Military Spouse I-130

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

I sent in the I-130 from and email request form on March 8th. USPS said it arrived on March 13th and I recieved an email today from USCIS. Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS NBC for processing. I am now waiting the 7-10 days to see what comes in the mail. I sent all kinds of military documents showing that we live together, life insurance, base IDs, joint tax forms,military DEERs registration, marriage certificates, joint bank account and pictures.. I also sent an expediate letter because I am scheduled to deploy/go TDY in July. Hope to have more news later. Anyone ahve military expiernces with USCIS?

[The Mean Lady 604]

Lots. There's an entire forum for it.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/152-military-immigration-related-discussion/

[Inky 1,111]

I went ahead and moved your topic to the military filing thread for you since your asking mostly about military expedite and if any other military had done the process.

I went through K-1 as military spouse and it has been pretty fast the whole way through requesting only 1 expedite at the time of filing the K-1 due to future husbands deployment. They are usually granted expedites but I have seen a few spousal and fiance military expedites be denied. It would seem to me tho that military filings move a little faster than normal anyways because most of the background checks are already available on file for the people involved.

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

I went ahead and moved your topic to the military filing thread for you since your asking mostly about military expedite and if any other military had done the process.

I went through K-1 as military spouse and it has been pretty fast the whole way through requesting only 1 expedite at the time of filing the K-1 due to future husbands deployment. They are usually granted expedites but I have seen a few spousal and fiance military expedites be denied. It would seem to me tho that military filings move a little faster than normal anyways because most of the background checks are already available on file for the people involved.

Thank you for the information! I wanted to get on here to share our journey along with get info. I hated that when I googled miltary I-130 I came up with little info, I so hope my thread helps someone.

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

Thank you for the information! I wanted to get on here to share our journey along with get info. I hated that when I googled miltary I-130 I came up with little info, I so hope my thread helps someone.

I hate to post on my post, but time spent sitting idle could be spent asking questions to help this move faster, so... I sent an expedite request letter from my Commanding officer saying I am scheduled to deploy in late July and put it on the front cover. I got an email from USCIS saying they received my package and sent it to National Benefits Center (NBC). They said they sent me a notice in the mail, it should take 7-10 days.

1. Is this what people refer to as NOA 1 in the mail?

2. Should I call them about the expedite before I get the letter? I live in Japan at an APO address.. I will never get mail in 7-10 days through regular mail.

3. How do I track my stuff at the NBC? I read threads saying it was faster than service centers.. is there truth in it?

v/r

Chris

Edited March 19, 2013 by Chris_Ayaka

[The Mean Lady 604]

I hate to post on my post, but time spent sitting idle could be spent asking questions to help this move faster, so... I sent an expedite request letter from my Commanding officer saying I am scheduled to deploy in late July and put it on the front cover. I got an email from USCIS saying they received my package and sent it to National Benefits Center (NBC). They said they sent me a notice in the mail, it should take 7-10 days.

1. Is this what people refer to as NOA 1 in the mail?

2. Should I call them about the expedite before I get the letter? I live in Japan at an APO address.. I will never get mail in 7-10 days through regular mail.

3. How do I track my stuff at the NBC? I read threads saying it was faster than service centers.. is there truth in it?

v/r

Chris

Your email had a receipt number to track at uscis.com

Though it appearing on there is a little bit of a crapshoot.

Could be weeks/months/tomorrow/never.

There's a military line to assist you in calling and filing expedite requests as well, however getting expedite requests though the new NBC process has also been a little hairy.

I would suggest you wait a week and also file an expedite request through there.

No, I don't have the number.

Yes, that email, text, and the subsequent letter are your NOA1

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

So I got a text messsage today, I went to uscis.gov using my MSC# and I can now see my case is in Initial Review.

I keep worrying about this process because of the stories, but so far things seem to be working as intended. Worrying makes a slow process, slower. lol (laughing now we will see in the coming weeks)

I-130 sent from APO in Japan - 8 March 2013

USPS notification -13 March 2013

USCIS Email notification- 18 March 2013

USCIS Text message and MSC#- 20 March 2013

USCIS website Initial Review - 20 March 2013

7 days from USPS confirmation to NOA1. When I get my letter in the mail I will give everyone the USCIS NOA1 official date.

Anyone else in March tracking similar dates?

[ecg19 7]

Did you send a copy of your orders?

