lizascissors

Hang in there guys. Wait it out. It sucks waiting, and I remember feeling super frustrated and upset that CSC processed so much quicker than TSC. The wait is worth it. It doesn't help your frustration right now, but it will be over soon. In the meanwhile... Plan your weddings! Get your homes ready for your fiance to move in! Get stuff ready for NOA2 and the interview! Research the other stuff you need to know once your honey gets here (like getting a license, getting SSN, getting bank account, getting them added to your bills, etc.). The extra "once they're here" stuff takes up so much more time than I ever anticipated!
We waited over 6 months for any news from USCIS. It took about 11 months for him to get here - and that was with us scouring the boards for every last shortcut we could find. Read the guides, read the forums, figure out ways to create as many shortcuts for yourselves as you can.
I was mad about waiting months and months while CSC filers got approved in a matter of days. I contacted all of my local/state legislators. It doesn't do any good unless you have extenuating circumstances!!!! It's bull, and it stinks, but just sit back, relax, wait.
They'll be here soon.
And once they're here... you'll forget about how much waiting was the worst thing ever. I promise!

Check the guides!!!
http://www.visajourney.com/content/ssn
But you can apply to get a SSN - no big deal. Bring passport, I-94, birth certificate. Get to the office early!

Check the guides!!!
http://www.visajourney.com/content/ssn
But you can apply to get a SSN - no big deal. Bring passport, I-94, birth certificate. Get to the office early!

Hey everyone! We sent off our AOS packet last Saturday (technically 11/29) - but as it was received on Monday 12/1 we're calling it December! Anyone else out there? We are adjusting off of a K-1 visa. We submitted for AP and EAD also. Here's hoping this is less frustrating than waiting AGES for our I-129F approval!

Hang in there! Once you get past USCIS, things with the state department move very quickly! We waited 6 months for NOA2 (which sucked seeing all the CSC filers get their stuff in a fraction of the time). Get all your stuff for the visa application ready - research the medical, research your local embassy/consulate, and get everything else ready! We had everything ready and were able to get visa in hand within a few weeks of NOA2.
Although it was only last summer that we were dealing with this malarkey, once you get your honey here it all seems to not matter (seriously - POE was 2 months ago, we've been married 6 weeks, and the waiting part feels like it was AGES ago).
Cheering for y'all!

Check out this guide for London.. Helped me a ton!
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/474161-london-k1-a-complete-guide/
The guide goes over everything including the affidavit of support... Good Luck!

Right but there's that whole AOS period where your beneficiary cannot legally work in the US... Just saying... Delays in EAD/AOS can happen, getting a job could take a while, etc. It's always good to be prepared.
This modern woman will be supporting her beneficiary husband in the EAD/AOS waiting period.

You guys! Our packet is officially in transit according to CEAC!!! Did not expect things to move so fast. That is all. I'm really excited. I hope everyone else is doing ok

You guys! Our packet is officially in transit according to CEAC!!! Did not expect things to move so fast. That is all. I'm really excited. I hope everyone else is doing ok

NOA2 received today! I am so overjoyed. Two denied expediate requests, one congressman, one mis classification of petiton, one senator, and one request for evidence, almost seven months later I thought I would never see the day. All those in January still waiting, stay strong.

Waiting sucks. I waited 182 days and that was one of the shorter waits. It's horrific. Everyone that's waiting 30-60 days doesn't know what that anxiety is like. Making the playing field fair for everyone would be nice. Granted, it'd be perfect if it was a 30-60 day wait across the board but hey...

USCIS gave me notice that my packet went to NVC last Monday. I called today and nothing.
Blergh. I JUST WANT THE CASE NUMBER!! Lawd.
LAWWWWD.
That is all. Happy Monday y'all!

So you can sign up for USCIS alerts online or you needed to have already done that when you file with the G-1145 form. Given that you are already aware that your stuff was sent to NVC I'm assuming you already did that...

