jess100

I have a word of advice and I hope I'm posting it in the right place.  During your K-1 process (or any other visa process) think seriously about what name the non-US person will use when she/he arrives, and applies for a Social Security card.  This is especially true for people from Latin America where four names (or more) is not uncommon.  If you don't plan ahead you'll have different names and initials on all important documents because many of those applications have room for only first, middle initial and last name.  Some have more space. Some allow for two last names. Some don't. Our bank could not fit my husband's name on the application so shortened it.....his medical records don' t match the insurance carrier, so claims get returned-and many many more.   If you clear this up and pick a name she/he can live with and then stay with that you can prevent a lot of confusion. 

I thought I'd report on what happened for future VJers who miss their biometrics appointment. Hopefully you won't miss it by 3 months as we did.
First, we took the above advice and scheduled the first InfoPass appointment I could get (which was for tomorrow at 11) and today we showed up at USCIS Syracuse office at 8 AM -as soon as they opened. (Monday was a holiday) I thought the InfoPass appointment could be used to determine if our case was still open, and if we didn't need the appointment we could cancel it.
When we arrived the guard (who was exceedingly helpful) advised us that our case might have been denied. When my husband was called to the window the officer said the same thing, and told him to try to schedule an Infopass appointment on the kiosk in the lobby (he didn't know we already had an appointment for the next day). If we couldn't log in with our case number it would mean the case had been denied. I'm not sure why it couldn't be checked on their computers-but there is probably a reason. Scheduling an appointment is apparently their way to determine whether it's been denied.
We went to the kiosk and it did take our information and scheduled an appointment. So we were good to go-not yet denied. The officer told us we can go ahead and do the photos and prints. In retrospect I think we were not yet denied because we had an RFE in early June and that delayed the case enough to keep us in the game. A denial probably happens much sooner in most cases.
The biometrics guy had us fill out a paper and then took my husband to a room for prints and photos. He was very nice and spoke clearly and slowly. While I waited for that, the officer offered to cancel both of our InfoPass appointments for tomorrow so we wouldn't need to go back to the kiosk on our way out to cancel. A minute or so later my husband was done. When we left the guard shook both of our hands and wished us luck!!!
My understanding from reading about ASC on this site was that they just take prints and photos and forward them to USCIS-but don't know anything about your case. So it seemed ASC would be in a different building than USCIS (as it is in Cuiduad Juarez) and even if we were able to get the biometrics done, wouldn't know the status of our case until our InfoPass appointment (the following day). But it wasn't like that at all-it was small and informal there-the biometrics guy was sitting right next to the officers, and it was small enough that the guard, the officers and biometrics guy could all hear each other -so everyone knew what was happening. I guess technically the ASC guy couldn't access our case, but the officers were able to determine it was still open, and help us to clear things up.
I can't say enough about this office and the people working there. Every person was kind, helpful and friendly. I I would highly recommend using InfoPass in Syracuse if you're anywhere near there. Also no lines, no waiting. Not at all what we expected.

