I-130 Filers August 2018 [merged threads]

[DGF 730]

9 minutes ago, amapru said:

But 0 August people didn’t come back, less likely. Would’ve liked to see a few by now given Texas’s timeline since last 2-3 months. But we shall wait as we have been lol. 

I agree that it would have been nice to see some August approvals here given the way things have been going the last few months (I have been watching sadly as my VJ timeline estimate has gone from March to May). 

 

That being said, Texas received 37,814 I-130 applications from July 1st - September 30th 2018 (they just released their data the other day) and there are only 89 petitions on Igor's list from that time. So we're only seeing 0.2% of applications on here for that time, which makes me feel a lot better about the fact that we haven't seen any August approvals here yet. 

 

[inneedofmyhb 217]

6 minutes ago, DGF said:

I agree that it would have been nice to see some August approvals here given the way things have been going the last few months (I have been watching sadly as my VJ timeline estimate has gone from March to May). 

 

That being said, Texas received 37,814 I-130 applications from July 1st - September 30th 2018 (they just released their data the other day) and there are only 89 petitions on Igor's list from that time. So we're only seeing 0.2% of applications on here for that time, which makes me feel a lot better about the fact that we haven't seen any August approvals here yet. 

 

I always say, VJ is just a small piece of a giant puzzle. But, it’s also terrible when they have your petition pending for so long and decide to send over RFE’s at the last minute. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by inneedofmyhb

[amapru 13]

1 hour ago, DGF said:

I agree that it would have been nice to see some August approvals here given the way things have been going the last few months (I have been watching sadly as my VJ timeline estimate has gone from March to May). 

 

That being said, Texas received 37,814 I-130 applications from July 1st - September 30th 2018 (they just released their data the other day) and there are only 89 petitions on Igor's list from that time. So we're only seeing 0.2% of applications on here for that time, which makes me feel a lot better about the fact that we haven't seen any August approvals here yet. 

 

Good point. Calms my nerves a bit lol 

[CamilaRemolina 181]

7 hours ago, DGF said:

It's the Case Tracker for USCIS app. When you search for USCIS on the app store it's likely to be the first one that shows up (it is the first one for me but that might vary based on country). It lets you search up to 500 cases at a time (although if you search too much you'll get blocked for the day) so I played around with the starting case number until I found August cases. 

do you mind posting a screenshot of an example of how to do it?

I tried, but I'm not sure how to "play around with the numbers" to get it to show me anything. lol thank you.

[DGF 730]

23 minutes ago, CamilaRemolina said:

do you mind posting a screenshot of an example of how to do it?

I tried, but I'm not sure how to "play around with the numbers" to get it to show me anything. lol thank you.

I did too many searches today and I'm blocked for the rest of the day so I can't get a screenshot but I can try my best to explain how it works. Also, I know a lot of people hide their case numbers on here so I'm not going to include any actual case numbers because although a case number doesn't provide any personal or identifying information, I don't know if posting a real case number is/is not against the TOS of VJ and I don't want VJ to ban me  

 

When you go to the search tab it'll let you enter a case number and how many cases following that (up to 500) that you want to search. I always search 500 because that gives me the most results (it includes all case types, not just I-130). Technically the limit is checking the status of 200 cases a day but I've found that I can usually do ~8-10 searches before I get blocked. In case you're worried, being blocked for the day has no impact whatsoever on your case. Anyway, once the search finishes I sort by type by selecting I-130 along the bottom. Each case number will have the current status and the date that it changed to that status (so for the approved cases I saw, the status was approved, the date was February 21st (the date that they were set as approved), and they were in a batch of August 1st cases so that's how I know the PD). 

 

USCIS receives hundreds if not thousands of applications each day and not all numbers are valid so you'll probably have to change the number you're searching quite a bit more than you'd expect. Start with your own case number because that way you know what date the search will return (cases that have the same PD as you do). According to your timeline, your PD is pretty close to the beginning of August so you won't have to change yours as much as I did if you're looking for August cases. Try searching for a case number that is 2000 higher or lower than yours and see where that gets you. That'll give you a better idea of how much you need to change the case number that you're using for the search. If it's not what you're looking for, then try 3000, or 4000, or 10,000. I got a lot of invalid results when I first started so I just kept trying new ones until I got the hang of it. I hope that makes some sense!

