Texas Service Center experiences?

[fem_femme 6]

Hi all. I petitioned my husband and my receipt date of our CR-1 is December 27, 2018 and the case is sitting in Texas. So far there's only been NOA1 and nothing else. I keep checking at the processing times and it changes sometimes and even once it went from 8.5 months the minimum to 6.5, so I was really happy, but then it changed back to 8.5. Currently it shows as 8-10.5 months and they are looking into September 4 cases, so I have another 3.5 months to wait until I can inquire about our case, which is a bummer because I'm losing my patience lol. I wanted to get general info regarding the particular center. Do you guys usually get your NOA2 before the priority dates at the center or does it always pass the priority date for most people...meaning are they that slow that even within those 8-10.5 months they don't respond until you inquire? Any experiences with the amount of denials perhaps? I would be so lucky if they respond at least the first few week of August but I don't count on it knowing how slow things are moving it's like Im used to it.

[DGF 730]

Around the end of every month USCIS updates their processing times online, but the trick is, the processing times reflect how things were 2 months prior. So if the current processing times are 8 - 10.5 months, then 2 months ago that is how long it was taking. On top of that, that range doesn't cover all cases. It means that approximately 50% of cases will be processed by 8 months and 93% of cases will be processed by 10.5 months. That leaves 7% of cases that aren't processed until after that time frame, which are usually cases that require additional background checks.

The estimate that you get on VJ is a good indicator of how long the average case is taking right now so if you haven't already, I recommend filling out your timeline so you can get an estimate. There are of course cases that are expedited, cases that take way longer than average, people that don't update their timeline, and people that update their timeline with incorrect information, but from what I've read around here those cases aren't taken into consideration when estimates are generated. Based on what I've seen on VJ, Texas is approving people who filed around 7-8 months ago, although things have seemed to slow down in the last month or so (and of course, there are always outliers and not everyone will fall into that range). So yes, most of the time approval is received before the priority date is passed, although not always. 

The amount of denials is pretty small. Last quarter, Texas denied 1,429 cases and approved 24,974, which means 5.7% of cases were denied. Unless you have some serious issues with your case (like being convicted under the adam walsh act, not legally married, etc) USCIS is unlikely to deny you. At later stages other issues can result in a denial, but there are plenty of threads on VJ that discuss just about every situation so I'll let those speak for themselves  

 

All of that said, every case is different so try not to worry if you are seeing people around you being approved (I know, I know, easier said than done!). You will eventually hear from them. It might be around the time that most people hear back, it might be sooner, it might be later. You will most likely hear before you are able to inquire (and if you aren't, inquiring doesn't accomplish much other than a form response telling you your case is taking longer than expected and to inquire again in (30/60/90/120) days unless you get your congressman involved and even then they can't always give you any helpful information). 

 

[fem_femme 6]

3 hours ago, DGF said:

Around the end of every month USCIS updates their processing times online, but the trick is, the processing times reflect how things were 2 months prior. So if the current processing times are 8 - 10.5 months, then 2 months ago that is how long it was taking. On top of that, that range doesn't cover all cases. It means that approximately 50% of cases will be processed by 8 months and 93% of cases will be processed by 10.5 months. That leaves 7% of cases that aren't processed until after that time frame, which are usually cases that require additional background checks.

The estimate that you get on VJ is a good indicator of how long the average case is taking right now so if you haven't already, I recommend filling out your timeline so you can get an estimate. There are of course cases that are expedited, cases that take way longer than average, people that don't update their timeline, and people that update their timeline with incorrect information, but from what I've read around here those cases aren't taken into consideration when estimates are generated. Based on what I've seen on VJ, Texas is approving people who filed around 7-8 months ago, although things have seemed to slow down in the last month or so (and of course, there are always outliers and not everyone will fall into that range). So yes, most of the time approval is received before the priority date is passed, although not always. 

The amount of denials is pretty small. Last quarter, Texas denied 1,429 cases and approved 24,974, which means 5.7% of cases were denied. Unless you have some serious issues with your case (like being convicted under the adam walsh act, not legally married, etc) USCIS is unlikely to deny you. At later stages other issues can result in a denial, but there are plenty of threads on VJ that discuss just about every situation so I'll let those speak for themselves  

 

All of that said, every case is different so try not to worry if you are seeing people around you being approved (I know, I know, easier said than done!). You will eventually hear from them. It might be around the time that most people hear back, it might be sooner, it might be later. You will most likely hear before you are able to inquire (and if you aren't, inquiring doesn't accomplish much other than a form response telling you your case is taking longer than expected and to inquire again in (30/60/90/120) days unless you get your congressman involved and even then they can't always give you any helpful information). 

