Approved I-130 sent to National Records Center (NRC) and not NVC - March 25, 2013

[George.M 2]

I wanted to summarize our experience for the forums incase anyone runs into a problem similar to ours. This information may help you save time that my wife and I lost.

Our I-130 was approved on March 25, 2013. We knew it would take about a week or two to arrive at the NVC but called the USCIS just to make the I-130 had been sent to the NVC. They said it had. About a week after our I-130 was approved, other members with similar cases I had subscribed to on the Immigration Timeline had begun updating their timelines and a lot of their I-130's had been received by the NVC. By the 3rd week we were starting to get a bit suspicious as the NVC had received nearly all their cases.

So we called the USCIS who continued to state that our documents had been forwarded to the NVC. We asked to speak to a Tier 2 representative who were not helpful at all and would not give us ANY information regarding our case. We called nearly everyday and also checked with the NVC. We decided to send an email to NVCinquiry to find out what happened to our I-130 and at the same time submitted a service request at the USCIS. We even sent a service request to the Ombudsman. None of this helped. We got the standard "Allow us 90 days...". I checked with the forums here and often got suggestions from others to just keep calling. This too is not a good solution.

The ONLY way you can get your application back on track and find out more information about it, is to contact your Senator or Congressman. In our case we got assistance through my wife's local Congressmans Office. They have a higher clearance and can get further information as to what has happened to your application. It was week 5 (after the I-130 had been approved) when we learned that our application was mistakenly sent by the USCIS to the NATIONAL RECORDS CENTER (NRC) and not the NVC. We were informed by the Congressmans office that it would take 3-4 weeks to get the application sent back to the USCIS from the NRC.

By May 17th, our application had been received back from the NRC and the USCIS forwarded it to the NVC. The Congressman's Office constantly followed up with their own contact within the USCIS and this designated person within the USCIS handled the retrieval of our documentation from the NRC and made sure it was forwarded to the NVC.

This probably will not happen to most of you but should your approved I-130 not be received by the NVC after 3 weeks (mind you this is just receipt, I am not talking about getting a case number) you should start to be a bit more vigilant. I really recommend getting assistance from the Congressman/Senators office rather than try to gather information yourself particularly when the USCIS or the NVC have no clue where your I-130 is.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

On a seperate note, one of the Warning Signs for a "lost" I-130 application, which in hindsight is now more apparent, was that a week after our I-130 was approved (March 25, 2013), our case status was changed and updated to "Inital Review" (April 2nd, 2013). This may be a coincidence but I remember getting a little bit concerned when this happened. Thats when we called the USCIS to make sure I application was sent to the NVC, which of course, it wasn't....As of today, our case status on the USCIS portal still shows "Initial Review"

Edited June 4, 2013 by George.M

[Robinhood 13]

I wanted to summarize our experience for the forums incase anyone runs into a problem similar to ours. This information may help you save time that my wife and I lost.

Our I-130 was approved on March 25, 2013. We knew it would take about a week or two to arrive at the NVC but called the USCIS just to make the I-130 had been sent to the NVC. They said it had. About a week after our I-130 was approved, other members with similar cases I had subscribed to on the Immigration Timeline had begun updating their timelines and a lot of their I-130's had been received by the NVC. By the 3rd week we were starting to get a bit suspicious as the NVC had received nearly all their cases.

So we called the USCIS who continued to state that our documents had been forwarded to the NVC. We asked to speak to a Tier 2 representative who were not helpful at all and would not give us ANY information regarding our case. We called nearly everyday and also checked with the NVC. We decided to send an email to NVCinquiry to find out what happened to our I-130 and at the same time submitted a service request at the USCIS. We even sent a service request to the Ombudsman. None of this helped. We got the standard "Allow us 90 days...". I checked with the forums here and often got suggestions from others to just keep calling. This too is not a good solution.

The ONLY way you can get your application back on track and find out more information about it, is to contact your Senator or Congressman. In our case we got assistance through my wife's local Congressmans Office. They have a higher clearance and can get further information as to what has happened to your application. It was week 5 (after the I-130 had been approved) when we learned that our application was mistakenly sent by the USCIS to the NATIONAL RECORDS CENTER (NRC) and not the NVC. We were informed by the Congressmans office that it would take 3-4 weeks to get the application sent back to the USCIS from the NRC.

By May 17th, our application had been received back from the NRC and the USCIS forwarded it to the NVC. The Congressman's Office constantly followed up with their own contact within the USCIS and this designated person within the USCIS handled the retrieval of our documentation from the NRC and made sure it was forwarded to the NVC.

This probably will not happen to most of you but should your approved I-130 not be received by the NVC after 3 weeks (mind you this is just receipt, I am not talking about getting a case number) you should start to be a bit more vigilant. I really recommend getting assistance from the Congressman/Senators office rather than try to gather information yourself particularly when the USCIS or the NVC have no clue where your I-130 is.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

On a seperate note, one of the Warning Signs for a "lost" I-130 application, which in hindsight is now more apparent, was that a week after our I-130 was approved (March 25, 2013), our case status was changed and updated to "Inital Review" (April 2nd, 2013). This may be a coincidence but I remember getting a little bit concerned when this happened. Thats when we called the USCIS to make sure I application was sent to the NVC, which of course, it wasn't....As of today, our case status on the USCIS portal still shows "Initial Review"

Congratulations on finally getting your NVC case #. no doubt its a frustrating process, especially when no fault of yours. I feel your pain. I don't understand why so much harassment to USC's and special status given to Non immigrants.

