Does USCIS prioritize cases according to the info given?

[sami&ad 1]

I'm so desperate(just like many of you I know) being away from my husband and watching my kiddos miss him. I petitioned for him in January and got my NOA1 on 02/02/16. I'm just waiting for my NOA2 but I've heard it takes from 3 to 5 months. My case is in Nebraska and I don't know how long it will take for the whole process to be over. What things make the process slower? My husband has never been to the U.S or been there illegaly. Does that matter? I mean to they prioritize cases or not? I mean I'm sure the process takes longer if you've been divorced, your partner was illegally in the U.S or has been involved with the police. Am I right or not?

Thank you all

He lives in Mexico and I'm in California.

Edited April 11, 2016 by sami&ad

[TBoneTX 45,287]

*** Thread is moved from the CR-1 Process forum to the USCIS Service Centers forum -- topic involves adjudication practices. ***

[A'n'L 735]

I'm so desperate(just like many of you I know) being away from my husband and watching my kiddos miss him. I petitioned for him in January and got my NOA1 on 02/02/16. I'm just waiting for my NOA2 but I've heard it takes from 3 to 5 months. My case is in Nebraska and I don't know how long it will take for the whole process to be over. What things make the process slower? My husband has never been to the U.S or been there illegaly. Does that matter? I mean to they prioritize cases or not? I mean I'm sure the process takes longer if you've been divorced, your partner was illegally in the U.S or has been involved with the police. Am I right or not?

Thank you all

He lives in Mexico and I'm in California.

Cases or not prioritized, they are processed in the order they arrive at the service center. Most of the waiting time your case just sits in a pile, waiting for it's turn to be looked at. Delays will occur if you have failed to send all the necessary information, and they have to send you an RFE. Sometimes the need for extended background checks also delay some cases.

[Thesmiths2016 117]

Like a'n'l said above .... If you've provided everything they look for then you can avoid having any RFE's, which will help to not delay the process further. But other than that, no for us Nebraska folk it's just in order they are received (except for phillipines as they're expedited). There's a nebraska thread to check out to see how others are going (ignore the older posts though as they used be horrendous for turnaroud times), and jump on a thread for your NOA1 filing month to see how others are tracking. They seem to be doing November applications currently at Nebraska.

Based on my research so far I'd say your estimate on your VJ timeline is pretty close, or maybe you'll get it in the month before as they seem to be speeding up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you ... especially because I'm further down the Nebraska queue than you!

[dwheels76 5,468]

I'm so desperate(just like many of you I know) being away from my husband and watching my kiddos miss him. I petitioned for him in January and got my NOA1 on 02/02/16. I'm just waiting for my NOA2 but I've heard it takes from 3 to 5 months. My case is in Nebraska and I don't know how long it will take for the whole process to be over. What things make the process slower? My husband has never been to the U.S or been there illegaly. Does that matter? I mean to they prioritize cases or not? I mean I'm sure the process takes longer if you've been divorced, your partner was illegally in the U.S or has been involved with the police. Am I right or not?

Thank you all

He lives in Mexico and I'm in California.

Expect about a years time.

5 to 6 months at USCIS for approval

3 to 4 months at NVC

About 1 to 2 months wait for interview to be scheduled.

Plan and expect 12 months if less that's a blessing.

At NVC you will have more control how fast you get through.

Read the NVC Process wiki (it's in my signature below) to prepare for the next stage.

[JOAE 0]

For what I've read Nebraska is processing Jan & some Feb. Applications so hopefully urs will be approved soon, I'm in the same situation as you are I have 2 little girls and my husband is abroad the difference is that I have one of the girls and he has the other so I'm really desperate for his case to be approved so we can all be together again I miss him so much and I miss my other daughter lile crazy as well.

[aaa2zzz 27]

I was told today that Nebraska is processing December 2 applications at this time.

[AstroCanada 206]

I was told today that Nebraska is processing December 2 applications at this time.

The USCIS website lists them as having a processing time of 5 months, so that would presumably mean they're more current than that, i.e., end of January. That's also consistent with the anecdotal evidence where we're seeing January/February approvals now. It is really frustrating to be sent to the slowest service center though. USCIS did previously prioritize cases where the sponsor was also living abroad by sending them to California, but Nebraska doesn't seem to be doing that.

[aaa2zzz 27]

After my post, I asked for more information and received a call back the next day, stating that the actual processing time is a "range" of 5-8 months and that they had started review then stopped. I got the impression that the reviewer or reviewing team had dropped the ball, and unless I had called, it would have slipped through the cracks. Told to check back in a month if it were not approved.

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

Why is it petitions from a the Philippines are prioritized? This benefits me, just curious. TIA

[teddy k 35]

Not all of the time cuz It took my wife a year to get here last year

[JFH 12,190]

Nebraska is working in a very random order at the moment. There have been several petitions filed in the second half of February that have been approved recently but we are still waiting (the app shows at least 40 files from February 8 as "case was received") and there are still some January filers waiting - including one where the petitioner is an active serving member of the military!

Those who say they are processed in receipt date order are obviously not Nebraska filers! My guess is that a handful of petitions are approved within 4 months just to keep the statistics averaging out at 5-6 months.