Is there enough time for an I-129F????

Okay, Paul and I are filling out paper work, and I will be sending the I-129F in as soon as I get stuff back from him (with in two weeks I guess).  I plan to send everything FexEx overnight...just for good measure.

I am a bit worried though, about the time issue.  If we send everything off for round one (I-129F) and we plan to get married on May 21, 2005...have we given ourselves enough time? 

Or, if we don't have the time, is there a "fast track" that we can use?  Getting married anywhere but my home town is not an option.  My folks can not travel, and we really want to get married in the Church.  We will be living in the Seattle area after the wedding, and I really don't want to play the game where we get hitched then he has to go back to Scotland to wait on Visas...

Anyone who can share a "time line", that would be great!!

Thanks!
Frances

I *personally* think that is enough time but I can not stress enough that each I-129F case varies. There is a new man on this board who has been going thru this process for over one year now {his post about this is in the 'welcome wagon' section.}

Our case is moving along quickly.

Aug 9 '04- We mailed our packet {I-129F} to the Vermont Processing Center {regular mail.}

Aug 13 '04-- VT receives our package

Aug 16 '04-- 1st notice: a receipt on our packet and money order.

Aug 25 '04-- 2nd notice: approval notice; they have 'accepted' our case

Sept 3 '04-- 3rd notice: the State Dept. has received the approved petition. "Within a week, the petition will be forwarded to the appropriate visa-issuing post where the interview will take place."

Sept 9 '04-- Andy's parents in England receive the package for Andy to fill out and send to the American Embassy in London.

Right now, Andy is waiting for his {CLEAN!} police record in his home town of Cheltenham. He has the package filled out and will send it upon receiving the record.

He has been back in Cheltenham since Sept 29; he was here in NY for 90 days and went thru the above process while he was still here.

From what I gather, after he sends in the package he will be called in for an interview and get his medical exam done. This can be as early as 2 weeks after he sends the package in. Once he has the visa in his passport, he will have 4 months to "activate it." Once it is activated at immigration {US airport}, he has 90 days to marry me.

Our wedding date is July 28, 2005.

I've also read that VT processing center is usually a time-consuming nightmare, but our petition moved along quickly. Ours is an extremely simple case as well. We have never been married so obviously no divorces, do not have children, do not have police records, never have served in the military, never have been on welfare.... Stupid stuff but I've heard *everything* about your lives is taken into consideration. Andy also has a social security number for living/working here in America for 1 year-- that might be helpful to us.

Is your situation a simple one??? Are there factors to consider that might hold up the process? That will help you a bit in knowing whether your process will {hopefully} be smooth or not but again, I stress that everyone's case is very different. You could have a simple situation like us and then the process could be dragged out for whatever reason!

I do not think there is a fast-track option for the I-129F but I can be wrong! Anyone?!

Please let me know how you get on; I really like to hear about other couples in the same situation as us. {{{Hugs}}}

I think our situation is fairly simple.  We met while I was living over in Scotland (2001) and I came back to the States a couple of months ago.  We have loads of "proof" of an ongoing relationship...tickets, photos, phone bills, emails...you name it.

Also, niether of us have any children and it is a "first" (only and last, really) for each of us.  We are 30 and 42 years old, so it's not like we are little kiddies with no clue or who have been presured into a relationship for an "arranged" marriage.  We are also both university educated with  good-paying career jobs (I just started my new job in Seattle in August, he's been at his job 10+ years).

To me, these things should make a visa easy to obtain (no divorces to clarrify, proof of meeting etc...).  I am just so stressed out that something will hold things up and we will not be able to get married the way we want (and the way that my Mom will be happiest).

One more question...police records.  Can Paul request them now?  Or should they be requested within a specific time frame?  I am keen to get as many things done ahead of time as possible...

Thank you so much!  And I would love to hear how your visa is coming along.  I think that every bit of "good" news I hear will help to calm me down a bit!!

Your situation sounds smooth as well and I think it will progress at a quick pace. {Keeping fingers crossed for you!}

Yes! As far as I am concerned, Paul can request a police record now. Andy did not bring any paper work into his police station to prove why he needed a police record. He explained his situation to them and filled out a form to get the record. It would be a great idea for Paul to do that now and be one step ahead of the game. Andy's local police dept. said it can take up to 4 weeks for the record to be delivered. He requested it a week after he got home {Sept 29} and is still waiting on it.