I thought I'd report on what happened for future VJers who miss their biometrics appointment. Hopefully you won't miss it by 3 months as we did.
First, we took the above advice and scheduled the first InfoPass appointment I could get (which was for tomorrow at 11) and today we showed up at USCIS Syracuse office at 8 AM -as soon as they opened. (Monday was a holiday) I thought the InfoPass appointment could be used to determine if our case was still open, and if we didn't need the appointment we could cancel it.
When we arrived the guard (who was exceedingly helpful) advised us that our case might have been denied. When my husband was called to the window the officer said the same thing, and told him to try to schedule an Infopass appointment on the kiosk in the lobby (he didn't know we already had an appointment for the next day). If we couldn't log in with our case number it would mean the case had been denied. I'm not sure why it couldn't be checked on their computers-but there is probably a reason. Scheduling an appointment is apparently their way to determine whether it's been denied.
We went to the kiosk and it did take our information and scheduled an appointment. So we were good to go-not yet denied. The officer told us we can go ahead and do the photos and prints. In retrospect I think we were not yet denied because we had an RFE in early June and that delayed the case enough to keep us in the game. A denial probably happens much sooner in most cases.
The biometrics guy had us fill out a paper and then took my husband to a room for prints and photos. He was very nice and spoke clearly and slowly. While I waited for that, the officer offered to cancel both of our InfoPass appointments for tomorrow so we wouldn't need to go back to the kiosk on our way out to cancel. A minute or so later my husband was done. When we left the guard shook both of our hands and wished us luck!!!
My understanding from reading about ASC on this site was that they just take prints and photos and forward them to USCIS-but don't know anything about your case. So it seemed ASC would be in a different building than USCIS (as it is in Cuiduad Juarez) and even if we were able to get the biometrics done, wouldn't know the status of our case until our InfoPass appointment (the following day). But it wasn't like that at all-it was small and informal there-the biometrics guy was sitting right next to the officers, and it was small enough that the guard, the officers and biometrics guy could all hear each other -so everyone knew what was happening. I guess technically the ASC guy couldn't access our case, but the officers were able to determine it was still open, and help us to clear things up.
I can't say enough about this office and the people working there. Every person was kind, helpful and friendly. I I would highly recommend using InfoPass in Syracuse if you're anywhere near there. Also no lines, no waiting. Not at all what we expected.

I thought I'd report on what happened for future VJers who miss their biometrics appointment. Hopefully you won't miss it by 3 months as we did.
First, we took the above advice and scheduled the first InfoPass appointment I could get (which was for tomorrow at 11) and today we showed up at USCIS Syracuse office at 8 AM -as soon as they opened. (Monday was a holiday) I thought the InfoPass appointment could be used to determine if our case was still open, and if we didn't need the appointment we could cancel it.
When we arrived the guard (who was exceedingly helpful) advised us that our case might have been denied. When my husband was called to the window the officer said the same thing, and told him to try to schedule an Infopass appointment on the kiosk in the lobby (he didn't know we already had an appointment for the next day). If we couldn't log in with our case number it would mean the case had been denied. I'm not sure why it couldn't be checked on their computers-but there is probably a reason. Scheduling an appointment is apparently their way to determine whether it's been denied.
We went to the kiosk and it did take our information and scheduled an appointment. So we were good to go-not yet denied. The officer told us we can go ahead and do the photos and prints. In retrospect I think we were not yet denied because we had an RFE in early June and that delayed the case enough to keep us in the game. A denial probably happens much sooner in most cases.
The biometrics guy had us fill out a paper and then took my husband to a room for prints and photos. He was very nice and spoke clearly and slowly. While I waited for that, the officer offered to cancel both of our InfoPass appointments for tomorrow so we wouldn't need to go back to the kiosk on our way out to cancel. A minute or so later my husband was done. When we left the guard shook both of our hands and wished us luck!!!
My understanding from reading about ASC on this site was that they just take prints and photos and forward them to USCIS-but don't know anything about your case. So it seemed ASC would be in a different building than USCIS (as it is in Cuiduad Juarez) and even if we were able to get the biometrics done, wouldn't know the status of our case until our InfoPass appointment (the following day). But it wasn't like that at all-it was small and informal there-the biometrics guy was sitting right next to the officers, and it was small enough that the guard, the officers and biometrics guy could all hear each other -so everyone knew what was happening. I guess technically the ASC guy couldn't access our case, but the officers were able to determine it was still open, and help us to clear things up.
I can't say enough about this office and the people working there. Every person was kind, helpful and friendly. I I would highly recommend using InfoPass in Syracuse if you're anywhere near there. Also no lines, no waiting. Not at all what we expected.

