jjsa

thank you both very very much! i heard something about writing a letter to the department of state, as its not in the hand of USCIS anymore as our petition got approved..

anyone know something about this?

Our I 129F petition got approved a month ago (may 26) but we decided we do not want to go through with it anymore. My ex fiancee (beneficiary) already received a letter from the U.S Consulate in Amsterdam about 2/3 weeks ago with further instructions on how to proceed (letter packet 3 i think?).

Is there anything we still need to do? Do we need to deny it somehow or can we just leave it like this? Will the beneficiary ever get troubles when she wants to come back to America for a visit?

Petition touched and approved today. Originally sent in 3/15, first NOA1 was 3/22. Good luck to everybody else, it's amazing how invigorating it felt to receive!

same here! approved!

Got my text and email this morning...Approved!!!! I am so Happy right now!

Good luck jjsa, and everyone else. I hope your approvals are right around the corner.

really happy for you! we received a touch too now!

thats great! we have the same dates as you. im going to check now

no touch for us

Received a "touch" tonight, so proof that the CSC is moving along.

thats great! we have the same dates as you. im going to check now

Dear all,

This summer I got a trip plannend to see my girlfriend/fiance. We havent started the K1 Proces yet.

The trip will be from July 1st untill Augst 31st, its during my schoolbreak.

I would like some advice on what to tell at the POE in Chicago.

I was a exchange student who played (American) Football for a year in Kansas. Should I tell the POE officers that

I am visitingen my friends (what I am ofcourse going to do) or should I say that I am visiting my girlfriend.

I really dont have any intention to stay because I have to finish my senior year after this summer.

Please give me advice, I am so nervous for the POE

Is the trip too long? Is it suspicous? Tell me!

Thank you!

Hey Brian,

I just wanted to say that I was in almost the same exact situation last year! I am also from the Netherlands and I visited my fiance last year also from July 1st to Aug 31 (what a coincidence!). I also used to be an exchange student in Wisconsin. My POE was Minneapolis. Just in case, I had a letter from school stating I had to be back for my Introduction Week starting September 1st also to finish my senior year of college! I was one of the first in lines and I got through with no problems. She did not even ask me my reason for visiting. She just checked my passport and wished me a good trip.

For previous visits, I have also never had any problems. Either they did not ask me anything or asked me my reason for visiting which I usually answered with going on vacation and to see my friends.

Don't worry too much, I am sure you will be fine. Just don't say anything untill they ask you something. Also if they would ask you who you are visiting and you feel better saying your girlfriend instead of friends or some other reason, there is nothing wrong with that. You are not doing anything wrong, and if any, you are doing things the right and legal way. Even if they have further questions or suspections, just tell them you are aware of your possibilites; k1, k3..etc. Show them you are knowledgeable about your options. Keep in mind that visiting each other is only better proof of a bonafide relationship. However, I am sure it won't come to this anyway! Again, you will be fine

Have a great and safe trip.. its wonderful to be with your fiance for such a long summer .

cant believe no one on visajourney got approved this week for k1 (according to igors list). so disappointing.

anyone received a NOA2 these past couple of days? its seems a bit quiet

Hi all,

i just check the form I-134 and notice that the expiration date is 31st of May, 2010. Is there any new form yet or is the old still ok after its expiration?

Hey landis, i think you can still use the older version after the expiration date. if you look at the forms overview on the USCIS website it says by a lot of forms an 'edition' date and then "previous editions/versions accepted". for form I 134 it says '10/30/2008. Prior versions are also acceptable', which i think its a bit strange as it has a later expiration date but I think it wont matter. for example, for the I 129 F form, we could have used 02/19/10. 07/30/07 and 11/24/06 editions.

good luck with the form

Hey Judith,

I am surprised to see that the DOS sent their favorable recommendation only 2 days after receiving the No Objection Statement. You are so lucky! My fiancee (also from the Netherlands) has also applied for a J-1 Waiver and this is what our status says online:

Department of State Decision: Pending

Item Action Date

No Objection Statement Received March 09, 2010

Fee Received February 03, 2010

Form DS-3035 Received February 03, 2010

Form DS-2019 Received February 03, 2010

Passport Data Page Received February 03, 2010

Statement Of Reason Received February 03, 2010

Other Received February 03, 2010

So it's been more than 7 weeks already since they received the No Objection Statement and our case is still pending...

Can you tell me when you actually received the final I-797 Notice of Action - Approval Notice from the USCIS? Anne is waiting in limbo in NL to move to the US pending only this notice, as her K-1 visa was initially denied for the two-year rule.

Thanks for any info you can give us.

