MalloryCat

the evidence my fiance brought with the I-134 was dated for march (employment letter and bank letters) and pay stubs went 3 months back starting from march and his interview wasn't until June. I don't believe it was an issue at all. they didn't even ask for the letters or the pay stubs. only the tax return transcripts

thats right. why they choose to use the word "refused" will never make sense to me lol but refused basically just means that your case needs additional administrative processing, which would be them waiting to receive the documents your fiance sent. any further instructions should/would be sent directly to the intending immigrant, your fiance.

using the case number provided by the NVC or the embassy, it should be listed on the letter your fiance received from the embassy, it would read as GUZ or GZO followed by a string of numbers. You can use that to track it. it should say "Ready" on the tracker. Just meaning the embassy has received it. If you do check, make sure you switch the drop down to immigrant visa. https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV since every embassy is different, their processes aren't always the same. More than likely if the embassy requested documents be sent to them, they will either email or send your fiance another letter telling him how to schedule his interview as well as his medical exam. so he probably cant make any appointments until then

yea i only did a quick google search and went based off of Googles AI overview response, which obviously isn't always right 😂

typically they extend petitions during the actual interview, but most embassies are pretty ok with extending them since it is a very short timeline. calling embassies can kind of be hit or miss, a lot of them don't answer their phones it looks like the Guangzhou embassy utilizes the visa navigator to help people who have questions. it is just a microsoft form that you click through, you don't submit anything through it but it will tell you who to contact U.S. Consulate Guangzhou Immigrant Visa Unit Navigator https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/visas-immigrant-visas-contact-us/

ahh ok, you're wording in the first post was a little confusing lol what embassy is he going through? every embassy is different as far as timelines go, for example my fiance was able to schedule his interview at the Germany embassy very quickly. the information he received from the embassy should have told him how to schedule the interview, how and when to schedule the medical, and what documents he needed to bring to his interview. he should contact the embassy if he does not have these instructions anymore

no, submitting the DS-160 does not count towards extending the petition only an officer at the embassy can do that

the approval from USCIS is valid for 4 months. an officer at the embassy can extend a I-129f petition 4 months at a time for up to one year. but it is expected that you will schedule the interview and everything else within or close to that time frame. the beneficiary (the foreign fiance) would have gotten notice from the NVC stating that they received the petition and were forwarding it to the embassy that was listed on the I-129f the foreign fiance would have then received notice from the embassy a few weeks later regarding next steps for scheduling the interview. are you the foreign fiance? you say you submitted your ds-160 but you also submitted the I-129f? the US citizen is the one that files the I-129f and the foreign fiance is the one that submits the DS-160. at this point you need to contact the NVC to see if they have forwarded your petition to the embassy you can do that here https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html or you need to contact the embassy to see if they have your petition and what steps you need to take next to continue pursuing it.

oh absolutely, i get it. I told my fiance to bring stuff that he ending up not needing, just in case lol "better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it"

yes the in person meeting is a requirement for the spousal visa. USCIS needs to see the marriage has been "consummated", literally just meaning being together in person either during the wedding ceremony or by visiting after getting married. from my understanding a waiver for the spousal visa is even more rare and hard to obtain. and you're reasoning still would be unlikely to be approved

i believe the summary of our relationship we submitted with our I-129f was about 2 pages? the way I did it was a paragraph about how we met, a paragraph for each visit detailing what we did during each visit, and then a final paragraph basically saying the same thing as the letter of intent, that we are both wanting to get married. but that was only submitted with the original I-129f, they didn't ask for it during the interview at all, as they would have had a copy of it already. it varies with embassies obviously but for proof of relationship I think they ask for pictures more often than not and then ask questions about the pictures. But during my fiances interview they didn't ask to see any pictures.

from my understanding getting the extreme hardship waiver for the I-129f is extremely difficult, almost impossible unless you meet very specific requirements. almost always related to physical health (disability that prevents travel, extreme phobias of flying, tight spaces, home bound, etc.) I believe the chances of you getting a waiver for this reason are extremely unlikely . Cause you technically could hire someone to watch your kids while you travel, or have other family watch them, or you have the ability to take them with you. I understand this would be hard on you and your kids to travel for that long, but it is not impossible. Key word being impossible. your other option would be to go the spousal visa route. this does still require an in person meeting, but only after getting married, which can be done online through Utah Online Marriage. the spousal visa has far more advantages than the K-1 visa. the foreign spouse will be a LPR upon arrival to the US and can work immediately. which isn't the case with the K-1 visa where they have apply for adjustment of status and work authorization. which is more costly and can take 6-12 months to receive.

