SAVM

Well Pard'ner, we were just approved today at 168 days. I hear you on the frustration. Damn the system.

nothing!!!!!!!!! reaching 5mo mark

Oh yes, I think they're done for the rest of the year. I'm seeing no real progress going on anymore. Time to settle in until reaching the estimated processing time. Great system.

I seen some posts out there that say VSC is now at 7 months. Based on Igors list, it still appears to be shy of 6 months for VSC..Also, I seen a post out there from an April Filer from VSC that stated their timeline got pushed from late August to mid October.

My specific question is: Is there tracking of individual timelines out there ? If so, where I do I find it at ?I am still working with the 6 months for NA02 but, hoping Igor's stats are accurate and have NA02 in 5 months..

ps..I also agree with alot of folks who said they are taking a break from VJ..It really does appear to make the time move slow..

Gene and Keila (Peru)

Met on inet 2/2006

Met first time in person 5/2006 and once a qrtr on average since

Engaged 2/2009

VSC NAO1 recieved 5.1.2009

At this rate, my retirement may be here first (12 more years) ...In that case - to hell with the k1, I will move there..

I think you might have misunderstood those previous posts. Igor's list/the VJ predicted processing periods are averages based on how VJ members are making their way through the system. I have mentioned roughly 7 months in previous posts as what USCIS is now giving (ie. showing on its website and telling me when I call) as its estimated processing time. People may get through in less than that, but if you don't, USCIS won't take any action on your case until that 7 month period has elapsed.

Why is everyone shooting him down? None of us is happy with the way this process is handled and that VSC is so far behind CSC. If he wants to try to organize a letter-writing campaign, why discourage him? Are we so beaten down by "the man" that we believe that this process is actually satisfactory? In this day and age and with the technology available to us, NOTHING should take as long as this does.

I agree. I'm really not sure how to go about bringing any change though. I feel like I've just been wearing my hopes down trying to bother congresspeople and USCIS customer service people. I want this horrible system to end and for the government to be out of my life, but we need some ideas here. This is just crazy and I don't want to see it go on. Let's not shoot down the OP, let's be constructive and improve things.

I do have a concern though that this is like graduate students wanting to change their school. The administration just deflects their complaints because they know that once they graduate they won't care anymore about those problems they were once so passionate about and things can then continue on as normal. Not the best simile, but you know what I'm saying.

Just received in the mail, NOA2

2/27/09= Receipt Date

7/15/09 = NOA2 date.

Just on time--about 6 months--from Vermont.

Also, I got approved without an RFE, so ask me if you are worried about RFE's and I'll tell you what i included and what i had forgot to include in my petition.

That's actually under 5 months. 8/27 would be 6 months.

We hit 5 months on July 5th ourselves. VSC's official processing time is now about 7 months. Clearly some people are getting them in less time, but if you don't, USCIS won't take action on your case until that 7 month period has elapsed. That is, unless VSC extends its estimated processing times once again. And really, why wouldn't they? They've got nothing to lose by pushing it off forever.

I can't believe no one has pointed out that beyond the hassle the OP will incur going through the K-1 process and potential snag about the OP not actually having the intent to marry, it's really insensitive to further clog up an already terribly backlogged system of people who actually do want to marry just so that the OP can possibly enjoy a month with his girlfriend on US soil. Please stay out of this pipeline if you guys aren't serious about getting married!!!

Does anyone actually know what they do at the service centers when they finally get around to adjudicating a case? As in, what is the adjudicating process itself? There's the confirming that you've actually seen your fiance(e) in person before applying, but what happens beyond that? Some sort of background checks? Horoscope readings?

One thing that you could do, is provide your fiance with a letter from your doctor confirming the pregnancy and due date and also copies of the pictures from your ultra sound if you have any, as these will have your name on the top of the screen, and any e-mails to your fiance discussing the pregnancy and baby. He can use this as proof of an on-going relationship. It will not expedite the procedure, but it does give the consulate more proof of a legitimate relationship.

Congratulations and good luck

that is no proof as she could be preg. by another male.

Indeed. All that proves is she is pregnant. Is is not proof of bonafide relationship whatsoever

Why is it that people constantly think having a child by/with the beneficiary somehow goes towards proving relationship legitimacy? This seems to be a constant and I just don't get it.

It only proves that two people had sex...not that the 'relationship' underpinning the visa application is legitimate. The consulate issues family based visas on the legitimacy of the relationship between petitioner and beneficiary, not upon the legitimacy of the coitus between them.

Right, but what exactly does "legitimate" mean?

Should there be a problem if I have only met my fiance on only one trip overseas? Spent a month with her overseas already, but some advisors are recommending that I take another trip...

Beyond meeting the visa requirements, maybe you should actually invest some more time in your relationship before taking up USCIS's time (that they could be spending processing people's paperwork who have actual relationships).

Idle, random comments do not add anything to the conversation.

For HCMC it is much better if you have made more that one trip. You should have a dam hoi/dinh hon also.

I did the Le Dinh Hon when I was over there. Did they ask or request information about visiting more than once? By the way, was any part of the interview in English?

