JLD & EMK's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Ja'Ponica Beneficiary's Name: Ebrahim VJ Member: JLD & EMK Country: Kenya Last Updated: 2025-11-15 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Ja'Ponica & Ebrahim:

USCIS I-129F Petition:       Dept of State K1 Visa:     USCIS I-485 Petition:   USCIS I-765 Petition:       USCIS I-131 Petition:       USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

K1 Visa Event Date Service Center : California Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Kenya I-129F Sent : 2022-08-22 I-129F NOA1 : 2022-08-23 I-129F RFE(s) : RFE Reply(s) : I-129F NOA2 : 2023-08-02 NVC Received : 2023-09-15 Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned : 2023-09-15 NVC Left : 2023-09-15 Consulate Received : 2023-10-12 Packet 3 Received : 2023-10-12 Packet 3 Sent : 2023-10-12 Packet 4 Received : Interview Date : 2024-03-15 Submit Review Interview Result : Administrative Review Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : US Entry : Marriage : Comments : 01/29/2024 We didn't realize that we had received instructions by email and could begin scheduling our Visa Appt right away after receiving the notice from the Embassy on 10/12/2023 until months later in Jan 2024. At that point we figured out that our K-1 petition approval which was issued on 08/02/2023 was only valid for 4 months and had expired. We emailed USCIS for guidance and was advised that the Consulate could extend the approval date at their discretion. We are hopeful Working with the Kenyan Consulate to schedule an appointment through their website (https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ke/iv/users/sign_in) is a challenge as the site is not very user-friendly and confusing. It would not allow us to pay the fee because there were no appointments available. We had to keep checking back until an appointment was available (that date was less than a week away). After paying the $45, 050.00Ksh for the visa fee, you have to wait up to 2 days to receive the receipt confirmation. Once the receipt arrived by email we returned to the site to choose our appointment date, but none were available again. We are now checking back every day, several times a day (per another VJ poster's guidance found in a forum) in hopes of landing an appointment soon. Once we have the appointment we will proceed with booking the medical exam as the Interview Appointment Date is necessary for that. 1/30/2024 Per another poster in a VJ Forum we were able to land an appointment by checking the consulate's site between 4pm -6pm Kenya Time. Theappointment is set for 3/15/2024. Now to request the medical appointment and the website is NOT user-friendly. Finally after several attempt, on 1/31/2024 we were able to schedule an appointment at IOM on 2/7/2024. 2/7/2024 The IOM medical appointment was lengthy. Their website nor the confirmation letter advised to bring passport photos but we saw this info on the US travel.gov. M-Pesa was used to pay medical fees. 3/15/2024 He attended his interview and received a Refusal Letter. His medical exam indicated the presence of khat..a leaf he had chewed, which is a schedule I drug in the US. The instructions he received at the embassy was that IOM would contact him again. A month or so passed and IOM contacted him to appear within 24 hours for a random drug test. 10/22/2024 My fiance's has been paying and appearing for random drug tests at IOM for the last 7 months when we received an electronic update that his passport was being released and would be available for pickup 10/28/2024. The visa status website indicates a REFUSED status as of 10/22/2024. It also states to refer to the letter given to him at his 03/15/2024 interview. This is confusing because the interview letter only has an "X" beside Medical Documents needing to be submitted. At each medical visit the doctor submits the documents to the Consulate. 10/30/2024 1200HRS My fiance received a call from IOM to appear for a medical exam (random drug test). He appeared and advised that he had received a notice that his passport was being returned, but because he had pneumonia had not gone to pick it up. IOM told him that the exams usually continue for a full year and they did not understand why his passport was being returned. They agreed that he should pick the passport up (which should be accompanied by a letter) and the. return to the IOM office to determine the next steps. Dates of Drug Testing at IOM are listed below. He was contacted and asked to appear within the next 24 hours. June 11, 2024 July ?,2024 Sept. 24, 2024 Oct 31, 2024 Jan 22, 2025 April 10, 2025 June 11, 2025 - false negative; he was taking medication for an illness that produced a false negative. As a result he had to have his medical doctor forward his medical records to IOM as proof of his treatment plan and illness. June 18, 2025 - return visit to IOM after 7 days to take another test due to the previous test resulting in a false negative Oct 15, 2nd IOM Medical Exam - they told my fiance that the consulate had actually contacted them to request that he come in back in July, but IOM failed to contact him then. The only way he knew about this was because he called IOM after not heearing from them since June and noticing that his "Case Last Reviewed" date had not changed on the CEAC website (see below for details). They admitted their error and asked him to appear this day. Nov. 4 - I wrote the consulate via email on this day. Email was addressed to: immigrantvisanairobi@state.gov. In the subject line I wrote: V77 - HIS FULL NAME - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING. In the body of the email I included my fiance's Last Name, First Name, Date of Interview, and Passport Number. I wrote a note asking for an update on his K-1 Visa status and indicated that we had followed requests for various medical appointments and attached a copy of his Refusal Letter that was given to him on his interview date in March of 2024. Nov 13 - My fiance received an email from immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov which instructed him to send his passport via their courier partner BLS and provided the courier's address in Eldama Park, Westlands ***Note*** Periodically, IOM would fail to submit his drug test results to the consulate timely. He would have to call IOM to confirm that they sent the report. We would often check the CEAC website (https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx ) to see if his status had been updated. Usually the Case Last Updated date would change within two weeks after each drug test taken at the IOM office. His Visa status on the website would show as: "REFUSED." Over time we figured out that REFUSED did not mean DENIED. Each time we visited the CEAC site, we would choose Immigrant Visa (IV) as the Visa Application Type, enter his case number including the NRB found in front of the numbers, his passport number, the first 5 letters of his surname, and the validation code, then click Submit. A window would appear with REFUSED as the status, the Case Created Date (Date of I-129F approval), and a Case Last Updated: Date. Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-129f was approved in 344 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 570 days from your I-129F NOA1 date.

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Timeline Comments: 2



*Notice about estimates: The estimates are based off averages of other members recent experiences
(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
rely on them for planning. As always you should check the USCIS processing times to see if your application
is past due.

** Not all cases are transfered

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