dictated by his choices and I suppose we don't really know the whole story to really advise her. She needs to figure it out herself. She has many things to consider - how will she survive here, what kind of monetary support could she get if she stayed, would the father actually care about his baby if he was cheating on her while she is pregnant? To me this isn't just cheating, it is emotional and psychological abuse.
I moved out of state when I was pregnant because the father was abusive and cheating, and I am so grateful I could move away because it was impossible for me to move forward without the help and protection of my family.
Her husband made the choice not to concern himself with his wife and even possibly expose her to STDs, I think she needs to worry about herself and her baby now, not him. It isn't so much a matter of punishing him, but looking out for herself at this vulnerable time.

Being married for 8 years, two kids and still no approval after ninemonths? USCIS is ridiculous!

I act like I have a right to have my petition adjudicated in a timely manner, which is what I'm asking for. If they're going to deny my petition arbitrarily, it doesn't take nearly 9 months for that. The rules governing who can immigrate here are very clear for my spouse. As long as we meet the requirements, they have no basis to reject my husband's visa here. If they do, I can appeal it, and take them to court and fight it out there. Someone else explained it much better and I'll find that post for you when I have another free moment.
I'm glad that you're here to help. And yes, I've already been through the immigration process in the Netherlands, so I'm well aware that this insanity isn't limited to the US.
I've written letter, made phone calls, contacted our representatives and media, gotten the word out via social media, and taken part in the last mass emailing/faxing and am helping with the writing and compiling of information for the next one that we're doing, which I will also take part in. I'm making as much noise as possible and doing my part to fix this problem.
No, I didn't elect the people who are currently representing me. I lived in the Netherlands for the past 8 years. But they still represent me, and if they don't do their job, I will vote against them, and urge my entire social network to do the same.
The timeline has gone down because they were gaming the processing times. We have proof of this and it is part of the next letter that we will be sending out. We have found several sources from the USCIS that show that they basically stopped adjudicating the I130's for months at a time. That they're now playing catch up (but still gaming the processing times) does not make me grateful. It make me angry that they lied to us for months and are continuing to keep us away from our family members, despite their claims of family unity being a priority. It makes me angry that they did not continue to ship the petitions to the field, but instead sent them to collect dust in a centralized adjudication unit that was not yet staffed or operational. It makes me angry that they refused to make the K3 available and lied in their conference to AILA when they knew that they weren't meeting their processing time goal even then and had stopped adjudicating IR/CR standalone petitions. I'm doing my part to get the facts and attempt to fix this, as stated above. But happy that they're trying to keep us quiet by throwing us a bone and changing the processing times is not going to work. Even after I've gotten my approval, I'm going to continue to work to make sure that the people who petitioned after me don't get stuck in this mess in the future.
They have a monopoly and basically absolute power over these petitions. If they can't wield it responsibly, then they need to have their power curtailed.
My husband is coming here for me. (And ultimately, our children.) I went to Europe for him, and could not handle it, ultimately. I want to stay married to him, so we're going to try it here. We were expecting to wait. But when I filed, the total process was taking about 8-9 months. We're now at nearly 9 months and aren't even through the first step in our process, and that, to me, is unacceptable.

After 9 months... our I-130 was approved on 11/29/2013. Best wishes to all on your journeys.

Just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your families if there are with you, and pray for those that are missing theirs, and remind you that if you are in this process next year they will be sitting in your table. May God bless everyone of you.

Pardon? I wasn't being sarcastic. It was an explanation.

Id suggest a bit of counselling, possibly?! There seems to be things you guys are not properly communicating about to each other and probably a mediator is a good way to resolve this.
Id also suggest finding ANY job that you are eligible for; like retail. Although not ideal, this could be a "breather" for him to see you contributing. I understand that he initially was fine with you being unemployed but obviously this has changed. Id say try to get a part time gig even if its barely enough for you to have your own spending money.
Im sorry you are going through this and I wish you guys the best

~~Thread Moved to Effects of Major Family Changes on Immigration Benefits, from Moving Here and your new life in America- As a more appropriate forum~~
Moderator Hat Off
Since you don't know if you want to go back to your home country I wanted to mention that you do have the option to stay here in the US and remove conditions on your own. You will need proof of entering the marriage in good faith, and apply with a waiver to remove conditions.
Since you did ask for all comments here's my thoughts. I'd leave you said he doesn't love you, and does not want to have kids which you do. Well those two comments are deal breakers for me. I would never want to live in a loveless marriage or waste my time hoping my partner changed their mind about having kids, I would grow bitter and resent the that person till the end of time. I'd leave and try another state to start over, I may end up going back home but heck I learned long ago never to make huge life changing decisions when I'm not thinking clear. So starting off in another city/state would be where I would start, then go from there.
Good luck, with what ever choice you make.

Emailed from 7 different accounts, between my husband and I!
I'm also sending to these addresses:
letters@newsweek.com
letters@time.com
conedit@ajc.com
letters@baltsun.com
letter@globe.com
news@globe.com
letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com
letters@suntimes.com
news@cleveland.com
letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
letters@denverpost.com
dfpcity@freepress.com
letters@detnews.com
newsroom@star-telegram.com
viewpoints@chron.com
letters@latimes.com
HeraldEd@herald.com
politics@startribune.com
letters@nytimes.com
Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com
letters@post-gazette.com
letters@uniontrib.com
chronletters@sfgate.com
letters@examiner.com
letters@sjmercury.com
editpage@seattle-pi.com
feedback@cnn.com
cnn.onair@cnn.com
crossfire@cnn.com
comments@foxnews.com
hardball@msnbc.com
countdown@msnbc.com
joe@msnbc.com
MTP@NBC.com
abramsreport@msnbc.com
thecall@cnbc.com
closingbell@cnbc.com
squawk@cnbc.com
madmoney@cnbc.com
dateline@news.nbc.com
nightly@news.nbc.com
today@news.nbc.com
MTP@nbc.com

I just got an email that our petition was approved. Our petition was transferred to Nebraska on 10/23 and I'm a US citizen that filed in the U.S.
I hope that anyone that filed in February that is still waiting hears something soon.

Please dont give up. Simeone commented yesterday that one idea to fill the time is to make lists and act on them of all the preparations you need to make to help your spouse transition to the US; all the things you can do to makenit lesa daunting and stressful.
There was a couple on VJ just a month or so ago who had gotten all the way through approval but knew they still had potentially another 2-4 mths of paperwork and visa interview wait times. They felt the could no linger bare the stress in their relationship....they cancelled their whole application.
Many of us begged them to not give up...but they did.
DON'T GIVE UP!
(hope my cheerleading helped!)

12-16 months is not normal processing times just because they are saying it is. Because I am a citizen, the law says my case should be a top priority of the USCIS. What you are suggesting is that I should not be able to have the expectation that the USCIS follow the law, nor that I have the right to accurate information, or that I shouldn't be able to complain that the USCIS is not performing it's job. I vehemently disagree with this assessment. I may not have the right to bring my husband here, but I do have the right to have my case processed in a timely manner. What we're discussing here isn't whether or not our relationships are bonafide, because even the USCIS stats seem to show that most petitions are approved for this immigrant class. If they're going to deny our petitions, then it shouldn't take more than a year to do so.