I130 sent to local office in seattle?

[Ikhan 49]

I talked to a tier 2 today and he said my i130 for my spouse who is overseas is at my local Seattle office. It was moved from Csc to Seattle and pending review. Is this normal? I thought my i130 would be approved by CSC and then sent to NVC Islamabad. 

Does anyone know the process? Or have they made a mistake?

 

Thank you for the help!

[Dashinka 24,149]

Usually I130s don't go to local field offices, but who knows with USCIS.  This could simply be CSC transferring work to balance the workload, but usually those go to other service centers.

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

11 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Usually I130s don't go to local field offices, but who knows with USCIS.  This could simply be CSC transferring work to balance the workload, but usually those go to other service centers.

Or someone who has no clue what they are talking about or just trying to get OP off of the phone. But one guess is as good as another when dealing with USCIS phone service. My experiences with them have been less than stellar. The Tier 2 person I spoke with had little to no clue about the K1 process. She had spent her career processing AOS, ROC and citizenship applications. We had a nice conversation but it was of little help to me.

Edited May 13, 2021 by boris64

[Dashinka 24,149]

2 minutes ago, boris64 said:

Or someone who has no clue what they are talking about or just trying to get OP off of the phone. But one guess is as good as another when dealing with USCIS phone service. My experiences with them have been less than stellar.

That is always a possibility.  We were fortunate enough never having a reason to call for any of my wife's processes.  

[arken 4,197]

1 hour ago, Ikhan said:

I talked to a tier 2 today and he said my i130 for my spouse who is overseas is at my local Seattle office. It was moved from Csc to Seattle and pending review. Is this normal? I thought my i130 would be approved by CSC and then sent to NVC Islamabad. 

Does anyone know the process? Or have they made a mistake?

 

Thank you for the help!

One of the reason they transferred your case to your local field office could be to call you later in in the office and ask you few things before approving or denying based on what's submitted. Are there any red flags?

Edited May 13, 2021 by arken

[Ikhan 49]

27 minutes ago, arken said:

One of the reason they transferred your case to your local field office could be to call you later in in the office and ask you few things before approving or denying based on what's submitted. Are there any red flags?

I don't think there are red flags. I consistently cross the us and Canada border because I have family in Canada. Other than that, I can't think of anything. 

[tsabbas 47]

2 hours ago, Ikhan said:

I talked to a tier 2 today and he said my i130 for my spouse who is overseas is at my local Seattle office. It was moved from Csc to Seattle and pending review. Is this normal? I thought my i130 would be approved by CSC and then sent to NVC Islamabad. 

Does anyone know the process? Or have they made a mistake?

 

Thank you for the help!

This happened to us as well. To this day, I don't know for sure if it was a mistake or if they just do a few random interviews from time to time for some auditing purposes or something! I was called into the Detroit office for an interview on a pending I-130. The interviewer seemed surprised that my husband wasn't with me and double checked the application to make sure we had marked that he had never been to the US and that he would be applying at the embassy overseas. Everything was correct so she asked me a few basic questions, looked at our wedding photos, and approved the application which then went to NVC. Never did find out why the interview happened! I kind of think it was a data entry mistake and they thought he was here in the US. Regardless, he got here and is now a citizen. I hope it goes well for you!

[Ikhan 49]

The officer was a bit confused as well when I asked him why my petition was in Seattle. I told him that my wife was in Pakistan and I was under the assumption that CSC was going to process my petition. I think whoever was putting in the information assumed my wife was in Seattle with me. I definitely don't want to go through the interview if I don't have to. 

 

The officer was nice, I assume he will remedy the mistake and expedite the process if possible

[Demise 1,236]

6 hours ago, Ikhan said:

I talked to a tier 2 today and he said my i130 for my spouse who is overseas is at my local Seattle office. It was moved from Csc to Seattle and pending review. Is this normal? I thought my i130 would be approved by CSC and then sent to NVC Islamabad. 

Does anyone know the process? Or have they made a mistake?

 

Thank you for the help!

Standalone I-130s end up in the local office for the purpose of an interview if there's a presumption of fraud. Have you ever petitioned for a previous spouse, has your spouse had a prior I-130 filed for her by a previous spouse, has your spouse ever been in removal proceedings, or anything similar that would set off a red flag?

Edited May 14, 2021 by Demise

[Ikhan 49]

1 hour ago, Demise said:

Standalone I-130s end up in the local office for the purpose of an interview if there's a presumption of fraud. Have you ever petitioned for a previous spouse, has your spouse had a prior I-130 filed for her by a previous spouse, has your spouse ever been in removal proceedings, or anything similar that would set off a red flag?

Nope, only 1 spouse who has never been the US. We have a 9 year gap in age? I have never applied for anyone else. 

The tier 2 officer said there wasn't anything on the file that would suggest it needed further processing. He said it looked good to him. It felt like they had made a mistake because he asked "Your wife is in seattle?" I said no.

[Demise 1,236]

1 hour ago, Ikhan said:

Nope, only 1 spouse who has never been the US. We have a 9 year gap in age? I have never applied for anyone else. 

The tier 2 officer said there wasn't anything on the file that would suggest it needed further processing. He said it looked good to him. It felt like they had made a mistake because he asked "Your wife is in seattle?" I said no.

Then that's gotta a mistake. Ideally they'll just send it back to CSC, but if they don't and you get summoned to an interview don't miss it (attend alone because spouse is not in US), getting denied because you let them run with their mistake is not the best idea.

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

12 hours ago, tsabbas said:

This happened to us as well. To this day, I don't know for sure if it was a mistake or if they just do a few random interviews from time to time for some auditing purposes or something! I was called into the Detroit office for an interview on a pending I-130. The interviewer seemed surprised that my husband wasn't with me and double checked the application to make sure we had marked that he had never been to the US and that he would be applying at the embassy overseas. Everything was correct so she asked me a few basic questions, looked at our wedding photos, and approved the application which then went to NVC. Never did find out why the interview happened! I kind of think it was a data entry mistake and they thought he was here in the US. Regardless, he got here and is now a citizen. I hope it goes well for you!

Thanks for posting this. I had never heard of this before.

[Ryan H 3,810]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[pushbrk 12,598]

On 5/14/2021 at 12:16 PM, Demise said:

Standalone I-130s end up in the local office for the purpose of an interview if there's a presumption of fraud. Have you ever petitioned for a previous spouse, has your spouse had a prior I-130 filed for her by a previous spouse, has your spouse ever been in removal proceedings, or anything similar that would set off a red flag?

That's correct, except need not actually be because of a presumption of fraud.  I does usually have something to do with past immigration processes or issues.  The OP should expect to be called for an interview.  Lots of things can trigger this including recent divorces.