JoelThai

1 hour ago, Naes said:

...  you can just chose the interview date in January and file before your fiancé goes to interview.

The Bangkok Embassy works a little bit differently in their process for scheduling the interview, as they choose the interview date for the Applicant after they receive the Packet 3 with proof of Application Fee payment.   The applicant does not choose the date, although I believe it can be rescheduled if necessary by contacting the Embassy.   Just a minor detail, but I imagine the same effect would be achieved by delaying submission of Packet 3 to the Bangkok Embassy.   Although, I am not sure how long you can delay the Packet 3 without some other step of the process "expiring", because the faster the better for most of us.   As the Thai say,  Layo Layo.  (quickly quickly)

On 5/30/2018 at 6:34 PM, JoelThai said:

I think I read on the forum that an applicant noted that 2 x 2 inch photos were also accepted at Bumrungrad, but I am now unable to locate the posting.  

I found the posting I was looking for.   For what it is worth...  the poster notes that they will take either 1.5 x 2 inch or 2 x 2 inch.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/593157-bumrungrad/

I think I will plan to have my Fianceé bring both sizes and see what they prefer.   

15 hours ago, Loren Y said:

Checked the fact section of the Visa page for the us embassy in case it was different for visa issuance. Looks like 12 months no matter what.

Great!   Thank you for providing me with confirmation that 12 months is the correct validity period.  It was also interesting to see the copy of the certificate you received and noted that the Clearance Certificate itself does not have an expiration date on it.   I am currently in Bangkok with my Fianceé, so we will go make our request next week.

I see that you and I are both received our NOA1 on 12/28/2017.     I hope both of us will have our NOA2 notices in the next 30 to 60 days.    

With the information you posted, I was able to locate a couple of additional US State official pages that also confirm the 12 month period of validity for Visa Applications.   I am posting the following links as they may be helpful to others in the future.

1)  https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/RGA%20-%20Riga.pdf

Yes, following directions is always the best choice.   One of my motivations for the question is that the Bangkok Embassy instructions for photo requirements for the K1 medical (non-immigrant visa) differ from the CR1 medical (immigrant visa).

For the CR1 they state to submit "Four (4) recently taken passport-sized color photographs"

Immigrant Instructions. (Click on the Medical Instructions Button)

For K1 they state to submit "Four (1.5 x 2 inches) photographs (taken less than 6 months)"

Non-Immigrant (K1) Visa Instructions

1.5 x 2 inch is neither a passport sized photo for the US or Thailand, so it seems a bit odd.   Lacking better information, we will bring both sizes "just in case".  

On 5/29/2018 at 7:21 AM, Loren Y said:

I was just there in March of 2018 with my Thai fiancee. We were in no hurry to get the certificate, so we just paid the 100 baht fee, and another 80 baht for postage to have it mailed to her. It arrived in about 5 weeks. We were laughing the whole time as we were " Offered " express processing and have the certificate ready for pickup in only 3 days for 1500 baht. Since we had more than 6 months before we even get the NOA2 we were not interested in wasting the money. 

I have read that the Police Certificate is valid for only 90 days.  If that is correct, requesting it 6 months prior to NOA2 would not seem to be the best use of time.   Can you confirm the period of validity of your Thai Police certificate?    Thanks!

Link to noted post:

Certificated Valid for 90 Days

My question is during the medical examination, how many and what size photos did your Fiancee´submit during their examination at Bumrungrad?

My Fianceé will perform her medical evaluation at Bumrungrad Hospital.  While reviewing the BKK Embassy "Instructions for Medical Examination" I see that it it is stated that my Fiancee´ is asked to bring four (1.5 x 2 inches) photographs to the examination with her. 

I think I read on the forum that an applicant noted that 2 x 2 inch photos were also accepted at Bumrungrad, but I am now unable to locate the posting.   We just had a set of 2 x 2 photos produced, so I will likely have a second set produced at 1.5 x 2 inches, or just cut down 4 of the 2 x 2's I already have if the 1.5 x 2 are necessary.   

Any comments specific to experience with this topic at Bumrungrad is appreciated.

