I-130 for Siblings from Philippines Filed 2006 now sent to Nat'l Benefits Center

[MJ9888 0]

I am VERY confused. Can someone help me to understand the process and what is happening, and why now?

I filed 7 I-130's for my siblings (all over 21) who live in the Philippines in Apr 2006. I sent the forms to the California Processing Center and received Receipt. It was my understanding at that time that it would be about 18 years before my siblings would be eligible for, or perhaps it was to receive, their visas.

Today I received an email from the Calif Processing Center that they had transferred the cases to the National Benefits Center for additional processing, and I would be notified by email when a decision was made. I also read on the Internet that the new policy was that CIS was not processing any Visas applications unless a visa slot was available.

So my questions are:

1) Does this mean they are now processing the I-130 applications for my siblings and that they could get approved soon?

2) If they are approved, would they immediately be able to get a Visa, or does that mean they are now "in line" and would get a Visa in 15 years?

3) If the NBC is "processing" the applications, and it will not result in a Visa approval, what are they processing? Is this just another "step" in the process of obtaining a Visa?

4) Why was the application transferred from the Calif Processing Center to the NBC?

5) Am I getting my hopes up unnecessarily? Do I just not understand the process? Is it still going to take 15 years?

Someone please help me to understand. I am so excited right now, but do not want to get my hopes up. I just was not expecting this email and I do not know exactly what it means.

Thank you very much, in advance, to anyone that replies and helps me.

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

The current date for preference 4 family visas from the Philippines is 22-jun-1986 so people that filed that long ago are just now getting their visas. The problem is waiting for an available number they only issue a certain number per year

[TayRivers 4]

Once the I-130 is approved it will go into storage at the NBC until a visa becomes available, so you are still going to have a very long wait until that happens, at the moment it looks like another 20 years before their case would become current.

[aaron2020 11,651]

The current date for preference 4 family visas from the Philippines is 22-jun-1986 so people that filed that long ago are just now getting their visas. The problem is waiting for an available number they only issue a certain number per year

There is generally two steps to get an immigration visa; 1) I-130 processing (which takes 6 months to several years) and 2) waiting for an available visa.

It doesn't matter how long it takes to process a I-130. The government is always reorganizing and streamlining and moving flies around. The bottleneck step is always waiting for an available visa; I-130s filed at the same time but approved in 1 year vs. 4 years still have the same total wait time.

For Filipinos, the current total wait time is 23 years. Your siblings have another 15-20 years to wait. Unfortunately, there is no way to calculate the wait time. All we can go on is how long people now getting their visas have been waiting.

Sorry.

[MJ9888 0]

Thank you all so very much for taking the time to reply and to answer my questions. What you have told me is what I originally understood. I just got all excited and was hoping for a miricle when I got the latest email from the CIS. My feet are now back on the ground and I am intouch with reality. Thank you again for helping me understand what was happening.

Edited March 24, 2009 by MJ9888