Visa Form I-129F

By mid-July, I had received a receipt from USCIS for the $190 processing fee that accompanies Form I-130. This was what I was waiting for, because you have to include this as proof of payment when you submit Form I-129F, which is the next step in the process of the visa application.

Basically, the Form I-130 is the petition for a spouse to immigrate to the United States. However, since it can take a very long time for this petition to be processed, they also instruct you to fill out the Form I-129F (petition for a fiance to enter the US) so that your spouse can enter the country while you wait for the 130 to be processed. Kind of a crazy way of doing things, but hey, it's the Government, and they are not known for efficiency.


A scenic field outside of Tagum City

Actually, what I've come to realize is that it's basically just a step to collect more fees from you. For one thing, it's basically the same as the Form I-130. It asks for all of the same information, which is nearly identical. In fact, both forms also ask you to include a Form G325 Biographical Info Sheet for each person, and that is 100% identical in each case (so make a copy when you submit the first form).

I have wondered why they must take the time to make you resubmit identical information, rather than making a photocopy and circulating it to the other department. The reason can only be that they just want the extra $170 fee that you send in with the Form I-129F; either that or they just like killing trees. Actually, the fiance visa is obsolete in my case anyway, as the spousal visa was processed fast enough that the 129F wasn't even needed.


A family of goats roams the neighborhood.

At any rate, I am beginning to trail off topic, so I will leave that topic for the moment. The basic fact is that by the first week of August I had submitted the Form I-129F and the $170 fee that is paid with it at that time.

Now, according to what the USCIS had told me in January, I should have two more months and then I'm done. But then I was thinking, wait a sec, my neighbor Steve has been here since October, married in February, so if it's only 3 months to process everything then why is he still here. So I asked him about it, and the result I got was a lot of laughter. It was at this point that I realized that I was in for a much longer wait than I had originally been led to believe. Nearly 11 months into my stay here in the Philippines, I wish I had that guy's name and extention so I could call both him and his supervisor and ask what the fubb they were talking about.

More to come...