 

 

 

Thanks so much! Your post was very informative. It's almost mid July so I will be expecting a response in a few weeks...well at least getting ready to hear something within the next few months while the past long months were just a dead silent time that we had to go through. It wasn't as frustrating before as it is now lol. I just also updated my timeframe, so will also update when I get the NOA2. You mentioned that I can check for other member's timeframes for Texas to get a better idea than the uscis processing table itself, and I was wondering if there's a way to directly look for those timeframes of others or am I supposed to just go through random profiles hoping to learn more? 

[DGF 730]

45 minutes ago, fem_femme said:

 

 

Thanks so much! Your post was very informative. It's almost mid July so I will be expecting a response in a few weeks...well at least getting ready to hear something within the next few months while the past long months were just a dead silent time that we had to go through. It wasn't as frustrating before as it is now lol. I just also updated my timeframe, so will also update when I get the NOA2. You mentioned that I can check for other member's timeframes for Texas to get a better idea than the uscis processing table itself, and I was wondering if there's a way to directly look for those timeframes of others or am I supposed to just go through random profiles hoping to learn more? 

Yep! Igor's list keeps track of the previous 12 months so you can see how many people filed each month, who has been approved, and what percentage of each month has been approved (they'll never reach 100% just because a lot of people don't come back). The Texas one can be found here: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=2&visa=3&scenter=3&option=3&sortby=2  Ignore the small amount of approvals from January onwards, those are incredibly lucky people or expedited cases!  

[fem_femme 6]

3 hours ago, DGF said:

Yep! Igor's list keeps track of the previous 12 months so you can see how many people filed each month, who has been approved, and what percentage of each month has been approved (they'll never reach 100% just because a lot of people don't come back). The Texas one can be found here: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=2&visa=3&scenter=3&option=3&sortby=2  Ignore the small amount of approvals from January onwards, those are incredibly lucky people or expedited cases!  

Awesome! Thanks so much for this informative information all around. I really appreciate you taking time explaining all this to me in detail. 

[fem_femme 6]

HI guys. So it's been almost 8.5 months ever since I petitioned for my husband and the immigration sent me a NOA1 on December 27 and as I check Igor's list constantly, I see that all of December has almost filled out with NOA2s, but we are still waiting and getting worried. Now I started freaking out more because upon checking our case online, the whole case # of NOA1 disappeared. There's absolutely no notice, and when the case # is entered it just takes me to a USCIS blank page where there's no statement about the usual "we received ...." it's as if the case # doesn't even exist and I've never had this happen within the last 8.5 months and I am freaking out as to what happened to our case that it just evaporated as if it doesn't even exist. Why would the immigration do this? Anyone who had the same issue? 

[BobanaP 6]

Did you check it today? I think yesterday their site didn’t work as that same thing happened to me, but today I was able to see our case status (which is unchanged of course).

But we filed in March so we still have couple more months.

[fem_femme 6]

6 hours ago, BobanaP said:

Did you check it today? I think yesterday their site didn’t work as that same thing happened to me, but today I was able to see our case status (which is unchanged of course).

But we filed in March so we still have couple more months.

Yes I did check and once I click on the status #, the page turns completely blank and the previous NOA1 notice is no longer showing. It's been 8.5 months now, do you think this might mean that they are getting ready to send me NOA2? On Igor's list everyone seems to have already received their NOA2 for December. I would hate to think that my case just evaporated into the thin air after 8.5 months of waiting. 

[fem_femme 6]

Looks like the temporary case status disappearance from the uscis site that was blank (just the text portion from NOA1 and not the whole page) meant that they approved our case because after a few days later in mail, I got our approval notice NOA2! I am doing this by myself as a USC and I wanted to ask what to expect after this approval because the letter basically says that they have sent the petition to NVC. The NVC will contact the beneficiary of this petition with further into about the processing steps. So I was wondering first of all by which method the NVC will contact my husband so that he can keep an eye, what they will be requesting and when will NVC contact my husband? What's my role in this stage of NVC now that they are going to contact him? I also heard that we need to provide Affidavit of Support, so when will we do this? I'm a little confused as to what to expect and I would appreciate if you guys can give me a heads-up so that we can also proceed through this stage (i heard it's a short one) smoothly. Any info and helpful tips would be greatly appreciated!