Teachers

Congratulations. You waited far too long. You're also living proof that even VT can sometimes take WAY too long.

I hope it's smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Tom

CONGRATULATIONS. I'm so sincerely excited to see another March peitioner approved. You guys with recalled petitioners have had it the worst.

I can't wait to feel the same joy!

You deserve to be next. Good luck.

Tom

FINALLY! Maybe it's the end of month push to get as many March/April filers done as possible. We can only hope.

I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly and RAPIDLY!

Tom

Congrats! I wonder where mine is...

Congrats .... Im also wonder where mine is almost a month [/b]

Mine took 25 days. This part of the process seems as random as the rest, with even less reason.

Please fill out your timeline!

Tom

congratulations

91 Days!? Sad to say, but that's fantastic for California. Congratulations.

You said one letter. What did you say? Do you think it mattered?

Good luck the rest of the way.

Tom

I think clear, regular reporting would be a good start. For instance, for applications received in each 2 week period (or each month), indicate their status - How many waiting for RFEs to be returned, how many approved, reasons for delay, causes for cases going beyond 90 days.

Airlines started paying a LOT more attention to things like ontime performance and lost bags once they had to report it publicly to the government every month. Perhaps CSC would feel more heat if they had to justify their poor performance to Congress regularly.

Tom

I've looked through the last 6 months of I129F applications per the detailed statistics (at 50 per page). Here's the CA/NE/TX status.

Page Filing Date Range VT CA/NE/TX

Waiting NOA2

4 9-Jun 30-Jun 9 41 0

5 26-May 9-Jun 11 34 5

6 16-May 26-May 16 19 15

7 5-May 16-May 12 21 17

8 27-Apr 5-May 10 22 18

9 17-Apr 27-Apr 13 22 15

10 6-Apr 17-Apr 18 16 16

11 28-Mar 6-Apr 14 21 15

12 21-Mar 28-Mar 10 22 18

13 10-Mar 21-Mar 10 22 18

14 3-Mar 10-Mar 16 15 19

15 23-Feb 3-Mar 14 8 28

The stats are a bit shaky, in that someone may have stopped posting on VJ, and thus be listed as waiting, when in fact, they are just gone.

It appears that whether you applied in late Feb. or late May, that your chance of having approval are about the same - maybe 50/50.

We MAY still have a big backlog. Or we MAY be almost done processing the March/April backlog. CA/NE/TX had 30 approvals listed in the last two weeks. If the backlog is small, then by the end of Sept. we should see the March/April ones done, and a big chunk of May and early June processed. I will update this table in a couple of weeks.

Sorry the table did not come out well. The three stats columns are Vermont (about 10-15), CA/NE/TX waiting (about 20 for most periods early March to late May) and CA/NE/TX with NOA2 (high teens most periods).

Tom

Thank you guys so much for your replies, it's easing my mind more than I can say! I feel kinda silly asking about the affidavit of support with $300,000 in assets, but I didn't know if they looked at the assets themselves or just the income I live off of, which isn't much per month. Thanks again and thanks for the good luck, ditto to all of you

From "Fiance & Marirage Visas, 3rd ed.", Nolo Press, "Assets (such as savings, houses or cars) are only counted at one fifth of their current market value after subtraction of debt liabilities, mortgages and liens. Assets must also be readily convertible into cash (within one year)." That means your $300,000 of net worth is viewed as similar to $ 60,000 of annual income.

You should be fine.

Tom

Hi, everyone. Congratulations to those who have been surprised by fast I-129F approvals lately. It's energizing to see so many people moving forward!

I have a question about e-mail notifications. I have seen posts where VJers say they have recieved e-mails about their cases. I didn't see a place on the I-130 form where I could write in my e-mail address, though I did on the I-129F. So for the K-3, there are apparently some things that I will in fact be informed of via e-mail.

1. What exactly will those things be, and who will they be from?

2. Are e-mails always followed up by paper notices, or will there be some things that will only be communicated electronically?

