I-130 Filers March 2019

[Scott001 127]

21 minutes ago, jimfleurieee said:

Wow thats odd that you got the text and they haven’t taken your money lol.

As for the processing center (Service Center) its on the text message as your receipt information. The first 3 letters would tell you your service center.

 

– EAC – Vermont Service Center;
– VSC – Vermont Service Center;
– WAC – California Service Center;
– CSC – California Service Center;
– LIN – Nebraska Service Center;
– NSC – Nebraska Service Center;
– SRC – Texas Service Center;
– TSC – Texas Service Center;
– MSC – National Benefits Center;
– NBC – National Benefits Center;
– IOE – ELIS (e-Filing); and
– YSC – Potomac Service Center.

 

 

 

Oh nice. Thanks for the info. Looks like it went to Nebraska (LIN) Service center. 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Scott001

[RaLe 0]

1 hour ago, jimfleurieee said:

Wow you been waiting awhile. If your outside the normal processing time i would strongly advise reach out to USCIS.

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/displayONPTForm.do?sroPageType=onpt

 

USCIS Customer Service at 1-800-375-5283 or 1-800-767-1833(TTY).

 

Hopes everything works out for you.

 

Thank you for your response!

 

We cannot complete the request (case outside normal processing time) online, because the online form requires you to put a state and a zip code/postal code (in the us) in, and we live in Finland, so we will not be able to do that online. 

 

We will try to call USCIS asap. 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by RaLe

[Vvee 8]

20 hours ago, jimfleurieee said:

Is the NOA1 the text message or is it the physical mail you get in the mail? My wife and I is having a similar situation. She’s planning to visit me here in June also due to her one of her cousins wedding she would like to attend. She was debating changing her passport with her new surname. Who it be better she change it now or wait after she gets back. My only worry is if she gets her new passport will she lose the entry and depart stamps from her old passport. I think she has a strong enough reason to get denied for entry as she is an ofw in London and has a contract with her employer. In your case did you pay for your tuition already? Maybe that can be one of your proof, that you paid your tuition for the semester. Well good luck with trying to figure out other proof.

Email, still waiting for the mailed receipt. About the stamps, that's a valid thing to consider. I wonder if photocopies of them are enough. I also need to think about the passport thing, mine will expire sometime in 2020 and as the process takes so long, I was wondering if I should renew it early. Do you know if USCIS has to be notified about a renewed passport? Having employment must help a lot, I've seen many posts about people getting through with a letter from a supervisor etc. My problem with tuition is that we do not have to pay for university studies in Finland, so I have very little to show for it. I might ask a professor to write me a letter and see if that's enough. I was even thinking of renting an apartment just to have more ties to show. We even called CBP and they said such a letter could show ties to Finland, but they cannot guarantee entry. Which I knew already, so probably will just go for it and hope for the best, after getting every possible slip of paper that might help.

[jimfleurieee 22]

13 hours ago, Vvee said:

Email, still waiting for the mailed receipt. About the stamps, that's a valid thing to consider. I wonder if photocopies of them are enough. I also need to think about the passport thing, mine will expire sometime in 2020 and as the process takes so long, I was wondering if I should renew it early. Do you know if USCIS has to be notified about a renewed passport? Having employment must help a lot, I've seen many posts about people getting through with a letter from a supervisor etc. My problem with tuition is that we do not have to pay for university studies in Finland, so I have very little to show for it. I might ask a professor to write me a letter and see if that's enough. I was even thinking of renting an apartment just to have more ties to show. We even called CBP and they said such a letter could show ties to Finland, but they cannot guarantee entry. Which I knew already, so probably will just go for it and hope for the best, after getting every possible slip of paper that might help.

Wow university (college fees) are free in finland. Maybe you should finish your studies before coming over lol 😂😂😂😂.

To my knowledge you don't need to notify USCIS of passport renewal, you just need to supply it when its requested. Hope you’re successful and wish you all the best.

