Philosykos

Hello Fellow VSC Filers! I just checked the USCIS website and lo and behold, we got our NOA2 on Feb 25... after less than 4 months! And, I should add that up until today, each time I tried my receipt number, I was told there was an error and my case could not be found. Keep the faith, VSC filers! They are catching up!!

Congratulations, good for you! It especially gives me hope since our case doesn't show up online either... apparently that's not a bad omen!

My wife received her green carrd in Mid January and our petition is still listed as "received and pending" the online system is a colassal waste of taxpayer funds and continued attempts to use it only encourages them to waste more of our tax dollars on it. You will not get any information of value from the USCIS website, nor from phone calls. When your case is approved you will receive an NOA2 in the mail, or an RFE in the mail if there is a problem. The estimated time you get on this site by entering your NOA1 in your timeline, is by far, the most accurate estimate you will get.

While you wait, get all your interview documents ready, download packet 3 and be ready when the time comes, it is the best thing you can do to make your case go faster.

Thanks, but I actually know all this, as I've been educating myself about the process quite extensively. I was only asking if anyone else could not track their case online at all either. Just to know that I'm not the only one in this annoying situation. The story of your wife's 'pending' petition is interesting!

m&k, sorry to hear nothing has changed for you either.

We received our NOA1 in mid-January, and still get a "Validation Error" when we try to check our case status on the USCIS website ("case can not be found", or, when trying to add our case to our portfolio, "attempting to add a case that does not exist").

I heard this was just a glitch in the online system, and that our petition should be processed normally. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop me from worrying about it (just a little bit)... I do get the impression that pretty much everybody here can track their cases online.

So I'd just like to see how many others there are who are in the same boat as we are, whether anyone's case showed up online later in the process, and whether other petitions that were never trackable online were/are being adjudicated within the normal timeframe. Thanks in advance.

We have the same problem. I called them and they told me there was a glitch in the system, and our case might or might not show up online eventually. Very annoying. Has yours shown up by now? Ours hasn't, and we filed mid-January. Even though I hear it doesn't affect processing, it makes me slightly uneasy...

You can circumvent the system by selecting the option for when you have lost your receipt number. Then you will get to a human being. As far as I see, this is the only way to get through to anyone. Very annoying. They clearly do not want people to call, even though the website tells you to call customer service if your record doesn't show up in the online system... which is pure mockery in light of the fact that there is no straight way to talk to a customer service rep if you actually do call about that issue. I think it is only fair to get someone to acknowledge the status at least once if it cannot be found online, although it is true that you are most certainly in the system and being processed. They have this glitch in the online system that lets some cases not show up. Ours is the same.

The trend has been petitions filed after December get shorter processing times. Much luck to everyone!

Good to hear, but what data is this based on?

We filed in Jan. and HOPE that all goes well enough for a Summer wedding....That would include the months of June, July, August, possibly September.

I am glad to hear that there is someone who is even more optimistic than we are. I do think that we were pretty conservative with our October wedding date, but I wanted to pick a date now, and wanted it to be as safe as possible. Good luck to you!

Are we the only ones who were bold enough to pick a date and start planning a mid-October wedding when we filed in mid-January...? Even if we do wait six months for the petition, it should still work out. Of course it could happen that it takes longer, but being from a very low-fraud country and having a totally established, legitimate relationship, I think it should be pretty safe... And if it goes even faster and I can come over more than three months ahead of the October date, we'll do a quick civil ceremony, and then the party in conjunction with the church wedding.

Sorry about your situation, it sucks not to know what's going on. Unfortunately, your mother will not be able to obtain information over the phone. The petitioner has to call, or at least be present. I know it because I tried it (I am the beneficiary), and all they could tell me was that the number I gave them (I had the case number) was valid.

Ok, I just double-checked with my mom and she said that the check was cashed in November. She was the one who made the check out. She is going to call tomorrow to ask about the case because currently for me to call the U.S. it works out at about a dollar a minute (cringe).

I'm just trying not to panic...

Thanks for your response. Reassuring to know we are not the only ones, and it is indeed odd that our NOA1s have the same date! But what puzzles (or annoys) me most is that apparently they might not be able to fix it, i.e. that our particular cases might never be online. At least that's what the lady told me when I called yesterday. Please keep me posted if your case suddenly shows up!

