rakkaus

I'm responding to my own, very old, thread, because I posted the wrong answer that I was given by the Helsinki consulate. It is not enough to email the consulate, even if they tell you otherwise!

Months after the demise of the engagement, I received a letter from USCIS basically saying, "Hey, what's up? Haven't heard from you for awhile." (!) Nobody there knew what was up with my file, and it was apparently impossible to locate it, but everyone with whom I spoke agreed that I needed to send in a letter formally cancelling the application. I believe it went to VSC, but it's been a little while now -- just occurred to me that I should update VJ in case anyone else stumbles upon this thread.

This bugs me, not just because one figures that an American consulate should know about immigration to America, but also because I don't know when the USCIS two-year clock starts. Does it start from NOA1? NOA2? The time when a petition is cancelled? The time when a petition is formally ended? Eek!

I'm only sorry that a most-likely innocent woman will have to suffer through all the lies and deceits.

Don't forget that she lied too, at least according to the OP's statements here.

... and the Doctors diagnosis, limited in detail because of Hippa laws.

Just one minor correction here, as a physician: HIPAA only limits what we're allowed to disclose without the patient's permission. We're still allowed to give out everything we know to whomever you designate, as long as you give us the go-ahead.

And while we're rolling our collective eyes about government: HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. As the name suggests, it was originally meant to ensure you wouldn't lose insurance coverage when switching jobs. But thanks to Congress, some well-meaning privacy concerns turned into a massive paperwork increase. (If pro is the opposite of con, what's the opposite of progress? =)

I know this sounds like a "I have a friend who" situation but in this case it is true . I have a friend lol .. who has entered the country on a K1 to marry his girlfriend .. who is now having second thouhgts .. Is it possible for him to get a marriage licence with someone else even if he has one with his girlfriend ?

Duuuuuuuuuude.

You mean he's having second thoughts, or the girlfriend is? Either way, even assuming he met this other girl on the plane ride over here, they'd have known each other for a max of 90 days before the wedding -- not nearly enough, especially if he's given to rash decisions like this.

I don't know the chapter-and-verse from the USCIS manual on this, but I'd have to believe that the other posters are right. Otherwise you get sad scenarios like the one girl who emailed me years ago to tell me "I'm coming to US to see a friend, want to get together?" who subsequently cancelled that plan after her "friend" proposed to her and married her while she was on that trip. Sounds like she had one trip here and wanted to marry anyone who'd be willing to keep her here =(

While this doesn't help with foreign ATMs, in trying a few different cards overseas I learned that Capital One doesn't charge a transaction fee for credit transactions. Could be handy...

Also, this is really random, but it did work for me in Germany: I was talking to a phonecard vendor who had a local bank account, and since he could exchange euros for dollars at bank rate without a service charge, he gave me that same rate (minus a few bucks for his trouble) and absolutely blew the doors off the rate that Travelex was offering. Not sure I'd try that again with someone I don't know, but if your overseas fiancee has a bank account with the same privilege, that might be cheaper than exchanging money at the airport. Price it and see!

I really want it to be a fair process for everyone, and me and mine have no problems at all waiting the months to be together, all seems fair enough really. But having said that, I have had dark evil thoughts like, ooh maybe we'll get through faster because my fiance's anglo, or because we've been together 7 years, stuff like that.

Anglo meaning white, or Anglo meaning Scottish? There are plenty of 'white' applicants who go through slowly (Russia comes to mind), but I'm sure Scotland is pretty low-fraud and therefore faster. BTW being 1/8 Scottish, I think it's awesome that Scotland is listed as a separate country here. But off my soapbox...

The seven years' worth of relationship surely doesn't hurt, and I think that's reasonable. How many fraudulent applicants would be able to keep up appearances for seven years?

Did you receive an NOA1 and receipt number earlier than November? It's difficult to help without knowing what stage you are at in the process. Could you provide more details and perhaps fill out your timeline. The timeline helps other VJ users waiting.

Yes, we recieved a receipt number in September, about ten days after we sent in the petitioner packet. I then saw on the USCIS check status website that we had been approved in late october. I beleive that it when USCIS attempted to send us information I guess the notice of approval, and that is what my school post office sent back to USCIS. I have asked them to resend it since I am back in the country but since November 16 when it was sent back I haven't hear anything...

