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All good, thanks! Still curious about the expedite validity, if anyone knows. Never did get any solid feedback on that.

USCIS has a tracker app? Does it work for NVC cases though?

Compared to other K1 timelines for Johannesburg, which is all I have for metrics at the NVC stage. People have spent 2-4 weeks at NVC after getting case numbers. And they certainly did not get new NOA2s from USCIS.

NO idea if this applies to our situation, but someone planted the bug in my brain so I have to ask: Our case is seated at NVC now for 15 weeks and during that time, we were issued two NOA2s, the dates updated in the second issuance two months later. Someone suggested to me that this might be grounds for expediting the case, if USCIS made some kind of error. I have no idea how that would be applied to a case at the NVC, but I am curious if this theory has legs. We are looking for any reason to get our case picked to go to the consulate. Been over this so many times on these forums that I feel like a broken record, but watching other K1s head to our embassy after shorter times at NVC, has set me on wanting to explore every possible option to move this along. FYI, our first NOA2 expires next week, and the later NOA2 is through mid-September, so I don't even know if I need to contact the embassy to extend. It's just a weird situation but if there's a legitimate expedite request in there, we want to submit it.

Four cases left at NVC from our day: 001, 003, 004, and 008 001 is in transit rest of us, At NVC fourteen weeks.

Typically you have to wait around four weeks, then request a case number from NVC. You may find more up to date reporting from the MAY NVC TO EMBASSY thread.

The site is vast and I am unsure what you are looking for specifically. I assume you are looking for the NVC: that would be in the Visa section. You asked what the Department of State was, so that's what I delivered.

The Department of State is a US governmental agency which handles a number of different operations, including visas and consular affairs. That part of the agency is referred to as the NVC. You can learn more at https://travel.state.gov/

I can answer in terms of general K1s, though as you noted, embassies can vary, so perhaps someone who went though Manila will weigh in. DS-160s once completed are valid for a year. It's good to file them close to your appointment, so everything is current. Some embassies require you to wait to file until they receive your case, but I'm not positive Manila is one. For police clearances, get them going now. Sometimes they can take weeks, even months to receive, again depending on the country. I would recommend going through the checklist of items required by your embassy on the Department of State website and work on collecting all necessary documentation for the interview.

Oh my gosh, isn't THAT the truth? Fiance and I feel like although our marriage will be full of challenges for years to come, this is like trial by fire. I love him more than I ever did, and especially in such a difficult time. He is 100% my rock.

Here we go again... My fiance and I have both sent NVC "inquiries" this week, mine on Wednesday and his yesterday. Mine received the standard reply of "we'll send it when we send it", and I don't expect we'll hear anything on his until next week. And I hope they addend it with that blessed K1-FTP. Fingers crossed. We are at fourteen weeks now, At NVC.

https://www.uscis.gov/i-129f Please read the checklist of required initial evidence Missing affidavits would not cause an RFE. When submitting the I-129F, there is no financial affidavit. You will fill out the I-134 and provide to your fiancee when they attend the embassy interview.

Seconded, it's questions like this that are vital to giving the best advice, and a friend of the USC is not going to have the answers. She really needs to be here. No judgements.

Long story short, my fiancé and I have our approved K1 petition sitting at NVC with a case number issued. It has been almost fourteen weeks (over three months) since it arrived there. Our consulate in South Africa/Johannesburg has been requesting cases and receiving shipments every fortnight, many of these cases being sent only having sat at NVC for 3-4 weeks. Speaking with the approved couples (also K1 visas), they do not meet any expedite criteria, and are simply being selected before us. My question is, in pursuing communication with the NVC through their inquiry form, is there a recommended way to convey to them that if there is no issue with our case, we would like ours sent in the batch next week? I am thinking about how to construct this so I can send it out tomorrow, and would love other members' feedback on their attempts to move their case from NVC and what (potentially) worked for them. Currently, I am thinking case number + principal applicant name + date of NOA2 issuance (5 March 2024) at the top. The rest of the text would be something like: "We were informed that our consulate in Johannesburg is requesting shipments from NVC. We request that our case be added to the next shipment, and a K1-FTP letter issued to the petitioner, <insert my full name and email>. The principal applicant, <insert his full name> has all supporting documents and is ready to schedule a medical appointment. He is also ready to travel to the appointment in Johannesburg at the earliest convenience of the consulate. Thank you for your assistance in advancing our case." Thoughts? We appreciate any constructive feedback. The inquiry is being submitted, unless someone can provide proof that it might hurt our chances of our case being sent for some reason.

Super useful, thank you so much!

