gtrplayr

CR1 visa, PD June 23 2023, DQ mid may 2024, IL July 2024 for early august interview. Check my timeline for the exact dates. Caveat we expedited the nvc stage so that might have helped

It was a medical-related expedite request, technically under the "humanitarian and emergency" category. I think the most important is explaining why your beneficiary must come to the US sooner than scheduled, like a critical surgery only available in the US. For me, I mentioned the need for acting as caretaker after my wife's surgery for which the recovery is on the scale of a year or longer.

Most if not all congresspeople should have a section on their website for constituent requests and one option should be immigration help, USCIS expedites, something like that. I submitted a form through the website with basic information about my expedite request, then the office followed up asking for documentation of evidence to support the request and a signed form giving them access to my personal information for the purposes of the request. They then notified me they had submitted the request, and a month later they emailed me again saying the request was accepted by USCIS. A few days after that my application was approved.

Quick update - received another AR notice today, checked documents and I-130 approval PDF was hiding there. Caveat - I did expedite through my congressman and the request was approved yesterday. Hoping for approvals for yall soon!!

June 23 filer here, no updates since Actively Reviewing update back in late June/early July (moved service centers). Filed K3 end of Feb 2024 just to see if it would do anything. The MyProgress tab says 4 weeks, but based on averages from what I've read I'd expect approval in about 2 months

I had the same plan, taking a 6mo sabbatical to be with my spouse abroad. We optimistically hoped the visa process would be almost done by the end of it (we applied 3 months before the sabbatical started) but it does not look that way. I am going back to work, one of the reasons being I want to have current income so I do not have to get a joint sponsor. Like you I have sufficient assets so I could have used them instead of income had I quit my job to stay abroad, but I've read some mixed reviews on using assets alone so didn't want to take the risk. Luckily my work allows me to work remote so I can still be closer to my spouse rather than in the US for now. I understand wanting to not be away from your spouse for a potentially long time. Sounds like you've got enough assets so it should be fine

No, only a translated diagnosis from the doctor in China with the recommendation to perform the surgery. I wrote a separate cover letter to explain the situation, but agree that having a doctor provide a written statement would be stronger.

They responded on the 7th business day and the expedite request was rejected, unfortunately. I may reach out to Ask Emma to see how to strengthen the request, as the rejection email was fairly vague

This was my experience filing an expedite request recently for a somewhat similar reason (medical diagnosis that requires hospital treatment and a tough recovery that would be much better suited in the US than my wife's home country). It did not require any mailing docs (yet), I submitted the request online via their live chat. I have not yet heard back on the request decision, but here's what I have done so far: - uploaded supporting docs and a cover letter for the explanation of expedite request to my uscis online portal - Opened an Ask Emma chatbot and used Live Chat option to connect with a real agent - Asked them to submit an expedite request for me They gave me a reference number and some instructions on what's next (response usually 7 days, but can be longer) and that's where I'm at. Hope this helps

Correct, I believe porting is not an option in this case because she has already left the US, so the new employer would have to go through the petition process fully and have an approved i129 before she can enter the US. Thanks y'all for the quick responses! Sounds like this is a feasible option and we can file for AOS as soon as she arrives. I'd like to do that ASAP in case the new job doesn't work out so she can still stay in the US.

Hi all, been lurking the forums since June 2023 when I submitted my i130 for my wife (I am USC). We've had some health changes come up that are making us think of ways to be together in the US faster than via consular processing which I would expect would finish in mid to late 2024. One pathway I think may work is to find an H1B job and come to the US. Upon arrival we then file the i485 and EAD/AP applications to adjust status. I know pathways to enter the US like b1/b2 visa to adjust status are immigration fraud, but with a dual intent visa like the h1b, is there any concern with the above strategy? If the job doesn't work out after filing the 485, would the pending 485 serve as legal status to stay in the US (I believe so but want to confirm)? For context, wife has an existing valid h1b visa so she would not have to go through the lottery again, just find a new sponsor to petition her (knowing it's a tough market out there right now so it's unknown how long to find a sponsor) Thanks y'all and mods please move this if not in the right section, I wasn't sure whether this belongs in the ir1/cr1 forum or here.

Thank you for posting this - I will expect ~6 months from DQ to interview. IR-1/CR1 still at I130 NOA1, June 2023 submission.

Quick update - notified of "Actively Reviewing" on July 17, and since the beginning of the process the myProgress tab has shown a relatively steady countdown from 11 months. I checked a couple days ago and it was at 8 months, and I checked again today and see that the status now says Your case is taking longer than expected to process. Quick change, from the uscis reddit sounds like many people have had their estimates updated. Probably not an indicator of any actual progress, or at least I'd prefer to believe that and not get my hopes up!

I submitted my I130 docs online in June so I can't speak to whether mine worked, but I followed Kseniya International's youtube guide on how to fill out the I130, specifically her section on the Native Language doc. All I did was write up a google doc with the name of my spouse in chinese characters, then in parentheses the English translation). Same with her address in China. I assume if the address is already in English then no need to include it. I think the youtube video is this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6W5eJxMKyQ&t=1765s&pp=ygUba3Nlbml5YSBpbnRlcm5hdGlvbmFsIGktMTMw

First post here - Filed I130 online today 6/23 and interested to watch the process unfold for other June filers. I saw in my USCIS online account that there is already a receipt notice, and there will be one mailed out describing how they will process the case. Based on your sig, looks like you got the answer to your question, so I'm hoping to get the NOA1 in the next week.