sma1488

Yes, my reply was only meant for Raven22 from the UK who started this thread. It wasn't aimed at the entire world.

Yeah, but then...how? Warning: imagination at work but very much based in reality-on-the-ground from a career's worth of working for/with the government.
So what they'd do is hire a consultant who would build some sort of risk criteria/ points system and it would all go into a database to spit out who gets looked at first and quickest (only 5 minutes per application, say for a crazy imaginary example). But first the USCIS folks would have to read all the applications when they come in so that they know who has what risk criteria to put into the system in order to determine whose application gets "really" read first. Trust me. Things *have* to be done with criteria and documentation to prevent fraud and promote accountability. So you're not really saving any time....possibly making more time even for low risk folks because now you've made it so every application is read twice (one to see who's high risk and who's low risk, and once to actually adjudicate). But no one will notice or care that this effectively doubled the workload because they just paid some contractor $2 million for this thing, plus they've been told to speed up the process AND make sure there's no fraud so this is what they came up with.
And then you'd need to make it someone's job to make sure that all the adjudicators are following the new guidelines: 5 minutes per application for the low risk and at least an hour is spent on the higher risk. But then it gets all confused because it turns out that you actually never get to the higher risk folks because even at only 5 minutes per, the low risk folks keep showing up in the adjudicator's inboxes and eventually someone figures out this problem and then they spend 6 months coming up with a new system. This involves weekly meetings of various task forces and working groups about this which takes every adjudicator away from their desks for at least two hours a week (that's 40 low risk applications per person right there! 400 in just a little office left undone all for these working group task forces to fix the problem with the fix).
So the new system goes into place but only half of the adjudicators are using it because the other half never came to the task force meetings (if they came to work at all because a whole bunch of folks had 2 months of "use or lose" leave so the office has been pretty quiet since November) or somehow missed the 5 emails a day about all the training for the new system, or saw the emails but thought that it was training for the OLD new system, which really only came out 8 months ago.
And THEN the absolute second that someone from a "low risk" relationship comes into the US and does something dangerous or high profile, the USCIS bosses get hauled in front of Congress to explain themselves and once this "5 minutes per application" thing is found out, USCIS bosses are fired for not protecting our country like they've been tasked to, and the new people come in and completely re-organize things in such a way that this can NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN (or so that they themselves cannot be fired for it), which of course means, do the risk criteria, do the adjudication and a THIRD step to make sure that nothing fell through those first two cracks. Meanwhile morale has dropped, 20% of USCIS workforce has quit or retired and there's not nearly enough people to make these changes and next thing you know it'll be $1000 to file an I-129f and the wait time is 21 months and it's a total mess and no one's fault.

The breakdown usually goes something like:
Medical fee: varies by country, but can easily be a couple hundred dollars or more.
Visa fee: $265
Misc. fees, like postage for passport with visa, photocopies, other bureaucratic stuff, plus airfare: varies by country/individual
AOS: $1070 (no separate charge for filing for EAD/AP when done simultaneously)
And then of course ROC and naturalization much further down the road. If you wait too long to apply for AOS, you'll have to have a civil surgeon sign off on your medical exam records, which will be an additional cost.

You don't get to circumvent the law simply because the kind of visa you need is currently taking longer to process than you were "told."
As others have mentioned (and as you already know), it is fraud and your spouse can face lengthy bans from the country if she is caught. There are multiple steps along the way where she could be found out, including entry, AOS interview, and all the way up to (and after) citizenship.
If she is asked about her marriage to you by CBP and she is honest, she might not even be allowed into the country unless she can demonstrate very strong ties to her home country.

You don't get to circumvent the law simply because the kind of visa you need is currently taking longer to process than you were "told."
As others have mentioned (and as you already know), it is fraud and your spouse can face lengthy bans from the country if she is caught. There are multiple steps along the way where she could be found out, including entry, AOS interview, and all the way up to (and after) citizenship.
If she is asked about her marriage to you by CBP and she is honest, she might not even be allowed into the country unless she can demonstrate very strong ties to her home country.

