We followed the K1 news by using Dave Hollis' K1 Timeline website, alt.visa.us.marriage-based newsgroup, and the BCIS (Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration Services) online case status. Shortly after our wait began, NSC changed the estimated wait time to 150-180 days. Our lawyer's estimate was right in the ball park. As can be expected, everyone going through NSC complained about the longer wait in the newsgroup bulletins.
Ruby and I kept each other's mind off the long wait with our daily chats. We kept our eyes on teh K1 Timeline website. During March of 2003, the November NOA1s were being approved and we noticed that most of the approvals were in the 120-140 day range. We anxiously waited to see the news of the first December NOA1 approval.
When the first NOA2 for December NOA1 was posted on the TImeline website, we became excited thinking that our waiting period was nearing its end. There were 16 couples with earlier December NOA1s (based on the Timeline website). The approvals came in spurts which caused our emotional roller coaster. For every pause in the approvals, we got nervous since there is always a possibility that K1 applications can be put on hold by a service center in favor of a high-priority project. After a short series of approvals up to 14Dec NOA1s, there was silence after the latest approval on 24Apr. There were three 16Dec and two 18Dec still waiting ahead of us. Since almost a week had gone by, we were getting nervous.
Ruby and I had already planned a 10 pm (USA time) chat on 01May2003. I came home from work at Wal-Mart and ate my dinner. My nightly pre-chat routine is to check the K1 Timeline website, read the newsgroup for the latest bulletins, checking my online case status, and chatting with Ruby, in that order. To my disappointment, another weekday had passed with no new NSC approvals posted. I reluctantly checked the BCIS online case status expecting more of the same. Lo and behold, the status message said, "Your case has been approved...". I had to reread it a few times and checked the case number to be sure it was actually my case. I was so happy and relieved. It couldn't have come at a better time as I was about to chat with Ruby.
I excitedly opened Yahoo Messenger (YM) to begin chatting with Ruby. Ruby made a depressing comment that there were still no new approvals from NSC. I had asked her if she would start packing for the trip to USA. She replied, "Only if I can get a K1 visa" with a crying smiley face. She wanted to talk about getting prepared for the K1 interview ahead of time. I would have none of this discussion as I copied BCIS online case status and pasted it to the YM message. Ruby began crying full of joy and made a phone call to her brother. Then we spent the next hour talking about our waiting experiences, the highs and lows of waiting. In the end, it was such a big relief for us as we can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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