danik713

We are planning a civil ceremony upon arrival and possibly a more traditional ceremony at a later date.. but possibly just go with he civil ceremony. Depends on $$ .. recent college grads.. don't need to say more heh.

I am curious, which date are others utilizing as their wedding date? the official and legal date or the second ceremony? Just curious. Thanks, I enjoy reading everyone's different stories and experiences : )

My fiance and I are in the VJ minority and didn't meet online - we met 5 years ago in the States. We were together 3 years prior to getting engaged and then waited a subsequent 6 months to file.

you know what pisses me off?you or people like you who think you have the authority to decide whether or not one's loved one is worthy of an expedite.

as far as i can tell youre not from japan,you dont have any one in japan or any of the effect countries so you wouldnt know how extreme the situation is or can be.there is a nuclear catastrophe going on in japan and its putting their entire country in a horrible situation and YOU think his expedite should be frowned upon?how come USCIS expedited THE ENTIRE country of haiti's petitions when only specific regions were damaged?

DAMN the nerve of some people,you would have done the same thing if you were in his shoes,dont feel all high and mighty just because 10 people agreed with you

I don't have the authority - nor wish to - be the decision maker on expedites. I'll clarify on what you thought I said - I personally would think everyone's loved one is "worthy" of an expedite - but it is not the individual yet the circumstances which are the criteria.

My mother is stuck in Japan right now, thankfully she is safe. Her and I both would prefer emergency efforts be devoted to helping those who truly need it rather than getting her back to the States merely because she is an American citizen or the loved one of American citizens. I hope you have a better understanding now of where I am coming from. And no, I actually would not put in an expedite request, nor would my love expect me to.

We kept our package simple - no fasteners or clips of any sort. As I understand it they will pluck your package apart and sort it to their own internal standards. The contents followed the cover page to a tee - didn't want to have any excess or any chance of putting anyone at USCIS in a lousy mood because they had to struggle to go through our petition upon receiving it!

Best of luck

Ah, thanks Jamaica 2009. That sounds good

Good luck at the consulate level, hopefully the long waiting is behind you now.

@gretchen_darren: Are the dates in your signature correct? You first met online this past Christmas Eve.. <2 months later on the day of your first physical meeting you also became engaged?

The dates caught my eye and seem to conflict or just seem illogical and unusual. Please clarify - thanks!

Hmm... good news that the bimbos at VDC overlook things - maybe they will speed up then.. bad news is they expect a zip code for Jamaica!? My fiance is from Trinidad.. same story on zip code.. ya just put WI when you send mail... west indies.. no zip there lol.

Bummer, guess there's a good chance I'll get a similar RFE because of their incompetence.

Just so you know, I spent the last five months cultivating political contacts in Congress specifically for this purpose, and on the day of the 5 month mark, this past Monday, I called in my chips. Let's see what happens.

AI, if your chips work some magic, and you have any left over would you mind sending some my way? I have a long wait, VDC will prolly make it much longer, so I should prolly start compiling a chip pile asap too. Fellow NYer here

Hi all, I finally received my NOA1 hardcopy in the mail!

February filer here also...now playing the waiting game. Is NOA1 date the "received date" or the "notice date" on the I797?

Thanks,

Hi flyingm14, welcome to the thread and the ultimate waiting game NOA1 date is the 'received date.'

My fiance went to college in the US and then worked here for a little while after, and he used these big barrels to ship.. they are 50 (maybe 100? Not sure, about 4.5 ft tall!) gallon barrels, cardboard, and are delivered in about 6-8 weeks I think. Cost will vary based on countries.. but there is no weight limit which is pretty cool.

Yep, I'm in initial review as well... petition arrived on Feb 14th... received e-mail and sms notification but still awaiting NOA1 hardcopy.

Jess&Tim ~ I'm with you.. hoping!! That would be incredible My current roommate is driving me UP THE WALL, I cannot wait to be with my boo instead! Yes, he's not the most tidy man but he has sanitation, cleanliness, and hygeine standards and isn't a pig, unlike my current living sitauation.. Okay, off topic - mini vent over, back to waiting

Hi everyone

May I put out a request to put timelines in signatures - so then everyone can keep track of progress and follow along?? That would be great

Also, I was looking through the timelines and stats and see a lot of Feb filers who have Texas still designated as their service center - if you didn't change yours to CSC or VSC when you got your NOA1 please go into your timeline and update it. It will help with Igor's list... I am already obsessively checking it in hopes of seeing massive approvals every day - have a feeling I may be waiting quite a while before I see that.

Thanks everyone - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hi all of you January filers! I wish you continued speedy approvals. I am a February filer so it is encouraging to see your progress but I am still hopeful for those waiting 5+ months to get some relief soon.

TwoCats ~ I have a quesion for you, if you would kindly oblige! I am not excel savvy enough to figure this out but I know there must be a simpler way than updating manually on a daily basis. How do set the NOA2 countdown date and days since NOA1 columns - what is the formula you use?? Thanks for your help,

@nikki09r: anything special with CSc?? do they process much faster? does the uscis really process 6-7 cases/day?

its 5am and cant sleep. im obsessed!! thanks for sharing igor's list how are things withyou?