43 minutes ago, Little_Vixen said:

To specify this. It's based on the timelines of people on visajourney that filled out their timeline. So it's not all petitioners but just a small percentage. It is however more 'accurate' cause the silent noa2's that screw up the scans from the official websites do get updated here. 

Just be careful with the wording...   For possible clarification, accurate does not mean that the estimated date on your timeline is necessarily accurate for an individuals NOA2.   But, you are correct that it is an accurate calculation of the average wait time.  IE, most on average will wait X number of days, but not all.  Wouldn't it would be nice if it was accurate in that sense, as I think it would greatly reduce everyones stress.   

5 hours ago, AliAsi0416 said:

I have a question about "adjudicated" dates...so mine indicate june 16-21; is this for NOA2 or....? does adjudicated mean the final decision ? 

The date appearing on your Visa Journal Timeline is the estimated date that you MAY receive your NOA2.   This time is calculated based on the current average time that petitioners have waited to receive their NOA2 after submission of the I-129F.  (VJ Processing Estimate = Date Submitted + Average Number of Days Wait for NOA2)   At best it is a crude estimate based on average processing times.   As the auto manufactures say, "Your milage may vary"

NOA2 means that the USCIS has completed review of the I-129F and has approved that both the Beneficiary and Petitioner are eligible to receive a K1 Visa.  At this point, the USCIS hands over the K1 petition to the Department of State were they will asses the legitimacy of the relationship.  If they determine that the relationship between the Beneficiary and the Petitioner is legitimate, the K1 Visa will be approved and issued.    The NVC and local Embassy perform this function.

4 hours ago, Dgaines205 said:

Hey guys how can you tell how many filers are in our month.? Also which day in December has the most filers?

@Naes reported in January that there were approximately 3297 received cases for December.   The exact number is not publicly known as there were apparently data issues at the USCIS that prevents some WAC numbers being accessible on the old case status page.

For comparison, November has 3519, October has 3770, and September has 3304 recieved K1 cases.

13 minutes ago, DPP123 said:

Wait... what?  I submitted two letters.  One from both of us with wet signatures. Will I get an RFE?  

No, you should not get an RFE,  two letters are also fine.   Wet Signatures are fine.    In fact, since most submit two letters, it is probably the most "comfortable" choice.   

But a single page with two statements, both statements signed is also fine.   As evidence to support this, I did have an exchange with a member here on VJ who described to me this format and confirmed he received approval without an RFE.

Documents with Wet Signatures  and Scanned signed original documents are both acceptable by the USCIS. 

13 minutes ago, Yuilicious said:

Thank you so much for the response!

1) Okay! As you said, a date close with the RFE makes more sense to me as well! Thank you:)

2) Glad to know this for sure so we don't have to spend expensive international shipping fees! haha 

 

Thank you for the response!

That's good to hear that a recent approved applicant with one letter of intent to marry. When we submit I-129F, I was gathering information from multiple websites, and I was so sure that we only needed to send one, even though on USCIS website, it is clearly states we need to include two separate letters.. LOL I wish I sent two separate letters for the sake of my peace of mind. Hopefully, we won't get RFE for this as the other couple. I won't lose hope, but if I get RFE for this, I also know what to do! Thank you so much!:)

14 minutes ago, Yuilicious said:

So happy to see some of us are getting NOA2!

 

I have a few questions..

When my fiancé and I sent I-129F to USCIS, I had information saying that we only need one "Letter of Intent to Marry," not one each from me (the beneficiary) and my fiancé (the petitioner). I should have just sent two letters from both of us since it is a simple task, but I was being naive, so we only sent one Letter of Intent to Marry. Really silly... I know.. I signed the letter we sent, but the letter itself states that it is from the petitioner, so that means they don't have the letter from beneficiary.

We may not get a RFE for this, but I am trying to prepare for it now so that when we receive it, we will be able to send the response as soon as possible!

 

Here are my questions:

1. What date do you think I should put next to my name and signature? Should I put the actual date that I'd be writing after RFE or should I write the date the same day as my first Letter of Intent (so it will be some date on October, 2017)?