Hey all: Can someone clarify the best way someone immigrating can deal with existing prescriptions? My fiance has a blood pressure med he takes, and is going to see his GP this week in advance of his visa medical. He'd like to know what kind of refills to ask for, if any. I will be adding him to my medical plan after we get married of course, but will he be okay bringing a couple months' supply overseas to tie him over until we can get his new doc/prescription set up stateside?

Thanks for your feedback.

Every month the VJ mods start a new thread in this forum for cases moving from NOA2 to embassy: the OP always sheds light on what information we have on this stage. Included is a calendar highlighting the shipping dates from NVC to the embassies. The 2024 calendar they've shared shows that cases are selected and shipped every other Tuesday and Wednesday, based on if the embassy provides space in their workload. The last shipping dates were on June 4th and 5th, so we just advance a fortnight to find the next ones: June 18th/19th. And so it goes.

For the heck of it, I tried emailing the embassy again with a new tactic. It provided interesting results and gave a bit of insight into the embassy's perspective: Hello: We are messaging again to humbly request you add our case to your next delivery request from NVC. Our case number is JHNxxxxxxxxxx. We have been informed that other K1 cases have been delivered to your embassy that were only sent to NVC four weeks ago. Our case has been at the NVC for twelve weeks. We have also submitted a request to the NVC to supply our case with the next batch, if there are no issues. We are asking for you to assist in communicating this to the NVC as well. Case again is JHNxxxxxxxxxxxx Principal applicant: J------------ Arrived at NVC on 5 March, 2024 If there are further issues with making this request from the NVC, please inform us and I will follow up with my congressperson for assistance, so we may investigate causes for the delay. --- Within just a few hours, I got this reply (you know it's a good sign when they've taken the time to discern if they're talking to a sir OR a madam, and pick the right one to use lol): Dear Madam, Thank you for your email. Please note that US Embassies/Missions which processes immigration visas provides NVC/KCC only with capacity for months not specific slots for visa applicants. KCC/NVC then have their determination on whom is scheduled when. This may be based on date of documentarily readiness and combination of visa numbers for those applicants require priority dates. Even though our estimated waiting time is 3-6 months, we do not have oversight of how many cases are documentarily ready and what number you are in the queue at NVC/KCC, so we cannot assure you when the actual interview date will be. Please continue to liaise with NVC with regards to appointment dates. Sincerely, Johannesburg Immigrant Visa Unit ---- So this response tells me a few things, let's break it down: 1. Capacity is the focus from the embassy, and NVC does the legwork on meeting those numbers. 2. The embassy seemingly knows NVC procedure and prioritization, even if they don't have control over it 3. The embassy also knows what their estimated wait time is, and I presume this is related to either K1s specifically OR for all visas on average. At any rate, it's a different estimate than what the Department of State claims for Joberg. Just took the right framing to get that out of them ("twelve weeks? psh, that's just inside the average") 4. Achieving priority with the NVC is the only way to "jump the queue", so to speak. This means I plan to focus squarely on NVC inquiries. Communication with the embassy isn't going to move the case at all.

No, others have continued to received theirs before me. Joberg is requesting newer K1s than mine. Not sure why. My fiance and I have both submitted inquiries to the NVC asking for the issuance of our K1-FTP. Got a cookie cutter response as per usual but we'll probably send one the Friday before next shipment (6/21, with cases selected on Tuesday 6/25) in the hopes that it jogs their memory. Sending inquiries to the embassy itself has proven just as fruitless. They direct us right back to NVC. So we're in a constant volley of pointed fingers, while our case continues to sit in limbo for no perceivable reason. We're at twelve weeks now.

You are not the only one. I am also in a chat group that tracks cases going to the same embassy. So far I have seen three cases from my contacts, advance to Johannesburg before me. One of them is in this thread, saying they had to wait a while. 😂 No shade to them, but they waited very little time. For Joberg it's been said the average time is four weeks. Our case has been at NVC for twelve now. I recommend sending the NVC a request for a K1-FTP through their inquiry form. No proof it works, only that the cases that advanced before me did that in at least one instance. My fiance and I are trying the same method, in hopes they put us back in line for our embassy's requests.

Congratulations to you! We are still waiting.

Were you the USC? Can you speak to the OP's situation so they can better understand?

That's fair but it takes two seconds to type this from the get go. 100% for K1, BUT expect that increase to 125% for AOS, so aim for that Was that so hard

Has anyone asked if you are a US citizen yet? You have talked a lot about "in my country"... you do know that the sponsor welcoming the fiance into the US, has to be a citizen, right?