You don't get to circumvent the law simply because the kind of visa you need is currently taking longer to process than you were "told."
As others have mentioned (and as you already know), it is fraud and your spouse can face lengthy bans from the country if she is caught. There are multiple steps along the way where she could be found out, including entry, AOS interview, and all the way up to (and after) citizenship.
If she is asked about her marriage to you by CBP and she is honest, she might not even be allowed into the country unless she can demonstrate very strong ties to her home country.

Nothing to do with conflicting moral principles and everything to do with blowing other people's comments out of proportion.

Your interpretation is correct - you do not need to complete 15a-h if you are not currently in the US. The specific instructions are only applicable to those people who need to answer those questions in the first place, which is not you.
As you mentioned, everyone must answer question 15. And just for the sake of clarity, the form is the I-129F. I've never heard of an I-295F.

That's great! But you're not a June filer and not at the Texas Service Center, so your timeline is vastly different from that of the rest of the posters in this thread.

Your case goes from USCIS to NVC, then from NVC to the consulate. There are several steps before it gets to the consulate. A few minutes of research in the Guides section would probably answer all of your questions.
Also, don't be selfish and update your timeline to help others the way they continue to help you.

Your case goes from USCIS to NVC, then from NVC to the consulate. There are several steps before it gets to the consulate. A few minutes of research in the Guides section would probably answer all of your questions.
Also, don't be selfish and update your timeline to help others the way they continue to help you.

The moral of the story is don't bother petitioning for a K1 visa or CR-1 if you are under ESTA or have a tourist visa. Just travel to the US with no intention of getting married, change your mind (or have the petitioner be oblivious to the law) and then AOS.
(Of course I am not advocating this, just stating the unfairness and the typical abuse of this loophole).

Oh, I don't think it is because they cannot, I think it is because they don't by choice. The less info they provide, the easier it is to BS. That website allows the Tier 1 drones to spout off that May date, and say, "hey, I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you." If the website were more accurate, then I'm sure the Tier 1 people would have to deal with more aggressive applicants (empowered by information). I wish I was saying that at least a little in jest, but I really have come to believe that after receiving all kinds of false statements the past couple months.
Thank god for this forum. Honestly, if it weren't for this, I would be even more stressed out and wondering ####### was going on with my application. It would also be so much harder calling out USCIS on its BS.
I used to dread calling those drones, but now? Ha, I get a little thrill being able to tell them they're full of s--t, although obviously that little moment is just a pebble of positive in a rock pile of negative right now. All about the small victories in life right?
Excuse the digression... But yes, the way they do this really blows my mind. It's freaking 2015, not 1995.

eh. USCIS always has an answer somewhere.
The question that has never been asked has already been asked - because if the question has never been asked then it doesnt nor can it ever exist... ahhh
anyway.
USCIS does have special rules for determining if a marriage is valid for immigration purposes. (was the lawyer an immigration lawyer?) The US has this thing called reciprocity with countries. Which means what it sounds like. It honors other countries paperwork/ Means they trust that country is on the up and up with the seals and stamps and what not.
SO heres some key points about foreign divorces-
The validity of a divorce abroad​ depends on ​the ​interpretation of the divorce laws of the foreign country that granted the divorce and the reciprocity laws in the state of the United States where the applicant remarried.​ [11] If the divorce is not final under the foreign law, remarriage to a ​U.S.​ citizen is not valid for immigration purposes.​ [12] ​
So marrying when the divorce states you cant means USCIS is not going to recognize the marriage IF it occurs with in the year, OR if you apply for a 129F you would not be eligible since the free to marry is not eligible.
http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartG-Chapter2.html

I don't think you can compare what the processing times were like 7 years ago to prove current Filipino filers aren't being expedited today. That doesn't make any sense nor is it relevant to what is happening today. All you have to do is compare timelines from non-Filipino at TSC with Filipino at TSC and it's pretty clear.

