tartpief

Hello. I am looking to get married on k1 visa but my mom’s dementia seems to be worsening and my mom misses me a lot. I would like to go back to home country before she forgets me. I honestly don’t think I can afford to wait for the advance parole’s normal processing. Is this a good enough expedite reason re: urgent humanitarian reason? What evidence would I need to submit with expedite request? I do have a doctor’s diagnosis of my mom’s Alzheimers from a year ago. But it doesn’t show the recent progress of her condition. Do I have to get an additional doctor’s note of recent worsening of her condition too? What if I can’t get one?

Hello I wanted to ask if I can schedule the interview once it is "ready" on CEAC? I ask this because I won't be able to get packet 3. I am the K1 beneficiary and my address on I-129F used to be in city A. But I now live in city B, 2.5 hr drive from where I live now. I assume that packet 3 will go to my old address on I-129F (city A). Is this correct? Also, the I-129F form doesn't even have my or USC's email address. I hired a lawyer to do my I-129F. The I-129F form does not have any email address *except for* the lawyer's email. He's rather slow in responding emails so I am worried that the interview slots will fill up until I wait for him to send Packet 3 to me. In sum, the I-129F has 1) my, USC's and lawyer's physical mailing addresses and 2) only the lawyer's email address. In short, 1) Can I schedule interview once my case is "ready" status on CEAC? 2) who will get packet 3 in my case and in what form (physical mail/email) ? Thank you.

Dec 8th 2022 -NOA2 Jan 5th 2023 - NVC received my case Feb 8th 2023 - NVC case # generated Mar 1st 2023 -Notified case was sent to embassy I think my case stayed at NVC a bit longer than other people with similar NOA2 because Seoul Embassy is a bit busy.

It turns out that my case was created on 02/08/2023 but somehow didn’t get included in the Feb 14/15 shipments 😥 The case is still at NVC now according to CEAC tracking NOA2 12/08/2022 NVC received 01/05/2023 or before NVC case number assigned 02/08/2023 At NVC as of 02/16/2023

NVC hasn’t replied to me to my email I sent on 02/08/2023 (7 days ago)…. Starting to get worried 😟 My NOA is 12/08/2022 and my NVC received date is 01/05/2023. As of 02/07/2023, NVC said my case was waiting data entry. Anybody in the same boat?? Am I the only one with the similar received date who’s in limbo (not even NVC number created)? Why is NVC not replying this long?

I have emailed them on Wednesday afternoon and they haven't replied yet. Hoping they are processing mine too now.

I am on the same boat. My case was approved on Dec 8th 2022 and was received at some point before Jan 5th 2023. I emailed NVC research and they replied on Feb 7th 2023 that our case is waiting data entry into their systems. Hopefully I will get something soon.

Good news that NVC is speeding up! I am excited as someone who got a December 8th NOA2. Our case may be able to leave NVC by the end of Feb at this rate! FYI 12/08/2022: NOA2 Sometime btw 12/16/2022-01/05/2023: NVC received our file On 01/30/2023, NVC research replied our case is still waiting for data entry (No NVC case number yet)

There's nothing meritorious about K1 for the foreseeable future... unless they revert back to the old ways / processing time. (*used to* have faster processing time than CR1) I am surprised that people are still filing K1. As a September 2021 I-129F filer, I bitterly regret not opting for a CR1 route. 😂

They didn’t catch up much last week.. 😞 It used to be around 60 days between NVC received date and case creation date. Now it’s 60 days + 1 week.

FYI 12/08/2022: NOA2 12/14/2022: Sent an inquiry on NVC website to update our email addresses. 12/16/2022: askNVC replied that they hadn't received our file yet. 01/04/2023: Sent an inquiry through NVC research to ask about our case's status. 01/05/2023: NVCResearch replied that our file had been recently received and was waiting data entry to their system. No communications in addition to this. I expect a progress between late Feb to early March. I have been getting immunization records for the beneficiary, packet 3 documents (according to the most recent one from Seoul Embassy), and I-134 asset and income documents for both petitioner and beneficiary. I am the beneficiary, a South Korean national and my Embassy is Seoul Embassy.

