Here are some observations based on comparing NOA2 approval times on the VisaJourney website and our own personal experience:

CSC APPROVAL PERIOD ABOUT 4 MONTHS FOR NOA2's:

The California Service Center (CSC) appears to be taking approximately 4 months or so to issue NOA2's. Upon reviewing the CSC timelines on VisaJourney, approval appears to be occuring about 125 - 145 days following the NOA1 date. The USCIS website says that CSC is taking up to "6 months" to process I-129F petitions but about 4 months (give or take a couple of weeks) appears to be more accurate at the moment. This is supported by the recent approvals of many May CSC filers.

MY DANG PETITION HAS NEVER BEEN "TOUCHED":

Your petition remains a virgin and has never been "touched"? Do not become overly depressed about this. Alas, this is rather common. For many of us (including myself), our petitions are first touched and approved on the same day. Thus, USCIS Case Status Online will frequently not show any touches prior to approval.

By this evening, I will be at 121 days since my NOA1 date. I am still hoping to have my approval by the end of this month. Trying to think positive.

Great post!



June 11 NOA1 date: hoping for the second NOA before Halloween.

I am in the same boat, application filed on May 8th (140 days ago) it was received on May 29th (119 days ago, 3 weeks to open a fre@king envelope...) and my last and only touch was on June 1st. Even after 3 phone calls, nothing was touched (I now doubt they even looked at my case when I was on the phone with them...)... I do hope, especially with the last progresses, to have my approval by the end of this week (as my ever moving VJ Timeline is telling me) and if everything goes according to plan, the love of my life with leave the US embassy in Bern to jump into the plane on October 20th and the wedding ceremony (administrative, casual) is scheduled on October 27th. Pretty ambitious I know... That's why I am a bit anxious...

Wish me luck.

Stephan

I am hoping to have my fiancee here by Christmas. If the sun, moon and stars align themselves just right and if USCIS gets their butts in gear, it may still happen. Good luck May filers.

Out of general curiosity how can you tell when your application has been touched? I assume that's what that means?

If you register on www.uscis.gov and create a portfolio with your case # (WAC...), you can check the last time your case was updated on their end. And when you check your portfolio compulsively every hour, you know immediately that it has not been touched in months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just saved you 13.4 minutes on the phone with a USCIS customer service rep that would have told you the same thing (ie useless info for your personal case...) You're welcome.

I am getting insane, I am going to bed (after checking my portfolio one last time of course...)

Stephan

Ah. I do check it once in a while, to try and avoid being depressed but every time I see it hasn't been changed since June 14th I just get depressed anyway. Just wondering. Thanks for the quick reply!

Night!

Over in this thread,

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...iew=getlastpost

Post #5 relates an interesting tale of touches and online/phone updates:

"My NOA2 was 8/29 and I received a hard copy a week later. But NVC still has not received my case today. Also, when I checked online and called the automated status line with USCIS, my case is still pending with "On May 21, 2007, we received this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E), and mailed you a notice...."

dated 25 September 2007.

I wonder how common this is...

[
I am hoping to have my fiancee here by Christmas. If the sun, moon and stars align themselves just right and if USCIS gets their butts in gear, it may still happen. Good luck May filers.
[/quote]


Hahahaha... yesssssss....... I am confident that all us May filers are hoping for Christmas miracles. To have our fiancees here by Xmas...... wouldn't that be the best gift of all?

I feel your pain. My file status never changed from it's original NOA1 date of May 29. Day after day I looked... many times...... no change....... then WHAMMO..... my petition was approved last week. However, when I return to the USCIS Case Status Online webpage it still says my petition was received on May 29 and the September 19 approval date is not reflected nor have I received an email from USCIS stating that my petition was approved. Indeed, I only knew my petition was approved because I received a hard copy in the mail.

Wow!

So like I hinted at above, this means there are several people, inc. Buck and Natalia, who have been approved and this is neither reflected by touches or by updates on the USCIS case status website.

So either you get a hard copy in the mail - and those of us who have waited for NOA1s once or thrice know what a pain this can be - or you randomly call one day and you are told that you just got approved. It is strange how many people have been approved within a day or two of using the RFE trick, no? Some approved just before the call, some just after.

Conclusion? those of us who filed in May or early June could be approved any day now, or we may well have been already.

Ok I couldn't hold it anymore and I called the CSC for the RFE trick. Piece of advice: don't say "my lawyer said that I got a RFE" if you DON'T have a lawyer the lady on the phone called my bluff, cut me off and told straight out "you don't have a lawyer on that case, sir"... mmm well mmm so basically I took a begging tone and asked if I could get some info since I never received a NOA1 and all of that, it's been more than 4 months. So she checked and it appears that I have been adjudicated to an officer on Sept 23rd!!! So I guess I could receive some news, hopefully positive SOON... All hope is not lost. Some news is still news...
Just felt like sharing the experience.

