As I was going over to the USCIS website to check and see if there might have been any touches to my cases, I saw something that caught my eye and I went to read it and I am glad I did. It answers a lot of questions I have been seeing people ask all over the forums lately. It talks about everything from the posted processing times being based on calculations, about how they hired new people, about how there are less files this year than last and they are expecting to have completed a bunch more than they had last year by the end of the fiscal calendar which is Sept 30. I really found it interesting and hope you do too... here is the link:
Processing Questions Answered by the Acting Director of USCIS

Thanks for sharing this. It really provided insight. I also found some of the previous dare I say it 'blogs' informative also. cheers Melannie

It's good to see some of this. There is a part of what he said directly relating to most of us that I woke up thinking about this morning. Here, I will quote the paragraph, "Others have asked why petitions for their relatives take so long to process. Usually, it’s because an immigrant visa simply isn’t available. More than 1 million petitions to sponsor a relative are still awaiting visas. USCIS must manage our work based on the number of visas allowed by law. To change that, Congress would have to amend the law. No USCIS employee wants to keep a family apart or withhold proof of eligibility to work, but we must work within the requirements set by law." - directly quoted from Processing Questions Answered by the Acting Director of USCIS. So, what do we all need to do to try to get them to amend the law? Should we contact the local newspapers and then all go and try to write our congressmen and see what we can do to get the law amended so we can have more family based immigrant visas allowed? In my opinion, family based ones should be allowed before some of the other visas. What do you think?

but spousal / fiance visas don't have a number restriction.......

Yay! Thank you for answering this! That was my question. So, does sponsoring children have a number or is that just for other relatives? I am really happy to hear this. There is so much I still have yet to learn about this whole immigration thing.

If I remember correctly, it's when you are petitioning for parents, or brothers/sisters, or grown children, etc etc. that there are caps on the amount of visas issued. Someone who is a little more informed about this part I hope will pipe up.

Thanks for sharing such a great information!!!

here you go....

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin...letin_4252.html
=================================================
FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.

Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent
Residents: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, and any unused first preference numbers:

A. Spouses and Children: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B. Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older): 23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.

EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES

First: Priority Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences.

Second: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference.

Third: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second
preferences, not more than 10,000 of which to "Other Workers".

Fourth: Certain Special Immigrants: 7.1% of the worldwide level.

Fifth: Employment Creation: 7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec. 610 of P.L. 102-395.

=========================

Thank you for that wonderful link!!! Here is another link that shows it broken down also... (I was curious about one thing because I noticed the spouses of permanent residents, but not the spouses of us citizens...)

Commission on Immigration-Immigrants from the American Bar Association ..."Numerical limitations and waiting lists. Yearly immigration is numerically limited by statute. There is a uniform "per country" limit for annual immigration from each foreign country. In addition, a complicated statutory formula determines the annual category limits on family-sponsored and employment-based immigration.

Because yearly immigration is numerically limited both by category and by country, most immigrant categories have waiting periods (this is known as "waiting for the person’s ‘priority date’ to become current"). All immigrants wait at least several months for visa paperwork processing. In categories that are backlogged, the waiting list may be one year to as many as 20 years long. For example, the spouse or minor child of a lawful permanent resident currently faces a wait of approximately five years while an unmarried adult son or daughter of a permanent resident has a wait of more than eight years. The Department of State publishes a monthly update with visa processing information and times. http://travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html."...
Family-sponsored immigration. Only certain close relatives may be sponsored by U.S. family members to become permanent residents. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents may serve as sponsors. About 70 percent of all immigrants admitted each year are family-sponsored. The table below describes the limitations on family-sponsored immigration.

FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRANTS

8 USC §1153(a)

U.S. Sponsor
Relationship
Category
Number of Visas Allocated

U.S. Citizen (USC)
Spouse, unmarried minor child, or parent (parents are eligible only if the sponsoring USC child is 21 or older)
Immediate Relative
No annual limit

USC
Unmarried adult son or daughter
1st Preference
23,400 visas/year

Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR)
Spouse or minor child
2nd A Preference
87,900 visas/year

LPR
Unmarried adult son or daughter
2nd B Preference
26,300 visas/year

USC
Married adult son or daughter
3rd Preference
23,400 visas/year

USC
Brother and sister (if the sponsoring USC sibling is 21 or older)
4th Preference
65,000 visas/year

yeah, so if we don't have a limit.. why is my case still not approved?

A year of waiting? I am so sorry. I wish there was someway we could speed things up. Have you called customer service to find out why you are out of their "processing times"?