CBM

I dont think the said option above is possible. The medial is typically done at least 10 days prior to the Interview.....so that the medical facility have time to test the solution/findings etc and for the applicant to pick up the results or info me fwd to the embassy/consulate. Unless the OP wants to stay in a hotel for 10+ days which might become costly.. if there's a friend there then yes.. I'm all for it!

I think a lot of people schedule their medical & interview within a few days, at least with Montreal.

Mine lives west of LA too (Camarillo)! Neighbors!!

haha sadly, I don't know Camarillo. I know quite a few surrounding cities to my fiance, but not that one! I won't be there til the beginning of May anyway ... assuming my interview has happened by then. I'm praying it has!

We are hoping for San Francisco. We'll live here in Chicago for a while first while he gets his green card squared away and once he's able to work we'll have to save quite a bit before the move.

Good choice. San Francisco is awesome. I've only been there a couple times, but it's been really nice. If you get a chance, try looking up "bush man" on youtube for San Francisco..... then BEWARE! haha, he's basically this guy that dresses up in camo and leaves/tree branches, and sits behind trash cans and lurks, awaiting people to scare. And scare he does. I'm bordering on ashamed that he scared the living daylights out of me a couple years ago... he just jumps out and yells right in your face when you're clearly talking to someone else & distracted.... my fiance thought it was a hoot. Probably because he wasn't the one going into mild cardiac arrest.

Have you spent much time in CA? The way of life in northern CA is a lot different than southern CA, at least I think so. My fiance lives in Southern CA, a bit west of LA... I love it. It's so different than Canada, and I really love it in California.

Also... have you done the Alcatraz tour??? I seriously think it was one of the best tourist traps I've ever been to. Definitely worth it.

Well getting my fiance here means my life gets to start. It's been in limbo for a year and we're getting beyond tired of the distance, as I'm sure a lot of people on here feel. The thing with us is we hate our jobs and are just working them until the marriage can happen, then we're moving off to California (hopefully) to start a new life. It's hard being stuck in the same terrible rut until the government grants you permission to change anything about it. If we had other distractions like school or a career we were happy with that would be different, but as of now it's literally just clock-watching.

This CSC news is so promising.

gap1, where are you moving to in California? That's where my fiance is, so that's where I'll be HOPEFULLY when I finish my teaching at the end of April (unsure how long it will take Montreal to schedule my interview, when it gets there... eek)

Great suggestion, candn. The wait is difficult enough as it is. It would be a shame for every thread about CSC to turn into a competition of "I've waited longer/my situation is worse/no one can possibly understand how I feel because other people have gotten their approvals faster".. that would turn a lot of people off VJ. We should all be able to rant without putting other people down. Just my two cents.

Today is a new day, and we can hope for some turn around.

Shoot. Edited because I replied to the wrong post. On the positive side, I finally learned how to edit!!

Yeah, I don't really take VJ stats to heart... my "VJ timeline" told me our petition would be adjudicated between August 11th and August 16th, haha... soo that's fairly inaccurate.

And I understand the wait is difficult. I've been doing long distance for almost 3 years. The wait sucks.

But it doesn't make the USCIS processing times inaccurate. Not saying it WON'T take more than 5 months, but for the most part, the processing times are still accurate.

You are very correct - there have been very, very few VJ approvals in the past couple months. But that just means we've waited longer than people who petitioned earlier in the year. For the most part, 5 months is still about right. Of course there are some outliers, as there are in any statistics.

I think for the most part, CSC is within their 5 month processing times. I know there's quite a few people outside of 5 months, but there's a LOT more that are within the 5 months.

I think the reason a lot of us are impatient is because the stats from VJ say that historically, the overall average for 129-F petitions are however many number of days... 70-something is it?

But, most of are still within the 5 month processing times.

The processing times USCIS gives as "5 months" is just for the I129-F petition. That doesn't include the time it takes at NVC and your country's consulate, to actually issue the visa . The USCIS has no bearing over how long individual consulates take to schedule an interview for the visa issuance.

That being said... I hope we all get approvals soon!

Ugh, false alarm. That NOA2 was from VSC. Oh well...

Congrats to you, anyway!

I just lost the glimmer of hope I had for getting our NOA2 tomorrow, haha

Oh shoot.... I thought it was CSC, since that's where the person posted his NoA2 in (a CSC thread).... sorry if I got anyone's hopes up (besides my own).

Some good news - in one of the other 2000 threads about CSC, I just read of a May 28th NOA1 getting their approval today! Hopefully that will get the ball rolling with more approvals tomorrow!

I just opened my email and had a message from USCIS with a time stamp of 6:33am this morning, "On October 13, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)." My NOA1 was on May 28th. It has been a looooooong 139 days, which I am sure everyone here can relate to. I hope all of you May filers still waiting get your NOA2 approval soon!!

You just made my entire night/week/month! Congrats! We are only 3 days after you, so here's to hoping!!!

Wahoo! Congrats again!!

Liltiggster, thanks for the heads up! I'll let my fiance know!

Gap1 - I will shout to the heavens when I hear ANY info, so rest assured, everyone within VJ's confines will hear about it!

November 1st is 5 months for us, so November 2nd (technically, I think we have to wait until "after" 5 months has passed).... my fiance will be calling his representative in California to find out what the h-bomb is going on. I'll ask him to let USCIS there's some angry VJ'ers out there! haha

Cathy & Paul, I believe you get to raise h&ll before we do, so if you find anything productive out, let us all know!!

I'll keep hoping!