Stephan

WEll, I just learned what the RFE trick meant today and what you just posted made me laugh...thanks i needed that.
I check my online status more than once a day at the uscis site. It hasn't been ""touched"" since June 27th. I even called this past monday and talked to a dude vincent and still.........june 27th I thought maybe the date would change then...but NOPE!!

Just keep checkin and prayin we all hear something soon....

Aisha

Stephan..

Here is the thing.. I call USCIS and use the tirck of REF and it transsfer me to CSC.. I talk to the guy and he said you have to wait... and last night I see my last Updated is 09/27/07! what is that mean?

It means that the guy really did look at your case. Everytime your case is accessed at USCIS, the website update shows when it was accessed. From experience (my case was touched the day I called and yesterday, just due to that call), it does not mean anything except that someone looked at your case. This time, you asked to have someone look at it, so it is just a "false positive". Do get over exited about it... welcome to the club...

Stephan

"NOT" missing in my last sentence...

well stephan, what I did, I send a Fax to my congressman in washington last night...

Let us know what comes out of it, but looking at your timeline it sounds a bit early (with the amount of May filers left) for your file to get pulled. But that would assume that CSC is going in logical manner for treating files...

S.

I don´t know...I wouldn´t worry about no touches. Buck and Natalia didn´t have any and got approved...we haven´t had any either...still waiting

well it pass 3 month now, so I contact missouri congressman a fax.. so in few min ago i called and they said we recieved you fax ... thank you, we'll work on it to get you out of this... sounds good to me!

actually I don't care about time line i don't take it seriously ... so do what you have to do to get you and your fiancee out of this crap.. i cant take it any more

I cant....

Sorry you are wrong, i did my n-400 last year, not a single touch "ever" from start to finish and their web site still says received and pending on it, even though i got it in may. TOUCHES are meaningless

Greetings to all,

It is obvious after reading this thread that communications from the USCIS and the NVC is driving everyone here a little crazy. Svetik and I have just gone through the long anticipated notification from the NVC. Every wait is obviously protracted from what your and our best estimations have been.

Our NOA1 to NOA2 was 116 days, where we estimated 90 days +/-. The same extended waiting period has been true for the NVC to receive our packet. The NVC receive our packet 28 days after our NOA2, not the 2 week duration that we anticipated. On a positive note, the NVC forwarded our packet to the US Embassy in Moscow in 3 days.

Even with all of the automated services purported by the USCIS and NVC for communications, I have found that only your and our diligence produces the information that we seek. Admittedly, the USCIS did e-mail us with notification of the NOA2 petition approval (1 day after the approval) and the hard copy within a few days. For those of you who are feverously waiting to hear from the NVC (Buck & Natalia) this is a tough “nut to crack”. You can call the inquiry number (603-334-0700), but my experience has been that Option 1 – “Inquire about your immigrant visa status” is useless. After way too many calls trying to use Option 1 and receiving the automated message “There is no record of case….”, I finally figured out you need to talk to a live person. I also tried an e-mail inquiry as directed by the NVC automated system and have yet to receive a response (useless?) NVC Option 2 is for Fiancé(e) visas (and other types of visas) and directs you to an operator. All the operators will probably be busy, what else would you expect at this point, and the automated system will probably direct you back to the Option menu… where you can loop through all the options again (useless). I suggest that when anyone calls the NVC, at the earliest opportunity, select the option to “talk with an operator”. This is how we finally receive our NVC dates. All operators will probably be busy, but if you are lucky enough to be put “on hold” and not be kicked out of the system – STAY “on hold”. I had to call back numerous times before being put “on hold”. Because the operators are extremely busy, they are quite to the point (yet pleasant) and will ask for your USCIS receipt number, the beneficiary’s name and date of birth. Please have this information ready so the operator can assist you and move quickly to the next call.

I hope this information is helpful those here who are an anxious as we are.

Mike & Svetik

Absolutely!

Thanks!

Any actual experience instead of wishful thinking and hearsay is much appreciated. There are obviously many ways to first hear of the NOA2: random check on website if it's been updated, an e-mail if sent out, a hard copy...

The key is to keep cool and not project by assuming that one couple's joy OR misery will be yours. You cannot know all the variables in their cases nor can we possibly know what's up at CSC, NVC etc.

Thanks to VJ, used properly, we can know when a delay is in effect or whether to chill. Otherwise we can just hope while celebrating and commiserating with others.

It's unfortunately VERY common. I had two touches, one on 9/19 and one on 9/20. I called on 9/21 and found out we were approved on 9/19. No email, no update on the website. I received a hard copy of the NOA2 on the 24th, and then another replacement NOA2 on the 28th (no clue why...). If I call using the automated system it still says my case is pending. Who knows. All I care about now is getting that darm petition to the NVC!!!

Congrats dude...

I faxed my state congress on friday, i this upcoming week I am going to hear something from congressman