sviva

Final update in this thread, to make the story complete for anyone looking in the future: passport with visa received today via UPS!

Hello, My wife will soon be entering the US for the first time as an LPR with her CR1 visa. She wants to start working as soon as possible. She already has a social security number from a previous stay in the US, but the social security card says "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION" and has her maiden name on it instead of her married name. During the DS-260, she selected the option to have an updated SSN card mailed. A few questions: 1. As a hypothetical question, would there be any issue with her working using her existing SSN before: (a) going to the Social Security Office to apply for an updated card; or (b) receiving the updated card after having applied for it. It seems to me that the question hinges on whether the CR1 visa with the admission stamp (i.e., temporary green card) counts as "DHS authorization", but there may be more laws/regulations I am not aware of. 2. I have seen here and elsewhere that requesting the updated SSN card during the immigration process can be slow and hit-or-miss. Even though she made that request, is there anything stopping us from going to the Social Security Office on the first business day after her arrival and updating her immigration status + name? It seems like upon entry (i.e., with the stamped visa) we should have everything we need, even though the physical green card won't have arrived yet. It also seems like this would be the fastest and most reliable way to get the updated SSN card ASAP. Would appreciate any insights.

After approximately 20 hours of the status "Administrative Processing", the status was just updated to "Issued"! 🎆

I just checked the CEAC Visa Status Check page and the status has changed from “Ready” (for interview) to “Administrative Processing”. So something is happening. Our case is very straightforward and the officer told us “we have everything we need, no further action is required by you” at the end of the interview. So I am hoping this is a normal step in the process of issuing the visa and doesn’t mean a weeks/months long delay. edit: I also checked in CEAC itself. There are no new messages and nothing appears to have changed in any of the documents tabs.

Ok, so then it seems like the consensus is that this is most likely not 221g “administrative processing” but rather standard processing and administrative steps involved in an approval. Now it’s just a waiting game until at least Tuesday before anything else will happen. I will keep you all updated in case anyone is interested and post a consulate review once the situation is resolved. I appreciate the input from everyone.

Ok makes sense. Is this the right place to be checking for updates? https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx Also, I’m assuming since Monday is a Federal Holiday we shouldn’t really expect an update until Tuesday at the earliest, right?

Hello, We just had the interview for my wife’s IR1/CR1 visa in Frankfurt. I am the US citizen petitioner and I attended as well. Everything seemed fine, we had all requested documents, and the interview questions went smoothly. At the end, the officer said that they have everything they need but that “the system” needs some more time to process and that this usually takes about one day. They said this is a completely normal check. They kept the passport and did not give us any papers. They said that we will get an email when the passport is mailed out. Everywhere we are reading online says that they tell you congrats at the end if the visa is approved so we are a bit concerned with this result. Can anyone give any insight as to if they had a similar experience or what to expect here? Regards.

Thank you for your response. I didn’t realize it was free for this case, so that’s very helpful info. Thanks for your response. Do you know why K3 isn’t issued anymore? Is it because nobody applies for it or because USCIS doesn’t approve it fast enough in most cases? A few followup questions: If I do file I-129F but the I-130 gets approved beforehand, what happens to the I-129F? Is it canceled somehow automatically? Are I-129Fs filed for a K3 processed in the same way as those filed for a K1? In other words, are K1 statistics on VJ also applicable to the K3 process?

I-130 NOA1: 2024-09-25 Hello, Recently, the estimate on the USCIS website for our I-130 application jumped from 5 months to 89 months. This seems to be corroborated by the graphs on VisaJourney which show a pretty significant increase in processing times over the last few months. We were hoping to receive the CR1 visa by the first few months of 2026, but given this increase, that is seeming less likely. Checking the USCIS website, they are saying 80% of I-129F cases are completed in 8 months. Given these circumstances, would it be prudent to file an I-129F for K-3 ASAP? Would this have a reasonable likelihood of getting us closer to the goal of entry into the US in early 2026? Or would it just be a waste of money? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you in advance, Sam