December 2015 I-130 Filers

[LookyWhatIFound 38]

Hi everyone, how are you doing? How are you dealing with this waiting period?

Yes its a very tough wait especially if you focus on it all the time. I think the best way of dealing with it is to just accept that its a minimum of a 5 month wait and just do whatever it takes to keep your mind off of it. Whether it is some sort of hobby, work, or like in my case searching for a new job, or whatever can keep your mind occupied.

Of course there will be some that just happen to run into good fortune, or those who have emergency reasons for their case to be expedited. But for the rest of us only the passing of time will do the trick. But hoping for something like that to happen, for most of us, is just wishful thinking.

There are some like Mkate who need to accept that as a permanent resident and not a USC, the wait can be even longer cause in that case Visa's are not always available until their priority date becomes current. For USC's Visa's are always available on successful interview at the US Embassy. But in some cases there could be a longer wait even after the interview, especially for cases that are processed in high fraud (MENA) countries.

Best Wishes for all to get thru this.

[Caleb J 1]

So even though I got a message on the USCIS website saying the document they sent to me was returned (the NOA1, I'm assuming, almost certain) and I contacted them and changed my address to my parents one in the States (since I live abroad), I asked my mom to check when her check to them was cashed and she told me Dec 2nd. I'm guessing this means they are still working on my case and I can expect an NOA2 at some point?! Hoping. Being patient....

Wait, is living abroad an issue when expecting to receive a hard copy of NOA1? That's what I am awaiting in my case.

I got this following email:

Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS California Service Center for processing. Within 7-10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number ***********. With the official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) you may visit www.uscis.gov where you can check the status of your case using My Case Status. We suggest you wait until you have received your Form I-797 before checking My Case Status."

So, they will send this to my address abroad, yes? It is the one I put in the I-130 and G-325A. I'm assuing this is still NOA1, not NOA2?

[Mkatel0317 1]

Hey guys, can you tell me about Upon naturalization of the petitioner, a pending 2A case is converted automatically into the Immediate Relative visa category, which is not subject to numerical limit and therefore has no visa waiting period. As a result, the amount of cases being processed in the Immediate Relative category may increase and partially offset new F2A filings.

[RJS7 5]

Wait, is living abroad an issue when expecting to receive a hard copy of NOA1? That's what I am awaiting in my case.

I got this following email:

Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS California Service Center for processing. Within 7-10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number ***********. With the official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) you may visit www.uscis.gov where you can check the status of your case using My Case Status. We suggest you wait until you have received your Form I-797 before checking My Case Status."

So, they will send this to my address abroad, yes? It is the one I put in the I-130 and G-325A. I'm assuing this is still NOA1, not NOA2?

It wasn't a problem for me and I live in Ireland. Got the same email on 17 December and received the hard copy (which is NOA1) in the last week of December.

NOA2 is what they send you when your case has been approved.

[LookyWhatIFound 38]

Hey guys, can you tell me about Upon naturalization of the petitioner, a pending 2A case is converted automatically into the Immediate Relative visa category, which is not subject to numerical limit and therefore has no visa waiting period. As a result, the amount of cases being processed in the Immediate Relative category may increase and partially offset new F2A filings.

Are you going to be naturalized soon? I suppose if you read that somewhere from a reliable source it must be true.

But I don't understand why you don't ask these kind of questions in the F2A thread, "Family based thread"? There is a section for that here on VJ.

The rest of us in this thread are IR1 or CR1 visa filers so most of us, including me, have no clue how to answer you.

[blanche 2]

Checked my case # online today and it says I-130 has been approved! Yipee! Such a relief considering the stupid address mix-up they have with me.

[blanche 2]

I think the issue with my address is that our zip code here in Israel is the SAME as a zip code in Oklahoma somewhere! Same amount of numbers, etc. It's weird but it's the way it is. I gave INS my parents address in New York instead. But they winter in Florida and more than likely USPS won't forward that to them! So I don't expect to get the NOA1 or NOA2 in the mail anytime soon! I have to wait 30 days from the time I changed my address with them to change it again to their Florida address. By then my parents will probably be going back up to New York haha!

