ninjarocket

I guess what this means is that when the I-129F and I-130 forms are processed together, it is the receipt date of the I-130 that determines when it gets processed, irrespective of when the I-129F was filed, provided that they are actually processed together. At least I hope this is the case.

This might explain also why the timelines of the I-130 processing for both k-3 and CR visas are precisely the same.

I agree that since the k3 visa now takes approx 9 months to process, it has very little advantage over the CR. The only real advantage is that you can be together in the US about 3 months sooner according to the comparative timelines on this website, since it avoids the long period of stagnation shuffling papers back and forth by snail mail at the NVC. k3 visas are also useful for those who need to return often to their home country. In my case, my spouse still has several semesters of college to finish before graduation.

If it is immediate employment that the foreign spouse seeks, then the k3 visa has no advantage whatsoever. The 3 months earlier arrival in the US will be spent waiting for employment authorization approval and then the applicant will be further penalized by the approx $1000 AOS fee.

Just for comparison, I mailed my I-129F to CSC on September 6. It arrived, according to USPS, on September 7.

Owing to the receipting delays, it took more than 2 months for me to receive the NOA1 from CSC (although some people got theirs within a couple of weeks during the same period?). Nevertheless, on the NOA1 it gives the receipt date as September 7, as it should be, but the NOA1 is dated November 2.

When I check online they say they received it on November 1, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of consistency in the dates.

In your case, it could be a simple clerical error, but then at least it amounts to less than 1 month (a small fraction of the total time it takes to process the application).

I guess what is important is when they process the I-129F and I-130 together, whether they go by the receipt date of the I-130 or the I-129F? I'm hoping that they go by the former, as I sent my I-130 in July (2 months before the I-129F for complicated reasons). If they go by the former, then your receipt error for the I-129F will be of little or no consequence. I wonder if anyone on this site can clarify which receipt date they go by on dual I-129F/I-130 processings?????

You might want to go online to see when your files were last "touched." Mine were last touched on November 20, which appears to indicate that the I-130 and I-129F packages have already been bundled together.

If you go to the Philippines to get married, the process is complicated enough that by the time you have your authenticated marriage certificate in your hands you would likely have qualified for direct consular filing for a CR visa. Direct consular filing is much faster. I guess this means you are retired if you can stay in the Philippines for such a long time? You might need to apply for a visa yourself, however, to stay in the Philippines for so long.

sounds like going back to the UK would actually be the best idea: afterall you have friends there and none in the US according to what you say: certainly doesn't sound like your wife is going to help you out with the AOS interview, so you would be forced to become an illegal immigrant

the only way around this would be for you to get your employer to file for a H1-B visa: if they're not familiar with the paperwork you would have to do everything yourself or hire a lawyer: if you plan to do that, it would be best to forget the AOS interview: depends on your line of employment whether you would be eligible for a H1-B visa

Have to be careful there, according to US law, there's a mandatory 30 year jail sentence for someone in the US who goes to meet someone under the age of 18 in a foreign country. You might want to check her official birth certificate. I'm not sure if the same is true for communicating with someone on-line who is under the age of 18? There have been lots of cases of child sex predators in the US having been arrested for communicating online with someone under the age of 18, even if they never actually met.

I mailed my I-129F to CSC and it took more than two months for me to receive my CSC...... the help line will tell you that you have to wait 3 months before complaining, but you might want to check the USCIS webpage notice about the receipting delay

Risen from the ashes: finally received the NOA1 for my I-129F after more than 2 months!!!

it's true, K1 cannot be converted to K3, but you might want to consult an expert (perhaps the USCIS help line or a lawyer) before abandoning the K1: afterall, the application was filed in complete honesty and you havn't done anything wrong

something to bear in mind: marriages in the Philippines are quite complicated: lots of paperwork! (I know from experience) certificate of no impediment required from the embassy in Manila, then pre-marriage conselling, then waiting 10 days for the marriage license, and then once you are married, you have to wait some weeks for it to be logged into a computer somewhere in Manila before you get the authenticated marriage certificate that USCIS will accept

I have sent in my 129F form in august 07 and received my recept I-797c shortly there after. We have now decided to marry in the Philippines shortly and file a 130. I keep seeing that once the 130 is received, I should file a 129 F in order to obtain a K3 and K4 for both my wife and two minor children. Can I not use the old 129 F to speed up the process or is that to logical.

