How and when to best withdraw an I-130 application

[dawnwastaken 0]

We submitted our I-130 package in early April and have an NOA1 hard copy notice date of 2014-04-09. At the time I wasn't enjoying my job and my husband and I decided I would move from Canada to the US to join him. I switched jobs and now we're leaning towards him moving up to Canada instead. But we haven't decided for sure, and it would be nice to leave things open ended as long as possible so I can take my time deciding about this new job.

How long can we wait to withdraw our application without affecting any future applications? How do we go about cancelling it if that's what we choose?

Thank you in advance for any advice/assistance you can offer.

[nightingalejules 678]

I don't really know how you'd go about canceling; I'm sure there's a protocol, but you can keep your application active but unfinished more or less indefinitely at the NVC stage as long as you have some kind of communication with them once a year. Your petition would remain in limbo at that stage for pretty much as long as you might want, and then if you ever do decide to immigrate you would be halfway through the process already.

[Darnell 8,479]

ya - you have 2 years at NVC, or 1 year per thing (there are 2 things) to chase after a visa application.

would 3 years + 4 months (my best approximation today) make a difference, starting from NOA-1 date? if yes, i say chase the visa but go slow at NVC.

The majority of people want speed at NVC.

[nightingalejules 678]

Actually, I think you can make it last even longer. You don't need to actually submit anything, just have some contact with them, saying that you're not ready to submit, or something... I think you could keep the file active indefinitely.

[dawnwastaken 0]

I don't really know how you'd go about canceling; I'm sure there's a protocol, but you can keep your application active but unfinished more or less indefinitely at the NVC stage as long as you have some kind of communication with them once a year. Your petition would remain in limbo at that stage for pretty much as long as you might want, and then if you ever do decide to immigrate you would be halfway through the process already.

I assume that at some point they'll send us an RFE or NOA2.. at that point can we just wait a year to take any action to stretch things out? We would definitely prefer to delay proceeding rather than halt the process entirely.

[Darnell 8,479]

when you read post #3 - what were your thoughts?

[dawnwastaken 0]

The majority of people want speed at NVC.

What's frustrating for us is that if the process didn't take so long, we wouldn't be in this situation. I could occupy myself for a couple months planning and preparing to move but I wasn't going to make it the 8-12 months it actually takes without something else to occupy my time.

Being able to try this new job out for a full year before deciding about the visa would be great. It would be such a load off my mind if we didn't feel rushed to choose whether we want to keep my job or his more.

[pushbrk 13,066]

I assume that at some point they'll send us an RFE or NOA2.. at that point can we just wait a year to take any action to stretch things out? We would definitely prefer to delay proceeding rather than halt the process entirely.

NO, no, no. There are two "theys" involved here. You cannot just fail to respond to an RFE from USCIS. Once you have your NOA2, (approval notice) that's when you can delay, while dealing with the Dept. of State's National Visa Center. Don't play games with USCIS. If you do have an RFE, you could take all but a few days of the available time to respond but if you don't respond, they deny the petition.

[dawnwastaken 0]

NO, no, no. There are two "theys" involved here. You cannot just fail to respond to an RFE from USCIS. Once you have your NOA2, (approval notice) that's when you can delay, while dealing with the Dept. of State's National Visa Center. Don't play games with USCIS. If you do have an RFE, you could take all but a few days of the available time to respond but if you don't respond, they deny the petition.

That's good to know. Thank you.

[NikLR 13,232]

Honestly, while you can both move to Canada at the same time, so I've read in the Canada forum, it can take 6 months or more sometimes for the spouse to get a work visa. There is immigration laws in both directions. Both take time. Some people start the move to Canada and when they've done that for 2 years, they come back to the USA.

The NVC is the stage you can slow thing down should you want to.