February 2022 Filers!

[Ramirez65 69]

7 minutes ago, Ramirez65 said:

Sooooo I just received my NVC welcome email and I know it says "your case can take up to 3 days to be activated" but of course I tried logging in anyway.  When I do that, I get an application error - did anyone else have this issue?  Do I just need to wait until my case is activated?  Is this just another "hurry up and wait" tactic in this endless sea of immigration steps?  I feel like a hamster on a wheel 😝

Never mind.....I tried on a different device and it let me in.  

[Mnaz 4]

20 hours ago, Nisarg99999999999 said:

How long does USCIS take after they receive the RFE supporting documents? for i-130

They told me they received my RFE documents last Thursday. How long do they take to have a decision?

 

PD: March 19, 2022

RFE: Jan 4, 2023

RFE Documents Received by USCIS: February 23, 2023

There really is no way of knowing that. I got my RFE on Feb 28. Uploaded my response on March 1 and got approval on March 2. My friend got a similar RFE and got approval after a month. In the letter they give you 60 days to respond. So technically they can take all that time to respond too. Hang in there and hopefully they'll take an action soon.

[Mnaz 4]

57 minutes ago, Ramirez65 said:

Never mind.....I tried on a different device and it let me in.  

Does NVC send welcome email to both the petitioner and the beneficiary?

[Ramirez65 69]

32 minutes ago, Mnaz said:

Does NVC send welcome email to both the petitioner and the beneficiary?

Yes they sent it to both of us.

[Ramirez65 69]

How long did it take to get your NVC welcome letter (those of you who were approved by USCIS)?  I ask because today I received my stepson’s welcome letter but not my husband’s.  It’s only been 3 days since approval so I might be prematurely freaking out.

[philharmonic 0]

On 2/28/2023 at 12:19 PM, philharmonic said:

Has anyone gotten approved from the Vermont service center? It has the longest (16 month) wait period for spousal I-130.

Approved today. 
 

Submitted and active review on same day, Feb 19, 2022. 

[Hello-Everyone 6]

Is there a trick to getting a live rep using Emma? What hours are live reps available?

[davidtech 8]

2 hours ago, Hello-Everyone said:

Is there a trick to getting a live rep using Emma? What hours are live reps available?

I suggest you try early in the morning. I believe it is available starting 8AM. I usually keep typing agent until it gives me the option to “connect to live chat”. It doesn’t always work, if so just try at a different time.

 

[davidtech 8]

Hi everyone! I just received the greatest news ever.

My application has finally been approved!

After more than a long year of waiting and stressing I can say it is a big relief. On to the next steps.

 

K3 was never updated

I-130 Case status date had changed to todays date

Went into documents tab and approval notice was in there!

 

To everyone still waiting, hang in there you will hear something soon.

 

 

[Mern V 14]

On 2/27/2023 at 9:44 PM, Ramirez65 said:

 

Are you up for some cake??  Guess what?  Okay, I won't play guessing games.....we just got approved!!  As usual, I was doing crazy things like checking the statuses of 10 cases before mine and 10 cases after and saw that one was in active review as of tomorrow (yes, it has tomorrow's date on it) and then realized that case was mine!!  So I logged in and there was the approval document - I swear I checked it about 20 times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.  Your prediction was spot-on.  I hope you know how much I appreciate all of your support and humor during this awful process....it kept me hopeful and focused and I truly thank you, my friend!

 

My timeline:

 

NOA1/PD:  02/14/2022

Nebraska transferred to California

Active Review:  03/16/2022

I130 Approved:   02/28/2023

 

😍

Wanted to say CONGRATS!!! I just got back from seeing my husband (we got to spend our 20th anniversary together, yay) ... and now digging into all that needs to be done for phase 2. 

 

Hopefully this process is a lot quicker for all of us! 

 

 

[Ramirez65 69]

1 minute ago, Mern V said:

Wanted to say CONGRATS!!! I just got back from seeing my husband (we got to spend our 20th anniversary together, yay) ... and now digging into all that needs to be done for phase 2. 

 

Hopefully this process is a lot quicker for all of us! 

 

 

Thank you so much!!  I’m so glad you were able to go see your husband, especially for your anniversary.  I hope we all get through all of this quickly!!

[davidtech 8]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:03 PM, Ramirez65 said:

How long did it take to get your NVC welcome letter (those of you who were approved by USCIS)?  I ask because today I received my stepson’s welcome letter but not my husband’s.  It’s only been 3 days since approval so I might be prematurely freaking out.

Have you done anything since your I-130 was approved or are you just waiting for the welcome letter from NVC? I keep researching to see what I should start getting ready.

[Ramirez65 69]

8 hours ago, davidtech said:

Have you done anything since your I-130 was approved or are you just waiting for the welcome letter from NVC? I keep researching to see what I should start getting ready.

So I've only received the welcome letter for my stepson (I have 2 cases - one for my husband, one for his son).  I paid the fees for my stepson and the bank just cleared them yesterday so I'm assuming I'll be able to start uploading documents for him soon.  I'm getting worried about my husband's case - it was sent to NVC on March 3rd and still no welcome email.  I'm waiting until Friday and I'll send them an email inquiry.  I spent last weekend compressing all the documents I have because there's a 2MB size limit.  That is no easy feat, especially with the documents that are several pages long and in color.  Compressing them loses a lot of quality but after working with them for 8+ hours, I was able to get a decent product.

[davidtech 8]

1 hour ago, Ramirez65 said:

So I've only received the welcome letter for my stepson (I have 2 cases - one for my husband, one for his son).  I paid the fees for my stepson and the bank just cleared them yesterday so I'm assuming I'll be able to start uploading documents for him soon.  I'm getting worried about my husband's case - it was sent to NVC on March 3rd and still no welcome email.  I'm waiting until Friday and I'll send them an email inquiry.  I spent last weekend compressing all the documents I have because there's a 2MB size limit.  That is no easy feat, especially with the documents that are several pages long and in color.  Compressing them loses a lot of quality but after working with them for 8+ hours, I was able to get a decent product.

Oh okay! So basically welcome letter is the first step, pay fees is the second step and then it lets you start working on submission.

What kind of documents do you have ready? I'm trying to get mine ready but haven't found a good guide on what NVC asks for. Hopefully you get the other welcome letter soon!

 

[Ramirez65 69]

Just now, davidtech said:

Oh okay! So basically welcome letter is the first step, pay fees is the second step and then it lets you start working on submission.

What kind of documents do you have ready? I'm trying to get mine ready but haven't found a good guide on what NVC asks for. Hopefully you get the other welcome letter soon!

 

The civil documents you send will depend on the country your spouse is from and your particular situation.  The financial documents are IRS transcripts and W2s (they say for the last tax year but I'm sending 3 tax years, as recommended by many immigration attorneys).  Follow this matrix to get an idea of what needs to be submitted:

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition.html

 

This is super helpful - just click on each step in the matrix and it will give you all the information you need.