[stevie b 141]

I wanted to summarize our experience for the forums incase anyone runs into a problem similar to ours. This information may help you save time that my wife and I lost.

Our I-130 was approved on March 25, 2013. We knew it would take about a week or two to arrive at the NVC but called the USCIS just to make the I-130 had been sent to the NVC. They said it had. About a week after our I-130 was approved, other members with similar cases I had subscribed to on the Immigration Timeline had begun updating their timelines and a lot of their I-130's had been received by the NVC. By the 3rd week we were starting to get a bit suspicious as the NVC had received nearly all their cases.

So we called the USCIS who continued to state that our documents had been forwarded to the NVC. We asked to speak to a Tier 2 representative who were not helpful at all and would not give us ANY information regarding our case. We called nearly everyday and also checked with the NVC. We decided to send an email to NVCinquiry to find out what happened to our I-130 and at the same time submitted a service request at the USCIS. We even sent a service request to the Ombudsman. None of this helped. We got the standard "Allow us 90 days...". I checked with the forums here and often got suggestions from others to just keep calling. This too is not a good solution.

The ONLY way you can get your application back on track and find out more information about it, is to contact your Senator or Congressman. In our case we got assistance through my wife's local Congressmans Office. They have a higher clearance and can get further information as to what has happened to your application. It was week 5 (after the I-130 had been approved) when we learned that our application was mistakenly sent by the USCIS to the NATIONAL RECORDS CENTER (NRC) and not the NVC. We were informed by the Congressmans office that it would take 3-4 weeks to get the application sent back to the USCIS from the NRC.

By May 17th, our application had been received back from the NRC and the USCIS forwarded it to the NVC. The Congressman's Office constantly followed up with their own contact within the USCIS and this designated person within the USCIS handled the retrieval of our documentation from the NRC and made sure it was forwarded to the NVC.

This probably will not happen to most of you but should your approved I-130 not be received by the NVC after 3 weeks (mind you this is just receipt, I am not talking about getting a case number) you should start to be a bit more vigilant. I really recommend getting assistance from the Congressman/Senators office rather than try to gather information yourself particularly when the USCIS or the NVC have no clue where your I-130 is.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

On a seperate note, one of the Warning Signs for a "lost" I-130 application, which in hindsight is now more apparent, was that a week after our I-130 was approved (March 25, 2013), our case status was changed and updated to "Inital Review" (April 2nd, 2013). This may be a coincidence but I remember getting a little bit concerned when this happened. Thats when we called the USCIS to make sure I application was sent to the NVC, which of course, it wasn't....As of today, our case status on the USCIS portal still shows "Initial Review"

happening more and more... mine was tagged for nrc, but found it to be holding at the local office that approved it.. got the same run around from uscis until I told them I know where my file is because I went to an infopass to confirm it. I have now done the same as you, omnibudsman, congressman etc.. approval date april 19, confirmed file is still at local office may 28, and since then have been rattling the trees trying to get it going.. I might be able to get it out of there before I hear back from my congressman's office

[George.M 2]

Thats a very long time for it to just sit at the local office. I really don't understand why it can't be mailed out. On the other hand I have lost trust in the USCIS because they repeatedly told us the file was sent to the NVC. Lets hope your file actually IS sitting in the local office. I highly recommend getting the congressman involved if this doesn't move.

Good luck!

happening more and more... mine was tagged for nrc, but found it to be holding at the local office that approved it.. got the same run around from uscis until I told them I know where my file is because I went to an infopass to confirm it. I have now done the same as you, omnibudsman, congressman etc.. approval date april 19, confirmed file is still at local office may 28, and since then have been rattling the trees trying to get it going.. I might be able to get it out of there before I hear back from my congressman's office

Edited June 4, 2013 by George.M

[stevie b 141]

Thats a very long time for it to just sit at the local office. I really don't understand why it can't be mailed out. On the other hand I have lost trust in the USCIS because they repeatedly told us the file was sent to the NVC. Lets hope your file actually IS sitting in the local office. I highly recommend getting the congressman involved if this doesn't move.

Good luck!

yes it is a long time and the officer at the local office agreed saying that she would personally handle it.. congressman's office should be getting back to me later this week, but with all the other things I started, it will have probably been sent by then.

The reason I am guessing it is taking so long is that there is a secondary scanning taking place to generate the A# before it goes to nvc, and that is where it is getting hung up.

either way I have another infopass next week on the day before the service request is due to be responded to and if the file is still there, it is gonna be ugly

[Darnell 8,478]

Good for you, George !

I had a heck of a time, as well. timeticks in my profile.

[SweetSimplicity 1]

Hello...

we're on the same boat, we got approved March 13th....and till now, it has yet to reach the NVC..

it's been over 3 months, you guys cannot imagine the lengths we've gone through to simply find out where our petition is.

It's expiring in a few weeks, and still, we do not know where our petition is, I think it's on its way to the National Records Center.

We contacted the congressman, went to two infopass appointments, called NVC and USCIS and tier 2 and supervisors...you name it we did it. I'm honestly totally discouraged, actually, both me and my fiancee are totally discouraged..

:'(

[baby0916 2]

im in the same boat. im so frustrated. since my husband's i130 was approved almost a year. 11 months and some days to be exact. then now that the petition has been approved, im still waiting for the nvc to receive it from uscis and it has been almost 4 months that they sent me the approval notice. i have called nvc and submitted a search. also called uscis and spoke with an officer and the officer submitted an inquiry to where our petition is as of this moment. i have also email local congressman just now to help me with this matter. and i dont know what to do anymore. anymore suggestions anyone????