Spousal Visa Current Processing Time

[lemayz 2]

Hi!

I have a follow up question in terms of waiting times...on the USCIS website, if you look up the California Service Center for I-130 (spouse), it says the processing time is 5 months.

However, on te Visa Journey page here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/times there is a graph on the right-hand side that chows the CSC at about 110 days (and it says it was updated today), which is much less than the 5 months that the USCIS says. Does anyone know why the huge difference between the USCIS table and the Visa Journey graph?

Thanks!

[Laure&Colin 558]

Well, I'm sorry if I bring bad news but nobody mentioned it, and I'm not sure you're aware of it: NOA2 that should come after 5-6 months is not the end of the immigration process. It's just the end of the 1st step.

After that, your application will be sent to the National Visa Center, which will collect all necessary documents.

Eventually, your case will be forwarded to the embassy in your country, where you will have an interview.

So from NOA2 to the moment the visa is put in your passport, there could be around 4 additional months.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Laure&Colin

[Laure&Colin 558]

Hi!

I have a follow up question in terms of waiting times...on the USCIS website, if you look up the California Service Center for I-130 (spouse), it says the processing time is 5 months.

However, on te Visa Journey page here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/times there is a graph on the right-hand side that chows the CSC at about 110 days (and it says it was updated today), which is much less than the 5 months that the USCIS says. Does anyone know why the huge difference between the USCIS table and the Visa Journey graph?

Thanks!

Right now July filers are only starting to receive the approval for their I-130.

So except in special circumstances (expedites, USC residing abroad), the current processing time is around 6 months.

The difference is, I think, due to the fact that VJ graph is based on averages. However, lately, more "special" cases than "regular" cases were approved, which brought the average down artificially.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Well, I'm sorry if I bring bad news but nobody mentioned it, and I'm not sure you're aware of it: NOA2 that should come after 5-6 months is not the end of the immigration process. It's just the end of the 1st step.

After that, your application will be sent to the National Visa Center, which will collect all necessary documents.

Eventually, your case will be forwarded to the embassy in your country, where you will have an interview.

So from NOA2 to the moment the visa is put in your passport, there could be around 4 additional months.

Wow, this needed to be said! I got all the way here with all this confusion and I was going to say the same thing. No one explained the process, they said "Noa2" and 6 months and 9 months without explaining the difference.

As to the I-129F/I-130 thing, in most cases they will be matched up and approved together, then the I-129F will be closed. They are putting effort into making sure this happens.

OP - you can also ask for expedite. There is no harm to try, though small chance to be approved.

[lemayz 2]

Laure&Colin - thanks for your response. I am wondering about something you said - in "special circumnstances" you mentioned "USC living abroad"....is that a special circumstance that makes the process faster? I had never heard about this, but I was looking at your timeline and it seems like in your case, USC living abroad was the case, and the whole process was very quick for you.

That is the case for me....I am a USC living abroad (Chile), and got married in Dec. to my Chilean husband. In your experience, does this mean my wait times might be quicker than the averages? Your timeline seems extremely quick - I can't believe your NOA2 came by email only about 2 weeks after NOA1!

[KemalTuanaYalcin 16]

Hello everybody!

I'm a newbie here. I definitely need your help guys.

I got married to a US Citizen last August 19th 2011.. he used to work to Doha but things happened and he can go back there.. So he decided to flew back to USA and start looking for a job there and be with his family. After a week he filed for a Spousal Visa for me to be with him soon.

They received our paper last Sept 15th 2011 and we are on our Initial Review now..

Could you guys help me how long will it take for me to hear something from the Immigration? My hubby suffer in PTSD and i cant bear the pain that i cant take care of him...

Some website stated that it took only 5-6 months... and we are on our 5th months now... does that mean we will hear something anytime soon?

Any help is definitely highly appreciated.

Thank you very much!

IBS

hI, generally speaking it takes normally 5-7 months depending on the processing center and dependent on a number of other factors as well. If at the 6 month mark you have not heard anything, there is no problem with calling USCIS to get a status update, especially if, according to the USCIS website, they are now out of "normal processing time." However, calling may or may not help to move things along. Additionally, when you do call, make sure to request a Tier 1 operator otherwise you wont get much information

[Kelly C 16]

Thank you very much for the help! It means that anytime soon we will hear something back from the immigration.. it will be a perfect gift for me this february.. and i couldnt ask for more.. just hear something back from immigration is PERFECT.

Tell your husband, thank you for serving our great Country. Good luck to you guys. The previous posters advice to spend time on this site is very good advice. I spend hours and hours on here preparing for the next step of my petition for my fiancee. I gain knowledge spending time on here. God Bless you guys.

