Braley

Yikes. Aley has her interview on Tuesday and we are still scrambling for things. She sent in all of the requested items in Packet 4 and they sent us a new list of items needed yesterday afternoon. I think I have everything from my side. However, they want an original Marriage Cert and Divorce Cert for Aley. This all occurred in Chile, and she is in Bolivia now. Chile uses an online system to verify a documents authenticity. So the question is, what the heck can she provide them other than a stamped copy from the court? She will be getting that tomorrow. Any ideas or experiences?

Congratulations to the both of you!!!!

We finally got our NOA2!!! Yeah!

I guess that whining yesterday paid off because we just received the NOA2!!! WOOHOO!!!

Hmmm...Kickboxing...that is an excellent idea !!!

Thank you both. I know it is just my anxiety and over active imagination with the whole thing. LOL!!! We were both very relaxed a few months back, but as soon as I filed the paperwork, we both started with the anxiety and the anticipation. She has to sell everything in La Paz, I am moving into a 3 bedroom here in the states, I have to buy a bigger vehicle, etc. Hahaha, I am laughing at myself. It's a flash back to Christmas Eve as a child.

That'll be nice!

UGHHH!!! I wish I never saw this estimated VISA timeline. We are over a month past VJ's estimation and I see a lot of folks getting approved that filed weeks after us. I tried calling the USCIS, but I was told it hasn't been 5 months so there is nothing they will do to look into it. I am not sure if it is because of a problem with our application, if it was because they had Aley's country mistyped on the NOA1, or if it is simply sitting under a pile of paperwork and is being overlooked. Our anxiety is growing with each day. To be honest, it was probably the wrong time to quit smoking, LOL!!!

Any suggestions out there? (Besides having a cigarette)

You mean NOA2, right?

Mine just got approved today too! And I'll be arriving in Bolivia on August 26. Small world...

Congrats!!! It looks like you beat us. We filed on 5/9/11. I pray this means ours is coming shortly . Oh the butterflies in my stomach. Hahaha.

Woohoo!!! Awesome!

I, too, was eagerly watching my timeline move forward - averaging 1 day down per day - until 2 days ago where it's either been static or went up a day Is it because VSC has slowed down or have I just reached the magic point where it's now becoming more accurate?

Sounds like the magic point. I noticed ours stall a bit over the last few days, but now it is on the move again. Yikes, super excited, but I have a lot to get done!!! Haha, good problem to have .

we started all our paper works December last year. was returned and sent back to USCIS last january. Just got a letter from the Manila Embassy that i can pay now the visa + sched interview + medical exam. Will the processing still last long?

That is a good question. My understanding is that the time to schedule an interview is embassy specific. You may find that on your country's portal. However, once the interview is scheduled, you "should" find out the same day whether you were approved. I have known others who were "approved" but still had to get some further documentation in order to actually receive the visa. I hope that helps. Good luck on your interview!!!

Well it looks as if things may be speeding up at USCIS. @danik713 was less than four months, @reymets10 is showing around 3.5 months, and ours is showing about 3.5 months. This is encouraging, but as others have said, it is only an estimate and any little hiccup in the government can bring it to a crawl again. In analyzing timelines from last year, I found that this time of the year produced pretty quick results with a lot of them showing 2-3 months between NOA1 and NOA2. This slowed down at the end of the year to the 5 month barrier. As @gretchen_darren pointed out, the congressional budget has been a major pain in the backside. This will obviously have an effect on a government ran program . Good news is that hopefully all of us will be through this before the 2012 election year. I haven't been able to find any records of the number of historical submissions that may vary with the season. My inner geek is coming out and I would love to spreadsheet and graph this. Haha, like I'm not busy enough.

Peace,

Brian

i'm really hoping it's accurate for mine shows aweek from now:) i'll let you know if it is:) goodluck

Definitely do so!!!

Hello everyone,

I am very excited to see that VJ's estimated timeframe for our filing to be adjudicated is quickly moving up. When we filed a month ago, it was estimating the end of September to mid October. As of today, it is now showing August 10th to August 22nd. I know that VJ uses everyones experiences to come with this estimate, but in your experience (if you have it), how accurate have you found the dates to be? I am ecstatic if this proves to be true !!!

Thank you and God Bless,

Braley

Congratulations!!! btw...what is an AP? Hahaha.

