K-1 Approval/Timeline from a Paused Country
Hi everyone, just wanted to share the timeline of our K-1 journey. My fiancé is from Jamaica (one of the paused countries for processing). We didn’t receive any RFEs or run into any issues during the filing process.
P.S. Huge shoutout to Suraj & Yasmin on YouTube! We didn’t use a lawyer for the filing stage (only for consular processing) and followed their videos as a guide for completing and submitting all of our forms. Their content is super organized and detailed, and I honestly think it helped us avoid any RFEs and made the whole process a lot smoother. They’re not attorneys, just two people who successfully went through the K-1 process themselves and want others to do the same. So if you’re doing this without a lawyer, definitely check them out. We’ll also be using their videos for AoS, work authorization, travel authorization, etc. https://www.youtube.com/@SurajandYasmin
- April 16, 2025: USCIS Received Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e).
- December 11, 2025: Form I-129F Approved
- February 11, 2026: Case Was Sent To The Department of State
- March 10, 2026: Received Case Number from NVC//Forward to Embassy
- March 17, 2026: Invitation to Interview
- March 30, 2026: Medical Appointment
- March 31, 2026: Interview at Embassy / Refusal under 221(g) ** social media to be made public and needed medical exam results**
- April 7, 2026: Medical Received at Embassy**(we wouldn’t have known this without an attorney reaching out to the embassy for us)**
- May 4, 2026: Approved!
- May 5, 2026: Visa Issued and Picked up at Embassy
- May 7, 2026: Entered the US