Hi my_life, things are going okay here, thanks - trying not to get too optimistic that my fiance and I may be as lucky as those who have shared their <1 month wait from NOA1 to NOA2... but how nice that would be. How's you??

CSC seems to be about a month ahead of VSC. After waiting 5 months I don't think anyone is excited to have to wait another! I don't know how many they actually process a day. Igor's list tracks info shared by VisaJourney.com users, and we are only a small percentage of all K1 visa applicants so the 6-7 a day is only referring to VJ users who update their timelines.

For those wondering a touch is merely when your case is "updated last" ... this may not mean much more than it was opened or shifted from one pile or desk to another, but it's still a little encouraging to see it's been touched

I-797 is only the receipt notice. See below:

"When a petition or application is submitted to USCIS, the applicant or petitioner will receive a Receipt notice. On receipt of the petition or application USCIS will send this receipt notice to the applicant. The receipt notice is also called as Form I-797. After the application is processed successfully, USCIS will send an approval notice on Form I-797. Be notified that Form I-797 is not a visa and cannot be used in place of a visa. It states that action is taken on your application and this will be mentioned in the form."

*Phew!!* Thank youu! Inthat case I look forward to seeing it in the mail hopefully soon

my_life ~ welcome I must admit I am a little jealous your application was sent to Cali and mine wasn't!

As for which months the service centers are processing there's a couple avenues. You can look at Igor's list (google Igor's list csc) and there's a graphic on the right which indicates % of petitions process for each month. This is not official and merely for our enjoyment/persistent need to check for updates . You can also call and inquire - however they will give you the same answer for a month as the service reps who answer calls are only given a new date every 30-ish days... so until mid March they will probably tell you they are processing peitions from August 21st.

I read about the Feb filer who was approved in 15 days!! Is that true or was it a typo? Was it expedited? 15 days would be incredible. I actually had a dream 2 nights ago I got my NOA1 and NOA2 on the same day lol... oh how I wish!!

How is everyone doing??

Just received the text/email NOA1 update... 2:48am east coast time, yay!! I am so excited to be in the system. My case is also available online already. I was surprised to have access to it as I've read about many people having to wait up to several weeks for this. Hopefully this is a good sign for lots of movement and good things to come for all! As expected we were routed to the VSC.

Would you receive an RFE notice via text/email or information online prior to receiving the hard copy in the mail? Or will and RFE always sneak up on you through snail mail?

Thanks and good luck to all!

WE HAVE THE SAME FILING DATE!!! SOOOOOO NERVOUS THAT I MISSED SOMETHING ...PATIENCE IS KEY BUT SO HARD TO DO.

I just realized my fiancé and I filled and signed G-325 forms instead of G-325A forms..... they look exactly the same though! Do you think they will accept it or send an RFE?? I hope not.. It is just time consuming, and expensive for my boo to mail the document again. Heck, the entire process is expensive - but I don't want to pay more than necessary. Not a good start

Got our NOA1 today but we have to send it back coz of the expired form used and we're wondering if I-797 should also be sent back together with the correct form.

Barn and Cean.. please clarify - I am now very worried!!! What is form I-797? I did not include this in my petition! I received delivery confirmation that our package reached today via USPS... but I fear I will be getting it back shortly as well because of a missing form

Barn & Cean, thanks for the welcome : ) I look forward to keeping in touch with you all as we wait.. and wait.. and wait.. and then get approved!

While Valentine's Day is just around the corner I hope everyone can take heart if you are away from your lovey that this will be the last one apart! Does anyone have any plans despite the distance? Or do anything to make the bittersweet "holiday" a little less bitter??

Thank you for your insight. I ended up going with my permanent address which is on my license.. I transferred college twice and can't remember all of my different temporary residences. I hope they don't question or ask for that info... it would be a hassle to rediscover.

Hi all!!

I sent in our petition this morning. I'm here to join in on the waiting game May we have no RFE's and plenty of patience!

Thank you for posing this question - I was looking for an answer as well! In the date box next to the signature box the full date in mm/dd/yyyy format doesn't fit and when printed shows a + to expand the box.. we opted to leave it blank and handwrite the date. Everything else is typed. I was a little confused on the last section where it says "print" name and A#. All the examples I found online had it typed, did you type your name into this section as well?

My fiance just dropped his g-325, letter of intent, and photos off to be overnighted to me Finally!

Hi All,

I have been lurking for a while trying to absorb all of your helpful tips, info, and experiences - and now I seek a little bit more.

I am double checking our paperwork before sending it in later this week and have gotten stuck. On the biographical info form when it asks for your residence the past five years what type of residence are they looking for - permanent? I have been out of undergrad for two years but the preceding three were spent at college where my residence changed every 3-4 months. Should I list every temporary or college housing residence or will my permanent residence with my parents suffice while I was away at school? Do I need to explain this? I am probably overthinking this and just a little paranoid I will fill something out incorrectly.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Kindly,

Nikki