DCF I-130 Petition approved! Now what?

[SCOTTANDVICKI 11]

Hello, us again!

So our I-130 petition was approved! Reading the information on the letter received from London, we have been told that we should receive a letter with a case number within 5 to 8 weeks! We had been advised that this whole process was only going to take around 3-4 months - and it's been 2 already! Is it really going to take that long to arrive? Once we have that number does the rest of the process go relatively quickly? My contract at work finishes in mid May and the lease is up on our flat at the end of May and we'd prefer not to have to scramble around looking for something temporary...

Thanks for all your help so far!

[25Euros 3]

wow, congrats...I am still waiting for my petition to be approved

As far as I know the whole I-130 is suppose to take like 1 year...

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Follow the UK forum K1s in that Progress Update thread. Your timeline and process will be very similar. You have different forms (DS-260 and I-864), but the wait and such are identical.

Your instructions are here http://london.usembassy.gov/iv/iv_application_instructions.html

It shouldn't take them that long to send your case over to the Immigrant Visa Unit so you can get started. I can't ever remember how DCF people get their LND case number in advance of the letter from the embassy. Call the NVC?? Hopefully you already have the police certificate and all the shots.

[SCOTTANDVICKI 11]

wow, congrats...I am still waiting for my petition to be approved

As far as I know the whole I-130 is suppose to take like 1 year...

Thanks! I hope yours arrives soon!

Even through DCF? I thought the regular I-130 took about 10-12 months but the DCF is supposed to faster.

[SCOTTANDVICKI 11]

Follow the UK forum K1s in that Progress Update thread. Your timeline and process will be very similar. You have different forms (DS-260 and I-864), but the wait and such are identical.

Your instructions are here http://london.usembassy.gov/iv/iv_application_instructions.html

It shouldn't take them that long to send your case over to the Immigrant Visa Unit so you can get started. I can't ever remember how DCF people get their LND case number in advance of the letter from the embassy. Call the NVC?? Hopefully you already have the police certificate and all the shots.

Hi Nich-Nick

Yeah I was confused as to why it would take that long to get that over there. I guess I can't do anything until I get that LND number from them.

Yep, police certificate has been received, I have the document from my Local Health Board stating all my vaccinations, our affidavits are complete - we're good to go!

[lost_at_sea 995]

It used to be the case that you could call the DoS line to get LND number early for DCF cases, but I had a report that that doesn't work anymore (but you can try). I'm not sure if it ever worked to call the NVC, but it won't do any harm to try that too.

I doubt it'll take that long, though - as I recall, my letter way back when said it would take up to 8 weeks, too, but I don't know anyone at London via DCF who actually had to wait that long - most seemed to get a letter/find out their number within a fortnight.

Edited March 20, 2015 by lost_at_sea

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

It used to be the case that you could call the DoS line to get LND number early for DCF cases..

Aha. I knew there was some way that had been mentioned before, but couldn't recall. NVC didn't seem right to me since the case doesn't pass through there. I know DOS won't talk to K1s anymore.

[SCOTTANDVICKI 11]

Yeah on reading the back of the letter it says it doesn't go to the NVC it goes to an Immigrant Visa Unit. If it takes longer than a fortnight I'll try to give them a call.

Thanks guys! I'm so impatient...

[manilaraf 28]

Don't call NVC. The petition/case file never leaves the London embassy. As mentioned it just gets passed from USCIS-London (who accept/process/approve the I-130) to the Immigrant Visa Unit-London. (If filing in the US/Non-DCF, the process is USCIS Lockbox > NVC > IV Unit-London, via DCF it's USCIS London > IV Unit London)

Here in the Philippines, I emailed the email address listed on the US Embassy Manila website for the IV Unit-Manila asking if they'd received the case file from USCIS-Manila and if they've assigned a MNL Case Number.

For the London Embassy, I see that the equivalent website is here: http://london.usembassy.gov/iv/index.html