ALL Potomac I-130 Filers (New Center) [merged threads]

[Fost04mach 21]

Everybody, please have a bit of faith in the system; I finally received my interview date today. I originally submitted my I-130 on 2nd March 2016, and will attend my interview at the US Embassy in London on 30th September. Overall, this is 212 days, or just under 7 months. Please feel free to look at my timeline.

Have patience, and your time will come eventually. Good luck to all.

I stopped having faith in the system when I see myself and others waiting past the 6 month processing mark; and then read about how many DACA applications have been taken care of in 2015 and 2016... I'm sorry, but DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) - the terrible policy that gives "kids" under the age of 31 who got into the country ILLEGALLY, getting processed before us, US citizens, pretty much abolished all faith I had in the system.

If the IRS called me about my taxes, and 6 months later I respond with:

"I've received your letter, I'm still considering it and have no timeframe of when I'll have an answer for you"

I would have angry government people with guns at my door.

[ashleygro 0]

I sense some frustration... I'm in the same boat. Actually worse since 6 months has come and passed. it seems some take 2-3 months others are slated to wait for much longer.

My advice:

Record your calls. Check your state laws first to see if you have to let them know or not. In my state - AZ - it's a one party consent state, so if I know it's being recorded, that's all that's needed.

- you can then revisit what they said

- you will find tier 2 agents who are rude, or hang up on you; you want to document those and have proof for the future just in case it gets to a lawsuit or something

- you might get random excuses, other than pending, such as a "background check". You will thus have those documented and be able to confront them later when they switch back to the "pending" excuse.

At 6 months 1 day, call and ask them to file an inquiry.

When you get the response from that inquiry, file congressional inquiries with your 2 state senators and your congressman/woman.

- I received a call 2 days later from the congresswoman's office, and they told me they talked to USCIS, and were told that i was in a background check that completed on July 27 and that as of Aug 3 my case had been assigned to an agent for review. The jury is still out, but if I hear back from the senators inquiries and I get different information, I have the call recorded, and I can prove that they either lied to the congresswoman or the congresswoman's staff lied to me (highly unlikely as they have no reason to)

When you call, ask to be transferred to tier 2. They will schedule a call back; they will say the approximate time is somewhere between 60 and 140 minutes... Yesterday for me it was "134" minutes and they never called back.

The tier 2 agents can look at what day they are currently processing for your type of case. If they passed your case, even if it hasn't been 6 months, they can send in an inquiry. You will likely get the "pending" ####### back, but it's good to know...

After the 6 months mark, file an Ombudsman complaint. I have not heard anything back from mine yet, but they give themselves 45 days.

Personally, as I'm getting close to 7 months now, and a status of "received" I will be waiting for that and the responses from the 2 senators and start looking at a lawsuit against USCIS. Been reading on writ of mandamus lawsuits so I'm basically gathering evidence right now.

First of all, so sorry that you're going through this and having so much difficulty in bringing over your family. Secondly, thanks so much for the advice. I will keep all of this in mind if I get to the 6 month mark without any progress. Hopefully that isn't the case! Best of luck to you.

[ashleygro 0]

My wife and I have been waiting 6 months and one day. I'm a police officer and she is a school teacher from New Zealand. I noticed people are getting processed much faster than us from other areas in the world. We are quite stressed and finally was able to submit the inquiry. Anyone else have any other advice? I figured we would be processed pretty quick. By the way it is I-130 at Potomac.

I honestly thought our petition would be processed super quickly because my wife is from Canada, but apparently not.

[mmadd636 25]

It's really a shame that people have to go through this. Most people don't even have the means to stand up for themselves.

[PK_Bazm 13]

I filed my petition 25 July 2016 NOA1 - in Potomac Service Center.

I hope to get my case approved within 2 months like many of the cases i have seen before.

Please God help me to get my petition process complete quickly.

H there, my file was accepted by USCIS on July 25 2016 as well. I have heard that it can take more than 2 months. The thing is that no one really knows what the processing times are at the Potomac Service Center. If you look at the processing times for I-130 at the 4 service centers, you will see that they are all running at 5 months. My guess is that the Potomac Service Center is running a lot less behind than them. I am expecting that Potomac Service Center will take at least 3 months or so. But you never know. We might end up getting our NOA2 in 2 months !

[Peter12522 0]

Finely on wenesday I got the interview for my I-130 and was very nice lady and she don't asked so much and now we r waiting for The approval letter. Somebody know how long take to send the notice

[mmadd636 25]

Finely on wenesday I got the interview for my I-130 and was very nice lady and she don't asked so much and now we r waiting for The approval letter. Somebody know how long take to send the notice

This is not the thread for the NVC/embassy stage. Refer to other threads on the site.

[Kortex 0]

So I have a question. We submitted my wife's documents in May and in the mail today I got three notices of actions in the mail - all identical saying that we were approved. But online it still just says case received and we haven't gotten an email either. Any ideas? Has anyone heard of this happening? All the information in the notices of actions is correct

Edit: actually two are identical and the third is idencitcal in everything except for the date of the notice of action which is a one way difference.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Kortex

[Maa3110 2]

So I have a question. We submitted my wife's documents in May and in the mail today I got three notices of actions in the mail - all identical saying that we were approved. But online it still just says case received and we haven't gotten an email either. Any ideas? Has anyone heard of this happening? All the information in the notices of actions is correct

Edit: actually two are identical and the third is idencitcal in everything except for the date of the notice of action which is a one way difference.

We also received our Notice of Approval dated 5th August. Online status still says received. No email/sms either. They probably have not updated their records.

[mmadd636 25]

I think we have received a letter as well. I'm residing abroad and my father has told me a letter came in but hadn't opened it yet. I'm hoping its an approval as well.

[sheila526 2]

Potomac just updated a bunch of cases! Check yours out!

Where can you check this? I went to USCIS processing time information, but Potomac Service Center is not included on the dropdown choices.

[mmadd636 25]

Where can you check this? I went to USCIS processing time information, but Potomac Service Center is not included on the dropdown choices.

You have to use this site. Click menu, then home, scroll down until you see processing times (under the track category), then use the drop down for Potomac. It will redirect you to the list of all I-130s from folks just from this site from their timelines. You can see the last approved cases but it won't tell you official processing time from USCIS.

[Brazil2USA2016 7]

Actually, i use the USCIS Case App on my phone to track hundreds of i130 cases at the same time. Just search (lookup cases) 100 cases at a time and add all the cases around yours to "my cases". I am tracking about 100 i130s from April 18-19th PD date at Potomac. You can refresh to get updated status.

[sheila526 2]

You have to use this site. Click menu, then home, scroll down until you see processing times (under the track category), then use the drop down for Potomac. It will redirect you to the list of all I-130s from folks just from this site from their timelines. You can see the last approved cases but it won't tell you official processing time from USCIS.

This only give me link to the USCIS website again. The dropdown doesn't have Potomac for me

Actually, i use the USCIS Case App on my phone to track hundreds of i130 cases at the same time. Just search (lookup cases) 100 cases at a time and add all the cases around yours to "my cases". I am tracking about 100 i130s from April 18-19th PD date at Potomac. You can refresh to get updated status.

Thanks! This one worked perfectly

[Brazil2USA2016 7]

This only give me link to the USCIS website again. The dropdown doesn't have Potomac for me

Thanks! This one worked perfectly

You are very welcome. It's a little piece of mind even in the face of disorder!

Edited August 16, 2016 by Brazil2USA2016