Processing Times increasing?

[pras_padmini 1]

Have the processing times gradually been increasing? It took me a little over 3 months from the NOA1 to the I-130 being approved (From Mar to Jun 2010). Yet now the timelines for the CSC and VSC show that they're processing those with NOA1 dates last November. Almost 5 months? Really? Or am I reading the timeline wrong?

Let's just hope the govt doesn't shut down this week, because that would most likely slow things down even more. Or maybe the fact they don't have a complete 2011 budget is what's slowing things down?

Anyway I'm glad to be over the toughest part of the process. Now it's just waiting 2 years for the conditional greencard to become permanent. But I really hope the process improves over time, so visa processing isn't so long, painful, and expensive.

Edited April 4, 2011 by pras_padmini

[Jim Brown 5]

Processing times are roughly 5 months prior to NVC right now, though there was recently a snafu with quite a few applications that were transferred to TSC and took excessively longer.

[Done--Really 331]

Exact times go up and down based on caseloads and backlogs, but the important thing is that at least at the moment, most cases are getting done in under 5 months--read this statement from the USCIS web site:

If the office is processing a particular type of application in less time than our processing goal, you will see the processing times expressed in months (for example, if the office is processing naturalization applications in less than our 5 month goal, the processing time will state “Five Months”). However, if that office is taking longer than our processing goal to handle the form type in question, you will see the filing date (e.g., “April 10, 2003”) of the last case we processed on the date the website chart was last updated. The charts are updated on or about the 15th day of each month.

So before we all get crazed, why not take them at their word ?? Waiting five months for something that will change our lives forever doesn't seem like such a long time to me !!