Still a bit confused here. You don't need to respond to the NOA2. Did your fiance receive Packet 3?

I'm hoping this bad dream is just a blessing in disguise!

That's how I took it.

Better to find these things out now than a week after the wedding...

Hi there. It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing for a little advice. Just weeks after our I-29F application was approved (my fiance is British), we split up. I won't go into too many unnecessary details, but it was his decision, and it's been very painful for us both. At any rate, the last communication I received from USCIS was that our application was approved, and that they would be forwarding it to the embassy in London, who would next communicate with my fiance. Well, my ex-fiance is proving to be very difficult and uncommunicative at this point. I can't get it out of him whether he has in fact heard from the embassy yet, and truthfully it's such a painful subject that I can't bring myself to keep bothering him about it. However, I suspect this could be very bad for my records with the government -- to have an open-ended application case like this! I know that most of you on these forums will have had no experience with this, but any sound advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

I would first call NVC at 603.334.0700-1-5 with your case number and beneficiary name. Ask them if the case is still there. If so, ask them how to "withdraw" the petition.

If they have already forwarded it to London, call the Dept. of State visa info line at 202.663.1225, then use menu selections 1-0-0. They will know the exact status and can advise you on withrawing the petition. If London has it, you could also email them for withrawal instructions.

You definitely need to withdraw the petition, if you are certain the relationship is over.

Just to elaborate on that, I had to go through this myself less than a week ago. Emailing the consulate directly is the quickest option, and the most direct if you are concerned about fraud. I heard back from the consulate (Helsinki) in less than 24 hours and was told no further action on my part was necessary. On the other hand, I just wanted finality; I knew fraud was not going to be an issue since moving to America was one of the main sticking points.

As for your fear of getting in trouble with the government, I don't think you need to worry about that as long as your actions up to this point have been in good faith. Long-distance relationships are far from a sure thing, and USCIS has seen many of them fail. A relationship that failed just around the 2-year mark for switching to the 10-year green card would be much more troublesome than one that failed prior to the foreign fiance coming here.

I know the processing times are very random most of the time BUT.....

Looking over the forum on visajourney it seems like those who send in a LOT of materials and have a more "normal story" have better processing times. I saw one couple that had a 2 month time period before the interview, but they entered a lot of materials including engagment party pictures. Does anyone else see a correlation between number of pic and materials and process times? It seems like maybe if the couples' story is fairly normal, they were together a fair amount of time, and they sent in a lot of pictures and materials they do better off. Does this seem true to anyone else? It seems like those who do worse don't sent much information.

I know everyone at USCIS is heartless but maybe not completely; I can see where the heart might come in to play if they see a really "cute" couple that made a very good effort to send a lot a materials, including personal stuff etc..

Thanks...

Rampant political incorrectness to follow. The factors that determine how long your petition takes are the following:

1. Whether it appears to be a valid engagement, versus an engagement entered into in bad faith by one or both partners. Factors include whether you've ever met, whether the non-USC fiance(e) is from a high-fraud consulate, whether there is a significant age difference between the two of you, whether the two of you don't share a common language, etc. You and I have both seen marriages between USC's where we think, "There's no way she loves him for who he is, she just wants his money." Replace money with citizenship, and that's basically the reason for the process.

2. Whether you appear to have done your homework. If you have to get multiple RFE's for things you should have included, your petition will take longer. This is very dependent on the adjudicator. VJ has members whose response to "how did you meet?" was "We met on the internet." and who did not get an RFE. We also have members whose applications should have been marked "Use proper lifting technique," who nonetheless got an RFE. Follow the rules carefully. I do suspect that adjudicators, like employees anywhere else, are inclined to favor customers who make a conscious effort to keep things straightforward.

3. Whether one or both of you triggers Administrative Review. Reasons can be anything from a name that matches some list somewhere, to more sinister problems. Certain consulates have much higher rates of AR than others, corresponding roughly to which ones have much higher rates of fraud than others.

4. Whether vast hordes of people applied at the same time as you did. It appears that petitions received after the massive July rush were processed, in many cases, before petitions received during it. Unless USCIS plans to raise rates again in the near future, this is probably a one-time phenomenon for now.