I thought I'd report on what happened for future VJers who miss their biometrics appointment. Hopefully you won't miss it by 3 months as we did.
First, we took the above advice and scheduled the first InfoPass appointment I could get (which was for tomorrow at 11) and today we showed up at USCIS Syracuse office at 8 AM -as soon as they opened. (Monday was a holiday) I thought the InfoPass appointment could be used to determine if our case was still open, and if we didn't need the appointment we could cancel it.
When we arrived the guard (who was exceedingly helpful) advised us that our case might have been denied. When my husband was called to the window the officer said the same thing, and told him to try to schedule an Infopass appointment on the kiosk in the lobby (he didn't know we already had an appointment for the next day). If we couldn't log in with our case number it would mean the case had been denied. I'm not sure why it couldn't be checked on their computers-but there is probably a reason. Scheduling an appointment is apparently their way to determine whether it's been denied.
We went to the kiosk and it did take our information and scheduled an appointment. So we were good to go-not yet denied. The officer told us we can go ahead and do the photos and prints. In retrospect I think we were not yet denied because we had an RFE in early June and that delayed the case enough to keep us in the game. A denial probably happens much sooner in most cases.
The biometrics guy had us fill out a paper and then took my husband to a room for prints and photos. He was very nice and spoke clearly and slowly. While I waited for that, the officer offered to cancel both of our InfoPass appointments for tomorrow so we wouldn't need to go back to the kiosk on our way out to cancel. A minute or so later my husband was done. When we left the guard shook both of our hands and wished us luck!!!
My understanding from reading about ASC on this site was that they just take prints and photos and forward them to USCIS-but don't know anything about your case. So it seemed ASC would be in a different building than USCIS (as it is in Cuiduad Juarez) and even if we were able to get the biometrics done, wouldn't know the status of our case until our InfoPass appointment (the following day). But it wasn't like that at all-it was small and informal there-the biometrics guy was sitting right next to the officers, and it was small enough that the guard, the officers and biometrics guy could all hear each other -so everyone knew what was happening. I guess technically the ASC guy couldn't access our case, but the officers were able to determine it was still open, and help us to clear things up.
I can't say enough about this office and the people working there. Every person was kind, helpful and friendly. I I would highly recommend using InfoPass in Syracuse if you're anywhere near there. Also no lines, no waiting. Not at all what we expected.

That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution
That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution

That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution
That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution

That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution
That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution

That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution
That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution

That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution
That is a really big life change for you. Even in the best international marriages there is a lot of adjustment. Different food, different ideas, different cultures, different languages, etc. I think if you love him enough to want to keep the marriage you should start with a discussion with him about how you two (as a couple) can improve things-little by little.
I think that is the place to begin. If you begin by giving up on the marriage and going back to Brazil you will probably always question yourself. So first see if you can improve things working WITH him. Maybe you can find a long term plan-For example steps you both can do to work on getting your own apartment and finding friends for you-or maybe work. It will probably be slow, but if you know it will happen then it seems easier. You will feel like you have more control. First thing is to join with him and fight this problem together.
It sounds very boring where you are living-but there are some beautiful places in AZ-even in the desert! Would it be possible to study online (free classes with Coursera and others) or get to the library or volunteer someplace? Or teach Portuguese or even help someone with childcare for extra money if you have permission to work? Is it possible he can take you someplace for the day (library, mall, bookstore, park?) and pick you up when he is done with work? It might feel nice to have your own space away from his family for a few hours. you don't need to spend any money.
Good luck and I hope you can find a solution

Hi I would like to pass along what I was told by my husband after his interview at CDJ that would have made things easier for him.
First, the interview was for a K-1 visa and no children were involved so he only went up to a window (I had always imagined him sitting at a table with an officer but I think that's for families-or at least not done in CDJ)


Because I thought he'd have use of a table I put all documents and proof into clear sleeves into a notebook. Then I had another whole notebook with more proof of relationship. I thought he would be able to open to the relevant papers. Because there was no place to put things down he was juggling 2 large notebooks and trying to pull papers out of the sleeves. Things move pretty fast in CDJ and probably other consulates too. Having this set up made it more difficult.
It would have been easier to have an expanding folder with the opening on top and then file the papers by sections (birth certificates, affidavit of support and supporting documents, etc) Also an extra sticky note attached to the relevant documents (and sticking out from the top) would have helped in our situation. I'm attaching a photo but they are just called expanding folders. It might help to color code the sections (green for money, ie. affidavit of support, etc.) in a way that makes sense to you both.
The clear sleeves in the notebooks was very helpful for studying the material because he could see the full document, re-read them and become more familiar with the arrangement of them.
One other tip was to bring as little as possible with you and to wear shoes that are easy to take off. He had coins, etc. in his pockets and a belt and boots so it was more complicated getting through security. A pocket was helpful, though, because they give you a ticket with a number for your case so if you can just put that in your pocket that will help. He said some women had purses and papers and notebooks and he could see it wasn't easy for them. A pocket (instead of the purse) probably would have been a lot easier.
I hope this helps someone.

