M&JBogota2020

Hi All - First, thank you to everyone on this site for your support and encouragement. Yesterday, after more than 10 months of waiting, we received our NOA2. 
 

A few questions:

1. How long are visas taking with NVC right now? 
2. What tips, if any, do you have for this step in the process? 
3. Once in the US, can my fiancé travel around the US with me? I’d like to introduce him to my parents before we get married. 
 

Thanks! 

3 hours ago, BPCW said:

Don´t worry. You´ll get it. Our NOA1 was on 11/02/2020 and got our NOA2 on 09/17/2021 - 10,5 months after.

Could you please clarify what you mean by your NOA1 date? Was this the date that your case was physically received by USCIS or the date that they printed as your notification date on the NOA1? 
 

My case was physically received by USCIS on 12/29/2020; the date that USCIS issued my NOA was in March 2021. The NOA has both the receipt date from March as well as the received date of 12/29. I’m trying to determine how close my process is to your timeline of “10.5 months”. Thank you!

1 hour ago, BPCW said:

Don´t worry. You´ll get it. Our NOA1 was on 11/02/2020 and got our NOA2 on 09/17/2021 - 10,5 months after. Try to be occupied and all those calls, e-mails won´t do anything. Trust me. I´ve tried everything (2 inquiries - only one response that I have to wait longer, contacted EMA numerous times, called them x times) and have never gotten any answer. They hung up on me, ended chats. I felt like a last piece of by the way they treated me. It depends what person has your case and how fast are they processing.

Thank your for this. You’ve given me some hope.
 

I went down the enervating path of contacting USCIS, contacting my senator, and contacting the ombudsman. USCIS responded with a boiler plate answer that they cannot provide an estimate and that they’ll process my case when they can.

Nothing from anyone else yet. I had to submit various rounds of authorizations to initiate the claims. I honestly don’t know that any of these entities have any legal authority to pressure USCIS. Based on USCIS’s response, it seems they just process cases as they want to, when they want to, with little to no oversight of their process - despite the CFR’s stipulating that cases will be processed in order received (how does it take my case 10.5 months and other people get theirs through in less than 6 months? Seriously?). 
 

My case is apparently being adjudicated at the California service center. I submitted my case to the lockbox in Texas. Where did you submit? Where was it adjudicated? 

1 minute ago, M&JBogota2020 said:

. Our package arrived in Texas to the FedE

An interesting point to note is that per federal regulations, USCIS is obligated to go off of the date packages were received to process cases. Doesn’t matter how long they take to send an NOA. Rather, the date the package arrived to the lock box is the legal date from which they need to work. Obviously this is NOT the case. Hence the delays and totally illogical timelines. 

6 minutes ago, Keithn85 said:

According to your timeline, your NOA-1 was 28 January, correct?  And I don't mean when you received the notice but the USCIS receipt date.  If so, then you should be seeing something within the next few weeks.  I say this because with the delays in NOA-1 issuance, it seems to fall in line (even though I cannot say it is correct 100% of the time) and I saw a few late January approvals the last week or so.  My NOA-1 was "received" on the 15th of January but the issue date due to delays was the middle of March.  Don't lose hope on it and you might hear something soon regardless of putting in that request.  

Thanks. I appreciate the encouragement. The whole process has been a disaster - I’m not sure what date they have for the NOA1, honestly. They sent a text in March acknowledging receipt. We never received the paper receipt. Then we did a change of address and they appeared to change the receipt date to April, based on the case status online. That’s the date I’m currently going off of (note to others - DON’T CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS UNLESS YOU HAVE TO). We submitted an inquiry about the change of address delay and the never-received original paper copy of the NOA1. Nothing other than an acknowledgement of the change of address. Again, it’s been a mess. Our package arrived in Texas to the FedEx lock box, which was a huge disaster given the storms. No one went for like a month to get lock box packages, as USCIS published in a statement on their website. I wish I would have waited until March to submit the package via USPS. We’d probably have a visa appointment by now. 

Thx. Sos that 

8 minutes ago, HRQX said:

You could submit a case inquiry

Thanks. Did that. Finally the system let me. For months it wouldn’t. Not much confidence that I’ll get a useful reply or that it’ll move things along. But fingers crossed regardless. 

We submitted our paperwork on 12/29/2020. We received our NOA 1 in April. Nothing since. I’m starting to think that those of us who submitted paperwork during the COVID winter and then the Texas storms are just screwed. I’ve seen various people who submitted their paperwork months after us already get their NOA2 and beyond. 
 

Anyone else in our situation? Anyone able to shed some light on this? Wondering what to do. Very frustrated with no movement on this and feeling helpless. 
 

Thanks. 

Hi All!

Can I marry my fiancé abroad AFTER we get married in the United States on a K-1 visa and AFTER filing form I-485? There are lots of comments on here about NOT marrying abroad BEFORE marrying in the United States because this would invalidate any pending K-1 visa petition/process. But if we get married in the United States first and then travel abroad after receiving a travel document via the I-131 petition that was filed at the same time as form I-485, can we get married abroad while waiting for adjustment of status in the United States? In other words, we'd be married in the United States first and while waiting for permanent residency status would get married abroad. Any comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thank you! 

Hi All, 

Was hoping to get some input on whether our plans surrounding the I-131 process are reasonable. After my fiancé and I get married in the US, we were hoping to file our I-485 immediately, together with form I-131. Ideally, my then spouse and I could return to Colombia and continue working there while waiting for the adjustment to status to be processed.  But I'm not sure what the logistical implications of this plan would be (e.g., interviews, biometrics, processing times, etc.). Any comments/suggestions are welcome. Thank you! 

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

May not be enough as airline receipts is not proof of travel and photos don't prove face to face within the past two years

Ugh, right. Good point. I also submitted copies of university degree in process certifications showing that we were both at the same university during the same period (within last two years but before said in-person meeting). All this along with a detailed signed statement explaining the circumstances of our meeting in graduate school followed by another in-person meeting. I am hoping USCIS is reasonable enough to accept this as evidence as I didn’t include the stamped pages of my passport. 

Thanks! Already submitted so no way to include. I hope they don’t do a RFE on this. I submitted airline ticket receipts, hotel receipts, and photos for evidence of in-meeting person. 

I would really love it if someone could answer this basic question: is a copy of the beneficiary’s birth certificate and/or passport required as supporting documentation for form I-129F???

I’m finding conflicting information on various sites. But I am positive that neither the form nor the form instructions ask for this item as supporting evidence. Yet in the RFE thread/master list, it looks like USCIS has asked for this...? 
 

Could my petition be approved/sent to NVC without providing this supporting documentation? At what point would this documentation be required

(e.g. at the interview etc.)????

Many thanks for any help! 

1 hour ago, Gail and Derrick said:

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Nice! Thank you! Fingers crossed 

I filed my petition with the form for electronic notification of receipt at the lockbox in Lewisville TX in Dec 2020. My package was received on Dec 29. Still no receipt. Check still not cashed. Like others on this thread, I’ve called to no avail (need a receipt number to check status) and sent an email to USCIS. Still nothing. And now the winter storm in TX (as if we needed more crises to further collapse our already collapsed systems). I’ll post here with updates as I have them so others can deduce likely timeframes. 
 

Question: does anyone know when embassies will begin processing visas? And if there’s any centralized plan to start doing so via online platforms (video interviews, etc)? Like others, I’m very concerned about the backlog downstream after my case moves through USCIS. The US embassy in Bogotá has very little information on their website and they stopped processing visas back in MARCH!