[ewu 1]

6 hours ago, DGF said:

I did too many searches today and I'm blocked for the rest of the day so I can't get a screenshot but I can try my best to explain how it works. Also, I know a lot of people hide their case numbers on here so I'm not going to include any actual case numbers because although a case number doesn't provide any personal or identifying information, I don't know if posting a real case number is/is not against the TOS of VJ and I don't want VJ to ban me  

 

When you go to the search tab it'll let you enter a case number and how many cases following that (up to 500) that you want to search. I always search 500 because that gives me the most results (it includes all case types, not just I-130). Technically the limit is checking the status of 200 cases a day but I've found that I can usually do ~8-10 searches before I get blocked. In case you're worried, being blocked for the day has no impact whatsoever on your case. Anyway, once the search finishes I sort by type by selecting I-130 along the bottom. Each case number will have the current status and the date that it changed to that status (so for the approved cases I saw, the status was approved, the date was February 21st (the date that they were set as approved), and they were in a batch of August 1st cases so that's how I know the PD). 

 

USCIS receives hundreds if not thousands of applications each day and not all numbers are valid so you'll probably have to change the number you're searching quite a bit more than you'd expect. Start with your own case number because that way you know what date the search will return (cases that have the same PD as you do). According to your timeline, your PD is pretty close to the beginning of August so you won't have to change yours as much as I did if you're looking for August cases. Try searching for a case number that is 2000 higher or lower than yours and see where that gets you. That'll give you a better idea of how much you need to change the case number that you're using for the search. If it's not what you're looking for, then try 3000, or 4000, or 10,000. I got a lot of invalid results when I first started so I just kept trying new ones until I got the hang of it. I hope that makes some sense!

I downloaded the app and did exactly what you described above. I searched for my case number first then change a few different digits here and there. I got some interesting results. As mine was received 1st of August I saw a lot of 1st August that says case received I didn't see any approved ones, but it's possible approved ones exists. I when I changed the digits of my case number by -10000 I saw several I-130 application for may with status received. I also saw several June and July with the same status i.e. received. Note there were equally several May, June and few July's with status approved or sent to department of state. With those observations it seems that there are some elements of randomness with the way they pick and approve cases. For example SRC1890531xxx is mostly July 2nd some of those range have been approved already while of them are still received. Also found a lot of cases rejected for incorrect fees or for not signing of application forms. And finally there were some they requested for evidence.

[Bengoj 133]

22 hours ago, DGF said:

It's the Case Tracker for USCIS app. When you search for USCIS on the app store it's likely to be the first one that shows up (it is the first one for me but that might vary based on country). It lets you search up to 500 cases at a time (although if you search too much you'll get blocked for the day) so I played around with the starting case number until I found August cases. 

Wow this is actually brilliant of you!! Thanks for the information. I already knew VJ forum was just a piece of the puzzle. So now at least we know that there are approvals for August!  I was thinking the furthest they got was Beginning of July. Thanks again and if it’s not too much, please keep us posted on any other approval dates😄 have a great day 

[DGF 730]

8 hours ago, ewu said:

I downloaded the app and did exactly what you described above. I searched for my case number first then change a few different digits here and there. I got some interesting results. As mine was received 1st of August I saw a lot of 1st August that says case received I didn't see any approved ones, but it's possible approved ones exists. I when I changed the digits of my case number by -10000 I saw several I-130 application for may with status received. I also saw several June and July with the same status i.e. received. Note there were equally several May, June and few July's with status approved or sent to department of state. With those observations it seems that there are some elements of randomness with the way they pick and approve cases. For example SRC1890531xxx is mostly July 2nd some of those range have been approved already while of them are still received. Also found a lot of cases rejected for incorrect fees or for not signing of application forms. And finally there were some they requested for evidence.

It seems like they mainly focus on ~2 months at a time but within those 2 months their processing is totally random. I remember when July approvals started showing up on VJ they started with July 13th and then it was a week or so before petitions from earlier in July were approved. Also, I think the fact that they are often slow to update the cases online and often don't update them at all contributes to the dates where they should be ~50% processed according to their official range (like July 2nd) but are still showing as mostly received. I've also noticed a lot (and by a lot I mean at most 4 in a search) of cases that have been transferred to another office. I wonder if this is a normal amount or if Texas really is having some issues right now and is having to transfer cases to not fall further behind.

I get a little sad when I see the cases that were rejected for incorrect fees or not signing the forms because I always imagine the person being a little mad at themselves for such a small mistake. I've even seen a few where a withdrawal request was received and that makes me extra sad. 