Thanks everyone for all the messages both public and private.
I do have a print out with me with Tom's notes. We had planned to call VSC around 2/16 but maybe we can get our number even earlier based on what hampguy and others have said. That said, we are in the mountains of Mexico at the moment just enjoying each other so maybe a few days more doesn't make a big difference given our wait already.
You guys have all been such a great support and honestly I don't know if we would have made it this far without this support and the information!!! I also signed up for another site and felt absolutely alone there and gave up.
I hope no one from March is still waiting in the hell hole called Texas.

Congratulations y Felicidades!!!

Hi
My plan was to bring the chat log from gmail which does not show the words of our conversation but does show the fact that we chatted. Would this list work for you as well, and then select a few of the chats to translate? If you can show a consistent and lengthy chat history with the log that would seem to me to show an ongoing relationship.
Also there was an older post about this and I'll copy here what he said-sorry it's long but it was really good. Of course check with other people about these things-as I haven't been through this part yet... Good luck
IMO, you need to front-load your initial petition filing with as much
relationship evidence as you can - as the USCIS people will see this evidence, the evidence gets bundled up at NVC and sent to GUZ, and the GUZ personnel SEE this relationship evidence prior to interview day.

Personally, I can't imagine WHY one would not 'front-load' the relationship evidence. If you're using a lawyer and ask about this - and they have NO CLUE - then it's a red flag about that lawyer's 'current knowledge' on the I-130.

I had used the instructions from the I-130 - which contain this:
QUOTE
1. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or
2. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or
3. Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources; or
4. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, the petitioner, and your spouse together; or
5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship (Each affidavit must contain the full name and address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner or beneficiary, if any, and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or herknowledge of your marriage); or
6. Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.
So that was my basis of info.

For me, I redid the lease on The Rustic Cracker Farm™ for both of our names, got all the utilities in both of our names. When I tried to get a joint bank account in the USA - I found it d@mned near impossible because of the Patriot Act. Others have been able to do it, though; seems to depend on your personal relationship with your banker OR that bank's ability and willingness to handle a signature card from yer lass.

I got her a paypal debit card in her name, tied into my paypal business account.

I had her added in as a beneficiary on any 'Payable On Death' Instructions for various accounts.

I have a photo stack, about 80 photos, in a glassine portfolio (20 sheets, so is 40 viewable sheets, 20 of wedding photos, 60 of us and her family). It's about 1/2 inch thick.

I have all the phone logs going back to day 0, in the form of telephone bills - That stack is about 3 inches thick now.

I printed out a chat log history and the chat logs - I pared it back to 2 inches o chat logs, the history file was about 22 pages. (single line per day)

I had 10 affadavits prepared, 5 by her friends in Wuhan, 5 by my friends in Houston.

I made color scans and color printouts of my passport, then took it in to my bank who notarized each set for free.

Of course, I've kept all the receipts of all money transfers, copies of these were included as well.

Thanks for your sage advice. And for the reminder that the 6 month clock begins the date of the medical. I had forgotten about that completely. Very glad you posted that for me and everyone else to see. Everyone here is so helpful with this stuff.

Congrats to all that have left TSC and please don't forget us-we still need your input about the next steps and the Embassy specifics
Congrats even to those that received an RFE-at least someone is looking at your application.
For those still waiting it's no longer a visa journey. It's more like a visa gulag. BUT, keep the faith and as another poster said, keep busy with what you'll need when your fiance'(e') arrives, your wedding plans, and for me simplifying my life so I can spend more time with Jose and less time doing other things. Can I streamline anything like the budget or finances?
Also for me I want to spend more time thinking about the marriage-the wedding is just one day. What can I do to make our lifetime together better? A wedding is one thing-a marriage is another. What can I do to ease the cultural differences we have? We do things very differently, which is what I love about this relationship, but how can I make that easier on both of us? How can I make him feel less "alien" when he's here? There are things I can do besides focusing on how f'ing long my application has been at TSC
Sorry I didn't mean to sound so positive. But there it is!

