lazulineiris

I feel so bad that I keep disappearing on everyone like this. My computer's hard-drive decided to die on me, so I had to have some friends come over and help me with my computer troubles, but now I'm back.

And what a great day it is for us, too - My fiance received Packet Three in the mail when he got home from work today! I'm not sure when the NVC Received the package, or when it left, so I did the best to guess in my timeline. I suppose I'll wait for the letter in the mail from them.

Jim, I hope you had a fantastic time with your fiance. <3

BradnKim, Spikeyflip, and Ed+Cindy, I'm positive you'll receive some sort of news soon. Keep hanging in there - it'll definitely happen for you.

Congratulations on the Packet Three, Skparker! I might just be taking you up on your offer for help - I'm not sure if my fiance will have any problems [i don't suspect he will, but you never know - this process can be so confusing], but I'll definitely keep you in mind, just in case.

I hope everyone's having a great week, and will have an even greater weekend. Crossing my fingers that some great news will come today. <3

Oh, my, you guys... I checked my email this morning and we got a notice saying that they approved our petition! I can't believe this.

I'm on the phone with my fiance right now, and he's going berserk, haha. We're so excited! We may have to push back our interview date, though, for financial reasons, but that's completely okay with both of us. We've been together so long.. what's a few more months?

This is what happened to me and a few minutes later I get an email that said APPROVED!

So keep an eye on that!

That is a sign of good things to come!

I just checked my email and that touch we got yesterday was someone approving our petition! We're approved! I am SO floored, I can't believe it!

..My fiance isn't answering my frantic IMs because he's busy with work, but.. hopefully, he'll see me freaking out and respond to me! Haha.

No approval, but I did get a touch today, so.. someone's doing something over there.

So.. I decided to check out my case status on USCIS.gov's website.. and our last update was changed to today's date. I think we may have been touched.

Hurray! Very glad to hear that you received your NOA1. I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you.

Liz - Thank you for the kind welcome. I've been to Den Haag before - one of my fiance's good friends works there, so we got to spend a little bit of time in the city when I was in the country. I really can't get over the canals and the architecture of the whole country. It's really like a step back into time and I love it.

Anyway, to answer your question: I live about 30 minutes North of San Francisco, in Northern California.

Whoa, that's really fast!

And now that the information is relevant, I'm going to share some information I learned in the January 2008 filers thread. If you want to try to 'track' the mailing process from NVC to the Embassy, go here: http://track.dhl-usa.com/TrackByRef.asp?nav=TrackByRef

At this website, type in "EXP ## JAN 2009A" Replace the #-signs with the number for a date [01, or 20, etc]. The date cannot fall on a weekend, or it won't work, but anyway.. I entered "EXP 14 JAN 2009A" and it worked.

Anyway, hit "Enter" on your keyboard, or click "track" - You don't need to touch anything in the second box. The next page will show a list of packages delivered to various embassies. There's no definitive way of knowing which one is yours, but you can probably make a pretty good guess as to which is which.

I am so surprised I didn't see this thread sooner.

Hi, there. My name is Nikki. I'm 22 years old, and I'm engaged to a wonderful Dutch man who resides in Spijkenisse. We filed in October for his K-1 visa so that, after five years [this March], we can finally be together all the time, and I could not be more excited.

Peet - It took absolutely forever for the CSC to clear my check - About 8 days. It was the most nerve-wracking part of the application process thus far, as I had actually forgot to date the check. I was so convinced that I was going to get an RFE the same month that I sent my application, haha. But everything has gone well so far, so I wouldn't stress over it too much - It'll take a few days.

Many, many congratulations to you both, Leanna & Erik and Cutedolphin! I'm so incredibly happy for both of you and have high hopes that the next steps will go smoothly.

It seems that the VSC is starting to get their bearings back and picking up speed once again. Fantastic news - Many congratulations and lots of luck for the parts soon to come.

Congratulations to the_fox, StephyD and B n G on your approval notices! I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you. <3

And yay for the touch, cutedolphin - I really hope that it's good news for you.

Hi, there. From your timeline, I see that you filed with the CSC -- There's a thread for people who filed with that service center here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=156086 Please come and join us.

