lorella

i am in the process of drafting a letter to send to one of my state senators. focusing on the disparity in application volume and wait times between the two processing centers.

I'm a February Filer :'(... nothing has changed yet since NOA1. I'll start calling once it's actually been 5 months, that's what it says.

a lot of people call before the 5 month mark. granted, it probably doesn't help them - but they are free to do so.

no harm in writing our elected officials to share our concerns.

based on the link provided, my "working day" is 901 as well. seems like the USCIS has changed the components of the receipt number.

I guess if we waited till Feb we could have been in the CSC and approved by now. But her come on guys 2 more months, here we go!

i'm pretty sure that the processing center is determined by your state of residence. so i don't think waiting until february would have changed your outcome. i have seen people talk about transfers from TSC to CSC - but i believe that is due to people incorrectly entering transfers on their timeline...not an actual transfer of petitions from one service center to the other.

but yes...4 months down hopefully one (or two) more to go!

If you are from New York, isn't your service center Vermont? They have a wait time of 5 months for I-129F petitions....

texas and california process K1. all vermont processing was transferred to texas. i think the switch was made last year. but either way...texas is 5 months too.

i would not rely on the VJ estimates - esp for TSC! there have been a lot of expedites for Philippines filers and other data entry errors that are skewing the results....and the estimates do not represent the wait time for the normal filer.

i'm in the same boat as you...january TSC filer with a cuban fiance. i would expect TSC to take the full 5 months to process your application (5 months is the processing time USCIS has published on their website). i'm at 117 days today and have not received any updates on my application since the ARN number was changed a few days after my NOA1 date. i have not called USCIS for an update. I don't think it would hurt but i honestly don't think it will help either. from what i have read on these threads...the customer service reps at TSC are not very friendly or helpful if your application is still within the normal 5 month processing time. try to stay positive! there are a lot of TSC filers waiting - so at least you know you're not alone.

At least we can all relate! It makes me feel better to know I'm not alone in this feeling LOL

I am really hoping for some news soon. I follow December and January.... My pkg was delivered 12-27 but my NOA1 was 1-02... so I feel almost dually enrolled!

We are about to complete our fourth month. Tomorrow marks 116 days since NOA1.

i'm in the same boat as you! my application was received late december with NOA1 date of 1/2/14. 116 days tomorrow! i don't follow december that closely...since it is a combined TSC and CSC thread...i really try to only look at TSC. and i definitely stay away from any "NOA2 in XX days!?!?" threads. it's just better not to look.

Umm.. does the following not sound like a whine?

"It's been 3 weeks since we've applied, but I already know I'll wait for at least 5 months. This is so unfair... It's gotten to the point that seeing CSC approvals make me depressed and sad. Why is the USA doing this to us?"

I was lucky to get it in 76 days. Sure. But I was ready to wait 5 months. And I certainly didn't whine about not receiving it after 3 weeks. You, Lorella, are in a better position to be frustrated having waited since December (though I'm not sure what politics are involved in a petition for Cuba), but 3 weeks? Really?

She will probably get hers before 5 months, as is the experience for many at TSC. But to complain at three weeks that others are getting it quicker is ridiculous.

It is like being jealous that someone else got a bigger piece of cake from another restaurant....

hello.

I guess what i was getting at was that the OP's complaints did not appear to be specifically related to having waited three weeks - but rather that they know it will be 5+ months of waiting while others are receiving approvals in a much shorter time frame. i don't think the OP was saying that they expected their approval already - just voicing frustration about the process in general.

Stop whining about waiting 3 weeks. Many of us had to wait months. When you applied, you were told that it could take 5 months. Expect the worst.

Plus, the speed that two distinct offices, hundreds and hundreds of miles apart, has nothing to do with "equality." What a ridiculous thing to say. Some move more quickly, some more slowly. People within the offices work at different paces.

I know it sucks to see that California moves quicker, but you'll torture yourself more by trying to make comparisons.