Congrats to all that have left TSC and please don't forget us-we still need your input about the next steps and the Embassy specifics
Congrats even to those that received an RFE-at least someone is looking at your application.
For those still waiting it's no longer a visa journey. It's more like a visa gulag. BUT, keep the faith and as another poster said, keep busy with what you'll need when your fiance'(e') arrives, your wedding plans, and for me simplifying my life so I can spend more time with Jose and less time doing other things. Can I streamline anything like the budget or finances?
Also for me I want to spend more time thinking about the marriage-the wedding is just one day. What can I do to make our lifetime together better? A wedding is one thing-a marriage is another. What can I do to ease the cultural differences we have? We do things very differently, which is what I love about this relationship, but how can I make that easier on both of us? How can I make him feel less "alien" when he's here? There are things I can do besides focusing on how f'ing long my application has been at TSC
Sorry I didn't mean to sound so positive. But there it is!

I think other people have had the same experience but I don't remember who. Some others were told by their reps that 6 months is too long, and it will be looked into.
Some people think that USCIS is purposely not updating the processing dates on their page so that it always appears to be within the "official" time frame. I don't understand how TSC, who hasn't received ANY new cases since March can still be backlogged. What are they doing there? We are just over 7 months now (217 days) That's 7 times as long as CSC.
I am beyond depressed and exhausted by all of this.

Any financial records you could provide? Life insurance or retirement funds with her as beneficiary? Letters from your neighbors (or her family or the pastor) that the two of you are often working on the house together? Things she bought to decorate the house?? Trips you've taken by bus or plane (tickets with names)
good luck

Re: "what's being done to fix it". USCIS thinks it already solved this problem.
They're never going to find out the cause of the backlog. Or, at least, they'll never really admit to it. I'm sorry, you are really fighting a losing battle on that front, partially because this battle has already been fought, lost, but the "war" has been won (see point #4 for clarification on this). There's many reasons for this.
1: The district offices that do the constituent service requests and the political offices in DC are two different entities, and really don't work together much because their missions really don't overlap all too much (I have worked for both types of offices before, you have to trust me on this). So, your personal problem is a district office issue, the mis-management of USCIS is a political office issue. You're simply not going to get both issues handled by the same person, or even the same office.
2: Congress has almost no "teeth" with USCIS. This is because the main way that Congress (the legislative branch) gets to boss around the federal agencies (which are the executive branch) is by controling their funding (Congress is the branch of government that allocates funds and makes the budget). But, USCIS is not funded by federal money. It's funded by our fees. So Congress really has very little leverage over this particular agency.
3. If Congress DID have leverage over this agency, with the way politics are now, they would not use it to help applicats. They would use it to dismantle DACA and prevent DAPA from going through. (Many of them have as much as said this).
4. USCIS considers that it has properly addressed this backlog already. For months, as long as I've been here (started lurking in Oct 2014), the TSC filers here on Visajourny were trying to fight this same battle. There were petitions galore. I think there's still a letter out to the President with thousands of signatures that has gone un-responded to (I'm not sure about this, I wasn't working on the letter, just watched all of this go down). USCIS DID finally get the message somehow and made the March 27 change (the change where now the Lockbox sends all new petitions to CSC. Either it's because only CSC will deal with them from now on or because the Lockbox is sending to the office with the shortest "line". No one knows).
If you're interested, I am 90% sure that it was through the efforts of VJ members who managed to contact Senate committee staff the morning that this hearing happened:
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/oversight-of-us-citizenship-and-immigration-services-ensuring-agency-priorities-comply-with-the-law
One of the men testifying to the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest is Donald Neufeld, the Associate Director of Service Center Operations for USCIS. The guy in charge of the service centers. The group reported (I can't find the thread now) that they got in touch with the committee staff and presented this case about the backlog. While it was NOT addressed by the Senators in the hearing, it seems possible, if not very likely, that the proof of the backlog got through to him. Because 3 weeks later, they announced the March 27 change. The change that made it so that the Lockbox routes new petitions to the service center with the shortest "line" (or maybe CSC will handle 100% of petitions from now on so if they ever get a backlog, at least there will be an EQUAL backlog). They consider that "the fix". If you were already in line at TSC before March 27, you aren't being moved. You are still stuck in this unfair timeline situation. You're, basically, screw3d. But, the root issue (that the two offices were processing at such vastly different speeds) is considered solved. The rest of us are collateral damage. In a couple of months, none of us 6+ monthers will be left at TSC and we go away. If they thought about those of us left behind "in line" at TSC at all, they probably did a quick mental calculation that said "we'll only have to listen to b!tching from those guys from April through August or so...easier than trying to figure out how to balance the workload". That's quite often how decisions like that get made, both in private industry and government.
5. What other change could they make at this stage? They can't rewind time and even things out earlier. They can't expedite all the rest of us left at TSC (and all of the rest of us are in for a 6+ month long wait. If we all are entitle to "expedites", none of us are really expedited). We don't want to get transferred to CSC anymore because that will just add time at this stage. They have (in their opinion at least), made a change that will prevent such timeline discrepancies from happening again.... So what change is left to be made? To just expedite you yourself? Even if they could (USCIS manipulates those dates so that almost no one is outside normal processing time and almost no one is eligible for congressional inquiry)....that doesn't solve the problem of the backlog either. Just solves your problem.
If you want to know the reason this all happened in the first place---lots of theories about that, some more politically charged than others. I personally don't care or have an opinion, but I will tell you what the prevailing opinion on VJ seems to be: a new program that opened the door for millions of new applications (DACA) was made, and not enough (if any) additional staff was hired. It slowed everything down. It seems like no one with enough oversight authority was looking out for discrepancies between the service centers, and it ballooned to the point this winter that some people got through CSC in 4 days (no joke), while others were at TSC for 8.5 months. True, false? Who knows. Doesn't really matter anyway. But clearly, someone somewhere was asleep at the wheel that the processing time discrepancy got that bad without anyone acting.

