Kaiser

Hi you all. As you can see my case is on hold and waiting.Just called USCIS yesterday and got the same answer BLA,BLA,BLA.... and wait, cause 5 months doesn't mean it is delayed for them. CSC should mean no interview and faster processing times... well, wish i had an interview and be done with this waiting game.

I'm about a month ahead of you and I'm in the same situation. I called on 1/20/12 and the CSR told me that CSC was working on applications from 6/2/11, so it should take a few more weeks. It's still better than the K-1 since I can go home every night and be with my wife instead of her being on the other side of the world.

My finacee didn't get an interview date for 7 weeks after submitting packet 3, so you shouldn't be too concerned. They only put the January schedule together in the last week of December, so if you're not on the list for April you probably won't hear much until the end of the month.

I was one who did hire a lawyer. The I-129F forms are straightforward and don't require any additional help - there is more than enough information here. What did help was his experience getting everything ready for my fiancee in her country. I tried preparing everything the first time through and explaining something like "birth certificate" to my fiancee was painful. If I was over there, it would have been a lot easier. Once I hired him, I got everything I needed, properly translated, in a single packet. He also was able to get me some inside information about my case once it was at the embassy and I was very happy with the way he prepared my fiancee for the interview. Overall, it was helpful and gave me peace of mind, but the money I paid to hire him was excessive.

My fiancee just got her visa a couple weeks ago and we never sent a Letter of Intent with the I-129F. It never came up at all. When you think about it, the fact that you are filing the form should give them a pretty good idea that you intend to marry. I don't even think it's required to be notarized, so it basically means nothing anyway.

Any other posters that have sent in Packet 3?? Feels like we are back to waiting on NOA 2......LOL

Just to give you a recent timeline: we sent packet 3 on Nov 3 and didn't hear anything until the middle of December. When we did hear (through my lawyer), the interview date was out about one month on Jan 18. Right before they issued the list of interviews for January (on Dec 28), we found out they delayed it by 2 days and set the interview for Jan 20th.

BTW: She passed, but I'm holding off the celebration until the lawyer picks up the visa on Thursday.

My significant other and I are planning a trip to Thailand in a month or two ( after we get our appointment set ) so I was reading about Thailand and what to do and what not to do and noticed a lot of thais suggest sky train or MRT or different forms of public transportation,pretty much anything but Tuk tuks and taxi.

Now i have read about tuk tuk scam methods,but whats wrong with taxis?Is it because of safety or convenience? Also how easy is it to find your way around sky train or MRT?

any other suggestions or advice in general for a first time traveler?

BTS is great if it gets you where you want to go and it ties together the bigger hotel and (some) tourist areas (Sukhumvit, Silom, Siam Square). MRT is a good, too. If you go to see the Palace, Emerald Buddha, and Wat Po area, you can take the BTS to Saphan Taksin Station and take the boat up the Chao Phraya, which is ridiculously cheap and a nice ride if the weather is good. Just make sure any taxi you get into has a meter and you're fine. Sometimes taxi drivers will decline to take you somewhere if it's out of their way, though. Local buses are not good, but if you go somewhere a few hours from Bangkok the buses from Ekkamai are pretty good and cheap. Whatever you do, don't drive - traffic is crazy everywhere in Thailand.

An important one - don't fall for any limo deals at Suvarnabhumi Airport. After you come out of customs, go to the bottom level and get a metered taxi into Bangkok. It costs less than half as much as the limo deals. There is a train now from the airport into Bangkok that will eventually get you to the BTS or MRT, but I haven't used it yet because my flights were either too early or too late. Reviews on that train have been mixed. I heard the local which goes to the BTS is too slow and there's no room for luggage and the Airport express leaves from a station that is a pain to get to due to traffic jams and a long walk from the MRT.

Eric - My lawyer, who was hired long before I found this site but has been somewhat helpful (just not economical), has been at the embassy at least once a week since the submission and they have been keeping him updated on my case. He told me last week he talked directly with an officer and I was in the queue for an interview date. I am glad to hear you got your interview date and best of luck on it.