Basically, all the government cares about are two things: first, that you and your fiance(e) want to marry each other for reasons other than citizenship, and second, that the citizen-to-be will not be on welfare. Depending on your circumstances, this may be very easy to prove, or very hard to prove. That's one of the main reasons for the discrepancy. But to be honest, in my time on VJ I've found that most "instant approvals" are either Cuban petitions or mis-filled timelines, and most long-delayed approvals either had serious problems or bizarre consulate-related issues (like poor Omoba, VJ's own version of "The Terminal"). In between, the above factors pretty much explain everything else.

Good luck!

Hi everyone,

Things went from bad to worse, and the engagement is permanently over.

What do I do to cancel the I-129F after it's been sent to the Helsinki consulate? The last communication I got was dated 12/31 and said it would be sent from NVC to Helsinki consulate within a week. There's no concern for visa fraud here, but at the same time, I am positive we will not be getting married after the things she has said and done, and I want finality. Do I call the consulate, or email them, or what? I assume that contacting VSC or USCIS would not help at this point since the petition was already forwarded.

Thanks everyone for helping when I was in the K-1 process. Honestly, I feel like I owe the USCIS a big hug right now, because their slowness saved me from a lifetime of misery.

I have canceled my I-129F and it wasn't easy to get your paper work back

I contacted the consulate with an email they requested a certified letter stating i was canceling and proceeded to fax it to them

A week later i received a email that it was canceled and the packet was being returned to Vermont .

I waited a month to contact them when i called they had no clue were it was 2 days later i received an email it was found it will take a month to process

I called them 3 months later and they told me to send a letter to Vermont to request the paper work I sent 4 FedEx letters and 10 phone calls later never had an response.

so i still haven't received anything it so i called my Congressman in our district and they told him for me to use form G-884 for the return ...why didn't they tell me in the beginning .... and now i was informed it going to take another 6 months to process ...i was bulls@it...for what to put my packet in a envelope and send it to me ...so i contacted my congressman again ..pretty helpful i had a couple weeks later .....good luck hope you don't go what i went threw

Very interesting. I did hear back from the Helsinki consulate this morning with the following:

Mr. xxxxxxxxxx,

Thank you for your notification - nothing else is needed. We will

return the I-129F petition back to the approving USCIS in the US.

Best regards, US consulate, Helsinki.

I assume "the approving USCIS" means VSC. In any event, I don't really care if they send it back to me. It's bad memories and I'd just destroy the papers anyway. Can I ask why you wanted yours back? -- not meaning to pry, just wondering if there's a reason that I *should* want mine back.

Hi everyone,

Things went from bad to worse, and the engagement is permanently over.

What do I do to cancel the I-129F after it's been sent to the Helsinki consulate? The last communication I got was dated 12/31 and said it would be sent from NVC to Helsinki consulate within a week. There's no concern for visa fraud here, but at the same time, I am positive we will not be getting married after the things she has said and done, and I want finality. Do I call the consulate, or email them, or what? I assume that contacting VSC or USCIS would not help at this point since the petition was already forwarded.

Thanks everyone for helping when I was in the K-1 process. Honestly, I feel like I owe the USCIS a big hug right now, because their slowness saved me from a lifetime of misery.

I would fax or email the Consulate telling them your intentions and asking for any specific instructions. Caution though, you wouldn't be the first or tenth here to change their mind after such definitive declaration. There's really no hurry until an interview date is assigned.

Done. While that's good advice in the general sense, this engagement is well and truly cooked. This isn't a rash decision; we actually called off the engagement December 22nd (the NOA2 email arrived during the final argument -- cruel irony!) and gave things a few weeks to make sure it wasn't a temporary thing.

Hi everyone,

Things went from bad to worse, and the engagement is permanently over.

What do I do to cancel the I-129F after it's been sent to the Helsinki consulate? The last communication I got was dated 12/31 and said it would be sent from NVC to Helsinki consulate within a week. There's no concern for visa fraud here, but at the same time, I am positive we will not be getting married after the things she has said and done, and I want finality. Do I call the consulate, or email them, or what? I assume that contacting VSC or USCIS would not help at this point since the petition was already forwarded.

Thanks everyone for helping when I was in the K-1 process. Honestly, I feel like I owe the USCIS a big hug right now, because their slowness saved me from a lifetime of misery.

When to panic and escalate if possible.