Matt

Hello Matt,

I am sorry for my late response, I didnt sign up for notifications on this topic. Im sorry to hear your fiancee's visa was denied because of the 2 year rule and that it takes long for them to send the approval notice . My Receipt Date of the Approval Notice I-1797 dates January 14, 2010 and the actual Notice Date is January 26, 2010. I guess I am lucky now I think about it. Did you already contact DOS about it? Or maybe you can send the Netherlands Embassy an email asking if they can maybe approach the DOS as they also send the No Objection letter?

I hope everything goes well and fast for you guys. You should keep me posted!

Good luck to you

- Judith

tomorrow a new start of the week.. good luck to all of you waiting for noa2. i hope late march filers get to hear something this week

congrats! ive had problems when logging in on the uscis website and checking my status (validation error). anyone else had difficulties with it?

Try again later - apparently they're having 'difficulties.' Several reports from folks today.

okay! thanks for the replies guys

hello everyone,

has anyone had some problems when checking their status on the uscis website? i usually check a few times in a week and sometimes i have problems when logging into my account (i think it said something about 'internal service error' as i remmeber correctly). i usually have to try to log in a couple of times at that time before it actually logs in. when i wanted to log in today it said:

Validation Error(s)

You must correct the following error(s) before proceeding:

It was reported to us that your computer or internet gateway has been locked out for a select period of time. This is due to an unusually high rate of use. If you feel this has occurred incorrectly, please contact the Customer Service Center for assistance at 1.800.375.5283.

has anyone had this before or does anyone experience the same? maybe it says 'unusually high rate of use' as i try to log in multiple times sometimes as it won't go through directly?

im a bit confused and hope this won't really be a problem. i think i may call tomorrow but i wonder if anyone has the same or had this before.

We also received another touch just now... Fingers crossed...

exciting! good luck to you both

I just received a text from CSC literally seconds ago, just as I logged on here to wait for my honey to wake up and get online, boy is she going to be in for a big surprise...

our case was updated it said so I logged onto the website and this is what I found...

Post-Decision Activity

On April 29, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

I have read it over a few times now and it says the same thing each time

WOOHOO!!!!

congrats! thats great

...but our timeline say May right !?! mine says between the 1st and the 10th

we would like to get married in July or august, !!

let's wait few more days and see !

yeah it says may for now but this can change over time. i dont want to think all negative though i hope we get approved around that time!

I've noticed the same thing... At the same time I've noticed the processing time statistic drop down to 55 days... Can't really rely on that number but it's still nice to see, better than what the VSC people have to stare at. Also I'm not sure what that means, I would expect March people starting to get NOA2s to help drive that statistic.

I've noticed at least a few of the early Feb. filers have received for the most part early NOA2s in the beginning of March.

It's almost mid April and not one March filer NOA2 yet... I hate to say it, but you may be right, the CSC might be slowing down somewhat, plus looking at Sundrop's list on days to NOA2, it slowly crept up from the 30-40 days to 40-50 days...

also when looking at previous years, it seemed that february filers went rather fast but it slowed down again for march filers.. last year many march filers got their noa2 in july/august..

here another march filer . hope we all receive a fast approval.. good luck everyone!

Judith,

You're good to go to start the K1-process! Be sure you keep the Notice of Action. They asked for mine when I went for my interview in Amsterdam. It was kind of weird since the whole application process took so long that I had already fulfilled the 2-year residency requirement. I was glad I brought it with me, because I didn't think they would need it for something anymore. Not sure if I had to, but I included a copy of the J1 and waiver when I started my application process.

Letty

Hey Letty,

Thank you so much! I kept the Notice of Action and they are sending me a recommendation letter now. My fiance sent our I129F 2 weeks ago and I also send a copy of the Notice of Action and the J1 Waiver just like you . So what exactly is the waiver, what does it look like? is it just the Notice of Action and the recommendation letter, or is there anything else Id need? Thank you again for your reply, it was really helpful!

Judith

anyone?

Hello everyone,

A few months ago I applied for a J1 Waiver so my fiance and I could start the K1 process. When I check my status online its like this:

Department of State Decision: Favorable Recommendation

Item Action Date

Recommendation Sent January 13, 2010

No Objection Statement Received January 11, 2010

Fee Received December 23, 2009

Form DS-3035 Received December 23, 2009

Form DS-2019 Received December 23, 2009

Passport Data Page Received December 23, 2009

Statement Of Reason Received December 23, 2009

I also got a I-797 Notice of Action - Approval Notice in which my waiver is granted. Is this approval notice everything I need or do I still need something else?

- judith