To answer your question: There have been several people seeing approval notices this week from October [For more details, click here: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?cfl= ], but, honestly, this is absolutely incredible speed for the CSC. It's only been about three months since we filed and people are already seeing approval notices? It's amazing. However, I wouldn't put too much stock in definitely seeing an approval this week, or even this month, if only so you preserve your sanity. Remember, most CSC filers have had to wait between 5 and 8 months for their approval notices to arrive. :/ Not to knock anyone with that statement as things are going fast right now, but to get through this, you have to keep your head on the ground, and that involves knowing that you might take a few more months. I wish you the best of luck, and hope that you see your approval as soon as possible. <3

Just popping over from the CSC thread [No, I don't have my approval yet. ] to say that I'm thinking about all of you - Hang in there. I know VSC will pick up their pace and leave CSC in the dust once again quite soon. Until then, just keep up as much patience as you can - It will happen for you guys. <3<3

Congratulations! It's so exciting to see all these October filers become approved. <3 I'm so happy for you.

Darling, feel blessed that you got an RFE - That means someone was looking at your case, and when you turn in what is requested, you'll get an approval within the next few weeks. <3 Don't sweat it.

Edit to say: It probably won't even take "a few weeks." It could take less than a week, but I would keep the "a few weeks" in mind so you don't go crazy.

Congratulations! Oh, that is so exciting! I know you were really worried about it, as you had a very specific time frame for your wedding, so maybe that'll happen, after all! Yay. <3<3<3

Oh, wow. Another October filer approved? That's incredible. Congratulations.

Oh, hey.. it's been awhile since I've interjected with anything here.

I know it's been mentioned already, but Sunny, I absolutely adore that avatar of yours, haha. I could never be so brave as to do snow angels in my wedding dress, so kudos to you! Also, congratulations on the new addition. ;P

Alex - The pictures from your wedding look so wonderful, and that cake looks positively delicious. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through such a tough time, financially, at the moment. It seems that everyone seems to be going through a lot of money problems these days, and it's especially difficult on those who are just trying to embark on a new life with their spouse. One thing I've heard all my life is that some of the greatest times a married couple has together are when they were just starting out and were completely bogged down by financial stress. So, while it may seem tough now, you'll eventually come out of it, and through the difficult time, you two will just continue to strengthen your love, so.. keep positive thoughts. It's nice to hear that you have back-up plans, should things not go the way you'd hope, though.

Blake - I don't know all the facts about the situation, but from what I've been able to read here, all I can really say is.. that I'm truly sorry. I hope one day you'll have the answers that you seek, because you truly deserve them. You seem like a very patient and understanding guy, and it breaks my heart to hear that you've been going through such a hard time. I'll continue wishing for nothing but the best for you.

I'm glad to hear everyone else seems to be doing relatively okay. I hope all goes well with your driver's test, Pam - some of those guys can be real jerks on some sort of lame power trip. :/

Oy, guys. I totally disappeared on everyone for awhile, there. Between my fiance visiting, finals with school, the holidays, getting BACK to school and preparing all of the stuff we'll need for the next step in the process, I have been incredibly swamped. It looks like I've missed quite a bit, too, so I'll get caught up:

First, I'd like to say: Jim, I hope your visit went well!

Secondly, I'd like to welcome all of the newest additions to our fun little waiting group! I hope your journies are swift and painless. <3

Thirdly, Sajori - You are more than welcome to post here with us. We're all in this together; I just like organization, haha.

And, finally, the biggest thing of all:

Skparker -- MANY congratulations to you on your approval! That is so fantastic, and I can't believe you were approved so quickly! That's amazing. I really hope that the consolate process goes quickly! Best of luck to you. <3

GoBears -- Hurray and congratulations to you and yours! You must be so excited for this. I hope your interview goes well.

Charles/Gabrilla -- Haha, welcome AND congratulations! Looks like you won't be waiting too terribly much longer now. Congratulations.

Mae232 - Congratulations! I can't wait to hear more details about the rest of your journey! I wish you the best of luck.

I cannot believe we're seeing approvals this fast. This is an amazing trend that I hope keeps up.

