Ikhan

Yeah patients is important but if it's been too long, you need to escalate to your local congressman. Let them know that it's been too long and it's unfair - they might be able to push it along. Writing here doesn't really do anything. 

Yeah patients is important but if it's been too long, you need to escalate to your local congressman. Let them know that it's been too long and it's unfair - they might be able to push it along. Writing here doesn't really do anything. 

Junk e-mail from NVC so people will stop bothering them when we demand they do their jobs.

@Ammara Dont listen to most of these people here, they are negative and dont have any constructive advice. They are assuming some things (i've dealt with them in other threads). I was in a similar boat (feb2020 trying to sponsor my wife), what i suggest is someone needs to call USCIS and ask to speak to a tier 2 officer. Tell them that the case is nearly at the 2 year mark and there hasnt' been any update. Even though it's within the 'normal processing time', it doesn't mean they can take 2+ years just to approve/deny a simple i130. If you dont get any updates, use the messaging system in the myuscis website (message is directly sent to a tier 2 officer). Explain the circumstance and add more evidence to your case. I urge you to contact them often. They will not take action on your case unless youre active. Message at least every 2 weeks and ask if there has been any updates/an officer has been assigned. 
 
If the husband hasn't filed an i129f for a spousal visa (i suggest you look this up), do this asap (again, dont listen to these people about it being obsolete yada yada. It pushed USCIS to act on my case). 

I filed I-130 by mail in Feb 2020 with about a dozen supporting documents and also only saw one .tif file for one of the documents on my MyUSCIS website. The petition got approved without RFE in May this year. I am assuming USCIS does scan all documents but either because of a glitch or some arbitrary procedure not all the scanned documents  show up in the MyUSCIS website.
 

This happens rarely.  Usually, there are questions about YOUR past immigration matters, so be prepared.  That these interviews are rare is why there is no timeline for them.  It will depend on the backlog at the local office in Tukwila.

Contact your congresswoman/man. Talking about it here raises awareness but contacting someone in government might be a bit better. This needs to change

Contact your congresswoman/man. Talking about it here raises awareness but contacting someone in government might be a bit better. This needs to change

Contact your congresswoman/man. Talking about it here raises awareness but contacting someone in government might be a bit better. This needs to change

I took time this weekend to pull together stats at several popular US Consulates for IR1, CR1, K1 (and in one case IR5) Visas.  The data is revealing:
 
Philippines (Manila) [K1 Visas Struggle, IR1 Visas Recovering]
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764181-philippines-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/
 
China (Guangzhou) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Way Up]
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764273-china-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/
 
United Kingdom (London) [K1 Visas Slow to Ramp Up, IR1 Visas Recovering]
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764220-united-kingdom-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/   Canada (Montreal) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Way Up] https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764252-canada-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-down-ir1-visas-way-up/   India (Mumbia) [K1 Visas Slow to Ramp Up, IR1 Visas Recovering] https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764184-india-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/   Vietnam (Ho Chi Min) [IR5 Visas Doing Well in April, Finally] https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764190-vietnam-us-family-visa-approvals-by-month-ir5-visas-way-up-k1-and-ir1-recovering/
 
Mexico (Ciudad Juarez) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Slowly Up]
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764274-mexico-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-down-cr1-visas-slowly-up/
 
Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas up]
https://www.visajourney.com/times/dominican-republic-us-family-and-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month/
 

Just saw that person just joined the forum on Wednesday. I am not attacking them but wow that's a big first post on a forum with lots of family immigrants. 

i'd recommend filing the k3. Mine was sent to california service center and it has been 15 months without any updates. Keep in mind i have talked to a couple of tier 2 and multiple csr's at USCIS. Dont listen to anyone here about the k3 being obsolete. Just file it so you dont regret it later in case your file takes a long time at csc. 

i'd recommend filing the k3. Mine was sent to california service center and it has been 15 months without any updates. Keep in mind i have talked to a couple of tier 2 and multiple csr's at USCIS. Dont listen to anyone here about the k3 being obsolete. Just file it so you dont regret it later in case your file takes a long time at csc. 

You can expect 12-18 months minimum from submission of the I-130 to having a visa in hand.   It could take a couple years (especially from Pakistan).  Yes, having a spouse in the US can certainly affect the chances of obtaining a tourist visa.......but you are free to apply if you have $160.00 to possibly lose.  Your chances of obtaining a tourist visa from Pakistan are not good, imo.  Good luck.

Then that's gotta a mistake. Ideally they'll just send it back to CSC, but if they don't and you get summoned to an interview don't miss it (attend alone because spouse is not in US), getting denied because you let them run with their mistake is not the best idea.

