bequibar

for a few hours i couldn't access the british expats webpage, wonder what was wrong... anyway, we're on day 36 which, for vermont timelines standards is like three times their usual, and while checking our online status we find:

Application Type: I129F, PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)
Current Status:
On May 1, 2003, we mailed a notice requesting additional evidence or information in this case. The notice explains in detail what additional material is needed.

nooooooooooo!!!!!!! how could this be???? we were so careful to submit everything just right!

then sweetie sends me a message: Called VT. They were polite, sympathetic, but unable to help me. As the notice says, I need to read the letter when it arrives.

damn...

Matthew Udall

Sorry to hear you are receiving an RFE. Perhaps they simply lost something you already provided. That can and does happen from time to time. If that is indeed the case, hopefully you will have whatever it is that they lost (perhaps your fiancée’s ADIT photo as an example of what they could have lost).

You mentioned your case was starting to have a lengthy processing time compared to typical VSC cases. If you are indeed receiving an RFE, then that would make sense. It takes the Service Center longer when they have to throw in the added steps necessary in issuing an RFE. It is much easier (and thus faster) for them to issue an approval than it is for them to issue a denial or a request for additional evidence.

The officer you spoke with wouldn’t be able to tell you what is wanted with the RFE unless that officer put you on hold, walked to the file room, pulled your file, and then discovered what it is that the officer wanted. The information officer that you called only has access to the computer screen, and that screen has very limited information. One thing their screens can tell them that you can’t find on the BCIS website, is the date the case left the Service Center and where it was sent. Other than that, they can’t tell you anything more than you could find out yourself on the BCIS website.

Good luck with the remainder of your case.

Regards,
Matthew Udall
Attorney
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/fiancee.htm

bequibar

thankyou matthew.

we've got several theories:

1- my divorce decree is many pages long. mexico never issues a single-page certificate. the proof of the divorce is the whole procedure (it's outrageous) and that's what we submitted.

2- they like straightforward cases and slim files. we got a fatty one with a divorced beneficiary. we're the kind that gets pushed aside for 'later'.

3- there's frequent rfe's for foreign document translations even if they were in fact translated... ours were government-issued already-translated-into english documents certified by a notary public. maybe they're weird and don't look like the home-made translations with the best friend's signature on them 'certifying it is an accurate translation of the original', so maybe they just assumed they were wrong.

4- they lose papers all the time and request already-sent documents to be re-sent again.

but this is what worries me, personally:

5- i think i may have overstayed.

we met august 2001. from then on to october 2002 i visited him often and some of those visits were lengthy. on my last trip i was pulled aside by an immigration officer and led to an office to be interrogated by three different officers. they asked me a question, went away, checked computer, came back, asked me another, went away, a new one would come, and so on for over an hour and a half, maybe two.

i had been longer than they felt comfortable with on my tourist visa.
i had been visiting a boyfriend.
i had several different poes, not one consistent one.
and on both long-month trips to new zealand and australia (summer 2000 and winter 2000-2001) i failed to give my immigration paper thingy to the airline personnel when i boarded the plane, making ins assume i remained in los angeles all that time on top of the recent trips.

after i explained the poes differed depending on the cheapest route we could get, and after i proved i was in fact overseas at oz and nz with my visas and my entry and exit stamps, they let me go.

i could stay for this last trip with a warning: i had to go back home within 2 weeks, i had to get a job and i had to stay home for 'a while'. and they let me go.

i didn't get any sort of stamp on my passport nor i got my visa destroyed (as some other people i know have). i didn't get deported on the spot either.
i did as i was told: i came back home before the time they gave me, i got a job and i haven't gone back to the states since.

k1 procedures started in march.

i wonder if this constitutes overstay, if i'm red-flagged in their system, and if the fact that i applied for a k1 raised eyebrows... if this is what's making them nervous?

Slmndr13

How much additional time does an RFE add to the approval process?

Clare

[email protected] (Slmndr13) wrote in message news:...
    > How much additional time does an RFE add to the approval process?

I wish I could say...we're going through VSC and we are waiting over
110 days for any kind of answer so far. I'm an American and divorced
but we included EVERYTHING that was asked in the petition. My fiance
is Canadian. To date, their answer is: "We're still doing the security
check." Vermont taking over 100 Days?? Who ever heard of this? I
haven't received an approval or denial, just many many days of
waiting...
On Friday, I fed-ex'd a letter to the VSC and cc'd letters to my
Senators, asking for reason for this unusual delay. Actually, we
would feel a lot better if they asked for more info, which would
explain this.
I will follow up this week to see if the letters helped.
Unfortunately, we applied for the K-1 without a helpful group such as
yourselves. The BCIS site is very confusing

bequibar

i hope you get an answer soon clare... i thought i was a vermont record at 46 days, but 100? poor you, that's just insane...

ScottHenshaw

Dont worry to much. I did not get an RFE but was worried that I would. So I read many threads about RFE's. So long as you provide whatever it is they need in an organized manner it should not take more than a few weeks. (Again, I base this on what I have read and not personal experience).

I do not know what the number one reason for RFE's are but it seems to me that most of them have something to do with previous marriages and the related divorces. I have seen a couple where they could not read the divorce paperwork clearly. Just no way of knowing exactly what it is until you get the RFE reason in the mail. Chances are that it is just some simple document that can be Fedex'ed the next day.

Believe it or not they can pull strings at the service centers for you. Sending additional info also gives you a reason to keep calling without pissing them off. About a week before I was approved I spoke with my fiancee, as we were both getting really depressed. She told me that she was really worried because I did not put her full name of Ma. Nanette and only put Nanette on the I-129f. Ma. in Filipino is short for Maria. She seemed so worried that I called NSC the next day and asked what to do. The guy on the phone told me that there was nothing he could do, but that I could send in a letter of explanation. Overnighted one. The next day I called and talked with a telephone operator and explained my situation. She said she was going to email the inspector, which I was amazed that they even had a way of doing. I called the next day to see if they recieved my letter and the girl was a real bitch. This was May 5th, my birthday and I was not going to have NSC ruin my day. I called again about an hour later and just said that, "today is my birthday and I am hoping to get lucky". They operator could not stop laughing and asked for my case number. She told me that indeed she can send an email about the Ma. issue, but does not show that my mail had been recieved by their system. (USPS showed it was recieved though). The next day I was approved, after 142 days

Point of all my babble.... Just hang in there. Wait for the RFE in the mail and deal with it. This will pass and soon you will be appoved and look back on all this as a flash in the past.

Scott