35 days for Case# from NVC?

[Amhara 460]

@Amhara: I don't think they are on Pacific time, I was trying to call the NVC and they are located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The number I have lists that location as well. Thank you for the time recommendations though. I will keep at it!

LOL! Doink!

Yes, you're right - it's the OTHER pond!!

Thanks for the correction.

[themartinez 1]

I called them every week since NOA2 and they only had a case # after 37 days

[CallMeShams 34]

I called them every week since NOA2 and they only had a case # after 37 days

My experience with the California Service Station is that they don't quickly send the approved petition to the NVC. Who knows how long it was sitting there before it was sent. I lost about 2 weeks in this process because they didn't send my approved petition in a timely fashion.

[Pennycat 880]

My experience with the California Service Station is that they don't quickly send the approved petition to the NVC. Who knows how long it was sitting there before it was sent. I lost about 2 weeks in this process because they didn't send my approved petition in a timely fashion.

Better than losing 5 months because no one cared that there was a line out the door and around the block at one service center, and nothing but employees with free time at the other.

[amarilloslick 13]

I received our NOA 2 on Sept. 1 so now it's off to the NVC. I think from this discussion I will wait a couple of weeks before I call and then call once a week afterwards until I get a case #. I wish they would just e-mail it like the Service Centers do. I was told that after I get the case # from the NVC I can monitor the progress at CEAC. I just need to figure out what in the heck the CEAC is now

[Amhara 460]

LOL! Ceac.gov is like my roommate!

https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/

under

When you get the NVC # (which will start with the first three letters describing the city the embassy is in) and you will use the Check My Visa Application Status "IMMIGRANT" section. Then, after the case reaches the embassy, or when you are instructed to do so, you will go under the " NONIMMIGRANT" section to complete the DS-160, Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application Then you will get an AA#. You can check the AA# under the non-immigrant part, but it's pretty much useless.

You will keep using the NVC number you get under the Immigrant section. To date, I never used the beneficiary ID or invoice number they give you.

[CallMeShams 34]

Better than losing 5 months because no one cared that there was a line out the door and around the block at one service center, and nothing but employees with free time at the other.

They claimed the Texas service center had a backlog.

[Pennycat 880]

They claimed the Texas service center had a backlog.

You don't say, huh? Yes. Yes it did. That is the "line out the door and around the corner". That is what a backlog is. A really long line that is longer than normal.

USCIS didn't notice that they piled more work on Texas than it could handle (probably fewer employees assigned to I-129fs). While California had no line, and probably not enough work compared to its numbers of employees. They kept sending more and more and more and more work to Texas and letting the line grow without doing a single thing about it. We all here (autumn and winter filers) worked really hard to call attention to this problem. And they finally listened to us and "fixed" it by stopping sending anything to Texas. But they didn't move any of us out of line--just sent all the new folks to CSC.

The way they used to decide who went where (up until March 27) was by the state the petitioner lived in. You, being in Georgia, would have been sent to TSC if they hadn't made this change. You wouldn't have your NOA2 until sometime in November if you're lucky but probably December. You would have lost 5 months by being at TSC. If that's the tradeoff for CSC being a little slow on sending files to NVC (which it's not. There are plenty of TSC filers who also waited 2 weeks to be sent to NVC), I'd take that in a heartbeat.

[CallMeShams 34]

You don't say, huh? Yes. Yes it did. That is the "line out the door and around the corner". That is what a backlog is. A really long line that is longer than normal.

USCIS didn't notice that they piled more work on Texas than it could handle (probably fewer employees assigned to I-129fs). While California had no line, and probably not enough work compared to its numbers of employees. They kept sending more and more and more and more work to Texas and letting the line grow without doing a single thing about it. We all here (autumn and winter filers) worked really hard to call attention to this problem. And they finally listened to us and "fixed" it by stopping sending anything to Texas. But they didn't move any of us out of line--just sent all the new folks to CSC.

The way they used to decide who went where (up until March 27) was by the state the petitioner lived in. You, being in Georgia, would have been sent to TSC if they hadn't made this change. You wouldn't have your NOA2 until sometime in November if you're lucky but probably December. You would have lost 5 months by being at TSC. If that's the tradeoff for CSC being a little slow on sending files to NVC (which it's not. There are plenty of TSC filers who also waited 2 weeks to be sent to NVC), I'd take that in a heartbeat.

Wow, that has put things into perspective. I would like to formally express my gratitude for your and others efforts to give attention to a major problem.

I thought I read somewhere that the Texas Service Center was the most recent one to go online and was supposed to minimize backlog. In looking at man users timeline on this site, many had their cases sent to NVC within a week after being approved.

Your analogy and illustration was effective but I missed the connection at first, thanks for helping me out.

I have seen a couple 1 month approval for I-130 from other service centers as well. Interestingly, upon approval their petitions were sent to NVC within a week or so after approval.

[Pennycat 880]

Wow, that has put things into perspective. I would like to formally express my gratitude for your and others efforts to give attention to a major problem.

I thought I read somewhere that the Texas Service Center was the most recent one to go online and was supposed to minimize backlog. In looking at man users timeline on this site, many had their cases sent to NVC within a week after being approved.

