Best Service Center for Processing

[AstroCanada 206]

Thanks for all the good advice!

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

Why would I wait to move back? My I-130 will probably just sit around until I'm back in the states anyway. Might as well get some jump on this process.

Sadly there is no DCF in Canada (except in exceptional circumstances). I'm quite jealous looking at the processing times of people on here that get to use DCF.

To be fair, there are plenty of people who are jealous of those with Canadian spouses due to the proximity of it in relation to the US and the relative ease that one can travel between to the two countries in standard cases.

I guess the grass is always greener though

[Thesmiths2016 117]

File from Canada. There is an unofficial auto expedite if you do not have a US address. Hopefully you'll be routed to California and get the petition done in a month or two vs 5. Do not wait until you're back into the USA to file, that just wastes time.

The unofficial auto expedite is not guaranteed ... Just a trend that's been seen. There's many of us filing from abroad where both petitioner and beneficiary are at a non US address who did not get expedited. Careful not to make it sound like all filed abroad get that :-)

[NikLR 13,227]

The unofficial auto expedite is not guaranteed ... Just a trend that's been seen. There's many of us filing from abroad where both petitioner and beneficiary are at a non US address who did not get expedited. Careful not to make it sound like all filed abroad get that :-)

I've been here a while so I get where the trend has been seen since 2012. There's a reason it's an unofficial auto expedite, because a) it's unofficial and because of that b) it doesn't always happen. It really depends on the service center.

[NikLR 13,227]

Only the main two service centers EVER auto expedited, California and Vermont. None of the rest, do. NBC for a period of time in 2012 and 2013 sent their I-130s randomly to local offices. There was no notification about the transfer. Some people were approved in weeks and others were approved in years. (Atlanta was particularly slow to the point where they pretty much refused to do the workload.) Before that weird stint in 2012/2013, only California and Vermont processed I-130 petitions and you knew exactly where you were going based on where you lived.

Times certainly have changed, but California remains one of the better service centers to end up at. They have a lot of people who are efficient at their jobs and likely have been around for quite some time.

[Dida04 0]

Only the main two service centers EVER auto expedited, California and Vermont. None of the rest, do. NBC for a period of time in 2012 and 2013 sent their I-130s randomly to local offices. There was no notification about the transfer. Some people were approved in weeks and others were approved in years. (Atlanta was particularly slow to the point where they pretty much refused to do the workload.) Before that weird stint in 2012/2013, only California and Vermont processed I-130 petitions and you knew exactly where you were going based on where you lived.

Times certainly have changed, but California remains one of the better service centers to end up at. They have a lot of people who are efficient at their jobs and likely have been around for quite some time.

Hello NLR,

I was wondering if your statistics are coming from Visa Journey or the official website. On the official website it says 5 months. My family was just sent to California, that's why I'm so curious.

Thank you.

Dida

[NikLR 13,227]

Hello NLR,

I was wondering if your statistics are coming from Visa Journey or the official website. On the official website it says 5 months. My family was just sent to California, that's why I'm so curious.

Thank you.

Dida

VJ. Its unofficial and the USCIS will deny it exists.

As for the rest, also VJ. I filed Oct 2012 so went through the process at that tumultuous time.

[Dida04 0]

VJ. Its unofficial and the USCIS will deny it exists.

As for the rest, also VJ. I filed Oct 2012 so went through the process at that tumultuous time.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it.