Got I-130 moving again!

[abvlit 0]

I hope this information will be helpful and encouraging for those who have their approved I-130 retained by USCIS while their approved I-129F forwarded to NVC for processing.

Both my I-130 and I-129F were approved at the same time. According to USCIS policy, they retained my I-130 at their National Record Center (NRC) for storage, and forwarded my I-129F to National Visa Center (NVC) to be processed.

This came as a shock to me because a) I had no prior knowledge of this policy, and b] the NOA2 for I-130 stated the approved visa petition was sent to NVC (which is not what happened).

So I could either just go with the I-129F for now and do Adjustment of Status later, or file I-824 (Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition) and pay a $200 fee to get it moving again, or I can call them to argue my case and demand they send it to NVC. I decided to fight them on this, and here's my timeline.

7/10/07 - Called and argued my case. CSR agreed to retrieve my case from NRC and send to NVC. (Found out two weeks later that he did not.)

7/11/07 - Called again with more questions. Apparently calling too many times is a big no-no. Lady was really angry and refused to answer any of my questions. Oh well, try again next week.

7/18/07 - Spoke to someone who apparently had no information regarding my case. So she said the case was indeed being retrieved from NRC. (Found next week that this was a lie. However, in retrospect, her English was poor so she probably didn't know what I was asking.)

7/24/07 - Now I'm starting to take names down, something I should always do everytime I call. Spoke to Officer Ken Luu who said NO request has ever been made on my case and it is still retained at NRC. I explained my situation again and he said he will request for it to be retrieved from NRC and sent to NVC. I will only speak to him from now on.

7/31/07 - Checking status, but Officer Luu is out of office, will try again tomorrow.

8/1/07 - Officer Luu is in, but CSR is not permitted to transfer calls so I left a message for him to call me back.

8/2/07 - Officer Luu is out of office, so I left another message.

8/6/07 - Got message from Officer Luu, informing me he did indeed request to get the I-130 back. Please wait.

8/17/07 - Nice person transferred me to Officer Luu's line (hmm... thought they were not permitted to transfer calls). Officer Luu said he got the case back and request it be extracted from the A-file (which is created for files in storage). He will then send it to NVC.

9/6/07 - Left message for Officer Luu. He called back and told me I-130 has been sent to NVC as of August 28th.

9/10/07 - NVC receives I-130 and assigns case number!

This is the basic timeline of what happened. However, there were a couple more phone calls made on a couple of those days (basically playing phone tag) as well as more useless conversations with some of the USCIS people. Two months delay on the I-130, but now I'm back on track.

The battle at USCIS is over; the battle at NVC is about to begin...

[Dakine 26]

I hope this information will be helpful and encouraging for those who have their approved I-130 retained by USCIS while their approved I-129F forwarded to NVC for processing.

Both my I-130 and I-129F were approved at the same time. According to USCIS policy, they retained my I-130 at their National Record Center (NRC) for storage, and forwarded my I-129F to National Visa Center (NVC) to be processed.

This came as a shock to me because a) I had no prior knowledge of this policy, and b] the NOA2 for I-130 stated the approved visa petition was sent to NVC (which is not what happened).

So I could either just go with the I-129F for now and do Adjustment of Status later, or file I-824 (Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition) and pay a $200 fee to get it moving again, or I can call them to argue my case and demand they send it to NVC. I decided to fight them on this, and here's my timeline.

7/10/07 - Called and argued my case. CSR agreed to retrieve my case from NRC and send to NVC. (Found out two weeks later that he did not.)

7/11/07 - Called again with more questions. Apparently calling too many times is a big no-no. Lady was really angry and refused to answer any of my questions. Oh well, try again next week.

7/18/07 - Spoke to someone who apparently had no information regarding my case. So she said the case was indeed being retrieved from NRC. (Found next week that this was a lie. However, in retrospect, her English was poor so she probably didn't know what I was asking.)

7/24/07 - Now I'm starting to take names down, something I should always do everytime I call. Spoke to Officer Ken Luu who said NO request has ever been made on my case and it is still retained at NRC. I explained my situation again and he said he will request for it to be retrieved from NRC and sent to NVC. I will only speak to him from now on.

7/31/07 - Checking status, but Officer Luu is out of office, will try again tomorrow.

8/1/07 - Officer Luu is in, but CSR is not permitted to transfer calls so I left a message for him to call me back.

8/2/07 - Officer Luu is out of office, so I left another message.

8/6/07 - Got message from Officer Luu, informing me he did indeed request to get the I-130 back. Please wait.

8/17/07 - Nice person transferred me to Officer Luu's line (hmm... thought they were not permitted to transfer calls). Officer Luu said he got the case back and request it be extracted from the A-file (which is created for files in storage). He will then send it to NVC.

9/6/07 - Left message for Officer Luu. He called back and told me I-130 has been sent to NVC as of August 28th.

9/10/07 - NVC receives I-130 and assigns case number!

This is the basic timeline of what happened. However, there were a couple more phone calls made on a couple of those days (basically playing phone tag) as well as more useless conversations with some of the USCIS people. Two months delay on the I-130, but now I'm back on track.

The battle at USCIS is over; the battle at NVC is about to begin...

WOW! You don't give up easy!

GOOD job and nice to know peeps don't have to file a I-824 and blow more dough.

Don't know if others would hang in there that long!

VERY SMART move also going with the I-130! It will be worth all the ####### you have been going thru.

[Elphie 0]

Did you ever find out why your I-130 was sent to the NRC in the first place?

[abvlit 0]

Did you ever find out why your I-130 was sent to the NRC in the first place?

USCIS policy change back Nov 2006 concerning those who petitioned for both I-130 and I-129F. Read this Public Notice for more details:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_i-129f.pdf

Edited September 12, 2007 by abvlit

[abvlit 0]

WOW! You don't give up easy!

GOOD job and nice to know peeps don't have to file a I-824 and blow more dough.

Don't know if others would hang in there that long!

VERY SMART move also going with the I-130! It will be worth all the ####### you have been going thru.

Thanks beckypua, after discovering how expensive and difficult the K-3 can be, I'd rather go with the I-130 as well.

[pushbrk 12,569]

GOOD job and nice to know peeps don't have to file a I-824 and blow more dough.

Yes, good job but I don't know that I would draw that conclusion.

On what basis did the OP argue USCIS should move his case along without the I-824? Others might be successful if the same basis applied to them.

[mgk 0]

abvlit!

Good job!

Thank you for posting your experience, its very helpful

Cheers and good luck for next phase