Hang in there everyone! Here's my contribution re: the recent conversation -
I got NOA2 right at 6 months and a few days. Hang in there. It's coming. File an e-request and use a date in the beginning of December 2013 as your "filing" date (which is really mailing date). It could have taken a month or so for USCIS to get there, right? (I mean I sent it certified from NYS and it still took them 2 weeks to receive it). I did file a congressional inquiry - at 6 months they responded saying I needed to wait 45 business days. Then, two days later I got NOA2 at like 9 pm EST.
I got NOA2 on July 25, just got notice from USCIS this past Tuesday (as in August 5 - 11 days after NOA2) that they sent my packet to NVC. If you signed up for text/e-mail alerts, they will let you know when they send your stuff to NVC. Give it time - from the looks of a lot of people's timelines on here sometimes it's a week after NOA2, sometimes it's a month - I think they just send big boxes of packets at a time and wait for the box to fill up before sending (seems most efficient, even if it's stupidly annoying for those of us filing).
Also- the advice to call NVC late is good advice- I called before I realized that I needed to wait for them to get my stuff and it took me 12 tries to get in (that was calling at 10pm EST) and then I waited on hold for 45 minutes. You do get to talk to an actual person at NVC once you get through and they are a lot nicer than the USCIS people - at least the guy I had was really polite and had a great phone voice
In the meantime! Start getting all your stuff ready for NOA2!! I'm sending my honey a big ol' envelope with the financial support forms, bank stuff, tax transcripts, letter from me indicating that yup I still want to marry him despite USCIS making me wait, etc. (Even though London doesn't ask for as much stuff as some other embassies - likely due to it being a low fraud area - sorry everyone else). Also those of you beneficiaries- get the forms and whatnot ready for your police certificates - check how long they're eligible for - you may be able to send them in now depending on how long it takes for your local authorities to process them!
In a few years we'll all look back on this and smile and only remember the support we received from other people in the same predicament. Not the fury and angst I feel towards USCIS (seriously, I want to throw water balloons at them and make them hurry their bums up!)

Hang in there everyone! Here's my contribution re: the recent conversation -
I got NOA2 right at 6 months and a few days. Hang in there. It's coming. File an e-request and use a date in the beginning of December 2013 as your "filing" date (which is really mailing date). It could have taken a month or so for USCIS to get there, right? (I mean I sent it certified from NYS and it still took them 2 weeks to receive it). I did file a congressional inquiry - at 6 months they responded saying I needed to wait 45 business days. Then, two days later I got NOA2 at like 9 pm EST.
I got NOA2 on July 25, just got notice from USCIS this past Tuesday (as in August 5 - 11 days after NOA2) that they sent my packet to NVC. If you signed up for text/e-mail alerts, they will let you know when they send your stuff to NVC. Give it time - from the looks of a lot of people's timelines on here sometimes it's a week after NOA2, sometimes it's a month - I think they just send big boxes of packets at a time and wait for the box to fill up before sending (seems most efficient, even if it's stupidly annoying for those of us filing).
Also- the advice to call NVC late is good advice- I called before I realized that I needed to wait for them to get my stuff and it took me 12 tries to get in (that was calling at 10pm EST) and then I waited on hold for 45 minutes. You do get to talk to an actual person at NVC once you get through and they are a lot nicer than the USCIS people - at least the guy I had was really polite and had a great phone voice
In the meantime! Start getting all your stuff ready for NOA2!! I'm sending my honey a big ol' envelope with the financial support forms, bank stuff, tax transcripts, letter from me indicating that yup I still want to marry him despite USCIS making me wait, etc. (Even though London doesn't ask for as much stuff as some other embassies - likely due to it being a low fraud area - sorry everyone else). Also those of you beneficiaries- get the forms and whatnot ready for your police certificates - check how long they're eligible for - you may be able to send them in now depending on how long it takes for your local authorities to process them!
In a few years we'll all look back on this and smile and only remember the support we received from other people in the same predicament. Not the fury and angst I feel towards USCIS (seriously, I want to throw water balloons at them and make them hurry their bums up!)

