I've been reading through quite a few posts and hearing quite a bit about how busy/slow the Dallas INS is at the moment. As we are thinking of submitting our I129 to this office in the next few weeks, does anyone have an idea of how long we're likely to wait before the next stage could start (London Embassy), hoping we'll be approved.

Rob

Rob,
I-129F's don't go to Dallas, they go to the Texas Service Center, in Mesquite (address on I-129F instructions). Dallas is where you will file for Adjustment of Status, after you are married. Timing-wise, that's a toughie because there have been very few recent approvals posted so it's hard to guess. Go to these sites to stay updated:

http://www.davehollis.com/k1
http://www.marriagebasedvisas.org

If you wanted me to make a wild guess, I would say about 125 days from the date you send it right now. This depresses the hell out of me, but it does fluctuate quite a bit, so hopefully they'll rush through a bunch of them pretty soon.

-Harry (UK) Wendy (TX)

I-129F sent to TSC: 10/9/01
check cleared: 11/9/01
NOA 1: dated 11/5/01. rec'd 11/15/01

But look at it this way, by living in the Dallas jurisdiction at least you will
adjust status immediately when filing the AOS. So what time you spend on the I-129F
(which really isn't all that long 4-6 months average), you will make up for in the
savings of years of time for AOS.

Rita