Your NOA2 (I-129F approval by USCIS) was on Nov 1, 2022? NOA2 and "NVC received" dates are two different things. There is usually one month gap between NOA2 and NVC received dates. (I don't understand why it takes so long for them to mail a single file) So your file was probably received early December. But you are probably in that limbo where your file was received but the NVC case number hasn't been created yet. In my understanding, it currently is taking about two additional months for them to create the case number and hand over the file to the Embassy. So I would wait until early Feb to start worrying about being behind the NVC website timeframe. Of course you can ask NVC research email whether they have received your file correctly in the meantime.

Hello. I am a K1 visa filer and I was wondering when I will be able to travel outside United States after I file AOS and AP together. They say it varies by local field office. Some offices slow, others fast. Does the USCIS main office assign you the field office when you file or can I choose where to file? My USC fiance lives in Arlington, Virginia and USCIS website says the office for my zip code is Washington office in Fairfax, VA. Is this going to be my office or can I still choose? I am willing to travel to Nolfolk, VA or Baltimore for shorter processing time.

Processing time increase is inevitable unless they process a lot more cases than now (e.g. 200+ cases a day). Sure they made their promise to reduce backlog back in March but for past 6 months the backlog only increased. Sure there can be a turning point in the future (e.g. new tech) but I wouldn't plan things based on hopes. From current standpoint, newly applying for K1 doesn't seem to make much sense for most people. CR1 is the better option unless you have special circumstances.

I am a September 2021 filer so quite close. But the backlog is growing. The speed of growth has decreased. But it is still growing. I see USCIS amping up their effort, but it has not been enough to reduce the backlog. The processing rate has been around 145-150 cases per day recently. It is better than a few months ago. But still, this just is not enough. Yes. It may improve in the future but we equally don’t know if the processing rate is gonna take another hit. K1’s only advantage was that it had shorter processing time. But that is gone. Their priority seems now in CR1. I was misinformed by my lawyer that a legal marriage is not enough to do CR1 and we have to prove we lived together as a married couple (My USC fiancé can’t relocate to my country because of job). So we chose K1 and we found our mistake too late to jump ship. I would wait a few more weeks to see if the processing rate goes up or not. Maybe new fiscal year starting Oct 22 may bring some improvements. If it stays 140-150 cases per day level, I would consider other means. e.g., CR1 if I were you. But there are other factors to consider too.

Thanks always Optimist19! Hmm.. Tools outage still affecting the system?

I think the same! I am a late September filer and I think adjudication will come sometime in mid December for late Sep filers.

I was trying to say that there are 1150+ June filers, 2500+ July filers, and 3400+ August filers awaiting adjudication. There are 31 business days left until Oct 31st. They need to be hitting more than 200 cases a day to finish-ish August cases by end of October and keep 14 month processing time. The processing rate is not there yet.

I think this is happening at the expense of neglected June filers. They are working on July instead of finishing June. By doing so, they are artificially trying to create an illusion of meeting 14 month goal. To really bring the estimated time down, they should be working on more cases than now. They should be hitting 200-ish cases per day to truly bring it down. But they are currently not there yet.

I don't have any inside info. I just have past data. My projection is based on daily processing rate from VJ forum. USCIS used to process 450-500 cases per week in May 2022 but since mid-August they have been processing more than 650 cases per week. They processed more than 760 cases within 4 business days last week. I am betting on Scenario #2 because 1) processing rate has been improving for the last few weeks, 2) summer holiday season is over, 3) all h1b visas (higher priority visas because USCIS wants to avoid lawsuits) have been processed for 2022 and we have until April 2023 for the new h1b applications to come in 4) it's been almost 6 months since USCIS announced their plan for decreasing backlogs and I think the new hires should be at least 80% as good as older employees by now (It's not rocket science to process these cases) and 5) the new budget for the new FY is about to kick in from Oct 2022, which I think will help the technical side of it. (e.g., software improvement) I am not entirely positive because I have had a fair share of hoping and then getting disappointed by USCIS for the delightful 12 months of waiting. They may take another hit for a ridiculous reason and the systemic problem still remains that they are not getting held accountable for the delay so no real motivation for them to work hard. But, while I don't think USCIS will keep their 6-month promise, I think they will make their last wriggles and kicks on their way to the unfulfillment to the goal for the reasons I wrote above.

