ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Yay, our weekly celebration of Will-Vermont-Ever-Approve-Anyone-Again? Day(s)! I'm really kind of wishing right now that there were only one processing center--then we all *would* be in this together. Woe is me.

Ray of sunshine, I am!
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-26 10:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
This is a good idea, talking about something else!

I think our first really date-y date was actually about a year after we met! He wanted to take me to this resort area on Lake Victoria that he knew of (in this context, "resort" was a complex of guest cottages surrounded by a really lovely garden full of people who just come there for the day to relax), and even nicer, instead of taking the usual (ride on the bike of a)motorbike (driven by a roving motorbike-businessperson)-->minibus-taxi-->motorbike route, he even sprang for the luxury route and paid someone with a private car to drive us. We ate fish and chips, took lots of gorgeous photos together, drank lots of my favorite ginger soda, enjoyed the scenery (read: I enjoyed looking at him, haha), and watched the sunset. So special and memorable.

But of course that doesn't quite count! When we were first getting to know each other, though, there were no "dates" because I was his sister/cousin's houseguest and he also lived in her house (along with 15 or 20 other people). So we fell head over heels for each other just sitting around her living room talking as everyone else milled around and watched TV. Very romantic. We eventually admitted being interested in each other in the car after I managed to tag along when he had to drop someone off at the transit area. The car horn kept going off randomly as we sat there talking for eons, which didn't really contribute much to our general aim of surreptitiously escaping the hubbub of the house for some privacy.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-23 23:45:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Albert Nobbs was an interesting movie,Posted Image

but as you can see I still came back to VJ for one last peek before bed lol Posted Image

Haha: I watched Brave in 3D tonight. It was wonderfully distracting: I think this is the first time in quite a while that I've gone several hours without thinking about the visa situation (other than during sleep). But of course, here I am... (so damn, that effect wore off quickly!)
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-22 23:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Joy,
I need your opinion regarding the following:

political instability situation back to my fiancee's country, Egypt, is so bad and is getting worse. She started facing some abuses and harassment in the street and she is thinking of quitting her job by the end of this month. Honestly, the situation back there is sooooo horrible and I am sure that you guys heared about through the media. I am from Egypt too, so I know how the situation is realy bad. I am going to hit my 4th month next Wednesday since NOA1, do you think guys If I write to my congressman, that will help? Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I don't have any experience with these sort of complications, but contacting a congressman sounds like it could help. If the situation is really that dire, then these might be the sort of circumstances that would qualify for an expedite? Those seem to be very difficult to get, though: I saw another couple here with a similar situation (but in South America, I believe?) who tried for an expedite and got denied. So I'm not sure how likely that would be to work.

I hope she stays safe! That must be nerve-wracking being so far away with things like that happening. Aaron is in a safe enough place so I don't worry about the political situation, but even so, the couple of times he's been ill, I've been a basket case. It's so hard not being geographically close to them.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-21 14:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

This is kind of random, but does anyone understand why it takes USCIS 5 months to process the initial petition? Is there that much paperwork involved that they can't do it in less than a month? If I were do to the same process with me applying for a fiance/spouse visa in South Korea, it takes at most 2 weeks. I don't understand why it takes them 5 months just to approve the petition from the NOA1...

There is a backlog that they will probably never be able to work their way out from under. So, they are always processing petitions that were submitted months ago. The actual adjudication, according to people on VJ who are very familiar with the process (some of whom have worked for USCIS) typically takes around 5 minutes, once they actually reach your petition.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-21 13:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Yeah, I can picture mine, too. I want it to be a nice hybrid American/Ugandan wedding and really comfortable and informal and I want to invite everyone we like. We were talking about it a little online today. He says he wouldn't mind inviting the whole world. It's going to be in a beautiful church with a charming hall behind it for the reception, and there will be lots of different ethnic food in a buffet (with some chili or something for my dad, who thinks egg rolls are overly adventurous) and Ugandan dancing and lots of children and merriment and maybe a little chaos. Oh, and board games and singing, too.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 23:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
I've got my tax transcripts ready, am working on getting phone records from the company (I don't use anymore) that requires a notarized letter to send them, and can get a letter from my employer in probably a day so I'm not too worried about that. Other than that I think I'll need paystubs (can print anytime) and maybe my last year's tax return/W-2s? I even made a list yesterday of everything that I will need to put in the binder for Aaron to bring to his interview.

Aaron, on the other hand, is still trying to get time to take care of getting a replacement birth certificate (issued by the national rather than regional authorities, which the other Ugandan K-1 I know said is necessary) and his police certificate. As long as we haven't reached NOA2 yet and aren't in any danger of doing so soon, it's actually good that he hasn't gone yet because fresher is better, but sometime in the next week or two would be ideal.