2. As some of you have discussed before (either on this thread or maybe on another month thread), I just wanted to make sure that we DO NOT need to send wet signature to USCIS, right? So I can write my signature (wet signature) on my letter of Intent to Marry, scan it (which the signature will be not wet anymore), email it to my USA citizen fiancé, he can print it out and mail it to USCIS.

Am I correct about this?:)

 

Thank you for reading my post, everyone! 

Yes, a scanned copy of an original document with wet signature is permitted by the USCIS: 

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-finalizes-guidance-signature-requirements

I am aware of a recent approved applicant who submitted a single letter of intent to marry that contained  statements from both the beneficiary and petitioner of intent to marry and was signed by both the beneficiary and petitioner.  They did NOT receive an RFE.  If you did the same, it seems you should be ok.  But,  most petitioners include two separate letters, one from the beneficiary, and one from the petitioner.

12 minutes ago, JoelThai said:

But if there is a history of multiple marriages, I would expect that the USCIS will look to see what the reasons were for divorce.   Of concern to them would be if divorce was due to domestic abuse for example.  

As a follow on to my statement, IMBRA (International Marriage Broker Regulation Act) is something that the USCIS takes very seriously.

https://rapidvisa.com/imbra/

Many of the questions on the I-129F are tailored to assist in the IMBRA screening process and can trigger further review.  Hopefully these are not issues that any of us need to worry about.  

2 minutes ago, DPP123 said:

I don't know how I believe  this.  I think it really what desk your folder lands on.  I am a law enforcement officer.  Spot clean background.  Never married.  My fiance as well.  And we are still waiting.  But again, what do i know?  

I am talking about cases where wait times are 30 days or more.   If you are under 30 days wait, I agree also with you.

3 hours ago, ChuAni said:

Oh No!

 

Who said that???

She was referring to my analysis of why some cases take longer than others, but her take away was not what I had intended.   

My apologies for alarming anyone, a single prior marriage would not have any significant affect on processing time of a case.  But if there is a history of multiple marriages, I would expect that the USCIS will look to see what the reasons were for divorce.   Of concern to them would be if divorce was due to domestic abuse for example.  

2 hours ago, Michelle_ said:

So,  based on what you're saying,  everyone who was previously married could wait another couple of months?

No, I don't think that a single prior marriage alone would cause a 2 month delay in processing.   But, my guess is that if a petitioner has had multiple marriages, multiple K1 filings, and multiple arrests in the past, the USCIS will scrutinize the application to be sure  that they do not miss something and that will affect processing time.  One reason mentioned for this scrutiny is the result of the San Bernardino shooter/killer who entered the US on a K1 .   Senator Ted Cruz discusses this for several minutes in the Video.

I will close my thoughts here by noting that I believe that there is a reason that some petitions can take 30, 60, or even 90 days longer than others.   I would be interested if anyone has other suggestions as to explain why.

1 hour ago, Naes said:

Nope I think mostly research on vj and experiences.

 

but my case was just like you. Nothing no marriages no criminal history nada. But my date was touched on March 10 I got my noa2 on April 5. 

 

So it is mostly about how those cases got to wait toooooo long got to that point. 

To be realistic, although any wait is difficult, a 25 day wait is on the good side of bad when considering that some of our September, August, and July friends that are still waiting.    And in your case, thankfully it was not a day later.  

I think it would be interesting to develop a Case Complexity Score and try to correlate the score to actual wait times.   It is very possible my conclusions on this are a bunch of hot air.  

1 hour ago, Meisha&Jake said:

Where did you get this information from?

 

Our case: no previous marriages, no children, no arrests/crimes & not common surnames yet we havent got NOA2 yet (still early days for us in October but dates past us have had RFE/NOA2) BUT my point im making whilst I appreciate your kindness in trying to help/reassure, is this valid confirmed information how USCIS “process”..?