With our petition that we printed off online, we also sent in a covering letter requesting an answer on how long the process would take {never did get an answer, oh well!}, a color photo-copied collage of photos taken over the 2 years we have known one another {included photos from his visits to NY, my time in England, our travels thruout the UK- 6 photos in total}, our statement of our intent to marry within 90 days of his visa being 'activated', a statement regarding that we have met {and how, and when....}, our money order, 2 passport photos each... and I believe that is it. We did not include phone bills, emails, etc. We gave them exactly what they asked for plus the color photo-copied photos.

Andy intends to bring a copy of our receipt from the wedding venue proving our wedding date to the interview. It is not requested but we both think it will not hurt for them to see 'proof.' We are also thinking of printing up job ads from the NY Times and the SF Gate {to bring to the interview} that he is qualified for and will be applying to once he gets here {to show that he is making an effort to find employment ASAP.} He will also bring a copy of his resume. None of these are mandatory to bring to the interview but we both figured it would not hurt if they should ask any questions on "Do you have a wedding date confirmed?", "What type of employment are you seeking?" These are questions I have heard being asked in the interview.

I guess it really is all in the hands of the processing centers... We were very nervous when we sent our packet in. We didn't know how long this process would take {we really still don't!} and if we would even get approved... It's a bit scary not knowing what the future holds regarding the visa but I am alot more at ease now. I think you and Paul will do just fine!

Processing Center Data as of October 21, 2004 for fiance I-129f's:

Vermont Service Center is processing applications with recepit date of October 15 or older
California Service Center is processing applications with recepit date of September 21 or older
Nebraska Service Center is processing applications with recepit date of July 9 or older
Texas Service Center is processing applications with recepit date of August 27 or older

This shows you how far behind each of the 4 regional processing centers are at  that date in time. California processes the fastest, Nebraska the slowest. Which region your I-129f is sent to is determined by which state you will be sending it from ( i.e. what state your US address is in.)

This does not mean that your fiance will be able to come directly over once the application is processed and "approved" however. After the thing is approved there are several rounds of paperwork, interview, physical exam at the embassy in the UK etc, so the actual time from approval to flying out to the US varies but it averages about 3 months or so, or in plenty of time for your marriage date.

My I-129f, that  ny_2_uk mentioned, is the spousal sort, not the one for a fiance, so I have a bit of a longer wait since they don't handle those regionally, only at the incredibly slow National Benefits Center. As it stands now my I-130 was transfered to California on the 20th so I won't have to worry about the I-129f delays - the California Service Center usually approves I-130's in only a few weeks, which means my wife could be coming over in about 4 months or so on the full visa. Since I will be back in London for the duration of that wait we will at least be together until it is all done and can fly back to Texas together.

  Jared

I sent the I-129F for off at the end of August.  My DH sent his stuff to the embassy in November.  He didn't actually recieve the packet until Feburary, but we sent it early.  He has an interview date for the beginning of March. 

We also had a very straight forward case with lots of proof.  The only way I know to hurry it along is to have your fiance get all of his stuff together and send it off to the embassy now.  That way they'll have it when the US service center forwards it to the UK.

My whole time line is here http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=7862.0, I'm sorry, it's just to late to type it all out again.

Good Luck
Becca

You should have time...

Even with a request for more proof of relationship for our 129F we had him in the USA about 5 months from the date we sent it.

Thing is take my experience with a grain of salt because it was before the Dept. of Homeland Security took over and maybe things have improved    . . .  or not.

Well, I think that I have calmed down a bit.  However, I also feel as if I will be a little stressed about it all until Paul gets his interview date.  Only then will I truly be able to breath a sigh of relief.  I'm not at all worried about his visa being denyed or anything like that...just about it being delayed. 

Thank you all for help...and I will be certain to keep everyone up to date on our process....

Cheers!
Frances

Okay, I sent all of my forms (photos, check, copies of tickets, birth certificate, passport...) about two hours ago.  I just looked at the Nebraska website, and they are still processing stuff from AUGUST!!

So, another question, if I may.  Once the application is approved through this first round, which it looks like it may be three months?!, how fast does the London embassy tend to work?  Are we talking a few more months?  A couple of weeks? 

Also, if we know what forms the London embassy will be sending, can we fill them out now?  Or do we need to fill out the ones THEY sent?

I can not believe how nervous I am over some silly paper work!  But with May 21 just around the corner....if only we had started the paper work earlier!!

Also, if we know what forms the London embassy will be sending, can we fill them out now? Or do we need to fill out the ones THEY sent?

DH sent his stuff to the London embassy 2 months before they he got the forms in the mail.  They can't do anything with it until the US sends your file over, but you save the time of getting everything together after the embassy sends out their forms.