And wedding plans? HA. I've kind of shelved all of that for the moment in my attempt to be less bitter and impatient about the indefinite nature of all of this waiting.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 21:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Same thing here :( we haven't seen each other since January 9th :crying: . I am planning on travelling there and seeing her at the end of the summer, THAT IS more than 8 months :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

We last saw each other January 9 as well. (Well, technically: my plane left around 12:40am on January 9, and so it was probably before midnight that we said our farewells.) I'm kind of going nuts here not knowing when we'll see each other again. Of course, the best way to make the NOA2 come ASAP would probably be to spend thousands on an extra trip out of desperation! With the way these things go, it would probably arrive while I was gone. And then I'd have no vacation time left to go for the interview, which would be just perfect. :crying:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 15:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

he just decided to be here for my birthday

Hooray for you! (Trying hard not to be envious! And for the record, it's not working.)

Gosh, my resolve to be financially responsible and hold off on going to see him until the interview is SO weak right now...
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 14:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Joy,
When NVC transfer i-129f applications to the embassy, do they include G-325A also with that?

My understanding is that the entire I-129F package that the petitioner originally sent is rearranged/repackaged and then forwarded along to the embassy. So, as long as there were G-325As in your original package, they will be sent to the embassy. (Although you should bring extra copies of everything to the interview in case anything has gotten mislaid along the way.)
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 13:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Glad to see all the approvals, congrats ya'll Posted Image, but most seem from CSC. Anyone have the numbers on VSC. Are they at least moving at a snails pace? Posted Image

I think snails move much faster than VSC is right now: 2 VJ approvals 2.5 days into this week so far. I thought they were waking up last week with 16 VJ approvals (not the 25+ they should have to keep up with new submissions or, heaven forbid, start catching up, but better), but I guess not?
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 10:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Yay, dagnylet & Aurelya! Aurelya, I *knew* that RFE was a good sign...
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-20 06:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Oh, hmmm. The people with the 2/13 petition applied for and received an expedite in May. That doesn't make much sense if they also got an RFE in May! These things make no sense at all.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-19 11:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Aaaaand, we have a VSC petition with NOA1 2/13 that just got approved: yay! That is encouraging. Of course, they had an RFE first. Uncanny how the only VJ February petitions that have received any attention thus far at VSC are RFEs. Everyone [read: me] always has this attitude, "Oh, no! Not an RFE! PLEASE not an RFE!" but at this point the petitions requiring RFEs are getting looked at first, so all other things being equal, right now an RFE doesn't seem to be the automatic delay that we perceive it to be!

Edited by afoyoswa, 19 June 2012 - 10:52 AM.

afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-19 10:45:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Yes, I'm right there with you, MaryNYC and MissAAA. Feeling pretty frustrated right now. Taking Friday AND Monday off now, are we, VSC? <sigh>

Just to ramp up the le sighs emanating from the February 2012 thread, here are some depressing VJ statistics from this spring at VSC, starting just before we all sent in our petitions:

# approvals/Avg days between NOA1 & NOA2 for approvals that month
VSC
December 121 138
January 146 132
February 85 124
March 77 139
April 66 140
May 43 145
June 28 160

CSC
December 55 156
January 137 161
February 123 153
March 82 146
April 61 141
May 105 151
June 49 152

I hate to break it to y'all, but I think we broke VSC.

APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here comes the February NOA2's.....I'm SO happy!

Oh my goodness!!!!! Hooray! :dance:

Edited by afoyoswa, 18 June 2012 - 10:08 PM.

afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-18 22:07:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Well, even though I am relieved once Monday comes and the approvals start rolling (or trickling) in again for the week, I can't say I *hate* weekends necessarily. They're a good time for the adjudicators to get out and relax and build up energy for the highly productive week ahead--and for us to do the same thing! I'm excited about the future, but I'm trying not to miss out on the present in my excitement. There are a lot of nice things about NOW, too. After all, being able to fully enjoy the present we're in at the moment is good preparation for being able to fully enjoy life with our loved ones once they're with us (without needing to constantly look ahead to something else on the horizon), right?

Edited by afoyoswa, 16 June 2012 - 01:48 PM.

afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-16 13:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Pretty funny. That guy is super optimistic about his NOA2 and his stock going up like $1.00 by July. I've considered selling him beach front property from Kansas.