I see your NOA 1 is 10/17, so I would be optimistic that you will see NOA2 in the next week or so.   (The more complicated cases can take 30, 60, or even 90 days in some cases.   Folks are still waiting who filed as early as June and July)  

Disclaimer:  I do not work for the USCIS or have inside information, so I can only use public information to draw my conclusions, but I believe they are reasonable.   

For the second item in the FAQ I derived my hypotheses from observations in past months threads and general information collected from the March 2017 Congressional Hearing on K1 Visa Fraud.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?425416-1/immigration-officials-testify-procedures-prevent-fianc-visa-fraud

While watching the Video, I took about 2 pages of notes for later referral.    Representatives from USCIS and DOS spoke to introduce the K1 Visa Process and what they are doing to eliminate fraud.   Donald Neufeld, Associate Director, Service Center Operations for the USCIS describes the role and purpose of the USCIS in the K1 evaluation.   He speaks specifically of how questions have been added to the I-129F which serve the purpose of Fraud indicators.   He states that these indicators trigger various background and security checks on both the petitioners and beneficiaries, including review for applicability of the Child Protection & Safety Act and IMBRA.

While Mr Neufeld does not speak to specific questions and what checks they may trigger, I have drawn the conclusions stated as to their impact on the processing time of the application.  I believe they are reasonable assumptions.  Mr Neufeld states that the primary purpose to the USCIS approval phase is to validate that both the Petitioner and Beneficiary are eligible for K1 Visa issuance and to flush out fraud in the early stages of application processing.    A representative from DOS states their purpose is also to identify fraud and validate that the relationship is genuine.  The separate roles of USCIS and DOS probably explain why proof of on going relationship is not required during the USCIS phase, but is a focus during the Embassy stage.  (The Embassies are part of the Department of State (DOS))

So, connecting the statements made in the video and reasonably (my opinion anyway) applying the likely fact that triggered background and security checks take time to investigate,  some cases out of necessity take longer than others. 

I hope that makes sense and that we see a NOA2 very soon for you.   

15 minutes ago, DennisRhodora said:

I am a filer from the second week of October.  I asked my Senator to look into the status of my application.  He said it is "Pending Review"  and should be completed in 45 to 60 days.  My questions are:  1)  Is "Pending Review" a normal status?  2)  Is the 45 to 60 days to completion given just so I don't bother him again?

Thanks.

This is a standard USCIS response.   As of now,  the USCIS asks that Petitioners do not submit inquiries into the status of their case if the case was submitted after September 12, 2017.   If your I-129f was submitted after that date, you are considered to be within normal processing time.  To inquire before then will not get you much attention and you will be asked to wait before your next attempt.   This is standard response by the USCIS.   Pending Review basically means that your I-129F has been received and has yet to be reviewed.

You can monitor here when the USCIS considers your case to be "outside of normal processing" times.

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/#mainContent

1 minute ago, stringpuller said:

Thanks joel. If we are talking income per year we are ok. I have 1 dependant she would make 2 plus me is 3 and according to your chart im double that with a household of 3. 

Yes, do not worry too much about showing liquid assets if your income meets the requirement.   Of course the more the better (we all would like more  ).    Anything more you can show is icing on the cake.

Expect to need and save your W2 statements, your Tax Return, and when the time comes, a letter from your employer verifiying your employment and salary.   But you will not need to do that until you get your NOA2 notice which arrive about 6 months after you submit your I-129f.

The embassy will require you to deliver a form I-134 and supporting evidence to your Fianceé.  But like I said, the need for that is at least 6 months away.   It is not submitted at the time of the I-129F.   But as the Boyscouts say, Be Prepared!

https://www.uscis.gov/i-134

13 minutes ago, stringpuller said:

Liquid assets 5x the poverty guidlines. What does that mean in laymens terms please. Can you give me an example

Here is a link to the 2018 numbers.

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocs/2018_hhs_poverty_guidelines.pdf

So, lets say you currently have no dependants.   You live alone and have no children or parents that depend on your income.   It will only be you and your Fianceé (future wife).  She will become your dependent in this scenario.   To meet the requirement of 125%, you will need to prove an income of $20575  as your household size will be two.  (if you have defendants, use the chart to determine the amount appropriate.)

