Form I-130 approval timeline

[adnanamjad1 0]

Hello. 

I am fairly new to this forum and did want to ask couple of questions. Me and my brother we live in USA and a green card holders, on 2nd OCT 2016 i filed form i-130 with all the required documents for my wife who is currenlty living in Pakistan. I received an email on 13th OCT 2016 says"USCIS ACCEPTANCE CONFIRMATION" Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS California Service Center for processing. Within 7-10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number xxxxxxxxx. With the official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) you may visit www.uscis.gov where you can check the status of your case using My Case Status. We suggest you wait until you have received your Form I-797 before checking My Case Status.

I waited 15 days but didn't receivce anything then i checked my case status and it says "Document Was Returned To USCIS. On November 4, 2016, the Post Office returned your document to us. We will hold your document for 180 days or until May 3, 2017. Please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we resend the document to you. If you do not submit an online request by May 3, 2017, we will destroy your document and you will need to file a new Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with fee. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

I contacted them and requested the form to be sent out again and on November 23rd 2016 i was able to receive the form I-797 that had the details of the payment and documents that i submitted to USCIS.

On the other hand my brother submitted the same documents for his wife a week before me and he didn't have any issues. His documents were accepted and he didn't have to contact them.

 

Since ever i have received a last item in mail by USCIS i have not heard anything back form them and my case status still shows the same that my document was returned. But! 3 weeks a ago my brother receives a letter from USCIS by mail says" your case has been approved and it is now directed to NVC, after couple of days he receives an email from NVC says that they have received his case and they have given him the case number and USCIS account number and all and then after couple of days he receives another email from NVC in which they want him to submit some pieces of documents which includes police report for his wife, Tax return, affidavit of support etc and once all these documents are submitted to NVC and accepted then they will go ahead and schedule a time for interview for his wife at American embassy Islamabad Pakistan"

 

Now I have not received anything from USCIS so far  not even approval letter or anything. There is not much of time difference between when we both filed our form i-130's. I was wondering that what step should i take at this point? Should i continue waiting or should i contact USCIS? I am not sure what to do and i am so worried about it. If anyone can suggest anything who has the same experience then it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sorry for the long note i thought details will help understand the scenario.

 

Adnan,

[tcy 29]

3 hours ago, adnanamjad1 said:

Hello. 

I am fairly new to this forum and did want to ask couple of questions. Me and my brother we live in USA and a green card holders, on 2nd OCT 2016 i filed form i-130 with all the required documents for my wife who is currenlty living in Pakistan. I received an email on 13th OCT 2016 says"USCIS ACCEPTANCE CONFIRMATION" Your case has been accepted and routed to the USCIS California Service Center for processing. Within 7-10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number xxxxxxxxx. With the official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) you may visit www.uscis.gov where you can check the status of your case using My Case Status. We suggest you wait until you have received your Form I-797 before checking My Case Status.

I waited 15 days but didn't receivce anything then i checked my case status and it says "Document Was Returned To USCIS. On November 4, 2016, the Post Office returned your document to us. We will hold your document for 180 days or until May 3, 2017. Please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we resend the document to you. If you do not submit an online request by May 3, 2017, we will destroy your document and you will need to file a new Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with fee. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

I contacted them and requested the form to be sent out again and on November 23rd 2016 i was able to receive the form I-797 that had the details of the payment and documents that i submitted to USCIS.

On the other hand my brother submitted the same documents for his wife a week before me and he didn't have any issues. His documents were accepted and he didn't have to contact them.

 

Since ever i have received a last item in mail by USCIS i have not heard anything back form them and my case status still shows the same that my document was returned. But! 3 weeks a ago my brother receives a letter from USCIS by mail says" your case has been approved and it is now directed to NVC, after couple of days he receives an email from NVC says that they have received his case and they have given him the case number and USCIS account number and all and then after couple of days he receives another email from NVC in which they want him to submit some pieces of documents which includes police report for his wife, Tax return, affidavit of support etc and once all these documents are submitted to NVC and accepted then they will go ahead and schedule a time for interview for his wife at American embassy Islamabad Pakistan"

 

Now I have not received anything from USCIS so far  not even approval letter or anything. There is not much of time difference between when we both filed our form i-130's. I was wondering that what step should i take at this point? Should i continue waiting or should i contact USCIS? I am not sure what to do and i am so worried about it. If anyone can suggest anything who has the same experience then it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sorry for the long note i thought details will help understand the scenario.

 

Adnan,

Hi, just like even i am waiting to hear about my petition and still awaiting approval notice. As per your post your petition was sent to California service centre right? What is your priority date? If your petition is outside normal processing time then you should certainly contact uscis and make an inquiry.  Good luck!

[adnanamjad1 0]

28 minutes ago, tcy said:

Hi, just like even i am waiting to hear about my petition and still awaiting approval notice. As per your post your petition was sent to California service centre right? What is your priority date? If your petition is outside normal processing time then you should certainly contact uscis and make an inquiry.  Good luck!

Yes it was sent to California Service Center, I am not sure how long i should wait but next 2 weeks will make it officially a year of waiting to get a approval notice from USCIS. My priority date is 10/10/2016. What was yours if you don't mind my asking? and also are you also a Green Card holder or US Citizen?

I wish you luck too.

 

Thanks,

[tcy 29]

19 minutes ago, adnanamjad1 said:

Yes it was sent to California Service Center, I am not sure how long i should wait but next 2 weeks will make it officially a year of waiting to get a approval notice from USCIS. My priority date is 10/10/2016. What was yours if you don't mind my asking? and also are you also a Green Card holder or US Citizen?

I wish you luck too.

 

Thanks,

Im sorry to hear that its almost a year long wait for you. As per california current processing time currently they are reviewing cases up till 23 August I believe. Although your PD is still within the normal processing time but it's almost a year without approval so I suggest call uscis and inquire about your case. Maybe you could ask if your case is actually assigned to an officer or not. I hope you get a positive response.

 My husband is USC and filed I-130 for me. My PD is 13 December and it's at Nebraska service centre. 

[adnanamjad1 0]

4 minutes ago, tcy said:

Im sorry to hear that its almost a year long wait for you. As per california current processing time currently they are reviewing cases up till 23 August I believe. Although your PD is still within the normal processing time but it's almost a year without approval so I suggest call uscis and inquire about your case. Maybe you could ask if your case is actually assigned to an officer or not. I hope you get a positive response.

 My husband is USC and filed I-130 for me. My PD is 13 December and it's at Nebraska service centre. 

Appreciate your suggestion. Will definitely contact them asap to see where i am at with it. I am OK with waiting but as stated in my first note that me an my brother we both filed it at the same time but with a week difference and now he is very close to the interview process and i haven't even received my approval letter yet.

I hope things work out for you faster too. This wait is too much to take