The others on this forum are correct regarding the K-3 visa. While legally it still exists, de facto it does not. It is a shame because the K-3 on the face of it looks like a perfect visa for many couples in that the foreign national can come and go from the US as they please, adjust status and not worry about having advance parole as K-3 is multiple entry.
 
Sadly such a visa is too good to be true. A K-3 is obtained by filing form I-129F in conjunction with form I-130. The original situation would be is that I-129F would be approved much faster than the I-130 so the beneficiary could apply for the K-3. However, what ends up happening now is that USCIS put the I-129F on hold while adjudicating the I-130. After I-130 is approved, the I-129F is 'administratively closed' and the route to the K-3 is closed and the CR/IR Immigrant Visa is the only path from there. This is why generally you never see K-3s being issued...though very, very, very rarely they do get issued, my only guess in those circumstances is that USCIS forget their policy about holding the I-129F! We're literally talking about 2-4 K-3s being issued a year, it's basically a non-starter.
 
Many VJ members still file Form I-129F with their I-130s in the hope that it speeds things up. In individual cases it has known to, and there's no harm in filing it as it's at no cost with I-130. The vast majority of I-130/I-129F cases appear to be processed at a 'normal' speed though.
 
In your circumstances, yes, the US is not kind to visa required foriegn nationals coming and going as they please...especially if they have residential ties in the US. My suggestion is, if that's something you want in the future, you'd be best having the beneficiary come and live in the US until they become a USC. A tourist visa can be used, but if your spouse is from a country where B-2 visas are already hard to come by having an American spouse in combination would have a very, very, high burden of proof of non-immigrant intent.

I've been waiting for my i130 to be processed for over a year now. I filed a 129f 6 months ago. I wish I had filed right after my 130. I wish I didn't listen to these pessimists. 
Processing time at CSC for 130 is 20-26 months
 
Processing time for CSC for 129f is 6-7.5 months. 
 
I asked a tier 2 officer about k3 and they said they still process it. If USCIS decides to close my k3 application and proceed with my 130 that's their decision. I want something to move along because waiting for over 2 years just to only send it to NVC is absolutely absurd. 

I didn’t tell anyone not to post on threads. I asked them to keep their negative assumptions to themselves. Idc what other people have experienced..that has nothing to do with me. Also, they stopped doing k3 because they were processing the I-130 petitions quicker, so there was no need. However, things are changing. I think people need to stop listening to the advice of pessimistic people. It doesn’t hurt to file k3, just like it doesn’t hurt to request expedited processing.

Is that illegal? Do you understand that? I paid for my petition, im in line just like everyone else.  Everyone else has the option to file for k3 do you understand that? 
 
If you can't answer my original question please stop wasting my time by replying with dumb questions and statements. 

Pakistan has an extremely low percentage of people who are in a polygamous marriage (1% - 0.5%). Even among these the man has to ask the wife and it is ILLEGAL to marry someone else if an approval isnt' granted. From this low percentage are even a lower percent where they are applying to the US for spousal sponsorship, it's probably nil. 
You talk about no centralized criminal record keeping. They do have a criminal record management system, you need to look this information up yourself. What does cousin marriage have anything to do with the eligibility of a spouse? If the spouse plans on living in a state with disallowed cousin marriages then they should say so in the application. 26 states in US allow cousin marriages. Most of these spousal applications aren't even cousin marriages.
 
It makes no sense to put most people in administrative processing. They are playing with people's lives. I have a problem with you posting this all over the forums, trying normalize this -like it's the right thing for immigration to do. You should be advocating for family reunification, not just for pakistani but for every country. It's a basic right that every human should have. 

Send your congressman/woman a letter. Something needs to be done, 3 years is too long.  Don't listen to some of these people who are negative and are okay with people being apart for long periods of time. If you check their timeline, most of them havent even come to close to waiting as long as you have.

It's the million Dollar question. Nobody knows.
I believe that in some of the cases people are being transferred to another (slower) service center without knowing and therefore without updating their timelines - which is one possible explanation for the variance.
For example, I thought we were with Nebraska until November 2020 even though we had been transferred to Potomac in May 2020 (just a few days after we filed the petition). We only found out because we asked.
 
In my opinion, generally everything takes longer than you hope for/think. There are a few exceptions but so far that is my experience.

I concur. The process is so broken that it is almost more attractive to just do things illegally rather than legally. I am not advocating criminal activity, just saying that those of us who follow the laws seem to get left out in the wind.

Send your congressman/woman a letter. Something needs to be done, 3 years is too long.  Don't listen to some of these people who are negative and are okay with people being apart for long periods of time. If you check their timeline, most of them havent even come to close to waiting as long as you have.

Send your congressman/woman a letter. Something needs to be done, 3 years is too long.  Don't listen to some of these people who are negative and are okay with people being apart for long periods of time. If you check their timeline, most of them havent even come to close to waiting as long as you have.