The Vermont Service Center is Officially Moving at a Snail's Pace

[NCChina 21]

Hello everyone, it's nice to see a community of people in similar situations as my wife and I. (Nice because we're not alone, not because we are all stuck in these situations.) I am an American citizen and my wife is a Chinese citizen, and we got married in April 2012 in Hong Kong. We sent our I-130 form off in July, and we have an NOA1 date of July 17. Since July 17, we have heard NOTHING at all from USCIS or the VSC.

At that time, the listed processing time was 5 months on average, since it has done nothing but skyrocket. I have tried calling the USCIS's toll-free number many times during this arduous wait. On one occasion, the operator was very understanding and put in a request for expedited processing. Of course, this was rejected, because out case is outside of the arbitrary "current processing date". I received a letter notifying me of the rejection that was postmarked January 29, and the listed processing date was May 28. I called again in vain today and I was told the current processing date is June 4.

This means in over a MONTH of processing, they only managed to cover one WEEK's worth of I-130 applications. I can understand having a lot of applications to go through, but how is it even remotely acceptable for them to process at approximately a quarter of the expected speed? I have noticed many people here on Visa Journey who applied for the I-130 well after we did, and I believe some were processed through VSC, and they have already been accepted and had interviews scheduled.

I really do not understand why their processing appears to be completely arbitrary, we have definitely waited long enough to have at least heard something back. I know others are in the same situation around here, and I would appreciate any advice or information that you all might have, though if you get the same scripted messages from USCIS as we get, it's not very much.

Sorry for ranting, but we are very frustrated with the handling of cases through VSC. I find taking a MONTH to process a WEEK's worth of cases to be absolutely unacceptable.

[bsd058 296]

Hello everyone, it's nice to see a community of people in similar situations as my wife and I. (Nice because we're not alone, not because we are all stuck in these situations.) I am an American citizen and my wife is a Chinese citizen, and we got married in April 2012 in Hong Kong. We sent our I-130 form off in July, and we have an NOA1 date of July 17. Since July 17, we have heard NOTHING at all from USCIS or the VSC.

At that time, the listed processing time was 5 months on average, since it has done nothing but skyrocket. I have tried calling the USCIS's toll-free number many times during this arduous wait. On one occasion, the operator was very understanding and put in a request for expedited processing. Of course, this was rejected, because out case is outside of the arbitrary "current processing date". I received a letter notifying me of the rejection that was postmarked January 29, and the listed processing date was May 28. I called again in vain today and I was told the current processing date is June 4.

This means in over a MONTH of processing, they only managed to cover one WEEK's worth of I-130 applications. I can understand having a lot of applications to go through, but how is it even remotely acceptable for them to process at approximately a quarter of the expected speed? I have noticed many people here on Visa Journey who applied for the I-130 well after we did, and I believe some were processed through VSC, and they have already been accepted and had interviews scheduled.

I really do not understand why their processing appears to be completely arbitrary, we have definitely waited long enough to have at least heard something back. I know others are in the same situation around here, and I would appreciate any advice or information that you all might have, though if you get the same scripted messages from USCIS as we get, it's not very much.

Sorry for ranting, but we are very frustrated with the handling of cases through VSC. I find taking a MONTH to process a WEEK's worth of cases to be absolutely unacceptable.

Well, we've all been talking about it throughout the forum. Most of us have come to terms with it. It sucks, but nothing we can do right now. The site should be updated over the weekend to reflect the new processing times. They might be at June 11th or earlier based upon processing data and the fact that they have slowed down even more. We'll see though. I hope we're all approved very soon. Everyone is going nuts on here with VSC's current pace. Good luck!

[spn1025 38]

they should be around 7 months.

[bsd058 296]

they should be around 7 months.

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

they should be around 7 months.

If by 7 months you mean going on 10 months?

[X Factor 1,112]

[NCChina 21]

Well, we've all been talking about it throughout the forum. Most of us have come to terms with it. It sucks, but nothing we can do right now. The site should be updated over the weekend to reflect the new processing times. They might be at June 11th or earlier based upon processing data and the fact that they have slowed down even more. We'll see though. I hope we're all approved very soon. Everyone is going nuts on here with VSC's current pace. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. I called again today and they STILL say they are processing June 4th, so I do hope the system updates to a more appropriate date sometime. I expected a long wait, but it's pretty discouraging to see people who filed well after us getting approved and being told officially they are still processing cases from June. It all seems extremely random to me and I feel they should just move in the order they receive applications. Good luck to you too!

[NCChina 21]

Someone must be reading this site... we just got approved!!!

[nolanbb 1]

Someone must be reading this site... we just got approved!!!

Good news! I think I'm about 3 weeks behind you.