While I agree with your comments about torturing yourself by comparing the two service centers....I don't think the OP was whining about waiting three weeks.

I noticed that you waited 76 days for your NOA2 - many TSC filers (myself included!) would be happy to receive a NOA2 in that time frame.

Just a quick update, he was able to talk to an officer/funcionario who reviewed his case number and told him that yes, he can be interviewed today. We are so relieved, and are now just hoping that the interview goes well. Positive thoughts!

that's great news!!

I'm sure there's nothing wrong, Texas is just really slow at the moment.

Also, just wanted to point out that you don't hit the 5 month mark til Wednesday this week, it's 5 months from your NOA1.

is the 5 months based on receipt date or NOA1 date? i've heard people say both...

seems like it may be receipt date if that allowed her to place a service request?

I understood you! Yes that is correct, my first post is calculations without weekends then my second post was answering a theoretical question if petitions were approved with weekends = 93 days business days.

130 days is more correct in terms of a regular 7 day week.

Warning, More math!

But keep in mind that this 130 days has already begun since February, as per the USCIS data.

Now whether or not the existing 6,700+ pending petitions are being approved at that rate is anyone's guess because it's now April..

So since the first day of March (because the data ends at February) up until today, there's been 35 business days.

Based on the data there are 72 petition approvals per day

Have wee seen approx 2500 approvals?

I personally haven't seen that much movement of Nov, Dec January and February VJ timelines at TSC much.

i know we have a small population of the total petitions represented here on VJ. Looking at Igor's list (filtered to show: All Petitions), there is about 150 petitions for each month. TSC is receiving about 1700 per month. So about 9% (150/1700) of total receipts TSC are represented on VJ. 9% of 2500 is about 225. So i agree with you - I don't think we've seen that much activity since March 1. It seems like things have slowed down over March/April. Or people aren't updating their timelines.

read the original post, she already took the weekends out. So it isn't 130 days, it is 93 as stated originally

hello! I guess i wasn't clear about what i was trying to communicate.

yes, as you noted the calculation is 93 days (6,716 petitions / 72 approved per day) and does not include weekends.

however, when people are thinking about days to approval...they typically do not exclude counting the weekend days. so if we say 93 weekdays to clear outstanding petitions that works out to be about 130 days total.

and the 130 days is in line with what other people are saying on this thread...4ish months.

hope that makes more sense.

and ps - i did read the original post

So at 6716 petitions and an average of 72 done a day, that's only about 93 days before they get through those and start on newer ones.

That's not bad.

the 93 days also does not include weekends. if you include weekends in the calculation it works out to be about 130 days.

Great, now they're just going to whine some more

I believe they release this information on the 3rd Friday of every month, sometime in the afternoon. Judging by the current trend, I'm hoping they go on a crazy approval bender either this month or next month just like they did in September.

I don't remember where I heard this...but i believe the data is updated on the 18th of each month.

the USCIS dashboard has been updated for February. backlog increased by about 1000 from January to February and completions stayed about the same.

http://dashboard.uscis.gov/

Hahahaha oh dear! Well, if we help them out when we see stuff like that, being vocal on these forums will really help those dodgy timelines get fixed!

I read one of the CSC filers threads and actually read people complaining they'd been waiting 8 weeks and still no NOA2 yet

...and that's why i stopped reading some of the other threads. haha. for the most part...if it's not TSC related, i don't read it. much better for my overall sanity.

Just got an email and text that my petition has been approved finally! No RFE!!! Thank God!!!

congrats!!!

just curious if you think contacting your congressman's office impacted your approval? or did the office not have a chance to respond to/follow-up on your request?

From what I've gathered it's about 4 months of so for the backlog at the moment. I'm a Dec 5th filer and just got approved this morning.

that's awesome! great way to start the week. i am happy to hear about any movement at TSC. it also gives us a better estimate of when we may see some January approvals. i'm about a month behind you (1/2 NOA1) so maybe i will hear something in early May (one can only hope... ).

folks -

see my timeline....

the TSC estimated timeline of around 55 days is spot on - if you submitted everything as required.

mine was delayed because of additional evidence needed

after sending in the requested evidence = fast turnaround to review & approval.

good luck.