I'll pray & hope for us both!

Regardless of positive or negative thoughts, it is important to be realistic. Realistically, CSC WILL approve I-129's again, and for that matter, they never actually stopped. Yeah, they drastically slowed and trust me, I'm as eager as everyone else to get our NoA2... but I know that one of these days, I'll see NoA2. And if I don't, every representative possible in the 43rd district of California will hear about it!!

The CR-1 visa is not 3 months faster than the K-1, correct? It's actually slower. So, since you've already spent 3 months waiting for the K-1, it hardly makes sense to jump ship and hop on board the CR-1. Especially since you mentioned getting married in January. So, in January, another 3 months away, you start from square one. That would mean you would be 6 months into the K-1 processing.

And, you would still be sending your CR-1 to CSC. So, if indeed CSC has stopped working completely, when it starts back up, does it make sense that your K-1 which has sat there for months, or a fresh CR-1 would be adjudicated first? I assume the K-1.

For what it's worth, I hear the UK spousal visas are about as easy to get as carton of milk, so if you're that impatient and trying to "ease the awful state your life has become", you could consider moving to the UK? That may or may not be a viable option for you right now, but I'm pretty sure they're faster than US immigration, if that's an option you & your fiance want to consider.

May filer, June 1st NoA1.... nothing yet.

Maybe this week.

I have a feeling USCIS is closed for Columbis day.

Columbus Day in the US

For what it's worth, Alina, you'll be going through the Vancouver consulate, since you live in BC. That is LIGHTYEARS faster than Montreal. We filed May 24th, Noa June 1st, and haven't gotten NoA2 yet... but seriously, we could interview at the same time as you, because Montreal is so backed up, and Vancouver is meant to be way, way faster.

So, there's a plus for you!!

I know in Nova Scotia, you have to go to the courthouse to get something notarized; at least, that's what I was told. A guy I worked with in the summer would have to leave work early to get a statement notarized that his daughter could leave Canada on vacation with his ex. I asked why he didn't get it done somewhere more convenient, that didn't close at 4 pm or whenever, and apparently, in NS, notaries are really only at courthouses... I think it was the municipal court house.

I don't know how much that helped, but you could try a courthouse nearby. I don't remember him mentioning a cost, so I'm not sure.

you could also google "Toronto, Canada notary" or something along those lines

No updates other than i got a touch on the 3rd of October. I would gladly volunteer for a deployment if if meant it would speed this up.

I don't want to start a fight, so I hesitated posting this, but I honestly find that statement very disrespectful. I think if the wives or children or loved ones of deployed soldiers were asked, they would take waiting apart for several months, versus having their husband or father or loved one in a war torn country. Men and women that are deployed are fighting for their countries.

I have a childhood friend whose cousin was killed in Afghanistan, as part of the Canadian armed forces. I think he would have rather waited apart a few months from his family than be killed in combat. My cousin is part of the Peace Corps. My sister and brother-in-law-to-be are both part of the army. My grandfather fought for his country in WW2 over in the Netherlands.

I'm not saying this waiting process is easy, because it's not. My fiance and I have been together almost 3 years now, and yeah, we're tiring of being apart and seeing each other sporadically. It's hard on everyone.

Maybe I'm taking it to heart, but I think we should all have a great deal of respect for those who risk their lives for our freedom and life as we know it.

Just my two cents.

This might be a stupid question, but what determines what service center you get sent to?

It was based on which state the USC was living in. That's how it was in May when we filed, but now there's this new fangled lock box. I have heard it's based on which service center is able to take on the petition, based on numbers. It could still be based on the USC's state though. Sorry that wasn't a very decisive answer! Someone more in the know could probably be of better assistance.

And, to be honest... both service centers have their slow/faster periods, so whichever one yours gets sent to will have it's ups and downs. CSC has been slow for the past couple months, and Vermont was slow before that, if memory serves. When we filed, I remember being happy we weren't at Vermont, because they were being slow.... but then, of course, people were getting transferred to Texas if they filed at Vermont and somehow producing light speed approvals, eg: in 3 weeks. So my "happiness" quickly went out the window, haha.

Just remember... they say 5 months for processing, and keep that in mind. I feel a bit impatient now, but we're still 3 weeks away from 5 months, so I am trying to remember that... if you get in the mindset that you will wait 5 months, then anything shorter than that will be a blessing!

Anywho, if you want to check out the progress reports forum, we're all complaining about the slowness, haha... good luck with your process!

Congrats! I followed this thread like a lot of other VJ'ers, in hope I'd soon see that your visa had been issued! So happy for you!!

Welcome aboard. Yes, the CSC is on some sort of hiatus with approving I129f's. For the most part if you filed after 15 May...you are still waiting. There have been some sporadic approvals of late May Filers, but very few. And even less June Filers. We are all pretty much in riot mode around here. I am at exactly 4 months post NOA1 tomorrow. At this point, I'm just looking forward to when I can call and inquire, call my congressional reps, etc.

Good luck in your journey.

I know what you mean! We've been waiting since our Noa1 June 1st, so we have 23 days until my fiance can call and inquire! That's what I've started looking forward to.... easier than thinking it's been 4 months plus a week since Noa1!!

Congrats! That's great news!

We went to an Infopass in New York City before we mailed out the package, and we were told not to send the original I-94 along with the package, but a copy. And if we were to be approved, they would send a new I-94 with a new date on it. That is why she still has her original I-94.

Makes sense. I made an infopass appointment in California, and they told me to send the original! Not surprised we were told different things!