I wonder what happens if they actually lose it..... will they accept USPS proof of delivery and use that as the receipt date or the 3-4 months-later receipt date when it is resubmitted after having been lost :ranting:

I'd say this is there for those people who were waiting one to two months for their NOA1, not those that were waiting about a week.

according to USPS, they received it on Sept '07 (next day delivery: what was I thinking?)

that's assuming it hasn't slid off someones desk into the trash (trash cams often being stored under desks)

buy the return ticket and toss it in the trash once you arrive in the US (or keep it for emergency safe keeping)

I'm currently looking at flying tickets to the US via ebookers (as probably most Europeans use). It's a good service and all and I've used it each time I've visited the US previously. Anyway, this time I'm only looking for a one way ticket. The problem is that most two way tickets are cheaper (from Finland to Boston the lowest I've found is 493e) than the cheapest one way ticket (from Finland to Boston again, I can't find anything below 1100e). How is this possible? Why can't I find cheap one way tickets? Is it possible to purchase a two way ticket and cancel the second part of it (without having to pay extra)? And most importantly, how does this affect my visa. Does the TSA or DHS or whatnot think that I'm leaving the US and thus abandoning my visa or equal if I have a two way ticket they day I enter the US? This really confuses me . It's not that I couldn't afford the more expensive one way ticket, it's just that I don't want to pay at least 1100e when I've previously succeeded in visiting the US two ways for less than 1000e .

hope you don't have to wait as long as me, but now I see I'm not the only one in this boat: I wonder if it has something to do with the way the envelopes were labelled?

since the processing time clock doesn't start clicking until after the NOA1, it means the original advantage over a IR visa of filing for a k3 visa is slipping away for some of us

Is there anyone else out there who mailed a 129F, k-3 visa petitition on or around Sept 6, 2007 who hasn't heard a thing (i.e. no NOA1)

Has your check been cashed?

No checks are required for k3 applications since the Fees went up, although I sent one just in case, and it hasn't been cashed.

On September 6, I mailed a I-129F to the CSC. Still haven't received a receipt notice, although I see that many other applications sent to CSC after mine received notices within a couple of weeks. Tried calling the help # where I got through to a live person who told me not to bother calling unless it has been more that 90 days since filing. Seems like an awfully long time of extra delay, since the clock doesn't start ticking until after the NOA1 has been issued. Does any one have any good ideas on how to proceed? How long should I wait before resubmitting with evidence of prior postal delivery?

Here is some further information and questions regarding my case:

1) Married March 24, 2007 (Philippines)

2) Submitted I-130 July 6, 2007 (sent to TSC, but receipt notice from CSC): note: I was a PRC when this was filed

3) Naturalized August 31, 2007 (N-400 submitted March 7, 2007): getting married during N-400 application process raised lots of red flags at Naturalization interview and caused my certificate to be issued with a mistake (marital status) which I had to get corrected:{

4) Submitted I-129F September 6, 2007 (sent to CSC): still nothing

5) Realised had to call help # to get I-130 upgraded to IR on October 17 (I had mistakenly assumed that sending in the Naturalization certificate with the I-129F should have been sufficient for the I-130 upgrade to be obvious).

6) Mailed letter with copy of Naturalization on September 6, 2007 (just in case)

7) I-130 received a touch October 18, 2007 (probably as a result of the upgrade reuest phone call)

I'm assuming that mailing the I-129F to the CSC was the right thing to do, as it states in the I-129F instructions that one should mail it to the Service Center where the I-130 is pending??? ....but maybe this another piece of USCIS misinformation and I should have mailed it to TSC where I originally sumbitted the I-130?