HI Philosykos, our noa-1 date is also Jan 14 and we also get that validation error and have never been able to see our case on line. It's quite frustrating. I have called several times about this and each time they say it's in their "secure" system (and they are able to read me some info about my petition) and they assure me that it's in the main system, just lately they have been having problems with the system that shows the cases on the site.

But like I said, it's quite frustrating -- why us? Interesting, did something happen on the 14th to cause cases not to appear?

Signing a document simply insures it's authenticity in case of any questions. Because it is an attachment to a signed form, it's good practice to also sign the attachment. It leaves nothing to question. So does adding the suggested documents, such as cover letter and letter of intent(s) to the petition.

We did sign attachments to forms, i.e. extension sheets when we needed more space, which is not only good practice, but required (so are the signed letters of intent, as far as I understood). A table of contents, in my view, is simply an overview for the adjudicator to help find his/her way through the documents, not any kind of legal statement, and I don't see any particular need for it to be signed. On the other hand, if we had included a cover letter, I agree it should be signed, like any other other letter is. -- Anyhow, my point was simply that it would be helpful if the guidelines made it very clear what is required by USCIS, and what is simply a recommendation by the moderators/users of this site.

Wow, can one of the moderators see that this gets changed? It is not correct. You are answering question 18 on the petition, correct? Make sure your addendum has your name as petitioner, your fiancee's name as beneficiary and that the heading clearly states it is an answer to question 18, Sign it, don't sign it, both sign it, doesn't matter. Attach your supporting documents and you are done. Make sure you (the USC) signs the petition you attach it to.

There is other information in those guidelines that may potentially induce worries about having made a mistake, such as that you should 'make sure to sign and date your cover letter.' As far as I know, the cover letter is not a requirement, nor is its being signed. It's merely a nice thing to do, but who knows if it really matters? We included a table of contents, but not a cover letter, and our TOC is not signed.

I see that a number of people who filed at VSC in January are already able to access their case online... We can't! Our NOA1 is dated on the same day they received our petition, i.e. January14, but we still get a "validation error" when we try to check online. I've heard of glitches and delays in the online system before, but I wonder why it would affect some cases and not others (of course I worry that this means that we will wait longer for NOA2... ). Is there anyone else who filed in January and can't see their case online yet?

you never need one from the USA regardless of your length of stay

Really? Could you please let me know where they state that? I thought I needed one from both places in the US where I lived for more than a year.

And I thought the Vermont Service Center was the faster one...

Thanks a lot! That is reassuring.

Hi All,

I recently got engaged to a Filipina. We have been dating for a couple of years now and are ready to take the next step. Our plans are for her to move to the US. After lots of research (on this site) we've decided that the K-1 is the way to go. Our problem though is we would like to have the wedding in the Philippines since she will be moving here and it will be quite a while before she can see her family again. To me it looks like the K-3 is the only way to do this but to do that it would add quite a bit of time since we wouldn’t be able to file the K-3 until after the wedding. We were thinking about waiting for the K-1 to be approved then have a wedding over there then flying back here to make it official in the states. Is this possible or am I just grasping for straws. Also she dose have a B1/b2 visa right now.

Thanks, Jeremy

You could apply for the K-1 visa, then get married in a simple civil ceremony in the US (just to fulfill the legal requirement), and then have a "real" ceremony and party with family over in the Philippines.

Hi, I am new here, and my fiancé and I just filed the I-129F petition. He is the US citizen, I am German. I'm sure many of you can imagine that I am somewhat nervous (and impatient!) about the process...

So my first question is maybe a petty one: I didn't know I had an A#, so I put "none" on all forms. I did give them my SSN (I have lived in the US for several years as a student). However, today I looked at my old EAD (employment authorization) card (of which we included a copy in the package), and realized that there is an A# on there... stupid me!

So now I wonder if we should call or write about the mistake to USCIS, or if we should let them figure it out themselves. It is obviously an unintentional mistake, since I am submitting my EAD card with the number to them.

Your advice would be much appreciated!