I-130 in Texas SC

[anna4614890 31]

So I am not sure are we still at Texas or were transferred again. It is already more than 1 month since being under review and almost 8 months of waiting in total. That is just making me crazy, seeing how people are being approved after couple months or even after 6 months of waiting only. I've seen people who was waiting since 2020. Must be reeeeally frustrating. It seems like may be Texas just opened lots of cases and really not even started to review them, only change the status and that is it. Idk. 

We are living together in abroad (and I understand that there are lots of people who is waiting apart from together and its super hard) but it is still super hard to plan your life living in abroad as foreigners waiting for approval...I really don't understand WHY it takes soooo long time for spouses visa. It is just ridiculous. 

[DutchGuy 40]

On 2/8/2022 at 3:04 PM, Laud said:

Hi all,

 

We've not been on this forum in much since submitting of I-130, but today I've gone down a rabbit hole today looking for guidance on when we'll hear back about our I130 (NOA1 8-Apr-21). It looks as though when being assigned a service center, Texas is a fairly short straw to pull. We've tried not to think too much about it as we're still within the 10.5 - 14 month expected wait time stated on the USCIS website.

 

Browsing this site I was shocked to find the Processing Times tab estimates that they're currently processing I-130s with an NOA1 date of 16-Jun-21 (8 months) which is way under the estimate on the USCIS website. I decided to go digging through the timeline search to see if this was really true.

 

I've attached a diagram of the wait times from NOA1 to NOA2 for the past 75 NOA2s at TSC. What's really interesting is that after an early flutter of quick processes (expedited?) there is a real lull - barely anyone was processed between 160 and 200 days. Then from 240 days there is a steady increase until a giant crescendo of people being processed between 320 and 340 days*. After 360 days, or roughly one year, almost everyone had been processed, with just occasional outliers going into a second year of waiting (2 of whom went off this chart). I assumed - maybe wrongly - that these cases were delayed with RFEs or ran into other problems.

 

*9 of the 15 cases in the modal group were between 333 and 339 days (inclusive), and 8 of those were in the 25 most recent approved cases.

 

If we ignore the (assumed) expedited cases at the beginning and (assumed) challenging cases at the end, there is a fairly short window we expect to hear back about the I-130, as well as a hard stop after 360 days where we'd certainly expect to hear back by (touch wood).

 

For us, the difficulty isn't just the waiting, but it's not knowing how long the wait will last. After looking through recent cases we feel much more comfortable so thought I'd share for anyone in a similar position.

Being TCS and at 145 days since receiving NOA1 puts me right at the start of that dip.

Next few months going to be rough haha.

[Laud 40]

1 hour ago, DutchGuy said:

Being TCS and at 145 days since receiving NOA1 puts me right at the start of that dip.

Next few months going to be rough haha.

It's just the data from VJ timelines so might not mean much. But another way to look at it is that you've beyond the point of expediated cases (which I assume you're not), and just about to get into a time where you'll realistically hear back. Hopefully you're only 2-6 months away  .

[DutchGuy 40]

2 minutes ago, Laud said:

It's just the data from VJ timelines so might not mean much. But another way to look at it is that you've beyond the point of expediated cases (which I assume you're not), and just about to get into a time where you'll realistically hear back. Hopefully you're only 2-6 months away  .

That's very true! Told myself that I don't expect any movement before August. 
Been together with my partner for 8 years, 7 of which long distance. Kinda struggling with the wait, the final miles are always the hardest.