VisaQuestions2754

Thanks @payxibka, @Greenbaum. It's good to have the source confirmed. Guess I'll just have to submit the form and see what happens...

I posted a week and a half ago with some questions about the expected processing time for a K-1 visa application and got some really informative answers.

One thing that I am wondering about is how a couple of the people who responded to my questions knew that all I-129Fs are initially processed at the California Service Center, with some then being referred to the Vermont Service Center (but only in the event that the petitioner had a criminal record). I can't find any confirmation of this online, and the lawyers that I've spoken to all seemed confused on the issue: one even directed me to the processing times at Vermont listed on the official US government website and suggested that I assume the process will take this long!

Is there a reliable source online that confirms that all I-129Fs are initially processed in California?

On 12/31/2019 at 2:37 PM, Ed&Midori1031 said:

Each case is different.  Some cases are sooner, some much later.

I appreciate that there will, of course, be a significant variance in the processing time between different applications. The point I'm taking from the contributions on these thread is that once it's read correctly, the data being provided by VJ users is a pretty good match for the data being provided with USCIS regarding the processing time for K-1 visas.

As a side point, it would be interesting to drill down into the data in order to calculate things like the variance. Is the data available in a helpful format, like an Excel file or a CSV? It all seems to be public and I could go through the various visa journeys that people have shared, but that would take a long time!

Thank you so much, @usmsbow and @geowrian, that's precisely the information that I was looking for!

Based on what you've said, it seems that:

• All I-129Fs are sent to CSC; some are referred to VSC but that's not relevant to my case
• The VSC data can therefore be safely ignored for my purposes, and I can assume (because users will have entered "TSC" in error) that all other data prefers to I-129Fs being processed at CSC
• An average application that was transferred to a visa recipient's local consulate today would have spent 139 days at CSC or in transit before reaching NVC; it would then spent a further 25 days in transit or at the NVC before reaching the consulate, for a total of 164 days of pre-consulate time: a little under 5.5 months
• The consulate that is relevant to me, the UK embassy, has a processing time of 39 days (I *think* -- I still can't find the per-consulate processing times that I am sure are somewhere on VJ). That would mean on average an applicant who would be receiving their invitation to make an interview appointment at the UK embassy today would have initially had their I-129F submitted 164 +39 days previously, so 203 days = between 6.5 and 7 months

I can't find data on how quickly somebody can then attend their visa interview. Is it a matter of weeks? Or months? And assuming the interview is successful, am I correct in thinking that the K-1 visa would be in hand when leaving the embassy, so technically the applicant could go straight to the nearest airport and get on the first plane to the US?

17 minutes ago, AGF said:

“ It’s more complicated than that “ is right .. there are things like RFE’s ( request for further evidence ), and other service centers are busier than the others, etc. Then there’s the matter of medical exams.. 

Thanks! I've done a bit more research and I think that my service center would be Vermont, because the I-129F would be filed from New York.

According to the VJ data that would 155 days of processing, in addition to the 122 days of additional waiting time (I actually think this would be a little lower, as it allows for 69 days of consulate processing time and the relevant consulate in my case, the UK, seems a bit quicker than that -- I'm sure I saw consulate-by-consulate processing times somewhere on this site, but I now can't find that page!

But having double-checked the official processing times for VSC at https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/, it seems that it only lists data for the K-3 and the K-4, and not for the K-1. Do I have to look somewhere else for official data for the VSC K-1 processing times?

Side point, but according to https://www.uscis.gov/forms/service-center-forms-processing the I-129F is actually processed at the Potomac Service Center in addition to the three listed in VJ's data. Is there a reason why the PSC is excluded from that data?

Hi!

New to the community -- very glad to have found it, it looks extremely useful. Thanks to everyone for contributing their stories, I may be applying for a visa soon so it's really helped me get a grounding in how this stuff works.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the processing time data at https://www.visajourney.com/times/k1-fiance-visa-historical/. My understanding of that data is as follows:

• I-129F filed to NOA1 (receipt of documents): 9 days at CSC, 7 days at VSC, 8 days at TSC
• NOA1 to NOA2 (application approved): 104 days at CSC, 148 days at VSC, 101 days at TSC
• NOA2 to NVC receive: 28 days
• NVC processing time: 20 days
• NVC transferring application to consulate: 5 days
• Consulate processing time: 69 days

This gives an overall processing time (from the day the I-129F is filed through to interview being available at the consulate) of 235 days via CSC, 277 via VSC, and 231 days via TSC.

This gives me the impression that if I were to file I-129F today, on average I could expect to receive a final interview at a local consulate between 231 and 277 days (so around 7.5 to 9 months) later, is that correct?

I'm struggling a little with matching this data with other sources I've found online. It's close to what I've found at citizenpath.com and immi-usa.com (two of the first hits when I Google "K-1 visa processing time"), but the official processing time from https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ just for the I-129F is 5-7 months at CSC , and 14-18 months (!) at VSC -- and that same site doesn't seem to give a number for K-1 processing times at TSC.

Is my interpretation of the processing time listed on this site correct? Why does it seem to differ so much from the official government data? And is there an easy answer to the question " on average when can I expect to receive a K-1 visa if I apply today", or is it more complicated than that?