Edited March 17, 2019 by jimfleurieee

[bird&bear 43]

14 hours ago, Vvee said:

Email, still waiting for the mailed receipt. About the stamps, that's a valid thing to consider. I wonder if photocopies of them are enough. I also need to think about the passport thing, mine will expire sometime in 2020 and as the process takes so long, I was wondering if I should renew it early. Do you know if USCIS has to be notified about a renewed passport? Having employment must help a lot, I've seen many posts about people getting through with a letter from a supervisor etc. My problem with tuition is that we do not have to pay for university studies in Finland, so I have very little to show for it. I might ask a professor to write me a letter and see if that's enough. I was even thinking of renting an apartment just to have more ties to show. We even called CBP and they said such a letter could show ties to Finland, but they cannot guarantee entry. Which I knew already, so probably will just go for it and hope for the best, after getting every possible slip of paper that might help.

My husband is coming to visit this year as well. This will be his 3rd visit in less than a year, so I'm a little nervous he's going to get asked questions. New Zealand is VWP country though (and I believe Finland is too!), so I don't think you or he will get much trouble from CBP.

 

I think he is planning to bring a letter from his employer, some recent paystubs, and a copy of the NOA1 (once I receive the mailed version). I think a letter from your prof wouldn't hurt! When I was at uni, I had an advisor who would help me plan out my entire academic career and make sure I met all the requirements for my major--does your uni have someone like that who'd be able to vouch for you as well? That might help show that you've got long term plans back home... 

[P92 0]

On 3/8/2019 at 8:50 AM, Vvee said:

Hey guys! 😊

I tried to look for a topic for March 2019 filers but could not find one, so I thought might as well start! I am the beneficiary, and our petition was sent 3/5 and delivered 3/7. I would love to hear from other March filers ☺️

received noa1 02/01/18, since then its been 1yr 1mnth and 17days to this date and we have not heard from uscis since then. all  depends on the status of your spouse, you  might wanna buckle up  sit back and relax cus u got a long rope to pull. patience

[Vvee 8]

11 hours ago, jimfleurieee said:

Wow university (college fees) are free in finland. Maybe you should finish your studies before coming over lol 😂😂😂😂.

To my knowledge you don't need to notify USCIS of passport renewal, you just need to supply it when its requested. Hope you’re successful and wish you all the best.

Not to worry, I will finish before coming 😂 Thank you so much for the kind words! Same to you 😊

10 hours ago, bird&bear said:

My husband is coming to visit this year as well. This will be his 3rd visit in less than a year, so I'm a little nervous he's going to get asked questions. New Zealand is VWP country though (and I believe Finland is too!), so I don't think you or he will get much trouble from CBP.

 

I think he is planning to bring a letter from his employer, some recent paystubs, and a copy of the NOA1 (once I receive the mailed version). I think a letter from your prof wouldn't hurt! When I was at uni, I had an advisor who would help me plan out my entire academic career and make sure I met all the requirements for my major--does your uni have someone like that who'd be able to vouch for you as well? That might help show that you've got long term plans back home... 

Finland is a VWP country too, I really hope that helps. That is a great idea! I do have an advisor of sorts,  who approved my 'personal study plan', I will try to ask them for a letter too. Thank you so so much, it would not have crossed my mind ☺️

9 hours ago, P92 said:

received noa1 02/01/18, since then its been 1yr 1mnth and 17days to this date and we have not heard from uscis since then. all  depends on the status of your spouse, you  might wanna buckle up  sit back and relax cus u got a long rope to pull. patience

Wow, you've been waiting for long for NOA2! Which service center? Is it still inside normal processing times? True words, a lot of patience is needed in this process 😅 

[Okalian 41]

My timeline

 

Sent          03/09/2019 

Received  03/15/2019

[Okalian 41]

On 3/16/2019 at 6:44 AM, Vvee said:

We were hoping for Potomac too, but luckily Texas is not the longest wait.

 

I was just talking to someone about the processing times and they said 3-4 years ago it didn't take this long at all. I am stressing over the long wait, especially since my husband will probably not be able to visit me and I won't get any guarantees about visiting him, as they could deny entry. I am trying to figure out how to get enough proof of ties to Finland (currently a student, just moved in with a family member so no lease). I'd rather not fly across the Atlantic just to be turned away 😅Is anyone else planning visits? What are you going to do?