The normal processing time actually is in writing, but getting them to acknowledge it over the phone is a different story. Even though they've done away with the graphic on the old website that used to show the "USCIS National Goal" or something like that, the processing time charts (http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?bc=1016|8767|6726) show a specific date "when the office is experiencing a processing delay." So the fact that TSC shows May 6, 2014 instead of "5 Months" indicates they are behind. But in reality, the reps at the customer service center are so stubborn that this information doesn't really mean anything.

I wish I had an NOA2 of my own so I could tell you for sure..ha! But even if there was a box for it on the NOA2, I imagine it would be blank since it doesn't apply to this kind of visa.
But either way, he was asking about the NOA1, which definitely does not have a priority date.

Having experienced relations with several Russian/Ukrainian women over the past few years, I suspect that she was in it for the right reasons at the beginning. And I suspect that she was sincere with you regarding her intentions. Ergo, there doesn't sound like much deception there to me. However your mistake was sending her that much cash and forking over the dough for those vacations. No self respecting Russian woman would have taken that much money from you nor gone on those vacations. But like everywhere in the world, some women/people can be tempted when it is offered. Sounds like she gave into that temptation and came out a different person on the other end. And that's the "good" scenario. The worst being that you were used the entire time, but again, strictly given what you have said, I don't think so. Regardless, the person she is now is not the person you knew and it's time for you to move on.
Finally, since you don't speak much Russian and therefore I conclude you know even less about the culture, I can tell you with almost no doubt that her words and actions mean that she has moved on. And I suggest that you don't even bother to "lay into her" about the time and/or money wasted, 'cause it means very little in Russian culture, but such actions on your part would convince her without doubt that she made the right choice. And to a certain degree that would hold true in any culture in the world, assuming that you did indeed express yourself in that way.
Look, the bottom line that I tell all guys who ask my advice about dating Russian women is that you cannot think like an American when you are with them. Russians are not politically correct, there is no feminism, there are no cr@ppy catch phrases like "think outside the box" and there is no pressure for everyone to be like everyone else so we can all be the same. When things go South in a relationship, they cut it off with a hatchet and move on with their lives. There is no "let's talk about it" or any of that cr@p. Although there are always exceptions, Russians generally speaking are much more hard-core than Americans. Heck, just a couple of days ago my fiancee told me that I needed to quit sight-seeing when we were walking from the metro station. "You walk like woman, like turtle. Kick your ### little boy!" And it was yet another time I realized why I like Russian women. Bwahahahaha! They don't dance around issues, they don't couch their feelings in PC terms and they don't suffer fools. And if I may speak openly, you are being a fool with this woman now. Sorry, but I can't avoid saying that and give you good advice at the same time, even though it will sound offensive to American PC ears (which I don't care about, seeing as how I am very much opposed to anything PC, but I digress).
Ok. The problem with that for American/Western guys is that they don't realize that Russian women are raised to let a guy down easily, and I mean they are taught that like religion. So when she's telling you "maybe [whatever], maybe we can speak" or whatever else, she's trying to tell you that things are over but to let you down easily as she was taught to do. Unfortunately most Western guys don't get that and they cling onto those words, which don't mean "keep trying", they mean "go away". And maybe she has found someone else, sure, but likely not. Either way, she has moved on from you already. Now you need to move on yourself.
If you attempt this again, I would suggest that you keep your wallet closed a little more. You can't give nothing or else you look like a cheapskate who has no heart nor soul. But there is a fine line. And unfortunately my friend you crossed it far too many times. And more unfortunately you didn't have a strong enough Russian woman to refuse you and to resist that temptation. And BTW, some guys I know use this give-her-money thing as a test really ... they offer and if the girl accepts then the guy moves on. That has merit but it can also generate a false positive.
Anyway. Bottom line, get the heck out while you can. Cancel the petition with the embassy or just let it lapse, your call. I very seriously doubt if she would turn up for the interview.