:rofl: Or maybe a large tract of land south of Miami?
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-16 08:16:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
So, according to the graphs, CSC is now ahead of VSC with January approvals (and possibly overall). But still, 15 VSC approvals this week isn't too shabby. Much better than the week when there were 3!

Did anyone see the thread ("Stock and the engagement ring") by the guy who filed mid-March and insisted with absolute certainty that he'd have his NOA2 by the end of July? HA. :rofl:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-15 09:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Of course, in response to all of these approvals, the VJ software moved the VSC K1 processing date BACK from Jan. 27 to Jan. 20--I guess the fact that three of the last 15 approvals were from October isn't helping at all.

C'mon, VSC (& CSC)! Yesterday was nice, but it will *really* knock our socks off if you actually approve some petitions today! It may be Friday, but *I'm* still working...
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-15 06:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
OH MY GOODNESS, really is no one talking about VSC's results from today yet? :dance: :dance: :dance:

There may be light at the end of this tunnel yet! 7 approvals in one day!
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-14 21:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

But the one from October had an RFE and replied more than 3 months later.

Oooh, you're right! I feel better now. :thumbs:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-12 21:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Oh Igor, what a roller coaster you have me on (and not the good kind)! Up to 3 approvals at VSC today, you say? :dance: Oh, but one of them is from....October? Seriously? :crying: And the other is from...April? What the heck? :blink: :wacko: Um, at least maybe they'll balance each other out and not drive all the timelines crazy? (Silver lining? Please?)
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-12 20:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

I thought this thread was for both I-129F and I-130 February petitioners considering the name given. I personally was happy to see a fellow Febuary petitioner getting an approval :thumbs:



:lol: So funny Cori and Rob. I agree!!! It seems that we just happened to be mainly I-129F petitioners/fiances(es). Welcome again among us Amenspanglish :blink:

There is actually a separate Case Filing and Progress Reports forum for each type of visa, and this thread is indeed located within the K-1 forum, which is (I think) why all of us tend to be K-1s. But we're very happy for amenspanglish nonetheless! (I often wander into/post in threads that have nothing to do with me, since I mainly browse VJ using the "View New Content" link and don't pay attention to whether a thread is located in, for example, the Philippines forum. So I can relate!)
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-12 15:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Hey everyone! Looks like I'm late joining the thread, but I'm also a February filer as well. It seems as if our timeline is exactly the same as the OP - pretty cool!

Welcome! And that's really uncanny about the timelines! I hope the petitions are right next to each other in the mythical box and get processed and approved the same day: wouldn't that be great?
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-10 00:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
How is everyone? It's been a little quiet lately around here. Not that I'm helping: I'm just so tired of all of this that I'm just in trudging-along mode. Can't remember if I mentioned this, but I just started a new part-time extra job this week, so that at least makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something immigration-related.

Why is it that VSC almost never seems to do much of anything on Fridays? (Not that *I* really do much of anything at work on Fridays, haha.)
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-08 11:34:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Well, THAT was the fastest 2 weeks of my life...off he has gone back to England...the only happy thing is it's our last separation until he's here for good! Never thought I'd actually miss the snoring, farting, and morning breath that could kill an elephant.

How is everyone holding up with the endless waiting? Trying NOT to follow timelines but feel I need to DO something...urgh!

But it's JUNE - one bit closer I hope!! :D

Sounds like you had a really good time with your fiance--it's always a good sign when the time passes quickly.

And re: the endless waiting? I've moved into something of an action phase. I've got him working on getting a police certificate and a more acceptable birth certificate, and I'm starting to shift things around to get my apartment ready for an additional occupant.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-04 23:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
So, last week ended up being very encouraging, across the board!

11 approvals at VSC, 14 at CSC, and 2 mystery ones whose owners haven't gotten around to updating their service centers. Still not the ~25 someone calculated they should be approving at each center to keep up, but a huge improvement. Yay!
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-06-03 22:33:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
So it is only Thursday and we already have more VSC approvals than last week. Yay for setting the bar low...

Go, VSC! :yes: :wow: :star: :thumbs: :dance:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-31 09:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

YES!!!!!
It's an

wait for it...

wait for it...

APPROVAL from 1/30
http://www.visajourn...5030-jerryping/

Vermont is alive!!!! Posted Image

Whoooooooooooo! Well, one person at VSC is alive, at least. :thumbs:

I have a good feeling about June! Fingers crossed for both VSC and CSC peeps. And if my feeling is wrong, perhaps we could introduce an incentive contest for the adjudicators- whoever reviews the most petitions and sends out the most NOA2's gets a free candy bar!