26 months I think presupposes the processing rate around the time the YouTube video was published. That was when USCIS processed around 110-120 cases of I-129Fs a day. The processing rate has improved to average 130-150 a day around now and last week they processed around 190 a day per business day. I don't know if they can keep up with 170-200 a day processing rate, but if they do, the backlog will not grow. And current processing time is around 14-15 months. 1) If they keep the 130-150 rate, I think the backlog will slowly increase. But better than 26 months. I think max at 19-20 months ish for people who file now. 2) If they improve the rate to 200 cases a day sometime Sep to Oct 2022, I DO think they will finally steady the backlog and finally start decreasing processing times around Nov to Dec 2022. (15 month peak) 3) If they start processing 250-300 cases a day, USCIS will be able to keep the ambitious 6 month promise until FY 2023. I doubt Scenario #3 will happen. But I do think Scenario #2 can happen. But I would go for CR1 instead. I heard that Japan will start opening up sometime this fall to winter. I read from here that people can travel to Japan even now using the fiance status but you will have to have filed an I-129F in this case (which you can withdraw later I think). I do think they will have a turning point later this year and Aug-Sep 2021 filers will have it the worst. Our NOA1 was on 9/27/2021. I expect NOA2 around Dec 2022-Feb 2023 if things don't change. (15-17 months)

Please invite me!

The USCIS website seems to be working fine and it does allow me to check case statuses. But the Case Tracker app still can't retrieve the case statuses. Maybe they blocked the app-based bulk downloads to hide how many (few) cases they process per day? Just being a conspiracy theorist..

Oh boy. At least they are being more honest... 🙄

Hi I am a Korean citizen and I am waiting with my U.S. citizen fiance for my K-1 to be approved. I filed for I-129F in September 2021 and it seems it will take 14 months + 3 months-ish to finally get the visa, which makes it about March 2023 ish to finally be able to arrive at the U.S. I am a researcher (ecologist) and I would like to do some pilot research in the area I am going to eventually move to (DMV area) while also being closer to my fiance. So I have been talking with a professor at a university in the area about joining her lab and she said yes. We are thinking of 3 months-ish of stay to attend her lab meetings and join her fieldwork to eventually develop a research proposal for myself. From what I know, I believe I can use visa waiver, which officially allows "independent research", specifically Visa Waiver for Business (VWB). But VWB feels pretty limiting: allows only a limited range of activities and the university will be unable to formally give me a formal appointment (unpaid visiting scholar) if I take the visa waiver route. So the university recommends coming on a J-1 visa, whose acquirability I am not sure of with my pending K-1. My questions are: 1) Is it worth trying for a J-1? I know it is probably going to get rejected and I don't mind getting rejected and losing the application fee. But I was hoping that I may have a slightly higher chance to get the J-1 because I acquired a Ph.D. from a U.S. university in a related field and I am currently doing the same type of work professionally as the proposed J-1 activities. I also would have strong ties to my home country (I am taking an official break from my institution for the research-abroad reasons.) 2) If J-1 gets rejected, will the J-1 rejection hurt my pending K-1 and future AOS? 3) If J-1 is not feasible at all, is it okay to apply for Visa Waiver for business (VWB) when I have a pending K-1, instead of the regular Visa Waiver (for personal)? I *really* am going to do the proposed independent research. I also already have an ESTA valid until Nov 2023. 4) When I am at POE for VWB, will I have to tell CO that I am here for research AND to see my fiance? Or can I just say I am here for research and only mention fiance when asked? Thank you.