I-130 Approval times???

[Amina_KSA 0]

I know people ask questions like this all the time, but please help me out fellow DCFers.

We filed our I-130 at the Riyadh embassy on July 30th. I had spent hours upon hours making sure I had everything in order and that I had a very appropriate cover letter, etc. We got there and the guy at the window said "all that's not necessary, just give me the actual I-130, a copy of both of your passports, your marriage certificate, and a photo of each of you"..then we had a brief "interview" with another guy at another window and at the end he said "I just want to let you know that I am going to recommend your petition for approval...the embassy will be in touch with you to let you know what you'll need to do for the next step"...

I thought things went with flying colors but now, two weeks later we still haven't heard anything from the embassy. I'm starting to worry b/c our street address and mailing address are different (although I stated that clearly on the app.) They said they may contact you via phone, email, or regular mail...so I have no idea what to expect. I have no problem waiting, but I am just wondering what the average waiting time is for the I-130 approval. I know it varies from country to country but after looking at some people whose petitions were approved in like 2 days I'm starting to panic...I don't know why, all of our stuff is in order..but still, the whole thing is so stressful.

Also, if I don't hear from the embassy after a certain amount of time should I try to contact them?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

[redglasses 1]

Yup, it difinitely varies from country to country.

As for Japan, we were told to expect hearing from them by mail in about 3 weeks.

(On the instruction we got at the US Embassy Tokyo, it says it takes a month, though)

Your petition is probably going though background check with FBI and you will hear from them once it comes back to the embassy.

I would wait another month or so and if there's no sign of hearing from them, I would call.

[Amina_KSA 0]

Thanks a lot for this info.

Please keep the info coming people...again, I know these questions get redundant but the newbies like me really stand to benefit a lot from the experiences of those who have been through this.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Since they didn't actually tell you how long it would be till they get in touch, I would leave it one month (unless you are in an extreme hurry), and then give them a ring. If you are in a hurry, you could ring now, but don't push for an approval, just ring them and ask for when you can expect to hear from them.

Have the USC ring rather than the beneficiary, as the I-130 is all about the USC (and some consulates will give a much friendlier response if talking to a USC...).

[Amina_KSA 0]

Thanks for the response. We are not in any rush, I just want to make sure I am aware of the "normal" window of time so that I can contact them before it gets too long. I worry that they are having trouble getting in touch with us or something (like if they sent the package to the wrong address, etc) and so I don't want to waste time if that was the case...kwim?

I think I'll wait until it's been a full month and then give them a ring (IE leave a message and pray they call me back which they probably will not b/c that's the way the embassy is here)...

[NYN 0]

Hi there,

I know what you are feeling, but I tried not to even look at the calendar while I waited for packet 3. I went to the embassy to turn in the paperwork and I thought all was OK. I did panic a bit because I had to write a letter on the spot to explain our special circumstances, that i had not thought were special. Anyway I was contacted by phone the same day because I left a field blank in the form, somehow a field I thought I did on the computer was blank. Anyway so I had to go back the next day to fill it in in person.

And that´s the day I wrote down for our count down. I figured once I ¨felt¨like it had been a while I would check. I tried to think of other stuff I needed to gather for later on to keep my mind occupied, like the I-864 etc-

I also worried a little about if and when we would be contacted. My husband and I were in an unusual situation in that we both live in different places. I worried the packet would be sent to him because I once sent him a birthday card and it was sent back, and also his home phone doesn´t work now. Anyway I was told the packet would be sent to my address by the embassy, but what do they know! The packet was sent to my husband´s address...

The packet arrived (thank God) last Saturday at my husband´s house and luckily someone was there to receive it.

It was about 14 days until letter was "registered" (according to the cover letter they sent) and the actual letter they sent was dated two days later, and 10 days after that we got the packet.

So total wait for our Packet 3 was of 26 days or about 3 and a half weeks.

I hope this helps a bit. Hang in there. Every embassy is different and remember you might be ´competing´with more cases than I was. So like I said start focusing on other parts of the process for when you are contacted.

[Amina_KSA 0]

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded.

I think I am so stressed b/c our mailing address and our street address are different. I asked which address we should put on the forms and they said our street address b/c our mailing address is a POB. So, on a separate sheet of paper I provided my mailing address and all my other contact info.

I guess what has me a bit confused is that everything went EXTREMELY smoothly and the guy said "I'm recommending your petition for approval" and was even chit chatting with me about the fact that we were both from the same home state, etc..and the other guy said I should work for the embassy b/c I'm more informed and organized than him...so I just felt like everything was perfect and that we'd hear from them very quickly. Now that it's going on the third week I'm starting to wondering if they sent the packet to the street address (which means it will never reach us)...

Furthermore, Riyadh is NOT a big immigration embassy...most Saudi's are not trying to immigrate to the States and there are very few people here who would qualify for DCF...so I don't think I can blame the delay on heavy volume, kwim?

I called and left a friendly message "Hi, this is ________, I just have a very quick question regarding the I-130 that I recently filed. I searched the embassy website for the answer to my question but was unable to locate an answer. If you could give me a call back at ______ at your earlier convenience I would really appreciate it. Thanks a lot!"

What do ya'll think?

[LA80 3]

I think that it definitely differs from one consulate to other. Our I-130 was approved the very same day by the consular officer, but then she told us she would call us in 15-20 days and give the list of documents. You can guess that she did not call, but we were more than persistent, and my husband did not stop calling till we discovered all was ok and got the list she promised. Then we thought we would get the letter with interview date or something....but nope.

The procedure was that we collected everything, and then set up the final interview date over the phone.

So, I think you should be persistent and keep trying. There must be someone who is in charge of visa issuing and who can tell you what's going on.