This has been a long and crazy wait. I know there are delays but I'm starting to panic now since its been so long since someone has touched my application. Should I be concerned now? Does anyone have any tips on calling the USCIS? I just get a wonderful message stating they are working. Should I be concerned now? Here's my info below. Any tips would be great! Thanks

Service Center : California Service Center

Consulate : Korea

I-129F Sent : 2007-07-25

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-08-08

Check in the K1 progress sub-forum for more info. Things aren't moving as slowly as they had, but you are far from the only August NOA1 to be waiting for approval. So, no need to panic

Probably not gonna happen for you. I vaguely recall seeing something where they would speed up the entire K-1 Visa process if certain circumstances were present. I'm talking about things like you have recently been told by a doctor that you have less than 4 months to live kinda circumstances. Hopefully this is not the situation for you or your girl.

I believe this accelerated processing is used in only the most dire of situations and is probably, even then, only seldomly granted.

Best of Luck to ya!

Hey,

I was just taking a look at www.uscis.gov and I found this for I-129 forms. What do they mean about this Accelerated processing? Does anyone know about this and how I can do it?

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0000ecd190aRCRD

Thanks

Yes.

This is a very rarely used way to speed up the petition, and most people who are eligible already know it. Sorry...

APPROVED!!

In light of the questions about late August/early September people getting NOA2's, I should point out that I'm pretty sure I ended up in the same box as "DI & JR" -- she and I were talking here and discovered that we sent our petitions from the same city on the same day via the same method ... so I guess it's fitting that we were also approved on the same day!

Thanks so much! This kind of thing is where VJ is SO helpful. I really appreciate it. We'll hold off on doing anything for the time being, and we'll keep the extension in mind if it comes to that.

Thanks again, pushbrk and fwaguy!

Theoretically the NOA2 is valid for 4 mos. and then you can request an extention and at the discretion of the consulate can be up to another 4 mos (but you should always maintain contact with the consulate so they don't close your file) .

Pardon my ignorance, but what all needs to be included in the 4 month period? The medical, the interview, and ... ?

What do we say if we end up requesting an extension? Is that pretty much automatic or is it going to make USCIS concerned if we request one?

Thanks again!

The foreign fiance has six months to use the visa, after issue and then 90 days to marry the petitioner once they enter the US. That will get you to summer. You can also simply delay sending back the P3 documents to delay the interview. Even then, you can simply request a later interview. No reason is needed.

I would recommend these delaying tactics instead of a potential refile and waiver process. Also, never indicate to USCIS or the Consulate that you're having second thoughts. That will hurt your evidence of a bona fide ongoing relationship and actual intent to marry.

Oh, six months after it's issued? I don't know why I thought it was 90 days. In that case, I agree; I think that with the various delays inherent in the process, this should give us plenty enough time to figure out what we're going to do. How much time does she have to get the papers back to them after NOA2, for example?

And 10-4 on what you're saying about USCIS. Makes sense not to put doubt in their mind, because if we get as far as the interview, that means things would have all been worked out.

I'm sure this has been addressed at some point in VJ history, but I can't find it.

My fiancee and I have run into some issues we need to resolve before the wedding. We filed the I-129F back at the end of August, and having seen how slowly things were going, I figured we'd have all the time in the world to try and work things out. Now that a few July approvals are trickling in, I'm starting to wonder; I think it's best to wait until next summer to marry, assuming we can find a good way to work these problems out. I realize that would likely be the case anyway, but I don't want to be making these decisions at the last minute with all paperwork already in place. I know that cancelling an I-129F and then trying to file for a waiver and re-file sounds like a major headache.

I realize there are other steps involved after VSC approves the I-129F, but we would really rather just put the whole thing on hold for a few months. Is there any way to do this? Or are we stuck deciding between "cancel and possibly refile" and "full speed ahead"?

If we do cancel and re-file, does that hurt our chances of approval? Is the waiver petition generally successful in such cases? Nothing about our file is otherwise problematic AFAIK, but this throws a real monkey wrench into things. Ugh!

Thanks in advance...

We'd love to bring in a little Citroen or something when my fiancee comes to the States. She's used to little European-market diesels that get 45mpg =) and not really interested in learning to parallel-park a Caprice!

