Spousal visa processing timeline and requirements

[JC&BS 75]

On 3/29/2018 at 7:16 AM, missileman said:

I hired an attorney, and he actually caused a 3 month delay.  No attorney can speed up the process.... as @geowriansaid, 12-14 months.

@missilemanwhat did the lawyer do wrong?

[Crazy Cat 41,587]

20 minutes ago, JC&BS said:

@missilemanwhat did the lawyer do wrong?

My attorney:

1.  Incorrectly assembled the NVC package as I received a checklist after 94 days at NVC for missing documents (which the attorney had). Then after 87 additional days, we were notified of case complete.  I believe the attorney failed to send 2 required documents until after we received the NVC checklist.  This delayed our "case complete" for at least 87 days. 

 

2.  Gave us inaccurate information as to what documents the consulate in Taipei, Taiwan would accept.  As a result, my wife received a 221g slip for documents which she then had to obtain and submit to the consulate.  This delayed the issuance of my wife's visa by a few days.

 

When I pay an attorney $2000.00, I expect expert knowledge and performance.

 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

On 30/3/2018 at 7:48 AM, ChantelandConnor said:

I applied for my husband's cr1 visa, 16 months ago, and it appears as if we will need to wait another 3 or 4. I don't know where all of these people are getting the 12-14 month timeframe. I think that was for a year ago, and not now that Trump changed things up. That would have been a dream!

Every case is different, I applied March 2017 and my interview is April 2018. Assuming I have completed everything correctly and I get approved it will be 13 months.

 

To my knowledge President Trump has made no changes at USCIS or NVC. What do you think he has changed up to slow your petition down?   

[zeljuu 21]

5 hours ago, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Every case is different, I applied March 2017 and my interview is April 2018. Assuming I have completed everything correctly and I get approved it will be 13 months.

 

To my knowledge President Trump has made no changes at USCIS or NVC. What do you think he has changed up to slow your petition down?   

 

Difficult to say. Even if Trump didn't make any changes on paper, between what he's been planning and speaking regarding immigration and the media circus that usually ensues I don't think has helped.

 

There's likely more scrutiny than ever between the USCIS and NVC on these applications; there's also probably more people than ever trying to become legal before things really get reformed.

 

Of course it could just be how much traffic that comes in, over the past 5 years or so it has seemed to peak and valley due to multiple factors. 

 

Quote

Just like those of us who got our case sent to NVC after 20 February because the case numbers are taking forever...  

 

I was wondering, is there a need to call or stay on top of the NVC to get the number or is it basically just standing by until you get a notice via mail or email/SMS? They seem to be receiving cases in a timely manner, only ~3 weeks or so from what I've seen..

Edited April 1, 2018 by ZakMrak
Added question

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

3 hours ago, ZakMrak said:

 

Difficult to say. Even if Trump didn't make any changes on paper, between what he's been planning and speaking regarding immigration and the media circus that usually ensues I don't think has helped.

 

There's likely more scrutiny than ever between the USCIS and NVC on these applications; there's also probably more people than ever trying to become legal before things really get reformed.

 

Of course it could just be how much traffic that comes in, over the past 5 years or so it has seemed to peak and valley due to multiple factors. 

 

This is an immigration forum that shares information and advice. If an executive decision  has been made to slow applications down then it's something we all should know, but as yet he has done nothing to interfere with the USCIS or NVC. Anyone suggesting that their application has be slowed as a result of a Trump policy change needs to speak up and not just imply and jump on the Trump bashing wagon.

 

The application process was already backlogged and slowing down under previous presidents due to conflicts around the world. The internet and ease of foreign travel has made it more likely

that US citizens are finding their new spouses abroad. There are more Americans applying now for IR1/CR1 visas for their husbands and wife's. 

 

Family based visa I believe in some categories and nationalities are dealing with applications going back years preceeding even President Obama's two terms, again absolutely nothing to do with Trump.

 

My point is there are enough pitfalls and things to cause delays without throwing Trump's name into the mix. It's more likely that a case will be delayed by poor paperwork than anything the President has said or done.

[zeljuu 21]

44 minutes ago, Mr&Mrs G. said:

 

This is an immigration forum that shares information and advice. If an executive decision  has been made to slow applications down then it's something we all should know, but as yet he has done nothing to interfere with the USCIS or NVC. Anyone suggesting that their application has be slowed as a result of a Trump policy change needs to speak up and not just imply and jump on the Trump bashing wagon.

 

The application process was already backlogged and slowing down under previous presidents due to conflicts around the world. The internet and ease of foreign travel has made it more likely

that US citizens are finding their new spouses abroad. There are more Americans applying now for IR1/CR1 visas for their husbands and wife's. 

 

Family based visa I believe in some categories and nationalities are dealing with applications going back years preceeding even President Obama's two terms, again absolutely nothing to do with Trump.

 

My point is there are enough pitfalls and things to cause delays without throwing Trump's name into the mix. It's more likely that a case will be delayed by poor paperwork than anything the President has said or done.

