In 11 months all I've gotten is a short email...

[PlumbTired 2]

Hi everyone! New to the community.

 

*Short version: I've been waiting since July '18 for anything. No physical mail, no I-797, nothing has come to my house.*

 

I'm a US citizen living with my Japanese wife in Japan, where we've been for 4 years. We married in the US, just before moving to Japan. We intended to move back to the US this August, but that's looking all but impossible at this point.

 

I mailed my I-130 application in June '18 and received an email the next month saying my "case has been accepted" and I'd receive form I-797 in 7-10 days. After 10 days I thought "sometimes it takes a month for things to come all the way to Japan, I'll wait." A month passed, then another, so I decided to call USCIS and I kick myself for not recording the call. The operator said the I-797 isn't important, quote "don't worry about it." It's just to confirm my address, she said. So we confirmed my address over the phone and that was that.

 

Month after month of waiting. 9 months pass. I call again, gently prodding a depressed-sounding operator with a couple small questions. He tells me there are "no problems" with my case and he doesn't "see any reason to believe it will take longer than 10 months."

 

As you can tell from the title of this post, it's taken more than 10 months. All of the waiting and uncertainty has me thinking about that missed I-797 again. In all this time I have received absolutely no physical paperwork. I was okay with this, a year ago when I was told it was no big deal, but 11 months later I'm pulling out my hair. I filed a non-delivery notice last month but the case hasn't been assigned.

 

Am I worried about nothing? Is the I-797 really a waste of a good piece of paper, and all I need is that old 30-word "case accepted" email? What would've been in this mysterious package I never received?

 

Cheers!

[VNN 147]

You can use the Receipt Number # from your email and check your case status at 

https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do

to see if there have been request for more evidence sent, case sent to Department of State (case approved), etc.

 

To be honest, you do not really need the first physical letter NOA1. My wife and I never received that NOA1 letter and we have not opened our NOA2 (approval)...and my wife has been in US for a few weeks now.

[PlumbTired 2]

18 hours ago, VNN said:

You can use the Receipt Number # from your email and check your case status at 

https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do

to see if there have been request for more evidence sent, case sent to Department of State (case approved), etc.

 

To be honest, you do not really need the first physical letter NOA1. My wife and I never received that NOA1 letter and we have not opened our NOA2 (approval)...and my wife has been in US for a few weeks now.

Thanks, VNN!