I wouldn't worry much at all if i were you!

I married my wife in 2012, and i became a US citizen in 2013. However, i didn't move to Egypt until mid 2015. During the period 2013-2015, my wife applied for 2 different non-immigrant visas (B2 and J visas) and mentioned in both applications that she's married to a US citizen, and mentioned my US address as the address she intends to stay. And she visited me numerous times, one of which we entered together from the visitors line, so it was super clear to the CBP officer.

 

So no need to worry. You filed for I-130 from overseas. If you did have the intention to enter the US and overstay your VWP duration and apply for Adjustment of Status (AoS), you would have done that from the first place. I think that's enough evidence

[Vvee 8]

29 minutes ago, Okalian said:

I wouldn't worry much at all if i were you!

I married my wife in 2012, and i became a US citizen in 2013. However, i didn't move to Egypt until mid 2015. During the period 2013-2015, my wife applied for 2 different non-immigrant visas (B2 and J visas) and mentioned in both applications that she's married to a US citizen, and mentioned my US address as the address she intends to stay. And she visited me numerous times, one of which we entered together from the visitors line, so it was super clear to the CBP officer.

 

So no need to worry. You filed for I-130 from overseas. If you did have the intention to enter the US and overstay your VWP duration and apply for Adjustment of Status (AoS), you would have done that from the first place. I think that's enough evidence

Yay, I was waiting for you to post in the thread! Thank you for sharing your experience, this literally made me feel so much better about visiting. So you also petitioned from overseas (mentioned moving to Egypt)?

[canadavisa22 202]

I'm just going to consider myself a March 2019 i-130 filer as my case was received on 02/28/2019.

 

I seem to have gotten the short straw as my file ended up in Nebraska. The long wait begins...

 

We live overseas together, filing from Canada. 

[bird&bear 43]

1 hour ago, canadavisa22 said:

I'm just going to consider myself a March 2019 i-130 filer as my case was received on 02/28/2019.

 

I seem to have gotten the short straw as my file ended up in Nebraska. The long wait begins...

 

We live overseas together, filing from Canada. 

Welcome to the thread! We're all going through this together and it's great to have people to talk to about this.

 

I'm sorry to hear your petition ended up in Nebraska, but you never know what could happen! The processing time estimates seem to be changing all the time (Texas went from "6-8 months" to "7-9 months" recently... >_>) so the most we can all do is kick up our boots and wait it out... Good luck, and it's good to have you here!

[canadavisa22 202]

20 minutes ago, bird&bear said:

Welcome to the thread! We're all going through this together and it's great to have people to talk to about this.

 

I'm sorry to hear your petition ended up in Nebraska, but you never know what could happen! The processing time estimates seem to be changing all the time (Texas went from "6-8 months" to "7-9 months" recently... >_>) so the most we can all do is kick up our boots and wait it out... Good luck, and it's good to have you here!

Thanks. We have a life and family here in Canada, so that at least makes things easier. For anyone reading the thread, we submitted a G-1145 but never received a notification that our file was received. We only received the physical letter in the mail. So, don't stress if you never receive any electronic notifications. It seems to be a pretty hit or miss thing with USCIS.

[Juliet57 304]

Hi all, this is my first post.

We filed I-130 on Feb 21st and got NOA saying my husband's G-1450 was invalid 😭 he double checked everything together with our lawyer, and the lawyer office got back many petitions includying ours. 

So we were advised to send a check instead.

We think this is related to the government lockdown, the petition was sent to Phoenix lockbox.

They never charged his credit card, I thought other people here would have the same issue but it seems that everyone's been charged as expected.

[jimfleurieee 22]

On 3/17/2019 at 11:37 AM, P92 said:

received noa1 02/01/18, since then its been 1yr 1mnth and 17days to this date and we have not heard from uscis since then. all  depends on the status of your spouse, you  might wanna buckle up  sit back and relax cus u got a long rope to pull. patience

What do you mean it all depends on the status of your spouse?