Anyway - I tried to log into my USCIS account today. A month or so ago, it told me that my password would be expiring and, of course, I said "I'll fix it later." I didn't, and now it's telling me that my password is no longer valid. Ugh! And, I can't remember the number combination I used for my security question [i always provide the answer and a few numbers, because some of those questions are SO easy to anyone who knows you well enough. If you include numbers, it's safer -- Backfired on me, though, haha], so now I think I have to re-register. Ah, well. I was able to do a case search and I don't see any touches or changes. So.. looks like I'm still waiting. I can stand the wait, though. I need to save money for my engagement ceremony.

Hey, there. Welcome to the waiting-game! I'm terribly sorry to hear about the denial for your expedite request. Unfortunately, it's rare to see those get approved.

For now, why don't you come join some of your fellow CSC October filers here? http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=156086

Lovely to meet you, Charmarie. I think we can certainly all agree that they need to hurry up, lol. It really is fantastic when you are with the one and everything seems to click - It's a wonderful feeling. It's a shame his family won't be able to come to the handfasting ceremony, but hopefully there will be a lot of pictures for them to see. Or, who knows, maybe they'll be able to save up enough for a surprise visit.

I just checked my own timeline's projection date and it's changed quite a bit, but not necessarily for the better: "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between March 23, 2009 and April 17, 2009" -- A few weeks ago, we were seeing first or second week of February. Blah. Oh, well. March is still within a 5 month processing time, so I'm not going to let it bother me too much. Eventually, we'll be together all the time, so the wait is well worth it.

Besides, he'll be here on Wednesday afternoon for an entire week and I'm too excited for that to worry much about the wait. Though, by this time next week, I'm sure it'll be the only thing I can think about.

Congratulations on the NOA1. Now you're in the greatest part of the entire process: Waiting for someone to take it out of the box they stuffed it in so an officer can look it over. Hope your approval comes fast.

Hello and welcome, SnS!

To answer your question: Being touched doesn't necessarily mean anything. Often times, people will receive their approval notice without having any touches at all, while others will be touched multiple times. If you don't get one, it's nothing to stress over.

Jim, that plan doesn't sound too terribly complicated. I think it's great that the two of you are trying to make it work so everyone involved can share the happiness of the two of you finally being together. I hope everything is finished in time for your wedding. I don't know how long it takes for an interview date to be issued, but I hope you get one quickly following your approval notice.

It's definitely wise to hold off on booking anything, but as Kenneme said - It's hard to get excited about plans when you have no idea when USCIS will take your file out of the box they stuffed it in. I'm sure we've all gotten the "So what's the wedding date?/When are you going to do this?/etc" when you don't even know yourself. I don't know about any of you, but I get the strangest looks from people before I explain, "We can't do anything until the government approves us."

Kenneme, I think there's a pretty good chance that you'll be together in time for your wedding in August. Regardless, I'll keep my fingers crossed that all of this goes swiftly.

That said - We are trying to plan what we can while we wait for news. Nothing that requires booking a date, just small things like who we want in our wedding party, who we want to invite, food and other little things like that. We were going to be complicated, too, by having a second wedding ceremony in Holland for his friends and family that couldn't make it to America, but his mother thought it would be nice to have a traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony around the time of his visa interview, and we both agreed. I think that'd be a lot easier than having to wait on Advance Parole, anyway, and I'm excited to be apart of a tradition that very likely means a great deal to his parents.

Welcome, alocalguy! 193 pages? Wow. And I thought mine was huge. It always makes me happy to hear about people who tend to do that, as I totally did it as well. I know that the officers probably won't think I'm totally crazy, lol. Have lots of fun on your end of the year trip. Nothing makes me happier than sharing that new year's kiss with my sweetheart.

Anyway, I was thinking.. since we're still at the beginning of this process and probably won't be hearing any news too terribly soon, I was thinking maybe we could all get to know each other a little bit better.

I'll start -- My name is Nikki, I'm 22 and I live in Northern California. I'm engaged to a wonderful man from The Netherlands named TamTu, who is 24. We've been together 4½ years, with our anniversary in March.. which is around the time VJ estimates we'll hear something from USCIS. I'm excited.

I suppose you don't have to share things you don't want to, like names or ages or whatever, but I think it'd be good to get to know everyone, since we're all in this together for the next few months.