How do USCIS select what file to process next?

[Andrea&Henry 311]

A few years ago a former USCIS who was also a vj member, answered your question. He said basically depends on 3 things: who arrive first, the person who is processing you (some staff members process petitions faster or slower than others) and how easy/difficult is for this staff member, to check your background. Normally if your package is not complete, or you have some criminal background etc your petition will need to wait longer. That topic was back from 2011 but I think stills apply

[usbridetobe 3]

Some very useful comments here, thanks.

Its a game of patience and learning not to be frustrated. USCIS are doing it as best as they can .

I think there are so many components that go into processing the file , its not as simple as first come first served for sure.

Lets all keep hoping.

[Protocol417 161]

A few years ago a former USCIS who was also a vj member, answered your question. He said basically depends on 3 things: who arrive first, the person who is processing you (some staff members process petitions faster or slower than others) and how easy/difficult is for this staff member, to check your background. Normally if your package is not complete, or you have some criminal background etc your petition will need to wait longer. That topic was back from 2011 but I think stills apply

Is this it?

http://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a

It's been a little while since I read it, but I believe the former employee said something about it only taking 15 minutes to actually process the file

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Is this it?

http://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a

It's been a little while since I read it, but I believe the former employee said something about it only taking 15 minutes to actually process the file

bingo!!! That's it! Great great interview!!!

Yes, he talks about so many things! Then on 2011 somebody add extra info but that's basically the same

[usbridetobe 3]

Is this it?

http://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a

It's been a little while since I read it, but I believe the former employee said something about it only taking 15 minutes to actually process the file

Thats fantastic.

Helps understand things a lot better.

thank you

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Thats fantastic.

Helps understand things a lot better.

thank you

it is a great sources of info and makes things a little bit clear for those who are still waiting. It's been a couples of years since then but I highly doubt things changed dramatically. What it definitrly change is the processing time. When I applied on 2011 the noa2 processing times was 3-5 month. I got mine in 3 month. Hopefully things will be as fast as it used to be

[nina and baptiste 0]

Is this it?

http://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a

It's been a little while since I read it, but I believe the former employee said something about it only taking 15 minutes to actually process the file

aww what a guy. taking time out of his personal life to answer (in great length) all of our questions. makes me feel a bit bad for hating on USCIS so often. i guess not everyone is like him!

[Protocol417 161]

aww what a guy. taking time out of his personal life to answer (in great length) all of our questions. makes me feel a bit bad for hating on USCIS so often. i guess not everyone is like him!

It's quite sweet. I especially liked the part where the former employee said they called K-1 applicants "hunny bunnies"

[Vic20r 14]

Thats the logical answer but it doesnt seem to work that way .

I think your right. I think some might even get stuck in a box and new ones go on top.

I guess this answers why our petition took 17 months before USCIS finally sent us an RFE..Those new batches that arrive at their office was put on top of the others, and ours were just stuck in the bottom..

[shellybelly13 8]

It's quite sweet. I especially liked the part where the former employee said they called K-1 applicants "hunny bunnies"

Yea I thought that was so sweet!

[ConGau1981 56]

Yeah. That's pretty good!

I mean, think about it. They're just human beings - they have to go through SO MANY files, probably mostly badly filed (most people aren't coming here to read the tips!) and probably getting barked at from managers to go faster all the time. Then they're also probably hitting cases that have problems, need RFEs, more screening, second opinions... cases are going to be moving in and out of stacks all the time.

So the order they arrived in is certainly not going to be the order they left in.

Good answer

[IntoTheLight 5]

Great info, guys. Nice to see a thread that isn't all about bashing them, but about understanding instead.

I think that we also need to keep in mind that, until the internet and websites like this existed, you weren't really aware of the timeline of other approvals. You just waited until it was your turn and were oblivious that what took you 6 months to get, only took someone else 4. In addition, we are only seeing a small percentage of filers results. It may look like only 2 or 3 are approved one day and they are all submitted after ours, so we all get stressed, but in reality, maybe there was a ton more that aren't from VJ members and had submitted prior to ours.

Watching Igor's list is a great way to estimate what is going on, but we need to be careful not to assume it is the complete truth. Yesterday someone with an NOA1 date of just 13 days prior to mine was accepted, but I still realize that mine could take up to 2 months and still be in the acceptable timeframe.

The one big benefit that this kind of thing does have, however, is that it allows people to realize when their petition is legitimately taking too long and they should start contacting people to find out why.

[tila_vida 6]

Yes, if you look at USCIS's website, the numbers of just K1 applications, just VSC, processed in the past couple of months (not including all the other applications they work through, and not including RFEs):

Month Rcvd Completed

Dec.2012 1461 3351 Jan.2013 1786 4439 Feb.2013 1810 1516 Mar.2013 2135 2424 Apr.2013 1981 1975

[tila_vida 6]

Ooooops that looks funky after posting... lemme fix:

Month Rcvd Completed

Dec '12 1461 3351

Jan '13 1786 4439

Feb '13 1810 1516

Mar '13 2135 2424

Apr '13 1981 1975

[rhead 8]

Hi! I have also the same concern on our status. We received NOA1 last april 2013. we are on the 3 month waiting period. Does anyone have an idea where to read the average processing times at the USCIS page? Our application was sent to NBC and we received a receipt number which we use for monitoring our status. But im a bit confused, is it what we gonna do just wait for their response or we need to do things in order for it to make it faster.? When i checked NBC, i cant find the I130 processing times as part of their service? Im really confused.