Some April filers already have visas and flights to the US.
I'm glad to see you have your NOA2-

You're all very lucky. We filed in March and our application has not been touched yet. No one has looked at it.......By the time they do we will have 8 years together.

What happens to the kids? For that 2011 time frame, at least 5,100 children whose parents had been deported were living in foster care, according to this data.
So this means that those 5,100 who were being supported by their parents are now being supported by the state (as states support foster parents). Hence, deporting the parents has made these children dependent on state funds, the very thing we need to prove will not happen to our finace's.......Interesting.

What happens to the kids? For that 2011 time frame, at least 5,100 children whose parents had been deported were living in foster care, according to this data.
So this means that those 5,100 who were being supported by their parents are now being supported by the state (as states support foster parents). Hence, deporting the parents has made these children dependent on state funds, the very thing we need to prove will not happen to our finace's.......Interesting.

Ok, so my fiance, who lives in Thailand, and I are preparing to file the I-129F soon and we are working together to try and total up all the major costs of the whole entire K1 visa process from start to finish. We have friends, a married couple, who also just went through the whole process successfully, from Thailand, and I have also been browsing through the K1 guides and flowchart here on visajourney. I'm going to present here a cost list of everything I have so far. Could anybody in here who has also gone through the whole process successfully please take a moment to review what I have here and offer any helpful comments, advice and information you might have to share based on your experiences with the process...? We mainly want to know if we are missing any major costs here in our considerations, so that we can end up right now with a very complete and reliable list of all the costs and can know what to expect the total amount for the whole process to end up being before we submit our initial petition and get the whole process started. Thanks in advance for any helpful advice and information you all can share with us to help us begin our visa journey with security and confidence. Here is what I have so far....
* I-129F fee: $340
* Misc. K1 prep fees (med exam,
background check, etc, based on
info from our fiends for the K1 beneficiary's
expenses to prepare for the K1 applicatiion): $1200
* K1 visa fee: $265
* I-485 AOS fee: $1070
* Plane ticket Thailand to the US: $1100
* I-693 (No med exam required if I-485 is
filed within 1 year of fiance's exam overseas): $0
* Total: $3975