I-130 Processing Times

[Boiler 46,166]

4 minutes ago, CyberKnight13 said:

My wife and I are about to file from Russia. We have to send everything to the Dallas Lockbox after we submit part of it on the USCIS website. Which service center handles the Dallas Lockbox? From what I understand, they can send it to any of the service centers? The times are drastically different, from 4 months at the Nebraska SC to 40 months at the California SC. How are we supposed to plan our life if we don't know whether it will take 4 months or 4 years before we can move?

Best not to take much notice of those numbers, seems be taking 18 months or so currently, what the future brings well who knows.

[Idlewild 26]

On 6/29/2021 at 12:30 AM, soybean said:

441 days and still waiting. Straight forward case and no movement since NOA1. 

Congrats on finally moving through the process, as I see on your timeline, but it really could be more efficient for "easier" cases. 

 

I'd love to know the USCIS stats on I-130 adjudication times based on a couple factors, particularly for IR-1's.  Seems like for clear-cut situations with excellent evidence, they should be able to rip through these approvals quickly, but that is far from the truth.

[Boiler 46,166]

I would expect the majority of I 130's are clear cut and there is not a lot of evidence to review.

[Sammy.NZ 45]

Our I-130 was recently approved a couple weeks ago  - we filed from NZ, it took 11.5 months to get approval at the Texas Service Center. No RFE's ! My status changed to 'actively reviewing' about 2 months after I submitted... and then nothing until approval, over 9+ months after it had changed to 'actively reviewing'

 

I would not pay much attention to the 'actively reviewing' status - it will give you false hope haha.

But I will say it changed to 'actively reviewing' again, for the second time, the day before we got approved.

 

Anyway, I empathize with you.. I too found it shocking that it was such a long wait for the petition when it's not even for the actual visa and just establishing the bonafide marriage.

[Redro 4,612]

11 hours ago, CyberKnight13 said:

My wife and I are about to file from Russia. We have to send everything to the Dallas Lockbox after we submit part of it on the USCIS website. Which service center handles the Dallas Lockbox? From what I understand, they can send it to any of the service centers? The times are drastically different, from 4 months at the Nebraska SC to 40 months at the California SC. How are we supposed to plan our life if we don't know whether it will take 4 months or 4 years before we can move?

Plan for 1.5 to 2 years. If the process moves faster than you like you can delay at NVC stage. 

California SC has a stated processing time of 40 months but if you look on VJ a lot of approvals happen in under a year. 

 

 

7 hours ago, Idlewild said:

Congrats on finally moving through the process, as I see on your timeline, but it really could be more efficient for "easier" cases. 

 

I'd love to know the USCIS stats on I-130 adjudication times based on a couple factors, particularly for IR-1's.  Seems like for clear-cut situations with excellent evidence, they should be able to rip through these approvals quickly, but that is far from the truth.

I believe the majority of couples provide excellent evidence.

 

There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the approvals. I've seen couples who've just met, married and submitted the I-130 get approved after a month or two. Couples with children being approved after a month or two. But also couples who've just met have to wait several months to a year and couples with children also having to wait. I think it's all luck of the draw. 

 

I'm not sure if we'd be able to see the difference between Cr1 and IR1s as some couples hit their 2 year mark after they submit the application. 

[TedBrosby 26]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:16 AM, Kor2USA said:

Plan for 1.5 to 2 years. If the process moves faster than you like you can delay at NVC stage. 

California SC has a stated processing time of 40 months but if you look on VJ a lot of approvals happen in under a year. 

 

 

I believe the majority of couples provide excellent evidence.

 

There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the approvals. I've seen couples who've just met, married and submitted the I-130 get approved after a month or two. Couples with children being approved after a month or two. But also couples who've just met have to wait several months to a year and couples with children also having to wait. I think it's all luck of the draw. 

 

I'm not sure if we'd be able to see the difference between Cr1 and IR1s as some couples hit their 2 year mark after they submit the application. 

I don't think it's fair for some families that their processing time is luck of the draw on the center they get.  

  

We got our I130 approved in right around 6 months (5.5 months technically if you look at my timeline), but we got lucky with the Nebraska Service Center.  

  

This is a federal service center directly supported by federal funding. It's not right that different service centers have ridiculous processing times. What could be the excuse for that? If it's that some service centers are more impacted, shouldn't they be transferring the excessive cases to the less busy centers? Since they all do the same thing, their processing times should be normalized.  

  

I feel for those of you waiting longer than 180 days. In my opinion, as a taxpayer, that's unacceptable... 