I couldn't find the two August 1st approvals from Feb 21st, but I did find two more from August 1st approved on Feb 25th. If you add around 50000 to your example and then play around a bit you should see them or be very close 🙈

[DGF 730]

2 hours ago, Gojo said:

Wow this is actually brilliant of you!! Thanks for the information. I already knew VJ forum was just a piece of the puzzle. So now at least we know that there are approvals for August!  I was thinking the furthest they got was Beginning of July. Thanks again and if it’s not too much, please keep us posted on any other approval dates😄 have a great day 

Haha thank you! I'm glad that it's brilliant and not me being a little too obsessive about this whole process. I saw two more this morning while trying to find the two August approvals from Feb 21st that are also August 1st but approved on Feb 25th  I never did find the Feb 21st ones though so maybe the website, being as reliable as it is, updated those to the 25th for some reason. 

[amapru 13]

2 minutes ago, DGF said:

It seems like they mainly focus on ~2 months at a time but within those 2 months their processing is totally random. I remember when July approvals started showing up on VJ they started with July 13th and then it was a week or so before petitions from earlier in July were approved. Also, I think the fact that they are often slow to update the cases online and often don't update them at all contributes to the dates where they should be ~50% processed according to their official range (like July 2nd) but are still showing as mostly received. I've also noticed a lot (and by a lot I mean at most 4 in a search) of cases that have been transferred to another office. I wonder if this is a normal amount or if Texas really is having some issues right now and is having to transfer cases to not fall further behind.

I get a little sad when I see the cases that were rejected for incorrect fees or not signing the forms because I always imagine the person being a little mad at themselves for such a small mistake. I've even seen a few where a withdrawal request was received and that makes me extra sad. 

I couldn't find the two August 1st approvals from Feb 21st, but I did find two more from August 1st approved on Feb 25th. If you add around 50000 to your example and then play around a bit you should see them or be very close 🙈

That’s great research. I also played around with it yesterday. Couldn’t get to the August approvals you’re talking about but I’ll take your word for it haha. 

 

What we should also realize is even this is not ALL the cases. This app is not an official one so all the thousands of cases we see on this app are people that are using this app to track their cases. Such violation of privacy/security from this app to show your case numbers to others. I wouldn’t think a lot of people would like the app to do that, only if they knew. 

 

On the bright part, updates on the cases on this app are directly from USCIS and not dependent on the fact that the person has to come back and update their status. 

 

So it’s sorta confirmed, not many August approvals as of yet. Hopefully they pick it up in March. 

[ipatientlywaiting 23]

I'm one of the incorrect fees 😅. I sent in both a credit card authorization and a check, so they rejected it and told me to resubmit. I ended up submitting an entirely new package since I was waiting for the e-notification for about two weeks. Little did I know, they only mail you the rejection package, and I didn't check my mail.

[MK_25 38]

I have that app and also didn't know it could do that! Good to know the August train has slowly started to chug away. Please let March be THE month for August approvals! Hang in there everyone.

[inneedofmyhb 217]

22 minutes ago, amapru said:

That’s great research. I also played around with it yesterday. Couldn’t get to the August approvals you’re talking about but I’ll take your word for it haha. 

 

What we should also realize is even this is not ALL the cases. This app is not an official one so all the thousands of cases we see on this app are people that are using this app to track their cases. Such violation of privacy/security from this app to show your case numbers to others. I wouldn’t think a lot of people would like the app to do that, only if they knew. 

 

On the bright part, updates on the cases on this app are directly from USCIS and not dependent on the fact that the person has to come back and update their status. 

 

So it’s sorta confirmed, not many August approvals as of yet. Hopefully they pick it up in March. 

I was told long ago by who I think was one of the admins on VJ, that you have to manually update your case on here. They can not automatically link your information to VJ from uscis because VJ doesn’t have your receipt number. 

[amapru 13]

4 minutes ago, inneedofmyhb said:

I was told long ago by who I think was one of the admins on VJ, that you have to manually update your case on here. They can not automatically link your information to VJ from uscis because VJ doesn’t have your receipt number. 

That’s correct. 

[DGF 730]

1 hour ago, amapru said:

What we should also realize is even this is not ALL the cases. This app is not an official one so all the thousands of cases we see on this app are people that are using this app to track their cases. Such violation of privacy/security from this app to show your case numbers to others. I wouldn’t think a lot of people would like the app to do that, only if they knew. 

 

I don't want to make you feel like you're violating people's privacy by using the app! When you search in the app it returns case numbers that increment by 1. If it was only searching through case numbers that others were tracking in the app we'd be seeing huge jumps in between the numbers (because just like VJ, not everyone uses the app). This means that it is searching through all cases that USCIS has. There is no difference between using the app and looking up case numbers individually on the USCIS website except that the app makes it much faster.