Maybe we could all chip in for a pony.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-30 07:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
6 days without a single approval at VSC: :crying:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-29 14:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

Hi! Feb filers:)
I've been reading this thread for a while now and this always makes me feel better to know that all of us are in the same situation fighting for our love ones:) but this is the first time for me to actually post something. I just wanted to ask you guys if any of you visit the states since you filed the petition. Currently, I live in Japan and thinking about visiting my fiancé sometime in this summer. My fiancé was going to visit me in April but he couldn't make it because of his tight work schedule. We will have wedding here in Japan in oct, but it feels like forever since last time I saw him (it was January). So I want to visit him but I know that there is a possibility that they won't let me enter the U.S and I might have to just turn around and come back without seeing him... :( So I was wondering if anyone did it and if so how did it go? And what did you prepair for it? I heard bringing the return ticket, wedding schedule/contract, or work contract will work to show that I have intention of going back to my country. If there are anything else worked well, please let me know. But my first question will be... is it smart to do so? And how likely am I going to be denied??

As long as you bring enough evidence of ties to your home country (documentation of your job and housing that you must return to, mostly), it shouldn't be a problem visiting your fiance in the U.S. The part about your post that concerns me, though, is your reference to a wedding in Japan in October. If you do manage to get here on the K-1 before October, you won't be able to travel out of the U.S. again before your AP/LPR comes through, and if you don't, having a wedding before you enter the U.S. on a K-1 is not allowed. I'm sure you've thought about this, though, and aren't going to do anything that could jeopardize your ability to live in the U.S. later.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-29 09:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
I had the same thought when I got that email! I would LOVE to update my timeline...
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-29 07:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
The good news: We're now up to *4* approvals for last week. I just checked, and a new one just popped up from Jan. 24.

The bad news: Upon closer inspection, the newly posted approval is the other half of a couple, and hence a duplicate of one of last week's approvals. Oh, well. Strangely, they report their NOA2 one day apart.
Le sigh.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-28 08:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

The missed birthdays, graduations, weddings, events...are pilling up and I'm starting to wonder if this would EVER end.

Yep! Guess who graduated on Sunday? (me)
Would have been so nice if he was here. And a friend is getting married on August 18. Hmmm. Not to mention that I'd really like OUR wedding to be in October, so it would also be really great if he could be here for that, at least...haha.

Maybe what we really need here with the VSC petitions is some sort of catastrophically growing backlog like we have now. Because they're sure not going to break even with the pace they're moving at, so someone should definitely be panicking about where all those new boxes are going to go if the old ones haven't gone anywhere yet (and then taking action)! Here's hoping.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-25 20:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
Next week HAS to be better at VSC.
Week before last: very few approvals
Last week: 10 approvals
This week: 3 approvals

:unsure:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-25 16:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
I'm still keeping busy policing the recently approved Texas Service Center petitions and trying to pluck out any from VSC /get the members to correct the filing locations. It's kind of fun. In the past few weeks, there was a 12/27 one and a 1/3 one that snuck through, so combined with the 3 already from this week and 10 from last week it's not completely stopped, but sloooooooooow.

Yooo hooo, VSC employees? Come over here and work on these boxes of I-129Fs! You know you want to. :yes:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-24 11:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
I'm getting impatient, too, but my projected adjudication date hasn't passed (although with the way it keeps zooming forward, it may never come), so I've got a while before I feel justified in making noise.

For now, though, just in case anyone at USCIS is reading this, I'm going to try to be as positive as I can. Yay for VSC! We realize you're busy and buried under mountains of I-129F petitions, and are doing the best you can given whatever resource limitations you are working with, and we'll all collectively be over the moon with excitement and gratitude when we hear from you. :thumbs:
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-23 08:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
The late January approval today is a good start! Keep it up, VSC--you can do it!
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-22 18:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?
I'd be glad to pitch in as well. :help:

My projected adjudication date has migrated almost 2 weeks forward over the last couple of weeks. VSC really needs to get itself in gear, stat.
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-22 14:16:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAny February 2012 filers?

I feel your pain, Scott. Looking at the timelines, VSC seems to be at least 2-3 weeks ahead of CSC. I'm hoping CSC picks up the pace soon!

I don't know: CSC seems to be moving a lot faster than VSC over the past few weeks. If you look at the graphs, CSC is not too far behind VSC on December petitions at all, and about even on the January ones.

I'm excited to see some action at all being taken on more of the February petitions, though! Don't RFE'd petitions usually become approvals within a few weeks after satisfactory evidence is submitted? An RFE isn't much of a delay, all things considered, if you get it now and everyone else gets approvals in a month or longer!
afoyoswaFemaleUganda2012-05-21 13:44:00