October 2013 I-130 Filers

[AMT7565 5]

Yes, 95% of the Oct filers at NSC have been approved! Good news!

Well, NSC used to be faster approving transferred applications (pre-Oct 22nd).

It seems like all of the service centers including NSC have slowed down in the last 30 days.

That's bad news for post-Oct 22nd applicants and November applicants.

I hope they pick up speed soon.

You are correct. I was on the cusp, Oct-22 and it did come late- May-12th.

[ketikevin 1]

Hey dear October fillers!

Just checked your spreadsheet and saw TSC has approved nothing comparing to the other processing centers.
I'm November fillers and I was hoping to get my approval by the end of this month, what is wrong? Do you Texas petitioners call the center and ask for service request? What they say?

[nanana 74]

I believe that huahua21599 has deleted his account.

so only waiting4i130 is still waiting.

Hurry up SC's !

[Karebear 13]

Can someone update my info on the spread sheet please. My NOA was October 23 2013 not the 29th. Thank you

Also, this backlog is driving me nuts!

[usc85 6]

Hey dear October fillers!

Just checked your spreadsheet and saw TSC has approved nothing comparing to the other processing centers.

I'm November fillers and I was hoping to get my approval by the end of this month, what is wrong? Do you Texas petitioners call the center and ask for service request? What they say?

They told me they're processing October cases now, and expect to have them done by the end of this month.

[usc85 6]

Tier 2 no help whatsoever. They refused to open a service request for me based on the fact that I'm 60 days past my transfer date, and the attachment I received in the mail said that I should call and "make an inquiry" after that time. USCIS is so useless, and my wife and I are so frustrated...

p.s. I waited on hold longer than 90 minutes to talk to Tier 2.

Edited May 19, 2014 by usc85

[thedude6752000 360]

Tier 2 no help whatsoever. They refused to open a service request for me based on the fact that I'm 60 days past my transfer date, and the attachment I received in the mail said that I should call and "make an inquiry" after that time. USCIS is so useless, and my wife and I are so frustrated...

p.s. I waited on hold longer than 90 minutes to talk to Tier 2.

What service center are you at?

[AmberG 23]

Tier 2 no help whatsoever. They refused to open a service request for me based on the fact that I'm 60 days past my transfer date, and the attachment I received in the mail said that I should call and "make an inquiry" after that time. USCIS is so useless, and my wife and I are so frustrated...

p.s. I waited on hold longer than 90 minutes to talk to Tier 2.

That is awful Can you try to file a service request with Tier 1 one rep? I did one with Tier 1 rep last month when we were over 6 months from the NOA 1 date. The Tier one rep did one with no questions asked. Maybe better to speak with Tier 1 than Tier 2 or did you already try this?

[SliderMK 3]

Hey everyone, yesterday my wife received our NOA2 lette in the mail

What is interesting is that USCIS website still show RFE Response Review.

On the NOA2 letter it show that the petition was approved on May, 14th

Anyway our group is down to 13 people left, waiting for approval. I hope they'll hear from USCIS pretty soon.

Have a good day, I know I am

[AaronOmaha 0]

Been following along in this forum for several months but this is the first time posting because I'm so frustrated now.

Filed I-130 as U.S. Citizen for spouse and received NOA1 on Oct. 7

March 11 case was transferred to TSC

May 2 I received notice that case was transferred AGAIN this time to VSC, but online it says it was transferred to "local office" (I live in Omaha). When I called Customer Service the recording says that my case was transferred to Mesquite, TX. I talked to Tier 2 and they said that it was in Vermont with no explanation for the conflicting data.

Also, the USCIS website says that processing times at VSC is 5 months so today I called and tried to make a request since I am over 7 months and the rep started to file the inquiry but couldn't because she said VSC was currently working on cases from Sept. 30!!! Then why does the website say 5 months.

I am so irritated with these people and just wondering if anyone has any input or has experienced similar issues.

A little background on our case if it helps: Not that it should matter but I will mention that I am filing this for my same sex spouse. He is from Mexico and we have been together 15 years although we were only married 2 years ago. He took a voluntary departure last year to avoid deportation because he had overstayed his original Visa. All this waiting is very hard on both of us, we just want to get the process moving because we know that we still have a long road ahead of us until we are together again.

Thanks for any input.

[usc85 6]

Not that it should matter but I will mention that I am filing this for my same sex spouse. He is from Mexico and we have been together 15 years although we were only married 2 years ago. He took a voluntary departure last year to avoid deportation because he had overstayed his original Visa. All this waiting is very hard on both of us, we just want to get the process moving because we know that we still have a long road ahead of us until we are together again.

I would certainly hope, and expect, that same sex spouses would receive the same treatment as anyone. This is a huge bureaucracy we're talking about here, so if there's one thing they're good at, it's treating everyone equally poorly

As far as a visa overstay in your husband's past, I would have no idea how that would affect I-130 processing, but usually when people bring up such topics, someone is quick to respond with the advice: if you have a complicated case, get a lawyer.

It's certainly unbelievable that they wouldn't let you file a service request given that you're at VSC and they're processing at 5 months. Perhaps they've put a hold on allowing everyone to file service requests at the 5 month offices simply because they're way behind that number in reality, and allowing everyone to open up requests would bog down the system. Don't forget, it's May now, so they have to approve some people from December or January this month to make sure they can keep their 5 month number. No use wasting their resources on October cases like ours!

Good luck to all of us still waiting!

[Cjax 6]

Been following along in this forum for several months but this is the first time posting because I'm so frustrated now.