[LookyWhatIFound 38]

Checked my case # online today and it says I-130 has been approved! Yipee! Such a relief considering the stupid address mix-up they have with me.

Wow Blanche, you're the second one to get your I-130 approved already!!!

The common thing with you and RJS7 was that you are filing from abroad and his went to California service center and I don't remember exactly but I think yours also was being processed at CSC.

You definitely want to look at your NOA2 to make sure all the information is correct and also that its being processed for the US Embassy in Israel.

For sure you've got some work to do to make sure your case gets to NVC and all things you need to do for the Embassy interview.

Hope for smooth sailing, in the rough seas!

Edited January 13, 2016 by LookyWhatIFound

[blanche 2]

Thanks very much! Yes, I'd definitely like to SEE the NOA1 and the NOA2 at some point, lol! We'll see... maybe my parents WILL get one or both of them after all. Will USCIS re-mail them to me if I give them the correct address once again? Dunno. Just SO GLAD to see that information today on the USCIS website. Nothing better than reading 'your case has been approved'.

So - now we wait for something from the NVC? I really don't know what the next step is. I'm scared of the fees, too! But of course we will do whatever it takes to get us back into the USA!

Yes, filed from abroad and sent to CSC. Also, my case was received on 12/1/15 so makes sense that I'm one of the first to get the NOA2.

Thanks again!

[LookyWhatIFound 38]

So - now we wait for something from the NVC? I really don't know what the next step is. I'm scared of the fees, too! But of course we will do whatever it takes to get us back into the USA!

Yes, filed from abroad and sent to CSC. Also, my case was received on 12/1/15 so makes sense that I'm one of the first to get the NOA2.

Thanks again!

Yes but also you will be at least 4 months quicker than most of us in getting NOA2!

There's a thread down below under the Consulate and Service Center title, called something like National Visa Center ( Department of State ) I think that has a lot of information about the process.

I believe it goes something like this (it may have changed from what I remember) USCIS will send your case to NVC, once NVC processes it and they can give you the case ID that your embassy will use for your case. In most cases the NVC assigns the embassy interview date for you. But in the mean time you will have several forms to fill out, police reports to obtain, gather evidence, do a medical at the consulates designated doctors facility. Get translations, if needed, etc. Different embassies ask for different forms and have different processes. So you should check the embassy info tab at the top and also look at your US embassy / consulate website for information about processing the I-130 there.

[blanche 2]

Really - 4 months to get NOA2 for most people? My goodness. So we should consider ourselves extremely lucky? We have a long history in the US, though, and have been married for 20 years so maybe that makes a difference? I dunno. I wish everyone to be approved instantly!

Thanks so much for the pointers. We could be flying to New York as early as August or so? Wow, that would be incredible. Thanks again.

[sophjosh895 13]

Really - 4 months to get NOA2 for most people? My goodness. So we should consider ourselves extremely lucky? We have a long history in the US, though, and have been married for 20 years so maybe that makes a difference? I dunno. I wish everyone to be approved instantly!

Thanks so much for the pointers. We could be flying to New York as early as August or so? Wow, that would be incredible. Thanks again.

congrats blanche, very lovely news to hear...

[Caleb J 1]

Thats great! Congrats on the approval! Two people already huh? Here's hoping for a quick approval too. I also filed from abroad and was transferred to the California Service Center. Awaiting NOA1 hard copy. I already got it in the mail. They between 7-10 days I would receive the I-797 in the mail. Which should be this week.

[blanche 2]

Thanks! Fingers crossed for all of us fulfilling these dreams!

[JlovesA 109]

Hello all!

My husband (the USC) sent off our paperwork last month, and our NOA1 was dated 2015-12-21, which was one day before our 6th anniversary of being together! We originally filed for a K1 way back in 2010 and I got all the way to the point of having a medical and interview scheduled, but we decided to wait and file for CR-1 later. I definitely did not expect to still be in Canada 6 years later but life has a funny way of working out, doesn't it? It has been a good 6 years either way, but I'm happy we are finally moving on with things. When I tell people I've been with my husband for 6 years and we've never lived together, I get some pretty funny looks.

Either way, I'm glad to join you all! Our petition is at TSC so I don't expect to hear anything until about May.

Edited January 14, 2016 by JlovesA