Spend some time in the Asia East Regional forum to get a sense of the HCMC norms. This seems to be one of the tougher consulates due to years of fraud and corruption.

Nice adjectives, but actually my comment was quite serious and topical - people, such as the OP, should think long and hard about their decision to move forward with this sort of thing as it does, in fact, have repercussions on the lives of everyone else trying to go through the process.

Alot of us seem to second guess ourselves during that crazy time of waitin for our NAO2. What did you think you would get an RFE for and then didn't?

I got my NAO2 on Monday

I was really surprised because I expected an RFE for:

1.) My divorce decree was not signed by the judge or a certified copy. It was just a little paragraph the lawyer had given me that had a case number on it.

2.) I misunderstood the part that asked how we met in person and I thought they were asking how we met....so all I said was "We met and fell in love over the internet through webcam and chats"

But, I guess they were able to verify my divorce was legit, and I guess all of my proof that we met in person was enough even though my words said internet....

What about you???

Booooo....(you're unintentionally rubbing it in that you got your NOA2)

Should there be a problem if I have only met my fiance on only one trip overseas? Spent a month with her overseas already, but some advisors are recommending that I take another trip...

Beyond meeting the visa requirements, maybe you should actually invest some more time in your relationship before taking up USCIS's time (that they could be spending processing people's paperwork who have actual relationships).

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I wouldn't hold out much hope on your baby's father being in the US by the time your baby is due. Incidentally, my fiancee, who is the Colombian national, is about 7 months pregnant (our baby's due Sept. 11) and is still in Colombia. We submitted our I-129F on Feb. 2 (receipt date Feb. 5). So far there's been absolutely no apparent action on the paperwork. We've (unsuccessfully) tried an expedite request based on emerging medical emergency and are currently seeking the expedite based on severe financial difficulty. We've pretty much given up though on wrapping up the process before our son's born. At this point we're just trying to make sure mom and our son get to the US as soon as possible after the birth as at least I can go to Colombia for his birth.

Anyways, I would plan on that visa not going through before the birth if I were you. If you want your fiancee to be part of the child's birth, I'd start looking into options for having your baby down there. You'll probably save a lot money, your fiancee's family will get to see the baby and the paperwork to get your baby US citizenship really doesn't seem too complicated - it's all on the US Embassy-Bogota's website. We're hoping to schedule our baby's appointment at the embassy the same day as my fiancee's.

Good luck and stay positive!

Hmm, well I just realized that your I-129F has already been adjudicated. Good for your guys. I'm jealous. Well who knows then, perhaps your fiancee can get up here to the US before your baby's birth then. I would still be apprehensive about putting such an important family event in the hands of government bureaucrats though. It still might be worth going down to Colombia to have the baby in that case. It would be sad for the father to miss your baby's birth just because the government's employees didn't feel like doing their job. I hope everything works out for your guys and that your baby's super healthy! Buena suerte!

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I wouldn't hold out much hope on your baby's father being in the US by the time your baby is due. Incidentally, my fiancee, who is the Colombian national, is about 7 months pregnant (our baby's due Sept. 11) and is still in Colombia. We submitted our I-129F on Feb. 2 (receipt date Feb. 5). So far there's been absolutely no apparent action on the paperwork. We've (unsuccessfully) tried an expedite request based on emerging medical emergency and are currently seeking the expedite based on severe financial difficulty. We've pretty much given up though on wrapping up the process before our son's born. At this point we're just trying to make sure mom and our son get to the US as soon as possible after the birth as at least I can go to Colombia for his birth.

Anyways, I would plan on that visa not going through before the birth if I were you. If you want your fiancee to be part of the child's birth, I'd start looking into options for having your baby down there. You'll probably save a lot money, your fiancee's family will get to see the baby and the paperwork to get your baby US citizenship really doesn't seem too complicated - it's all on the US Embassy-Bogota's website. We're hoping to schedule our baby's appointment at the embassy the same day as my fiancee's.

Good luck and stay positive!

Anyone else getting sick of checking igor's list and the USCIS site yet? I know I am! I hoping to hear something any day now, but who knows! Anything I can do in the mean time to keep me sane?

Just be glad your at the CSC. VSC recently moved it's expected processing time for I-129Fs back to about 8 months, compared to CSC's 5 months. Enjoy what you've got!

It was really a little under seven months: On June 15, 2009 they said they were processing 129Fs from November 25, 2008

I guess that is until we have the visa in hand. Acording to Igor's list most people are aproved around 130 days, a little over 4 months for the NOA2 and depending which country you are from you might still have the visa in hand in 6 months.

Maybe I am trying to be much too positive but there are a lot of people with promising timelines.

Ah yes, I was once that optimistic. Once that first wave of people receiving their NOA2s passes over you (which I hope it doesn't!), you'll probably change your tone too. There was indeed apparently someone who sent their I-129f in on 11/25 who just received their NOA2.

I was told today by USCIS that I still have 72 days to go (NOA1 date of Feb. 5) until they can even think about submitting a service request. Being as they can just change that at their will, there's basically no end to this game in sight for some of us.