[commocean 9]

At 135 days since filing I-130 I gather we aren't even out of the womb yet.  I think we should have found that girl who gave up her US citizenship to skate (and fall) in the Beijing Olympics and just offered to trade passports with her.😷

[Idlewild 26]

2 hours ago, commocean said:

At 135 days since filing I-130 I gather we aren't even out of the womb yet.  I think we should have found that girl who gave up her US citizenship to skate (and fall) in the Beijing Olympics and just offered to trade passports with her.😷

Good one!

 

Can you update your timeline?  And yes, barely out of the womb with 135 days passed 😂

[CyberSamurai013 69]

Thank you everyone for your replies, input, and advice. We appreciate it!

[NeilW 9]

We submitted our I-130 on October 24 2020.

 

It took 481 days to change status to case being actively reviewed!

 

Currently at 492 days since filing. Real marriage of 7.5 years (6 when we filed!) with masses of evidence, no red flags. Texas service centre, filed online.

 

Basically we have decided to stop living life like we might be moving sometime soon - we've had our lives on hold for so long. Its a truly awful process. 😞

[Redro 4,612]

2 minutes ago, NeilW said:

We submitted our I-130 on October 24 2020.

 

It took 481 days to change status to case being actively reviewed!

 

Currently at 492 days since filing. Real marriage of 7.5 years (6 when we filed!) with masses of evidence, no red flags. Texas service centre, filed online.

 

Basically we have decided to stop living life like we might be moving sometime soon - we've had our lives on hold for so long. Its a truly awful process. 😞

You're outside of processing time for Texas.

The receipt date for case inquiry is January 10, 2021. You should send USCIS a message! 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

[NeilW 9]

Just now, Kor2USA said:

You're outside of processing time for Texas.

The receipt date for case inquiry is January 10, 2021. You should send USCIS a message! 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

We did, in November 2021 we submitted an inquiry on the basis we were outside processing times. A month later we got a standard template letter saying "We are still reviewing your case and we will contact you if we need anything".

 

As far as I can tell the inquiry process is a total waste of time and resources! Has anyone ever had any meaningful response from an inquiry?

[Redro 4,612]

2 minutes ago, NeilW said:

We did, in November 2021 we submitted an inquiry on the basis we were outside processing times. A month later we got a standard template letter saying "We are still reviewing your case and we will contact you if we need anything".

 

As far as I can tell the inquiry process is a total waste of time and resources! Has anyone ever had any meaningful response from an inquiry?

That's ridiculous! I am so sorry you are going through this uncertainty. Maybe I was naive thinking an inquiry would help. 

[David Wilson 0]

Dont push too hard because I feel like you get penalized for asking to many questions to challenge their authority.  After my second congressional inquiry, my case was promptly denied.  Then I was told that it would be beneficial to resubmit the I-130 because the appeal process could take 2-3 years.  I appealed and won in less than 3 months…as of 4 Jan 2022.  It is now 28 Feb and USCIS still hasn’t forwarded my case to NVC…it’s feels like our case has been flagged to take the longest time possible.  I have to wait another 6 days before i can make another phone call because they won’t speak to me unless it has been 60 days.  But I still have hope that my wife will be here before we get to the 2 year point in this process.

[David Wilson 0]

Just now, David Wilson said:

2 hours ago, Kor2USA said:

That's ridiculous! I am so sorry you are going through this uncertainty. Maybe I was naive thinking an inquiry would help. 

 

2 hours ago, NeilW said:

We submitted our I-130 on October 24 2020.

 

It took 481 days to change status to case being actively reviewed!

 

Currently at 492 days since filing. Real marriage of 7.5 years (6 when we filed!) with masses of evidence, no red flags. Texas service centre, filed online.

 

Basically we have decided to stop living life like we might be moving sometime soon - we've had our lives on hold for so long. Its a truly awful process. 😞

Dont push too hard because I feel like you get penalized for asking to many questions to challenge their authority.  After my second congressional inquiry, my case was promptly denied.  Then I was told that it would be beneficial to resubmit the I-130 because the appeal process could take 2-3 years.  I appealed and won in less than 3 months…as of 4 Jan 2022.  It is now 28 Feb and USCIS still hasn’t forwarded my case to NVC…it’s feels like our case has been flagged to take the longest time possible.  I have to wait another 6 days before i can make another phone call because they won’t speak to me unless it has been 60 days.  But I still have hope that my wife will be here before we get to the 2 year point in this process.