I would call, speak to a tier 2 and request an expedite over the phone. They'll probably get you to email a supervisor with details of your deployment.

We also sent a letter with our i-130 requesting an expedite, but it wasn't until we called that they actually looked at our file.. which makes sense, it's just part of a package otherwise.

Good luck!

[lierre 224]

So I got a text messsage today, I went to uscis.gov using my MSC# and I can now see my case is in Initial Review.

I keep worrying about this process because of the stories, but so far things seem to be working as intended. Worrying makes a slow process, slower. lol (laughing now we will see in the coming weeks)

I-130 sent from APO in Japan - 8 March 2013

USPS notification -13 March 2013

USCIS Email notification- 18 March 2013

USCIS Text message and MSC#- 20 March 2013

USCIS website Initial Review - 20 March 2013

7 days from USPS confirmation to NOA1. When I get my letter in the mail I will give everyone the USCIS NOA1 official date.

Anyone else in March tracking similar dates?

We live in Japan, too, and have an APO address. You might also be living on this same tiny island hmmm

Anyway, our petition got approved after 47 days. My husband's supposed to PCS before Thanksgiving, that is why we didn't expedite just yet.

Yours is July. i suggest you send in a copy of your orders or a memo from your commander stating your deployability (if there is a word)... And call USCIS... Use the military helpline number.

Edited March 22, 2013 by ivyanddan

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

Well here is an update. Thanks to all your guys/gals suggestions to call USCIS, the tier 2 agent requested my paperwork be expedited, as no comment was in the system. She told me I would have to wait to see if the expedite request would be authorized/processed with whoever was holding my case. She told me I should hear something back from them before April 6th. She also said, most likely I would hear something before this date however. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

For those of you who had your I-130 expedited, how long was it from the time of your phone request until you were notified your petition was being expedited?

[ecg19 7]

Well here is an update. Thanks to all your guys/gals suggestions to call USCIS, the tier 2 agent requested my paperwork be expedited, as no comment was in the system. She told me I would have to wait to see if the expedite request would be authorized/processed with whoever was holding my case. She told me I should hear something back from them before April 6th. She also said, most likely I would hear something before this date however. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

For those of you who had your I-130 expedited, how long was it from the time of your phone request until you were notified your petition was being expedited?

We never got any official notification that the expedite was accepted, but 10 days after, we checked my case status online and it was approved and was already on its way to NVC.

Up until then, the online case status hadn't been working for me (I had an MSC number). This was in October 2012.

We then called and requested an expedite at the NVC stage, once we had been assigned an embassy case number. This also was approved by being sent directly to the embassy in Auckland. I sent all the rest of the information directly to the embassy after that, rather than NVC.

You will probably be different if filing from overseas though, so that will probably be a different process in terms of NVC (I think if you are overseas, you deal direct with the embassy? I don't have any knowledge of that though so someone else please advise on that!)

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

We never got any official notification that the expedite was accepted, but 10 days after, we checked my case status online and it was approved and was already on its way to NVC.

Up until then, the online case status hadn't been working for me (I had an MSC number). This was in October 2012.

We then called and requested an expedite at the NVC stage, once we had been assigned an embassy case number. This also was approved by being sent directly to the embassy in Auckland. I sent all the rest of the information directly to the embassy after that, rather than NVC.

You will probably be different if filing from overseas though, so that will probably be a different process in terms of NVC (I think if you are overseas, you deal direct with the embassy? I don't have any knowledge of that though so someone else please advise on that!)

So I was given an expedite date of April 6th, but hadn't heard anything. I called April 8th and 11th to be told wait 1 more week. I called today, April 18th, and a Tier 2 representative told me I needed to contact the NBC directly.

I told her I emailed the ncsc-customerdirect@dhs.gov many times with no response back. She told me I was emailing the wrong address for this issue. That this email was just a blanket customer concern email address. She told me instead email the NBC email address ncscfollowup@dhs.gov. She said email them and I should have something back in 1-2 days. Has anyone had to do this before?

-Chris

[Chris_Ayaka 0]

We recieved NOA2 today!

[NikLR 13,227]

Yay!

[clive7832 2]

congrats! i see you got approoved yesterday, am on the same process am waiting to here fron NVC, i have a question for you, After you case went to NVC, what happened after that? please let me know ,

thanks

v/r

moses