Anyone else getting sick of checking igor's list and the USCIS site yet? I know I am! I hoping to hear something any day now, but who knows! Anything I can do in the mean time to keep me sane?

Just be glad your at the CSC. VSC recently moved it's expected processing time for I-129Fs back to about 8 months, compared to CSC's 5 months. Enjoy what you've got!

There are free services that allot a certain amount of minutes per week to call Colombia. My wife uses it for calling my suegra. Can't remember the name right now though.

Ken, I'm not sure if you're interested only in plans to call Colombian cells (in which case, Orbitel's online pins seem cheap to me at $0.05/min after 6 pm), but fairly recently Skype started a plan where you can make unlimited calls to Colombian land lines for just under 6 bucks a month - flat rate. That's a steal in my book.

I will probably be tarred and feathered for this one, but so be it.

It seems that people have two motivations for asking this question: a) the wait is just KILLING them and b)they want their fiance's family at the celebration, and this'd be impossible to make happen in the US.

I can totally understand the latter, and this is why we chose to marry in Santa Fe, just the two of us, so the civil ceremony wouldn't be lopsided with all my peeps. And well, Santa Fe is much cooler than Rhode Island. Of course, we both feel terrible about not having something special with the fam and friends, but we're not a normal couple who can plan weddings at their leisure for family members that can travel. We'll survive by doing something special in Cancun for our first anniversary so his family can be there.

It's the former reason I mentioned that gets my knickers all in a twist. I guess I was just different in that I wasn't positively DYING to be with homeboy during the K1 approval process. We even waited longer than necessary to go for his interview to get our ducks all in a row. I guess what I don't understand is why a couple of months wait for the petition to be approved, sent to the consulate, and interview date set is just so terribly long and arduous that people simply must marry before their NOA2. Yeah, the waiting is painful and it is exciting to share these emotions of nervousness, anticipation, and where the heck is my approval with fellow VJers.

But really, the plan is to be with this dude for the next 60 or so years...what's a couple of months apart in the scheme of things?

I'm going to guess that you're probably not of religious/traditionally minded families AND expecting a son who's racing to pop out of his mom's uterus faster than the bureaucrats in St. Albans, Vermont are doing (i.e. should be doing) their job. If you were, would you still feel the same?

Quirky, I like it - speaking truth to power (or numbers in this case). Some people can't handle a little spirited discussion. If something smells fishy, I see no reason not to say so.

As nice as that sounds, I'm not sure there's any evidence to back up the fact that Philippina women make "better" wives than women of any other nationality. I don't think we're being honest with ourselves here.

The Embassy in the Philipines (USEM) does more K1 visas than any other US Embassy. The reasons are varied and different for each couple.

Exactly, doesn't that seem shady to anyone else? Kind of seems like a good reason to implement a quota system.

I assume everyone's noticed already, but is it just absolutely cray cray that only about 3 VJ VSC K-1 people have gotten NOA2s since last Tuesday? A week and a half ago??? Please Vermont. Please. You're really, definitely hurting the team.

ok to clarify Im not ashamed or embrrased at all by using a dating site and I certainly wouldnt try to lie about it, I was just trying to be sure on answering that question on the form 129f and fill it in properly. So you guys are saying it dosent pertain to us? Thier asking if its a pay for a bride service basically?

No need to be ashamed! I would wager a very large percentage of VJ members meet the same way. And I am sure a very large number of applicants at the consulate met the same way. In fact, many consulates seem to prefer this to meetings arranged by family or friends in the USA which they always suspect as fraudulent. I think it is fairly well accepted in this age of internet. Cupid.com makes no apologies.

Also there is no problem in giving this information even if the agency turns out not to be covered by IMBRA, better to err on the side of caution. Again there is no problem with legitimate matchmaking agencies and legitimate relationships developed this way.

What exactly is the difference between a legitimate matchmaking agency and an illegitimate one? And for that matter a legitimate relationship and an illegitimate one?

I've got to ask, because some one has to do it, why are the Philippines so apparently overrepresented on VJ in terms of K-1 beneficiaries? I understand that the country makes up somewhere around 1.37% of the world population, but my sense is that somewhere around 75% of the k-1 beneficiaries on this site are from the Philippines. What gives?

I do have to say that when we had our interview, the embassy refused to interview the lady who was in line in front of us because she was missing this document. Her daughter, the US citizen, had filed for her and they asked her to make another appointment so she could bring this piece of paper. She looked for it for like 30 minutes in the briefcase she brought with her until she found it.

BUT... again, the lady in the Spanish Colombia K1 thread said she didn't have it and the embassy didn't have a problem with it. Maybe they changed their policy regarding the document... who knows.

Just an FYI, so you can make an educated decision. Sort of.

Diana

Oh, damn the uncertainty of it all! I was thinking about this earlier actually, kind of double-backing on my original ride-the-lighting approach. It would really be a bummer to have the same experience as Joe - especially since she's got 20 hours round trip in the bus to Bogota for the interview and I was going to fly down. Ugh. Just a little piece of paper from Istmina...

Steve