Thanks!

JenM

They will tell you every time they touch your file, or when they send things to you. AFTER you get your NOA1 (receipt), then you can go their web site and sign up for email notification, using your receipt number. Until then, just sit tight. Minor actions (touches) do not result in snail mail. Major actions that require response result in snail mail. But sometimes one can respond to the email and get things done faster.

Earlier you asked about what time of year is best. NOW! NOW! NOW! The process takes so long that sooner is always better. I'm kicking myself now for not filing sooner. In the statistics section there is a graph of how long things take. There does not seem to be a consistent seasonal pattern.

Good luck!

Tom

Ok, so I might just be a regular US Citizen that was told to "wait in line" by USCIS. However, at this point I am extremely frustrated and tired. Regardless if I am approved soon or not (God, let's hope so), I wanted to start and do something about these long waits. It breaks my heart to know that based on locality (VSC versus CSC) your application could get approved in less than a month or take 6 months or longer.

I started a petition online, and with as many VJ'ers that are involved with this forumn and probably have friends as well in the same/similar situations. Yes, I know this is a simple start, but I am extremely hopeful and optomistic that eventually this petition could have thousands of signatures so that we can get USCIS to be accountable and to actually allow greet people with the "open arms, not long lines" that is spouted off at the political mouth.

Anyway, here is to us, let's see how many people are willing to help a little and give it support.

Petition Link: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/USCIS/petition.html

I share your concerns. However, I think I'd go directly to members of Congress. I suspect that they are the ones who would start a Congressional Investigation. Also, they are up for election, Bush is not. Finally, I suggest focussing on a long term solution, rather than the short-term IMBRA mess. I suggest urging all members of Congress to push for a 45 day turn around for all centers for K1s.

Tom

Aj1: I agree with you completely. You definitely learn to love and trust in a manner that few people seldom experience.

Vartan: I can relate completely, $4.00 a minute to Taichung, yikes that was a bad bill.

I suggest you and Vartan check out phone cards at the local Chinese grocery store. A Chinese grocery store here sells phone cards that allow me to call China for about 1.4 CENTS a minute. The same card is good to Taiwan at about 17 cents a minute (vague recollection). I suspect that there are Taiwan-specific cards that may be significantly less.

Tom

How about adding a column for Vermont vs. California (including Texas and Nebraska). The processing times will probably be very diffferent.

Tom

Thanks for writing. I read the thread. I think there are some positive things that could be expected by us via mandates from Congress. For instance (for K1s)

- prompt processing times

- no more than 10 days from mail receipt to NOA1 issue.

- no more than 45 days (excluding RFE turnaround) from NOA1 to NOA2.

- no more than 14 days from NOA2 to NVC sending to embassy.

- no more than 30 days from NVC sending until P3 sent.

I think all of these are doable.

More ambitous and longer term:

- electronic filing of form (like tax returns), with receipt number generated. Automatic payment via credit card or check. Then paper documentation to follow.

- electronic transmission of key application and approval to consulate/embassy, with paper documentation to follow.

- electronic transmission of RFE, Package 3, etc. as an option.

I think all of these are positive, reasonable, constructive.

Your thoughts?

Tom

Unfricking believable. I about lost my mind when I saw they are now processing OLDER petitions than the March 6th (which was the IMBRA effective date, even though it was signed January 5th!)

I honestly can't believe the incompetence with USCIS. I had a friend who had to get a handwritten (no letterhead) letter to work. It looks like that place is run by a bunch of three year olds, and even then I think it migth be better. What annoys me EVEN more is the fact that files just sit there literally for months and no processing takes place on them. Oh, ya and the fact the imbra form COULD have been posted back in january or february so they didn't have to send out 10,000 letters for those waiting.

How the hell will we ever legalize 15 million+ people when they can't get SIMPLE forms right. Good Lord! We are now going to file for me in her home country as well, and we will see how fast their process goes (usually less than 1 month).