Tom - she is in Samut Prakan, which I believe is as close to Bangkok as you can get without technically being in Bangkok, so I have no idea why it was sent up country. Everything is going through the lawyer's office on Silom anyway. Back in July the USCIS told my lawyer that my I-129F was sent from Vermont to California for some reason and was not approved until it was later sent back to Vermont, so at this point I'm just expecting this kind of nonsense.

Is this thread DEAD or what???? Nobody writes in here anymore?

We submitted Packet 3 on November 3 and are just waiting for an appointment date. For some reason the Packet was sent to Chiang Mai for processing but now it's in the interview queue. We decided to wait until April for her to come over as I didn't want her first taste of US weather to be in the dead of winter (plus it gives me the chance to see what Songkran is all about). As long as we have the visa by then, everything is fine. I was just over to see her for a couple weeks around Thanksgiving. We ended up in Sukhothai for Loy Krathong, which was nice. I got my first (and hopefully last) experience with the Thai rail system, too.

I changed my address during the USCIS review. My NOA2 did take a very long time, but I doubt it was because I changed my address (it was about 4 months into the review phase that I changed my address, so it was already "late"). But when I called after 5 months had passed since the NOA1, they said it would take 60 days from the last activity on my case file before they would do an inquiry into my case status, which in my case was my change of address. So, the address change will not necessarily cause a delay directly, but the USCIS can use it as an excuse to do nothing if they take too long.

Kaiser

My NOA1 was issued on March 18 and the NOA2 just came on September 7 (173 days), so hang in there. I know how you feel, though.

Help?

Do it online at the USCIS website here.

https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=coa

It only takes a minute, but they did use the change of address as an excuse while taking their time with my NOA2. An operator told me it would take them up to 60 days to update the address in my file (I'm the USC), so they would not admit the NOA2 was late or do anything about it until 60 days after that change.

Agree with DaBoyz; that is sweet! Just yesterday was telling Rin she had less than a year to study. Given her efforts (or lack there of) in studying for the written driver license exam; I am starting to apply early pressure to begin studying for her citizenship test!

John

I'm curious... I had always planned my wife would remain a Thai citizen here on a Green Card. I really would like to retire to Thailand some day and I think it would be an advantage if she officially remained Thai. I honestly can't think of a good reason for her to become a US citizen (she won't get a Federal job and I doubt she would care enough about politics to vote), so I am wondering if I'm missing something. Are there any requirements for her to either become naturalized or remain Thai?

I thought I would share my frustration for today:

I moved in July to take a new job and updated my address with the USCIS online. I was 4 months into the K-1 process at that point waiting for the NOA2. The 5 month limit has passed and today I called to ask what was going on with my application (my lawyer supposedly called 2 weeks ago). The representative said they would not give me any kind of status update until 61 days had passed since my case was updated, which in this case was when I changed my address. So now I have been waiting 166 days for an NOA2 and have to wait another 30 days simply to ask them what the real problem with my application is (I'm pretty much convinced they lost it at this point). Apparently the USCIS will give any excuse to do nothing. Can anyone explain how changing my address (I'm the USC) could delay the process at all? Also, I checked and the delay was not noted anywhere on the change of address form or supporting information. I never would have done it if I knew there would be an additional delay.

hello everyone im already on day 147 and still waiting for my NOA2, now my question is, if I call on September first, how long does it usually takes for them to do something about NOA2?

All I know so far is it's more than a week (I called last Wednesday). I will let you know when I hear something back from them. I'm sure it's on a case by case basis, but the default time they gave to respond was 30 days.

You are past the 5 months listed on VSC's processing times. I'd definitely call if I were you.

I guess I will share the information since it might make everyone else who's waiting feel better (or possibly worse). I called last week, 5 months to the day after the acceptance, and they didn't have very much information. I was told they sent the application to California as they were too busy in Vermont at the time. They were kind enough (they acted like they were doing me a favor) to admit it was out of normal processing time and would put in a note to the case officer requesting a status report. Nothing since - not even a touch. So the wait continues and my frustration grows.

My application was received at the VSC on March 18th and still no NOA2, so, if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much yet.

I was wondering if anyone knew if the K-1 process would be affected if either the petitioner or beneficiary moves residences. We are currently waiting for the NOA2 on the I-129F. I moved to another state about two months ago and updated my address via the USCIS website and I am wondering if that might be delaying the approval. Also, my fiancee is considering moving within Thailand and I am wondering if that would cause more delays down the line. Thanks.

