Nuba

Yes it is being processed in the California center. Technically it wasn't transferred there since it was just forwarded from the lock box in TX where we all sent our I29F petitions. I got confused because my check was cashed in TX so I thought the petition would be adjudicated there. Took me a while to understand that was just the gatekeeper who passed it on to CA. Other types of visa applications are processed at multiple centers and can be transferred from the queue in one service center to another. Currently all of us I129F filers are in the CA center from NOA1 until NOA2.

It really depends n your individual situation. Best to consult with a tax advisor.

Welcome to the loooong wait. Something that confused me when I first started the K! process. You sent the application to a lockbox in TX, not to the Texas Service Center. It is forwarded to the California Service Center (CSC) where nearly all I129F are processed. The only exceptions seem to be if the petitioner has a criminal background, in which case it is transferred to Vermont Service Center. The folks on VJ who post that their I129F petition is in Texas Service Center are confused about this.

One thing my lawyer pointed out when I asked about Utah marriage. Although USCIS doesn't considered you to be married for immigration purposes until you meet in person to "consummate" the virtual marriage, other state and local agencies do consider you married as of the date of the ceremony. In particular the IRS does, so don't overlook the tax filing consequences.

I can confirm this for K1 as well. I just came thru JFK International a few weeks ago and told the officer than I would be coming in the Spring with K1 fiancé. He said we can go together in US citizen line and she would be taken to secondary for a few quick questions and then we'd be on our way. I didn't correct the gender assumption.

thanks for correction, even if it is discouraging

Thanks for the data. The silver lining is that the % trend is monotone increasing: 45, 53, 59, 77 23Q1 will be very interesting:

TL; DR: YES for now but check back at the end of Oct. I have been monitoring the data from VJ members and from scans of the USCIS site for 6 months. Unfortunately the short answer to your question is yes the time is continuing to increase until USCIS processes at least as many cases daily as the average daily number in the backlog. At this time they are processing somewhat more than half that number of new cases. One encouraging note is that starting in August they seem to be closing significantly more cases older than 14 months, of which there are many. This is a precursor to taking on more new cases. The new fiscal year starts Oct 1 and if there is any hope they will meet the self imposed target of 6 months backlog by the end of FY 2023 they will have to process nearly two months of backlog in every month. If they start such a ramp up we will see the results quickly.

That's funny

Yes. Nov 8 NOA1.

Hate to be right about this but USCIS just updated the processing time for I129F to be 14 months.

Most embassies were completely closed for up to a year. There were zero interviews being done. I129-F is all paper based. Do you think there might be privacy issues with the government sending our personal information packets to employee's homes?

To view self reported data here n VJ, go to Immigration Timelines, select K1 timelines and sort by NOA1. I just scrolled thru ALL the K1 data from Aug 2021 onward and there have been very few updates and those were from Russia and Ukraine with only two exceptions. TL;DR: Not close to our turn.

Sorry to be a downer but according to data posted here on VJ , USCIS is just getting to the last week in July now. The August filers are hoping to see some movement starting in the next week. Although USCIS still shows 13.5 months, the reality is the wait is a little more than 14 months according to the data.

Hi and welcome: If you submitted an I130, that is a spousal visa/CR1. The I129F is for fiancé visa/K1. If you are already married, for tracking you should head over to : https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/134-ir-1-cr-1-spouse-visa-case-filing-and-progress-reports/

Nov 2021 filer here. I am a data dude who follows the data posted on VJ pretty closely. The USCIS current estimate for I129F is that 80% of cases are completed in13.5 months. Actual data posted by members and from USCIS site scans show they are processing cases from ~ 14 months ago. I am expecting to be processed in Jan 2023. Our best hope is that once the new federal fiscal year starts on Oct 1, some of the resources that were focused on completing visa categories that have a yearly quota will be shifted to fiancé and spousal visas. I'm not holding my breath.

I think you are correct in that the computer working day is no longer present. My case number for Nov 2021 also has 900 in that slot. One insignificant correction. The USCIS uses the federal government fiscal year which starts Oct1 and. not Jan 1.

Nov 2021 filer here; sorry to barge in. I am a data dude in my profession and have been following the I129 F data pretty closely for the last 6 months. According to the scan data and the personal timelines posted here in VJ, the distribution of the cases being currently touched for the first time is centered around mid July (14 months). Some cases from end of July (13.5 months) are being processed as are cases from beginning of July 13.5). The continued increase in RFEs as a percentage of the total means that a significant number of cases require an extra month or two on top of this for completion. USCIS might start processing Aug cases by the end of Sep but given how many July cases are still untouched, the bulk of Aug cases will likely be processed throughout Oct.

In Colombia when you enter for your interview they have a pre-screener who shows you the exact order in which they want the docs presented. Maybe someone who has had an interview in Sydney recently can comment.

August was another discouraging month for us Nov filers. According to data posted here on VJ, processing time for K1 has still not leveled off and the wait time is now at or close to 14 months. We shouldn't be surprised to see USCIS raise their posted time to 14 months in the next week or two. Unless something changes soon, we are looking at Jan for NOA2 at best. Although promises from Mar to lower the times are hollow for K1, at least the processing times for the following steps continue to decrease.

Update from fellow Nov 2021 filer and data dude: No good news to report. Contrary to my hopes after several months of increasing numbers of I129F cases processed, in July things actually regressed a bit. USCIS upped their timeframe to 13.5 months and fewer cases were processed in July than in June. The data available here on VJ show that the delay has still not leveled off. It is currently at about 13 months and three weeks and still increasing. At this rate we will be lucky to have a New Year celebration. Maybe August will bring better news and we won't see an increase to 14 months in the posted time.

November filer here. Seems they took the current 13.5 month estimate that displays on their web site and added it to "early august". For this to be accurate the processing time would have to stop increasing . Wish I could believe that.

I don't claim to be an expert but as I read this document these are instructions to the interviewing consular officer, not to the CBP or visa applicant,. Given this application was in administrative processing until it was approved in July, it seems reasonable that applicant was given nearly six months to exercise it , as would normally be the case; If I were the OP I would contact the consulate and ask them to clarify before making reservations.

From the US Department of State web site on K1 visa there is no mention of the date of the medical exam. "With your visa, you can apply for a single admission at a U.S. port-of-entry within the validity of the visa, which will be a maximum of 6 months from the date of issuance" https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/nonimmigrant-visa-for-a-fiance-k-1.html#:~:text=The I-129F petition is,before visa processing is completed.

When we filed for our K1 in Nov 2021 the USCIS estimate was 6-8 months. Now we will be lucky to receive NOA2 by Christmas. I am fortunate that I am able to visit my fiancé in Colombia and we text and do video calls multiple times a day but the discouraging thing is that the estimated time to completion has just kept sliding out month by month. I watch the data in VJ closely and I see two rays of hope. 1 - There is some indication that the time to process K1 is leveling off in this month. If this is true, at least our dates won't get pushed farther out. Also, this leveling could be followed by the curve turning down which would mean that our dates could start getting pulled in. 2 - The processing times for the steps after the fiancé(e) arrives in the US are all decreasing: Employment Authorization, Advance Parole and Adjustment of Status. This means that once we pass this interminable stage, the steps when we are together should be more reasonable.