Hang in there everyone! Here's my contribution re: the recent conversation -
I got NOA2 right at 6 months and a few days. Hang in there. It's coming. File an e-request and use a date in the beginning of December 2013 as your "filing" date (which is really mailing date). It could have taken a month or so for USCIS to get there, right? (I mean I sent it certified from NYS and it still took them 2 weeks to receive it). I did file a congressional inquiry - at 6 months they responded saying I needed to wait 45 business days. Then, two days later I got NOA2 at like 9 pm EST.
I got NOA2 on July 25, just got notice from USCIS this past Tuesday (as in August 5 - 11 days after NOA2) that they sent my packet to NVC. If you signed up for text/e-mail alerts, they will let you know when they send your stuff to NVC. Give it time - from the looks of a lot of people's timelines on here sometimes it's a week after NOA2, sometimes it's a month - I think they just send big boxes of packets at a time and wait for the box to fill up before sending (seems most efficient, even if it's stupidly annoying for those of us filing).
Also- the advice to call NVC late is good advice- I called before I realized that I needed to wait for them to get my stuff and it took me 12 tries to get in (that was calling at 10pm EST) and then I waited on hold for 45 minutes. You do get to talk to an actual person at NVC once you get through and they are a lot nicer than the USCIS people - at least the guy I had was really polite and had a great phone voice
In the meantime! Start getting all your stuff ready for NOA2!! I'm sending my honey a big ol' envelope with the financial support forms, bank stuff, tax transcripts, letter from me indicating that yup I still want to marry him despite USCIS making me wait, etc. (Even though London doesn't ask for as much stuff as some other embassies - likely due to it being a low fraud area - sorry everyone else). Also those of you beneficiaries- get the forms and whatnot ready for your police certificates - check how long they're eligible for - you may be able to send them in now depending on how long it takes for your local authorities to process them!
In a few years we'll all look back on this and smile and only remember the support we received from other people in the same predicament. Not the fury and angst I feel towards USCIS (seriously, I want to throw water balloons at them and make them hurry their bums up!)

Get whatever shots you're missing from your GP's office and just bite the bullet. Knightsbridge has the monopoly on being the approved civil surgeon, so they charge what they want.
Also sure, healthcare is expensive stateside, but we also don't pay as high of taxes as a lot of countries with universal systems. The money goes from one hand to the other, it's just a matter of what costs you see up front (yeah it is overall per capita GDP much more expensive here, but swings and roundabouts).
Unfortunately, immigrating legally to the US is not an inexpensive endeavor.

A marriage license is not expensive. Filing a lot of the forms can be expensive. However, going to the courthouse to get married is not an expensive endeavor. Having the big white dream wedding? Yeah, that's expensive. But signing some forms for a civil ceremony at City Hall is not.

At 6 months, one day the beast spoke. I guess I can stop my incessant complaining now.
NOA2 has arrived - on to NVC!

At 6 months, one day the beast spoke. I guess I can stop my incessant complaining now.
NOA2 has arrived - on to NVC!

At 6 months, one day the beast spoke. I guess I can stop my incessant complaining now.
NOA2 has arrived - on to NVC!

NOA1 January 24.
Mailed it January 13.
No news yet. Congrats to everyone. I'm annoyed that people who filed after me are getting approvals. I feel like it should be a first come, first serve kind of thing. Doesn't USCIS respect the sanctity that is the queue? Ugh.
Although given the response I got from my congresswoman's office yesterday, USCIS is telling me to wait NINE MORE WORKING WEEKS/45 BUSINESS DAYS to inquire again. Yeah. That would put us at past the 8 month mark. This is f-ing ridiculous. We would've just gotten married had we known it would take this long.

So we planned the big foofy wedding for next spring, anticipating that we'll have a courthouse wedding sometime this fall/winter.
IF you plan a wedding in the off season, you don't have to book AS far in advance (esp in W. NYS! I see you're Amherst! hello!). That's what we're doing. February is not a month in hot demand

It's official. 180 days. 6 months today. Tick. tick. tick. tick.
**Crickets**
Bueller?
Bueller?
Where are y'all at today? You can use this http://daycalc.appspot.com/ to calculate. Just put in your NOA1 date. Impatience loves company

It's official. 180 days. 6 months today. Tick. tick. tick. tick.
**Crickets**
Bueller?
Bueller?
Where are y'all at today? You can use this http://daycalc.appspot.com/ to calculate. Just put in your NOA1 date. Impatience loves company