USCIS processing time chart??

[payxibka 10,045]

12 minutes ago, GaryK said:

geowrian... you seem to have your finger on the pulse of a lot of this.  Since I can't get a straight answer (or ANY answer for that matter) from people at the uscis, do you think you can opine and cite some common situations/conditions that could add time to the approval process?

 

For example, I read how prior divorces can extend the process.  Why might prior divorces add (significant?) time to the approval process?  Maybe this is a dumb question but, as part of my package, I sent in my divorce decree (all 1,067 unabridged pages... you'd get a hernia trying to lift it).  Her divorce decree was also included both in her native language and an accompanying English translation.  Her English translation comes complete with a stamp, signature of the translator, the translator's credentials, etc.

 

So what would the uscis be doing from there?  For my petition, are they reaching out to Ukrainian authorities to validate the legitimacy of Anna's divorce and that takes time?  Are they combing U.S. public records to validate my divorce?  I'm just not getting why prior divorces would add significant time but maybe I'm just completely clueless.  Hence, all my questions.  Thanks in advance for your perspective.

 

 

Processing times expand and contract all the time.  Uscis allocates workload to various Visa types throughout the year.  I think H1b season is upon us.  One year ago i129f were 6 to 8 months.

[GaryK 39]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

Processing times expand and contract all the time.  Uscis allocates workload to various Visa types throughout the year.  I think H1b season is upon us.  One year ago i129f were 6 to 8 months.

Yes, I get that there are other extenuating circumstances that could come into play.  I think my questions are more about things endemic to a I-129f petition that could prolong the process.

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, GaryK said:

Yes, I get that there are other extenuating circumstances that could come into play.  I think my questions are more about things endemic to a I-129f petition that could prolong the process.

To the best of my knowledge divorces don't add time other than the time to pick out the pertinent info (my petition had two decrees).  I am not aware of any such "reach outs" to the alien country as the petition is primarily about eligibility and the petitionner.  Certain background checks can add time 

[GaryK 39]

Just now, payxibka said:

To the best of my knowledge divorces don't add time other than the time to pick out the pertinent info (my petition had two decrees).  I am not aware of any such "reach outs" to the alien country as the petition is primarily about eligibility and the petitionner.  Certain background checks can add time 

Ok, interesting response.  So let's hop on the background checks now.  Again, I am only seeking opinions even if my line of questioning starts getting into areas you may feel less certain about.

 

I may have spit on the sidewalk in Portland, Maine back in 2008 and a local cop MAY have looked askance at me over it.  Beyond that, I can't think of anything that would come up in a background check for me.  Anna is squeaky clean.

 

Do you know if there are 'tiered' background checks?  What I mean by that is do they first check databases A, B and C.  No hits?  Pass GO, collect $200.  Quicker approval.  Hits?  Ok, let's proceed with checking databases D and E.  Is that what you mean when you say 'certain background checks' could add time?

 

Personally, I could never understand why prior divorces would add any significant time but some people on VJ have suggested it could be a factor.

 

[payxibka 10,045]

3 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Ok, interesting response.  So let's hop on the background checks now.  Again, I am only seeking opinions even if my line of questioning starts getting into areas you may feel less certain about.

 

I may have spit on the sidewalk in Portland, Maine back in 2008 and a local cop MAY have looked askance at me over it.  Beyond that, I can't think of anything that would come up in a background check for me.  Anna is squeaky clean.

 

Do you know if there are 'tiered' background checks?  What I mean by that is do they first check databases A, B and C.  No hits?  Pass GO, collect $200.  Quicker approval.  Hits?  Ok, let's proceed with checking databases D and E.  Is that what you mean when you say 'certain background checks' could add time?

 

Personally, I could never understand why prior divorces would add any significant time but some people on VJ have suggested it could be a factor.

 

What I do know is that there are multiple databases.   What I don't know is is everyone goes through all or if it is tiered based on results,  my guess is tiered.