Your analogy and illustration was effective but I missed the connection at first, thanks for helping me out.

I have seen a couple 1 month approval for I-130 from other service centers as well. Interestingly, upon approval their petitions were sent to NVC within a week or so after approval.

Wait, wait, now I'm confused. You're a CR-1 filer? This is a K-1 thread...and all of that information was related to K-1 stuff.

That said, for sure a one month approval for I-130 is super fast. The average for CSC is 57 days. And all the other service centers are 150 days or more (see here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/ir1cr1historical ). You got really, really lucky. Who knows why they let these imbalances happen. It's not fair. But if you're on the lucky side of "not fair", it's probably a better use of your time to count those blessings than worry about why you wound up on the higher side of normal for what is the quickest part of the process. Sometimes, the service centers take a few weeks to send out packages. Sometimes I wonder if they do hold people back if they've gotten an especially fast approval. Not sure.

I'd be (and I personally am) much more concerned about the possible government shutdown on October 1, that appears to be getting more and more likely. NVC is (allegedly) going to be able to keep working but I heard that "slowdowns" happened last time, because NVC's work relies on other government agencies that did shut down. I also understand that embassies stopped doing interviews and stopped issuing new visas for that period of time. Our most likely interview date would be October 1. I'm trying to rush my fiance through the next steps.

[themartinez 1]

I feel you, guys. Bureaucracy does suck and makes everything take twice as much time as it should.

After waiting and waiting for NOA2, calling NVC and waiting probably a total of 1000 minutes to figure my case #, I am now trying to figure out about the interview. Apparently, the process changed here in Brazil and we schedule our interviews instead of waiting on the Embassy to send us the date, but they haven't sent us any emails yet, so I am not sure if I can go ahead and schedule the medical and the interview or if I should wait.

Ugh. Everlasting process.

[CallMeShams 34]

Wait, wait, now I'm confused. You're a CR-1 filer? This is a K-1 thread...and all of that information was related to K-1 stuff.

That said, for sure a one month approval for I-130 is super fast. The average for CSC is 57 days. And all the other service centers are 150 days or more (see here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/ir1cr1historical ). You got really, really lucky. Who knows why they let these imbalances happen. It's not fair. But if you're on the lucky side of "not fair", it's probably a better use of your time to count those blessings than worry about why you wound up on the higher side of normal for what is the quickest part of the process. Sometimes, the service centers take a few weeks to send out packages. Sometimes I wonder if they do hold people back if they've gotten an especially fast approval. Not sure.

I'd be (and I personally am) much more concerned about the possible government shutdown on October 1, that appears to be getting more and more likely. NVC is (allegedly) going to be able to keep working but I heard that "slowdowns" happened last time, because NVC's work relies on other government agencies that did shut down. I also understand that embassies stopped doing interviews and stopped issuing new visas for that period of time. Our most likely interview date would be October 1. I'm trying to rush my fiance through the next steps.

I am a CR1. Cool, I see now.

I-130 is 2 pages. I would imagine the I-129 would take some more time. Faster on the NVC end I think though. I don't doubt if they may purposely put the brakes on someone's progress.

I wasn't aware of that. I will check on that. That is quite disconcerting. The Embassy I will be dealing with complaining they don't have enough manpower and all type of excuses already so we shall see.

I certainly hope that your process continues to move on and you and your fiance wow them at the interview leaving them no option but to grant you the desired visa.

[Pennycat 880]

I am a CR1. Cool, I see now.

I-130 is 2 pages. I would imagine the I-129 would take some more time. Faster on the NVC end I think though. I don't doubt if they may purposely put the brakes on someone's progress.

I wasn't aware of that. I will check on that. That is quite disconcerting. The Embassy I will be dealing with complaining they don't have enough manpower and all type of excuses already so we shall see.

I certainly hope that your process continues to move on and you and your fiance wow them at the interview leaving them no option but to grant you the desired visa.

They're usually roughly the same through the service centers, give or take about month (I know that must sound weird because your whole time was a month but a month in this process is no time at all). Like I said, the average at CSC for an I-130 is 57 days. For an I-129f it is 29 days (to me, that may as well be the same number). TSC for I-130 is 157, I-129f is 197.

But I-129fs only spend a few days or a week at NVC, whereas I-130s spend a (current) average of 5.5 months at NVC. Of course, like with everything, that is just an average and some people get through faster and some people get through slower. That's why K1s are generally the faster route (until there's a massive backlog at one service center that no one does anything about). They're roughly the same amount of time with USCIS, but they skip NVC. Because they're not immigrant visas. They're non-immigrant visas with immigrant intent. Which is weird, I know. Basically---it's waiting for your green card in the US or abroad. For us, it made more sense to wait for it together in the US.

[cristina16 81]

Why do we have to call NVC and ask for the Case number? For immigrant Visa, you get your Case number on the I 797 (2nd notice). Why don't they include it on NOA2?

[CallMeShams 34]

Why do we have to call NVC and ask for the Case number? For immigrant Visa, you get your Case number on the I 797 (2nd notice). Why don't they include it on NOA2?

Different government agency. It would be nice but it probably would delay processing at USCIS.