If you do not earn the $20,575, some embassies allow you to make up the difference with liquid assets (ie bank deposits, stocks, bonds, etc)

So for a simple example, lets say your yearly income is $10575, falling short by $10,000.   You can make up the difference by showing $50,000 in liquid assets ($10,000 x 5)

If you are not able to do that, some embassies allow for a co-sponsor who can demonstrate the 125% amount.   I am not sure if the Embassy in Vietnam allow or not.  The Bangkok embassy does not.

4 hours ago, nj2202 said:

 

My question is, between the 2 address provided, which address will the USCIS/US Embassy use to mail the Visa Packets? Also, will address change possibly delay my NOA2? Thank you in advance!!

It appears that the Jakarta Embassy will email the Packet 3.   During completion of the DS-160 Visa application the Beneficiary will provide their mailing address for return of their passport/visa.   See thread below for more info:

But to answer your question, I would assume that "Mailing Address for your Beneficiary" on the I-129F form would be where USCIS would send mail, but in your case I assume it is not utilized.   Review this thread for more info:

And one more hurdle to be aware of (since I don't think it has been mentioned) and is not spelled out in the I-129F instructions.   During the Embassy stage, it is necessary to demonstrate that you have the financial resources to support her.    The metric used is that your yearly earnings are 125% above the poverty guidelines.   Assets may also be used or combined with earnings at most Embassies.   Liquid assets held need to be 5X the poverty guideline.    Tax Returns, W2s, and Letters of Bank Deposit are the vehicles to prove you meet the requirement.

This is required because the US government needs to ensure that your fianceé will not become a charge on the services it provides to its citizens.

It sounds like this will not be an issue for you, but it is something to be aware of.

32 minutes ago, stringpuller said:

Joel thank you for the thought out response rather then the former. Very professional. I will talk with Her and weigh out options. We are both adults and im sure will find the right path. 

 

It amazes me to know end how in this world how crooks and liars can ruin a good system for those who want to.use it the correct way. But it is what it is and will make due with whats available. 

Maybe a lawyer is the way to go. It seems my late arrival to the crackdown of fraud points to a time when everyone will need an attourney to succeed at this.

No problem.   Just a couple of thoughts about the services of a lawyer and and if you require one.   There is a good possibility that you can do a better job than a lawyer can.

1) A lawyer has no additional sway over the USCIS and Department of State than you and I.  So, in either case, the final result will be the same.

2) Filing the I-129F is actually not very difficult if you take your time and review the instructions.   (In an earlier post I pointed you to them, and the USCIS filing tips).   Before deciding to hire an attorney, review the instructions and decide if you can do it yourself.   In my case it was pretty easy because 

a) I have not filed for a K1 before

b) I have never been married before

c) I have no criminal history

d) my fianceé has not been married before

e) she has no criminal history

If you are in the same boat, that eliminates 50% of the work in filing.

3) Some lawyers have proven to be sloppy and have created more problems then they have solved.  If you do decide to use one, find one that specializes in K1s and is familiar with current processing.   Ask them how long it takes.  If they say 4 months, they have not done one in awhile.  8 months seems to be the going time frame.

4) Save the money and when you are able, go back to visit your Fianceé.   I have been flying from SFO to Bangkok for under $600 round trip.  But I am lucky I live close to SFO.  I realize that for it may be much more expensive if you do not have the luxury of living near a Hub Airport.   But getting a second visit in will likely be much more beneficial than a lawyer.

5) If you have questions about filling out the form and a -e above are no for you also, PM me, I will give you private suggestions that will not be scrutinized by others.

Another suggestion that I alluded to in the last reply is to consider a CR1 visa.   This Visa is necessary for petitioners you have married abroad and wish to bring their wives to live in the US.   Many K1 filers debate if the CR1 route would have been easier.   It is less expensive because the approximately $1400 for AOS is not required as the Green Card is given when entering the US the first time.  The down side is it takes longer to have the Visa issued.   So, think about skipping the lawyer and go back to Vietnam and get married and apply for a CR1.