Filed I-130 as U.S. Citizen for spouse and received NOA1 on Oct. 7

March 11 case was transferred to TSC

May 2 I received notice that case was transferred AGAIN this time to VSC, but online it says it was transferred to "local office" (I live in Omaha). When I called Customer Service the recording says that my case was transferred to Mesquite, TX. I talked to Tier 2 and they said that it was in Vermont with no explanation for the conflicting data.

Also, the USCIS website says that processing times at VSC is 5 months so today I called and tried to make a request since I am over 7 months and the rep started to file the inquiry but couldn't because she said VSC was currently working on cases from Sept. 30!!! Then why does the website say 5 months.

I am so irritated with these people and just wondering if anyone has any input or has experienced similar issues.

A little background on our case if it helps: Not that it should matter but I will mention that I am filing this for my same sex spouse. He is from Mexico and we have been together 15 years although we were only married 2 years ago. He took a voluntary departure last year to avoid deportation because he had overstayed his original Visa. All this waiting is very hard on both of us, we just want to get the process moving because we know that we still have a long road ahead of us until we are together again.

Thanks for any input.

Hi AaronOmaha,

We had terrible luck with tier 2 agents each time we phoned (and waiting 2hrs each time). We suspect we might have got the same person each time. First time telling us that the website is wrong and it is really taking 9 - 12 months to process and refusing to put through a service request. We were so taken aback (and had not bought enough credit for such a long wait!) so accepted what we were told.

Deciding not to give up, we phoned back and were prepared this time for a fight After arguing with the agent for a while we thought we were making progress. The agent insisted we needed a US address to file a service request, which we thought was ridiculous, but eventually gave in and filed a request to change our address to my father-in-law where we will be staying (we live together in New Zealand at the moment). My husband asked the agent several times if he filed a request both for the change of address and for the actual past processing time. He assured us that he had. A day or two later I realised we only got one reference number and I knew that guy had not filed it for us and only did the change of address!

The reason we called a tier 2 in the first place is that the USCIS website and tier 1 couldn't file a service request due to us using our New Zealand address. As we were forced to change to a US address anyway, I filed an online service request. About a weekend a half later we were approved! I have no idea if the service request made any difference. Will also note that we are a same sex couple so should not make any difference to your case!!!

Sorry that was a long story but we were really annoyed at the time! File an online service request if you can.

Good luck!

[Cjax 6]

Really hoping for the last members of our group to be approved as soon as possible! Stay strong

[sseymour34 6]

Been following along in this forum for several months but this is the first time posting because I'm so frustrated now.

Filed I-130 as U.S. Citizen for spouse and received NOA1 on Oct. 7

March 11 case was transferred to TSC

May 2 I received notice that case was transferred AGAIN this time to VSC, but online it says it was transferred to "local office" (I live in Omaha). When I called Customer Service the recording says that my case was transferred to Mesquite, TX. I talked to Tier 2 and they said that it was in Vermont with no explanation for the conflicting data.

Also, the USCIS website says that processing times at VSC is 5 months so today I called and tried to make a request since I am over 7 months and the rep started to file the inquiry but couldn't because she said VSC was currently working on cases from Sept. 30!!! Then why does the website say 5 months.

I am so irritated with these people and just wondering if anyone has any input or has experienced similar issues.

A little background on our case if it helps: Not that it should matter but I will mention that I am filing this for my same sex spouse. He is from Mexico and we have been together 15 years although we were only married 2 years ago. He took a voluntary departure last year to avoid deportation because he had overstayed his original Visa. All this waiting is very hard on both of us, we just want to get the process moving because we know that we still have a long road ahead of us until we are together again.

Thanks for any input.

Hello AaronOmaha,

I have been following this thread for a few months as well but I felt compelled to join so I could tell you what I found out yesterday. My PD is October 1 and I have been trying to file a service request for awhile now and I found out what part of the problem is. A very nice rep named Sergio told me that their system would not let them file a service request because my receipt # starts with MSC, which is the prefix for the National Benefits Center. Since your PD is 10/7, my guess is that yours was sent to the NBC before being transferred to a service center like mine. If you look at the NBC's processing time for USC filing I-130 for spouse, it says that the last one they finished was September 30, 2013. That explains why we can't file one online as well. He was kind (or smart) enough to cheat the system by changing my PD to September 29 so that it would accept it. It worked, however, I just received an email that says:

"Recently, you or your representative contacted USCIS concerning your I-130, to notify us that you believe your case is outside of our normal processing time. Below is a summary of what we found and how the issue has been or may be resolved.

Your petition is still pending consideration. We regret that we are not able to give you a timeframe for when we will complete the review of your petition.

What You Can Do

Please see the "Online Services" below to check the status of your case in the near future. We apologize for the delay.

We hope this information is helpful to you."

Grrrr....NOT HELPFUL AT ALL, USCIS! Mine has been transferred twice because my step-daughter's petition was initially sent to a different service center than my husband's. I am very frustrated as well, so I feel your pain! I have even requested assistance from my Congressman, which has proven fruitless as well. I even have a hard time looking at this forum anymore because almost everyone has moved on to NVC and I'm still waiting. *SIGH*

Good Luck to you and everyone else still waiting!

Edited May 20, 2014 by sseymour34

[dee&vee 79]

We hope this information is helpful to you."

Grrrr....NOT HELPFUL AT ALL, USCIS! Mine has been transferred twice because my step-daughter's petition was initially sent to a different service center than my husband's. I am very frustrated as well, so I feel your pain! I have even requested assistance from my Congressman, which has proven fruitless as well. I even have a hard time looking at this forum anymore because almost everyone has moved on to NVC and I'm still waiting. *SIGH*

Good Luck to you and everyone else still waiting!

Welcome! Have you received anything regarding your daughter's petition? It could be just they are waiting for both your husband and daughter's petition to get finished.