i believe they cash the check before processing anything you will more than likely get the NOA1 soon the wait is agonizing but don't worry, you'll get it soon 😄

an RFE can be triggered by forgetting ANY required document that are many different ways an RFE can be triggered, it would be impossible to list them all

K-1 visas technically don't have a priority date. i believe we used the NOA2 approval date case ID should be the NVC case number

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/designated-civil-surgeons/vaccination-requirements here are the vaccine requirements she will need to have had at least one of each age appropriate series

you can start filling out the forms and gathering the documents but nothing can be submitted until after she is in the US and you have gotten married. the only thing you can apply for before getting married, but after she has arrived in the US, is the social security number. it is highly recommended that you do this before getting married see here but adjustment of status (green card) and the work authorization have to come after you've gotten married

it sounds like you could easily DIY the I-129f petition yourself. as someone who used boundless (and regrets it) I would 100% say DO NOT go with them. they are not experts and not worth the money. and even though my experience with them wasn't awful, I've had to block 2 of their phones numbers because of the insane amount of calls I have received from them. I'm talking like.. 3 calls from the same person in the span of 15 minutes. each time leaving a voicemail saying the same exact thing. I didn't know this site existed at the time when we filed our I-129f, if I had I would have just filed everything myself and not gone with a company. if you do plan to do it yourself, this site will be incredibly helpful, heres a good place to start https://www.visajourney.com/k1-fiance-visa-overview/

theres no way to know for sure but USCIS jumps around a lot when processing petitions whatever site your using for estimated wait times based on other petitions isn't always going to be 100% accurate. but if your petition was filed in June (like your timeline says) then May petitions would come before yours anyway. i know the waiting is frustrating, but this whole process is a ton of waiting and unfortunately just doesn't always go quick

have you checked the status of your case through USCIS to see if they have sent it to the NVC? based on what others have said they have been much slower sending cases to the NVC. you can either check through your USCIS account or here with your case number - https://egov.uscis.gov/ if it has been sent to the NVC, you can check their processing times here - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html if it is passed the processing time for when your case would have been received (if it has already been sent) you can submit a public inquiry to the NVC to get your case number here - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html?wcmmode=disabled if you can get your case number that way, you can track its status for the embassy here (when searching, the visa application type needs to be under "immigrant visa" not "nonimmigrant", even though the K-1 visa is technically nonimmigrant) - https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV if it has just been sent to the embassy, the tracker will show as "in transit" and will eventually update to "ready". "ready" just means that the embassy has received it and they will be contacting your fiance with the next steps (no exact time frame on that as it is embassy specific) you can read information about the consulate in Lima here - https://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Peru&cty=Lima it also lists what documents your fiance should bring to her interview. any communication now will go directly to the foreign fiance. Once it does leave the NVC and the embassy has received it, the embassy will send what is typically called packet 3 to your fiance. this packet will contain the information for the next steps of the process. including how to schedule the interview, how and when to schedule the medical exam, and what documents your fiance will need to bring to the interview. for your side though, you will need to fill out and gather the evidence for the I-134 Affidavit of Support and send this to your fiance for her to bring to the interview. the I-134 evidence needs to show current income, so tax return transcripts, employment authorization letter, pay stubs.

she cannot receive or apply for a SSN until she is in the US on her K-1 Visa here is a guide for applying for a SSN while on a K-1 Visa

That is correct

if your case is still at the NVC, you can submit an inquiry to them about transferring your case, you can do that here. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html Calling the NVC usually doesn't get you anywhere if your case has already left the NVC and is at the embassy, you need to contact the embassy you want to transfer it to and they will initiate the transfer from the original embassy.

any communication now goes to the beneficiary (foreign fiance) the US citizen doesn't receive any mail from the NVC, only the foreign fiance will. But in my fiances case, he didn't get a letter from the NVC until well after we already knew it had been at the embassy. As the person above said, it would be better to just submit an inquiry to the NVC to get your case number, that is what we did. The DS-160 is valid for 1 year after submitting it. so it technically can be submitted at any point, but I also agree reading through the regional forms to get more clear answers on the process for your country's embassy

you should check your case status on USCIS before contacting the NVC again you can do that here https://egov.uscis.gov/ sending your I-797 won't achieve anything