Kelly

[rgfox 10]

My friend, if you are unlucky enough to get sent to the California Service Center, you will have to wait 6 months just for your case to be complete at USCIS. Total time to visa is about 8-9 months unless you are lucky- which some are.

[rgfox 10]

Laure&Colin - thanks for your response. I am wondering about something you said - in "special circumnstances" you mentioned "USC living abroad"....is that a special circumstance that makes the process faster? I had never heard about this, but I was looking at your timeline and it seems like in your case, USC living abroad was the case, and the whole process was very quick for you.

That is the case for me....I am a USC living abroad (Chile), and got married in Dec. to my Chilean husband. In your experience, does this mean my wait times might be quicker than the averages? Your timeline seems extremely quick - I can't believe your NOA2 came by email only about 2 weeks after NOA1!

Maybe they did Direct Consular Filing. We all know that USCIS does not do anything in 2 weeks!

[Shergar 0]

Hello everybody!

I'm a newbie here. I definitely need your help guys.

I got married to a US Citizen last August 19th 2011.. he used to work to Doha but things happened and he can go back there.. So he decided to flew back to USA and start looking for a job there and be with his family. After a week he filed for a Spousal Visa for me to be with him soon.

They received our paper last Sept 15th 2011 and we are on our Initial Review now..

Could you guys help me how long will it take for me to hear something from the Immigration? My hubby suffer in PTSD and i cant bear the pain that i cant take care of him...

Some website stated that it took only 5-6 months... and we are on our 5th months now... does that mean we will hear something anytime soon?

Any help is definitely highly appreciated.

Thank you very much!

IBS

Hi there,

I received the NOA2 just there on Monday 23rd, from what I have seen on the site they are flying through July/Aug applications at the moment at the Californian Service Center. The wait is horrible but be strong and I am sure your good news will come soon. I couldnt say exactly when of course but I hope its soon.

Cheers

[karen201 0]

Mine took 8 months including interview. there was a wait for interview and nvc to enter file on the system. If all goes on time than it would be 5 to 6 months.

[Darnell 8,478]

he applied for 2 visas.. one is fiancee and the other one is spousal

So he filed the I-130 for a CR-1/IR-1 visa and the subsequent I-129F for a K-3 visa.

OK.

You've some reading to do, nowish.

Comparison on K-3 vs CR-1 - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/204324-wondering-if-i-made-a-mistake-marrying-in-us/page__view__findpost__p__3060767

K-3 administratively closed - http://www.visajourney.com/news/2010/02/07/department-of-state-to-close-k-3-visas-if-i-129f-and-i-130-petitions-approved-and-received-together/

IN ALL LIKELIHOOD the I-129F will be closed at NVC, so any concept of chasing after a K-3 visa won't be available to you and yer husband - he'll be doing document intake at NVC once the I-130 arrives at NVC - so please study up on the DS-230 Visa Application - you'll need to get your civil documents for Visa Application in a bit.

Good Luck ! (and stuff)

[Darnell 8,478]

Laure&Colin - thanks for your response. I am wondering about something you said - in "special circumnstances" you mentioned "USC living abroad"....is that a special circumstance that makes the process faster? I had never heard about this, but I was looking at your timeline and it seems like in your case, USC living abroad was the case, and the whole process was very quick for you.

That is the case for me....I am a USC living abroad (Chile), and got married in Dec. to my Chilean husband. In your experience, does this mean my wait times might be quicker than the averages? Your timeline seems extremely quick - I can't believe your NOA2 came by email only about 2 weeks after NOA1!

Yup, USCIS is processing those casefile types (I-130 filed from abroad) in 2 to 4 weeks.

Is a new 'feature' since DCF was mostly shut down across the world.

[lemayz 2]

Thank you!

[Laure&Colin 558]

Laure&Colin - thanks for your response. I am wondering about something you said - in "special circumnstances" you mentioned "USC living abroad"....is that a special circumstance that makes the process faster? I had never heard about this, but I was looking at your timeline and it seems like in your case, USC living abroad was the case, and the whole process was very quick for you.

That is the case for me....I am a USC living abroad (Chile), and got married in Dec. to my Chilean husband. In your experience, does this mean my wait times might be quicker than the averages? Your timeline seems extremely quick - I can't believe your NOA2 came by email only about 2 weeks after NOA1!

Yes, you will probably fly through USCIS quickly, but there's no guarantee. That's what we have noticed here for filers in our situation, however there's no written rule which says they'll process your case like an expedited one.

The probability that you get your NOA2 within a month is high, so make sure you have a perfectly clean and tidy file, you wouldn't want to slow yourself down!

And no we did not make a DCF (not available in France anymore), and we did not request an expedite.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Laure&Colin