I do not think the wait time is solely dependent on submitting everything that is required. That does not explain why over the last month we have seen filers from Oct/Nov/Dec being approved without an RFE. Those filers were well over the ~55 day average and appear to have submitted all required documentation (due to lack of RFE). And I anticipate seeing a significant amount of our fellow TSC January filers be approved in the next two months without RFEs.

Your approval timeline (~55 days) appears to an exception to the rule for TSC...if you look at the the recent TSC approvals reported here on VJ.

I find that it's best to check in the evening, like 11pm or so, most updates show up by then.

I'm getting a little worried too, it looks like the approvals really died down this week

I sometimes think that people from TSC aren't updating timely because the wait between NOA1 and NOA2 is longer. Igor's list for CSC seems to always have recent updates - but most of those are being approved in 1-2 months compared to 3-5 months for TSC.

woow, you must be the first from Jan filers (except for ppl from the Phillipines)...Congrats! It gives so much hope to the rest of the ppl waiting..

Hope ours come out soon!

Their case was originally reviewed on 3/12 when the RFE was sent. If not for the RFE, i assume that they would have been approved on 3/12. So while I also hope it is good news for us - I feel like we should have been seeing more approvals since 3/12 if that was really the case.

i don't mean to be a downer (it's great news when anyone from TSC who gets approved!!!)...maybe i'm just trying to prepare myself for another two months of waiting...

Hi Guys! Been lurking around here for a while - I got our NOA1 on Jan 14, however USCIS has the following on their site:

On January 16, 2014, your Alien Registration Number was changed relating to your I129F, PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

Does anyone know what is means??

Thanks

I believe it just means they assigned an ARN to your case. I also have this update on my case a few days after my NOA1 date.

got approved yesterday (NOA2)

notified by text and email at 9:30pm last night

see my sig for the timeline...so far.

that's great news! congrats!

Hi-

To answer your questions:

1. I would send a sampling of the text messages and your emails. The written content will prove that you are actually in a relationship. You should also send any call records, photos, airplane tickets, etc. You can never have too much evidence.

2. The DS-160 is a new form. We didn't have to fill out before the interview, so hopefully someone else can answer this question for you.

3. Once you receive the NOA2, you should allow 2 weeks before calling the National Visa Center to recieve his HAV#. This is the number you need in order to call to schedule the interview.

You can find more information about the K-1 process in Cuba here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/487769-k-1-visa-for-cuban-fiance/

But keep in mind this is only one person's account of the process and it has since changed a little so you may want to double check everything with others (for example, she says submitting plane tickets is not necessary, which I disagree with.)

Good luck!

PS- I find the process takes somewhat longer and is subject to greater scrutiny if the petitioner is American (as opposed to a Cuban-American). You should also make it a priority to be there for the interview.

hi - you mentioned that there is greater scrutiny if the petitioner is American. Did you experience this with your case or know of others who experienced it? Was there just more questions about the validity of the relationship? I'm curious because I am American and would like to be prepared for the interview. I am planning to be at the interview with my fiance.

You have to wait until your case get to the embassy in havana to call and schedule your interview, good luck on that I just call today abd they gave mine for aug 4 , 5 more months of waiting time , it is sound crazy especially when you check people from other countries getting aproved in less than 4 months , we send a lot of pictures together, phone records , boarding pass , plain tickets and e mails . Everything in Cuba it is so complicate !

the interview wait time is the worst! i am still waiting on my NOA2 from TSC (3 months waiting so far). And unless TSC miraculously speeds up their approval process i am expecting my fiance to have an interview in october or november of this year. seems so far away!

i can't speak for everyone at TSC but from what i have seen....TSC is updating the ARN within a few days of the NOA1 date. And unfortunately, it does not appear to be an indicator of a quick approval. i wish it did though!