I-130 approved quickly without expedite

[cubanchic 13]

Hello, 

 

I submitted an I-130 for my husband (he lives in Canada) on May 5, 2021. The status changed to "actively being reviewed" on May 27th. To my surprise, on August 23, 2021 the application was approved and on August 26th it was sent to the Dept. of State. Has anyone ever had an I-130 approved that fast (approx. 3 months) without any request for expedite? Im just curious. 

 

[HRQX 4,145]

50 minutes ago, cubanchic said:

Has anyone ever had an I-130 approved that fast (approx. 3 months) without any request for expedite? Im just curious.

A couple of months ago there was a petition that was approved within 2 months:

 

But the fastest I've ever seen was 3 days:

Edited August 30, 2021 by HRQX

[Ryan H 3,790]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports.

[Ashshwee 5]

Ours was approved in 73 days, no expedite. 

[Steffen & Rafael 31]

Mine was approved in like 66 days. My service center was in Nebraska. I didn’t no we could expedite this part of the process… I didn’t.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Steffen & Rafael

[mycase17 114]

Yes it's possible. Mine was approved in 3 months and half after my case we moved from Nebraska to Vermont. So it's possible even though USCIS processing time says 2-3 years in their website for e.g Vermont. 

[ohcharles 3]

Was this just by chance? My case is currently in Texas. Would it be wise to request a move to Vermont? We submitted in March.

[Paul and Sopheap 91]

3 hours ago, ohcharles said:

Was this just by chance? My case is currently in Texas. Would it be wise to request a move to Vermont? We submitted in March.

They don't allow us to request a move, unfortunately. Ours just got approved two days ago and it was at California. I think the process might be speeding up somewhat. We also filed in March.

[TWISTIE 30]

13 hours ago, Ashshwee said:

Ours was approved in 73 days, no expedite. 

Congratulation....Nice job..Do you mind sharing some details to help understand others? Such as your state and service center...Was there any red-flags or issues in your cases, like age-gap, any previous marriages for any of you, what kinds of proofs you submitted for the bonafide of marriage or anything else that could help others who are waiting or going to file?? Thx

[Steffen & Rafael 31]

2 hours ago, TWISTIE said:

Congratulation....Nice job..Do you mind sharing some details to help understand others? Such as your state and service center...Was there any red-flags or issues in your cases, like age-gap, any previous marriages for any of you, what kinds of proofs you submitted for the bonafide of marriage or anything else that could help others who are waiting or going to file?? Thx

I’m the sponsor. I live in California and my service center was Nebraska. I filed the I-130 online. I don’t believe we had any red flags. This is both of our first marriage. We’re only 2 years apart. For bonafide proof of marriage I sent 10 pictures, 2-3 flight tickets, Western Union transactions, and also 3 years of tax transcripts to show that we filed jointly. I recommend quality over quantity. Just send enough to satisfy the requirements. I’ve read some people send like 100+ items as proof lol. That’s extraneous.

[Hanane حنان 18]

I was checking timelines about  processing cases at Nebraska service center.some of them were approved in less than 2 months .but one case was approved in 31 days.. I’m not surprised when cases got approved very fast. It’s happening a lot at NSC.

[cubanchic 13]

2 hours ago, TWISTIE said:

 

Congratulation....Nice job..Do you mind sharing some details to help understand others? Such as your state and service center...Was there any red-flags or issues in your cases, like age-gap, any previous marriages for any of you, what kinds of proofs you submitted for the bonafide of marriage or anything else that could help others who are waiting or going to file?? Thx

Sure thing! I live in Georgia and my service center was California. I submitted the application online. There were not any red flags for our case - its both our 1st marriage, same age group, same culture (Jamaican) etc).  Even though we have not been married very long, we have known each other since we were 14 years old which lots of photos, social media posts and affidavits from family/friends can prove. For us, our relationship started when we were 17 and lasted for 5 years. We then broke up for 4 years and got back together in 2018. We have never lived together, own no properties together and never filed taxes together. At the time of submitting the I-130 we had only been married for 1 year 4 months but we submitted so much evidence to show our relationship was bonafide that I really didn't think there was going to be an issue with the things we didn't have together. I included these things with the application:

• 50 photographs dating from 2007 (the oldest i could find) to present
• A few social media posts (maybe 10) dating back from when Farmville was a thing lol to present
• 17 travel itineraries plus hotel/airbnb receipts from when each of us visited each other since 2018 
• 2 affidavits:1 from my dad talking about our relationship from his perspective and 1 from a friend doing the same 
• A list of receipts showing gifts we have given each other since 2018
• Letters we received from friends/family inviting us as a couple to attend events together
• All invoices related to our destination wedding in Jamaica that was twice postposed due to Covid-19 (venue, dress, suits, rings, wedding planning services, catering, hair, make-up etc.)
• Bank statements (first and most recent) for all our joint accounts plus Paypal/Western union transactions
• Screen shots of text conversations on Whatsapp/Facebook Messanger/iMessage/email etc. dating back to 2007 (maybe 10 total)

In regards to our long break-up I didn't try to hide/camouflage it at all. I was very direct and honest about it and i'm sure thats way better than hiding or lying about anything.

 

Side note: I have seen other posts about a "trick" to speed up applications getting approved is submitting I-129F as well. I still do not know if it is factual or not. However, I did also submit an I-129F so I am really not sure if it is just coincidence that out case was approved quickly or if the I-129F had any impact on the timing of the decision.

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by cubanchic

[Ontarkie 13,916]

~~Two posts removed for spamming. Post your reply only once.~~

[From_CAN_2_US 1,097]

87 days to approval for us; no expedite.

 

As far as we could tell the case was processed in Nebraska.

[top_secret 2,062]

20 hours ago, cubanchic said:

Has anyone ever had an I-130 approved that fast (approx. 3 months) without any request for expedite? Im just curious. 

CR-1 and CR-2  Wife and stepdaughter.

March 08, 2021: Filed l-130 Online
March 09, 2021: NOA1
April 26, 2021: NOA2, I-130 Approved

49 days from filing I-130's to approved NOA2's.

No tricks, No expedite, No special circumstances.

Stuck in NVC hell ever since.