I know the usual DOT rules, but I had thought there's some exception for bringing in a single car when immigrating to the USA? I know there used to be (I know of someone who did it, years ago), but perhaps this loophole doesn't exist anymore. Any ideas? Registered importers cost too much to be worth it for a car like this; for the extra 30 grand it would add to the price, a diesel Benz would make a lot more sense.

And yeah, I'm aware of the parts headaches. I'm a restorer and hobbyist so I'm familiar with tracking down spares and waiting forever for them to come in. Probably we'd stockpile the stuff we're most likely to use, and have the rest sent air freight. As a gearhead I totally support her interest in having a very unique ride =)

Thanks in advance!

(Inspired by a similar posting on Craigslist)

Selected headlines, just unearthed from the VJ archives...

I have a Complaint. Lines Too Long at Ellis Island.

Question: Has Anyone a Wife from Britain?

Paperwork is Abominable: Took almost Five Minutes to Complete.

New Technology Revolutionizes Meeting Women from the Old Country: "Telegram" Allows Instant Communication.

Do not marry Women from Ireland. They only Desire to Escape their Impoverished Homeland.

Our Visa is Described as "K1." May I go Overseas to marry my Sweetheart and then Return to America?

I have a Tattoo. Will my Petition be Denied?

Outraged at Visa Expense. Government requested Seventy-Five Cents! This is Tyranny.

Concern: Will "Barbary Pirates" cause Refusal of Near Eastern Aliens?

Met a Woman while on Vacation in "Hawaii." May she Immigrate to America? How I wish it were a State, to avoid this Senseless Hassle.

Agent at Ellis Island seemed Uninterested and Only gave my Wife Citizenship. Have I Cause for a Complaint?

"Give me your Tired, your Poor, your Huddled Masses": Government makes no Mention of Romance. Please sign my Petition.

I am New Here. Has anyone here Immigrated from a foreign Country?

Is Cursive Writing Permissible for my Application, or must I hire a Typist?

My Betrothed Wants to Marry on French Riviera. Her Visa is "K1." Will this Present a Problem?

Poorly Compensated at Carriage Factory but have Excellent Horse. Will the Government consider my Salary Adequate?

Sent Request to Government via Carrier Pigeon over two Weeks ago. No Response. Should I have Concern?

Because of this, we have fairly limited options. We REALLY don't want to be apart so I am hesitant to do the K3/CR1 option, though will if it becomes necessary.

If you really don't want to be apart, I think your best bet is to get married now and do K3/CR1. DCF is just another way of doing that, and with the Adam Walsh law, DCF isn't what it used to be. If you file K3 now (and you can't until you're actually married), then with your month and a half before you leave and his 7 months in Australia, you should at least be most of the way there if not have a visa in your hand.

If we were to file for the K1 NOW (as in, ASAP), how long does he have to stay here for? Until NOA1 or NOA2? If he received NOA1, can he leave for Australia with me in October as planned? Or does he have to stay for NOA2?

Once he leaves (at either the NOA1 point or the NOA2 point), is he able to stay in Australia with me to wait out the remaining options, as planned?

USCIS doesn't care where he is at any stage, as long as he's a citizen. However, if he gets an RFE and it doesn't reach him, your application won't proceed and will eventually be cancelled.

My advice would be to marry now and K3/CR1. What's the point in waiting, if you've been together 4 years and know you want to be married? If I had the freedom to go anywhere on Earth to be with my fiancee until the file were approved, I'd do that today...

Dude. Take a deep breath.

Now count your blessings: You already have your NOA2 in hand -- read the "waiting for an NOA2" threads to see how long they're taking now, with agents apparently handling other petitions first since NOA2's can technically take 6 months. You're sponsoring someone from Finland (woo hoo ) which is one of the lowest-fraud consulates on Earth, so you can reasonably hope that you won't be stuck on Administrative Review for years on end.

Do I feel wistful when I hear old-timers talk about going through Customs and saying "Anything to declare? Just *her*" and basically getting a green card on the spot? Of course! But it is what it is, and I figure I should just be thankful if I can eventually bring my fiancee here.

Good luck with the process, and best wishes for you and your Finnish love.

I just wanted to share the good news that our K1 visa has finally been approved!!!!

Good luck to all that are still waiting and be patient, your time will come, I PROMISE!

Congrats!!!