 

Like I said it's difficult to say what impact the current administration has on the processing times if any. Despite my impression of it probably not helping there hasn't been any official reform as of yet. 

 

We are all in the dark as far as what goes into the day to day.

[ChantelandConnor 1]

On 3/31/2018 at 3:17 PM, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Every case is different, I applied March 2017 and my interview is April 2018. Assuming I have completed everything correctly and I get approved it will be 13 months.

 

To my knowledge President Trump has made no changes at USCIS or NVC. What do you think he has changed up to slow your petition down?   

President Trump made the review process for immigration more in depth and cut the immigration budget which means less people doing more work with less resources. Your lack of knowledge about an issue does not mean that nothing has changed. Just because it wasn't on Fox News doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

[ChantelandConnor 1]

On 3/31/2018 at 3:17 PM, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Every case is different, I applied March 2017 and my interview is April 2018. Assuming I have completed everything correctly and I get approved it will be 13 months.

 

To my knowledge President Trump has made no changes at USCIS or NVC. What do you think he has changed up to slow your petition down?   

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/us/politics/visa-extreme-vetting-rex-tillerson.html Even if you are not in one of the groups targeted by the increased scrutiny, we are all in the same line and everyone's case has been slowed.

[geowrian 22,337]

13 minutes ago, ChantelandConnor said:

President Trump made the review process for immigration more in depth and cut the immigration budget which means less people doing more work with less resources. Your lack of knowledge about an issue does not mean that nothing has changed. Just because it wasn't on Fox News doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

Nothing in the I-130 process has changed since Trump took office. There are supposedly some additional checks at the embassy stage, but this tends to vary from country to country.

 

What immigration budget? USCIS is almost entirely self-funded (~98% or higher), and the entirety of the petition handling is self-funded. There's no data supporting that there are less people or less resources available in 2017 and 2018 than in 2016. the posted budgets from DHS show that the FTE increased (at a normal rate).

 

Edit: With the exception of certain countries (i.e. Russia), embassy processing timelines are fundamentally unchanged. Some individuals are impacted by extended AP due to background checks, most commonly with the DS-5535. Those impacted by the travel ban are also obviously in a bit of limbo right now, but that doesn't impact the processing timelines for most cases.

Edited April 10, 2018 by geowrian

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

1 hour ago, ChantelandConnor said:

President Trump made the review process for immigration more in depth and cut the immigration budget which means less people doing more work with less resources. Your lack of knowledge about an issue does not mean that nothing has changed. Just because it wasn't on Fox News doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

He done nothing to interfere with your immigration process. 

 

What's Fox news got to do with anything? 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

1 hour ago, ChantelandConnor said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/us/politics/visa-extreme-vetting-rex-tillerson.html Even if you are not in one of the groups targeted by the increased scrutiny, we are all in the same line and everyone's case has been slowed.

Your not in any targeted group but yet feel targeted because your case was slowed down. 

[ChantelandConnor 1]

On 4/10/2018 at 12:46 PM, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Your not in any targeted group but yet feel targeted because your case was slowed down. 

It's really not a hard concept. If you are behind someone in the grocery store line who has 100 things, it doesn't matter if you only have one thing to buy, you are behind them and thus have to wait until they are done to be helped. With the visa processing, there is not a special line for targeted groups. We are all in the same line. So, if their cases are taking longer, that means that a caseworker, who could otherwise be done and move on to help the next person, has to finish the longer process of the person in the targeted group before they can move on to help the next person. 

 

I don't feel targeted. My case wasn't slowed down any longer than anyone else who applied at the same time I did. But as someone(like many others) who applied right before the change happened, our cases were without a doubt slowed down by the new rules. 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

On 27/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, ChantelandConnor said:

It's really not a hard concept. If you are behind someone in the grocery store line who has 100 things, it doesn't matter if you only have one thing to buy, you are behind them and thus have to wait until they are done to be helped. With the visa processing, there is not a special line for targeted groups. We are all in the same line. So, if their cases are taking longer, that means that a caseworker, who could otherwise be done and move on to help the next person, has to finish the longer process of the person in the targeted group before they can move on to help the next person. 

 

I don't feel targeted. My case wasn't slowed down any longer than anyone else who applied at the same time I did. But as someone(like many others) who applied right before the change happened, our cases were without a doubt slowed down by the new rules. 

The applicants from the "targeted" countries never impact on your case. All our cases follow the same path until it gets to the embassy stage in the relevant country and this is where the extra processing takes place. So if an applicant is from one of those countries they will go through extra screening by staff at the embassy locally, this has no effect on your application which will be at the London embassy. For applicants from certain countries their cases sit in administrative processing, again at the embassy in their country not interfering with yours. 

 

They only people that can feel aggrieved/targeted are applicants from those countries, everyone else is just looking for something or someone to blame. It's a tough process and it takes it's toll on all of us, its certainly not helped by the sheer volume of applications that the Dept. Of State has to deal with.