Don't worry USCIS does not even reissue NOA1...I never received mine either (NOA1 4.7) and when I called (twice) they said they don't reissue. The actual hardcopy is useless but for some reason I feel more secure having that than just having a case number sent by email/text (call me old-fashioned).

I agree. I received the email and text message, but it wasn't until I received the hard copy that I saw they had Aley's country of birth as Venezuela instead of Bolivia. Could this have caused a problem in the future? I don't know, but I am not taking any chances. I can't stand to be away from her any longer than is necessary. So my suggestion is to take 10-15 minutes out of your day and call USCIS to verify everything.

God Bless,

Brian

This topic made me think of another question.

If a K1 visa is denied, what other options are there?.... Would it be to marry while using the VWP and then for the foreign spouse to return to their home country and the US citizen apply for a CR1 visa?

Well Sunshine, there is a pretty heated discussion going on another forum today. Apparently a man from Egypt was denied because his American fiancee was to much older than him. Everyone is saying for her to travel to Egypt or for them to both go to another country, get married, live together for some time, and then file a CR1. Hope this helps. I was looking for a spot on this site to just simply find some statistics on denials vs. approvals. Apparently there isn't much out there.

Good luck and God bless,

Brian

Yes, I know that two years does not equal 25 years. I was speaking figuratively in the sense that many relationships are silent or based on very little communication. Someone can be married 25 years and not have a clue who they are married to. That was the point. As far as evidence goes, you can print out the "relationship" between you and another user. What this does is show only the wall posts, mutual friends, mutual likes, etc. between the two of you without all the others mixed in. I also took screen prints of all the calls between us on Skype. If necessary, I could also print out all the IM's between us on Skype, but that gets a little personal.

As Tyeger87 already said, you don't see that online. The email you received and the hardcopy you will receive is it.

When you create and login to an account on the USCIS website, you will see a column that says "last updated." When that date changes, the case has been "touched."

Thank you Ryan, that is exactly what I was looking for!

Hello and welcome back!

I would say the number one reason is lack of evidence even though many claim they had plenty but the officer refuses to look at them. The officer may have also felt that the relationship was not genuine. Provide enough evidence of an ongoing relationship and remain confident. While we waited on our NOA2 we practiced interview questions, not like everyday since we still had a ways to go. And we gathered other necessary papers we needed for our interview.

I'm sure more are denied than we hear about. But like you mentioned most of them are approved (on VJ).

Thank you for the advice! I figure after countless hours on Skype for over two years now, we probably know each other better than most 25 year marriages .

"Initial review" is all it will ever say until your file is adjudicated and a decision made.

So when or where do you see the NOA1? On other posts I have seen where the user can see that it was "touched", where is this information?

I just received an email from the USCIS informing me that they received the application/petition and that I will receive the I-797 in the mail in 7-10 days. I logged in to check my case status with the new case number they assigned and it says initial review. Where my question lies is where does it say the NOA1 mile marker has been achieved?

Thanks,

Brian

Well, I apologize for using such an abrasive topic title .

The reason for this post is to see if there is a spot on this site that discusses individuals that have been denied a K1. I am not a pessimist in any way, I just want to hear of any possible hurdles that I can better prepare for in the five month wait we have before that NOA2 comes about. I see so many wonderful stories of "Appoved" on here and that makes me jump for joy. So my question is: how rare is it that someone is actually denied and what could possibly cause it?

Anyone?

Thank you,

Brian

That is so incredible to hear!!!! Congratulations!!!

Your question is not really silly do I use black or blue ink to fill-out documents. We think, it's ink! thats OK. I read the above comments and in the future suggest a ( Fine) Black ball point pen. I don't think its a really big deal but documents are scanned and blue will look LIGHT on a document. Documents are black and white and blue is a off color to the scanned Document.

So, your question is not silly but I suggest using A fine black ink pen in the future.

(If my Attourney filled-out a Form in Blue ink I would have said: What are you doing?) Get the hint. Good Luck

You look like a wonderful Couple.

Thank you so much for the compliment. When Aley sent me the docs from Bolivia, I just told her to use black ink as this is the standard for legal documents.

p.s. I just got back from the USPS where I mailed in the I-129f Application. I sent it overnight. I am so excited for this whole thing to be done and finally have her in my arms. Skype is getting really old, but I am glad we have this technology.

Brian