This forum has been invaluable in understanding the K-1 process and this thread for understanding some specific issues with Thailand. While I am still sitting here waiting for an NOA2 (Day 146 and counting), I am trying to be a little optimistic and plan ahead a bit for when Noy (hopefully) gets here. I don't want to hijack a Visa thread asking about things like how to get Thai television for her, but I believe there has got to be a lot of experience around here regarding my future attempts to bring some Thai culture to my apartment in Delaware. Does anyone have any suggestions for another good forum for things like this?

Thanks,

Rob

I'm at Day 141 without a single update, so consider yourselves lucky.

I don't think that it can be the case because lawyers are involved. The only reason why the process itself can be slower is conveying everything to one another. Like one of my friends was doing her K1 for 1 and half years, because lawyers didn't tell her that she had already interview, so she had to redo everything all over again. Plus, it took longer for us to actually submit application, because we had to send all our photos, correspondence, fees to the lawyer first. Then he prepared applications for us, then he forwarded to us, then we had to sign them and send to him. By the time he got everything and submitted it took time, whereas if we did everything ourselves it would have taken so much less time. If we have had found this website earlier, we wouldn't have hired him. But we were new to this and we thought it's such a difficult process that without lawyer we wouldn't be able to do a thing. Well, you live and learn.

I meant the timing after the filing of the application. Like if the I-129F application comes in with a G-28 (which is the form for the lawyer), the application goes into the 5+ month to approve pile. If no lawyer is hired it goes into the 1-2 month pile. Again, I can't believe this would be the case as I'm not a conspiracy person, but, if it were, it would be really good information to have.

It actually helps me too to know that we are not the only one who are waiting for such a long time. We hired lawyer to do this process. He sent us receipt number and I am not sure if we actually got NOA1, since all the correspondence goes directly to him. He told us that if we will inquire about our case, it usually takes USCIS for a month to respond. But it may even delay the decision making because they will be taking this case file from someone's drawer and yada yada. So, we are also waiting until the 18th, but praying that we will hear something before that. We still have somewhat 2 weeks. So hopefully you and us will hear something good soon.

A few of the cases I have seen that take a long time for the NOA2 have lawyers attached to them (like mine does - I needed some help with the paperwork overseas). I would never assume the USCIS slow rolls cases when a lawyer is hired, but it is an interesting theory. Maybe I should start a poll or something.

Hi Everyone!

Our application has been submitted to USCIS in Vermont on 18th March 2010. In two weeks pretty much we will be in 5 months range that it usually takes for them to process applications. Online it says that the last time our application has been touched on 23rd March 2010 and since then nothing. If we won't hear anything until 18th August 2010, how should we process further? If application has not been approved or denied within 5 months, what does this mean?

Thank you very much for everyone's input in this! We are very worried and this uncertainty just kills.

Vera & Levi

My K-1 was submitted and updated on the exact same dates as yours and I am still waiting as well. I realize that fact doesn't help you, but for me at least I feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one waiting so long. I'm getting ready to call on the 18th. One question since our cases are so similar time-wise: did you get an NOA1 in the mail? I never got one, but they eventually did send me a receipt number in another correspondence.

Kaiser

I'm at day 134 on a K-1 and there has been absolutely nothing. I never even got an official NOA1. I knew this was going to be frustrating, but the inconsistency is brutal.

I'm not sure where to go for help, so I thought I would try this since the USCIS seems like a dead end...

I really think something has gone wrong with my I-129F application. According to the online status, it was received in Vermont on March 18, 2010. I never received an NOA1 hard copy and was told it must have gotten lost in the mail. Even though they would not send me another NOA1, I eventually did get a letter from them that included a receipt number, so I assumed everything was on track. Now it has been over 4 months and no word at all. I can't find anyone on this entire forum that recently took longer than 3 months to receive an NOA2 and the USCIS won't do anything until the 6 month threshold is reached (5 months processing time + 30 days). My online status has never been changed from "Initial Review" and I have not received any requests for more information or the like. Does anyone have any idea where I can go to at least make sure my application is still in a queue somewhere? Can anyone think of a legitimate reason it might take so long? Any help would be appreciated as this wait is killing me. Thank you.