It is your job to convince USCIS and the US embassy/consulate in Laos that you have a bona fide relationship with your fiancée. This ranges from very easy to very difficult depending on the country and its track record of immigration fraud. I'm not sure how tough Laos in particular is.
Also keep in mind that you need to be free to marry at the time of filing the I-129F petition. That means that your divorce must be finalized, and any state-mandated "waiting period" before getting married again (if that exists in your state) must have passed.

At this point you can REALLY start trying to wedge yourself in there. Even with the holidays, they DO sometimes lose files. I get that this is a slower time right now, but if it gets to be 7 months you are way over the time. Many people I saw that were at 6 months (specifically June filers, I think!) called and called until something was done for their case. Of course USCIS won't necessarily jump to approve you if you do, but doing an info pass or calling people- even congressmen in some cases- can actually do SOMETHING in some cases.
And yes, they are finishing up June right now. Some July filers have received approval, but not many. Just remember, everyone, that VJ doesn't represent all filers. And not everyone updates their timeline right away. So don't get too disheartened. Just because Igor's list hasn't changed since you last refreshed doesn't mean there haven't been any approvals.
The last few months USCIS seems to have been honoring - FOR THE MOST PART - around the 6 month mark, which is why I said if you pass that, you should really be getting an Info pass appointment and calling a lot. So a good majority of people at this point have gotten their NOA2 around the 6 month point. Of course the holidays slowed them down, so the rest of their cases that were about to hit that mark got delayed even further. But hopefully it'll start picking up, as some people who track their progress have predicted.

What I mean is that you cannot simply assume that since it has been over two months since the last processing date, you can add the time that has gone by and find out what month they are working on now. If there were a one-to-one correspondence between real time elapsed and petitions approved, then TSC would never have been behind in the first place. Igor's List on this site was designed to provide the sort of real-time self-reported information that USCIS does not, although it is not without flaws.

I think people get insulted or offended when someone comes along and is looking for a faster way through this process. I spent 11 months at the TSC. It was very difficult to read those posts and not think bad things... I'm still angry about that long wait btw...
end result, do a search on VJ for pregnancy expedites and it will bring up tons of threads answering the OP's question. No need to make nasty comments.. She will find out on her own that there is nothing else to do but wait. ( sigh)

If you actually read what I was saying properly you would see that I said that in response to why the person I quoted wrote what they did in the way they said it.I was going giving her a rant about having to wait and how I feel about it.
IF there was a way for a pregnant woman to be with the father now then yay! For someone who comes from a home without a father I think they should be together asap.
No one has given her an answer, one gave an example of someone who got their approval in 87 days, which we know nothing about and could have just been an approval that the senator just found out.
The other was for another visa which is unlikely to be approved whilst the k1 is in process.
No there is no way to make the process faster.
There are options to spend some time together whilst they wait, there are options for him to visit and be there at the birth. There are no ways to speed up the process.
Typing on my phone, commas are just not my friend at all I meant doing it the legal way, unlike those who aren't and get everything quicker right now.
Edit- and yes damage control, I can see how things sound when after written, clearing up intentions.

You said they were expedited due to the involvement of their Senators office.
Timelines vary, sometimes significantly.

Completely agree but it's like giving someone false hope.By all means she can try it, but I don't want someone to think their process could be quicker and be let down.
This is why I don't wrap this process in bubble wrap, it's hard enough already without being given false hope.
Unless her case has something else to it, it is highly unlikely that the senator can help unless it's longer process than average.
We all want/wanted to be with our loves quicker but sometimes you just have to sit down and breathe.
Being pregnant and without your love is emotional and even harder, but it won't make a difference to the process and being able to accept it will make it easier. You can focus on all the other stuff that is yet to come instead of praying every day that your case will be faster.
In most cases the approval comes when you least expect it.
To the person who called me an ### I'd also like to add that as an adult I tend to not jump on people in a forum straight away like you.
We are all in the same boat, all trying to stay strong over the way we as legals are treated and do not need people who cannot read what is written in a logical sense battling with each other.