I honestly give up. No more waiting for this person, this is complete incompetence.

There is another thread that the USCIS recently CHANGED the way they report. They are now reporting the LONGER of their actual processing time or their "standard" for processing time. In other words, they have given themselves a 6 MONTH "standard" to process I-129F applications.

I suggest we contact ALL our members of congress and suggest a 30 day standard. After all, that's what Vermont has been caple of within the last year. Even if USCIS and Congress negotiate to a 60 day standard, it might (if we're very lucky) light a fire under the director at California.

Tom

Thanks to everyone!

You guys are great

Congratulations! Finally! It's about time!

I hope ALL March and April NOA1's get their NOA2's this month!

Tom

Congratulations! I hope the rest of the process goes more smoothly.

Is it too much to hope that maybe CSC is finally getting things moving, now that Texas and Nebraska files are all moved??

Tom

I have flown back into the US about 13 times in the last 4 years. My times:

Get off plane 5-15 minutes. (It often seems like forever if you're in the back of a 747. Try to be on a smaller plane like an A330 if time matters to you.)

Passport check (not immigrating) - extremely variable - 5 to 45 min.

Luggage - If a long immigration line, then there when I get there. If immigration is fast, then usually no more than 15-20 minutes.

To this point - ususally about an hour.

Customs - never more than 3 minutes. (Maybe I just look honest? I've never been checked.)

Recheck luggage (at International terminal) - extremely variable, depending on the airport. Chicago used to be bad, but is now MUCH better. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland (Oregon) all under 10 minutes.

International to Domestic - Chicago - fast, frequent monorail; Portland - no delay at all! Los Angeles can be bad because of different terminals. But if you're going from International (about terminal 4) to a higher numbered terminal, you can get on any of the car rental shuttles, and just get off at the right terminal. Backtracking to terminals 1-3 is 10 minutes max. if you walk fast.

Domestic check in - you should not have to do this. Get your domestic boarding pass when you check in for your international flight.

Domestic security line - use the following web site to check the security time for your terminal based on time of day, day of week. Then add 10-15 minutes, just in case. With people checking more bags these days, it may go even faster.

http://waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/stateResolver?...p;submit=SUBMIT

Bottom line: I may allow a 2.5-3.0 hour connect time. But I usually make it in under 1.5 hours, and sometimes get on an earlier flight if there is frequent service.

got approved today.

Congratulations!!!

Tom

How do you know when you've been "touched"? I asked for email notices, and have not yet received any. (I sent my I129F on 7/6, and got a receipt dated 7/31.)

How do you post your list of touches at the bottom of your postings?

Thanks for your help. Good luck to all of us!

Tom

To Henry & Xia:

Consider yourself VERY lucky that you are dealing with Vermont!! I waited 25 days from my submitting my I-129F to Nebraska until the date for my receipt from California.

That said, I share your concern with the long delay from NVC to Guangzhou Packet 3. I will be enduring that wait. But if it is by October, I will consider us lucky.

Tom

Hello People,

Welcome to Take a check and wait forever !

Get this, From Original Submission of the 129F thru Approval, NVC approval 3 Weeks Total !

Not Bad Right ?

I sent our 129F on July 6, with tracking. It was delivered July 8. The check has not been cashed. We still do not have our NOA1. How do we contact Nebraska and find out if it's lost.

On the other hand, since several people are noting slow response by Nebraska, maybe this is just sad but normal. But I do note that many people have gotten responses from Nebraska in a week or two.

Tom

Hi, I am just starting to get my paper work together to bring my fiance to the states. I have been trying to get as much information as possible before I start the process next month. I wanted to know if anyone had any advice on getting an immigration lawyer. If so, is it better to get a lawyer to help you with the process or do it yourself, or is it about the same? If anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I did a mix/blend. We prepared all the materials ourselves, then showed them to an immigration lawyer. We then filed them. He said there was no benefit to him sending them in. This kept the cost low, but made sure there were no obvious errors.

Tom