 

As for divorces, every time I read a post about it taking more time,  I challenge it and nobody so far can demonstrate anything other than repeating some urban legend 

[GaryK 39]

26 minutes ago, payxibka said:

What I do know is that there are multiple databases.   What I don't know is is everyone goes through all or if it is tiered based on results,  my guess is tiered.

 

As for divorces, every time I read a post about it taking more time,  I challenge it and nobody so far can demonstrate anything other than repeating some urban legend 

Thanks for the perspective.

 

I guess today is Gary's 'all over the map' day.  I have another question maybe you have some thoughts on.  Since the CSC is THE hotspot for I-129f petitions... and since they ostensibly work between 8 am and 6 pm (presumably that's pacific time)... is that about the only time when we can expect adjudicators to be doing any work?  I never seem to see a weekend date listed on people's timelines.  Only Monday through Friday from what I have seen.

 

I wasn't sure if you (or anyone) knew if the uscis practices 'flex time' (ex: come in 6 or 7 am if an early bird... 10 or 11 am if a night owl) or work-from-home arrangements under certain circumstances.

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Thanks for the perspective.

 

I guess today is Gary's 'all over the map' day.  I have another question maybe you have some thoughts on.  Since the CSC is THE hotspot for I-129f petitions... and since they ostensibly work between 8 am and 6 pm (presumably that's pacific time)... is that about the only time when we can expect adjudicators to be doing any work?  I never seem to see a weekend date listed on people's timelines.  Only Monday through Friday from what I have seen.

 

I wasn't sure if you (or anyone) knew if the uscis practices 'flex time' (ex: come in 6 or 7 am if an early bird... 10 or 11 am if a night owl) or work-from-home arrangements under certain circumstances.

My guess on at home is no, because that would require petitions to leave the uscis premises and we all know that some i129f petitions can weigh upwards of 50 pounds due to the  10000 pages of submitted chats

[geowrian 22,337]

2 minutes ago, GaryK said:

I guess today is Gary's 'all over the map' day.  I have another question maybe you have some thoughts on.  Since the CSC is THE hotspot for I-129f petitions... and since they ostensibly work between 8 am and 6 pm (presumably that's pacific time)... is that about the only time when we can expect adjudicators to be doing any work?  I never seem to see a weekend date listed on people's timelines.  Only Monday through Friday from what I have seen.

 

I wasn't sure if you (or anyone) knew if the uscis practices 'flex time' (ex: come in 6 or 7 am if an early bird... 10 or 11 am if a night owl) or work-from-home arrangements under certain circumstances.

Unless things have changed in the past year or so, that does generally seem to be the case. I used to run scans to check for case status updates of I-129Fs at CSC, and there was a clear "cutover" period when the system seemed to update for a night for most statuses. This was usually around 9:30 to 10:30 PM ET (6:30-7:30 PM PT).

This is when most statuses would update to reflect approval or denial. RFEs tended to show up mid-day.

 

Very rarely there would be updates in afterhours or over weekends. It was so uncommon that it's impossible to tell if it was just the system seeing the update or if there was some poor IO sitting in his/her office alone on the weekend.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

Somewhere here on VJ is a Q&A sheet with a former USCIS co-worker who brought some light into how they work. 

@Greenbaum do you maybe know where it can be found? I haven't saved it.

 

And he said that home office was a thing. The people came in, grabed some cases for 3-4 days of work and went home again. But only when they brought them back they're able to scan them into the system again. So no status update on the weekend but probably a couple early monday morning.

 

@Shiran I think it was you posting a link about how the FBI works background checks. Could you post that again?

[Miosotty M 90]

https://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a/

 

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

3 minutes ago, Miosotty M said:

https://www.visajourney.com/content/adjudicator-q-and-a/

 

Here it is. Thank you 😊

 

Though he wasn't working in California it might help 

[Nyalimera 108]

Damn, I guess I was one of those confused people having Texas Service Center listed in my timeline but realized that it went to California as for most cases. Sorry but thank you for this thread! I just fixed it in my timeline and noticed that my timeline jumped back a little. RIP me. X3