Questions for I130 processing. Fast approval for many forum members? Is there any notification between I130 NOA1 and NOA2?

[adventures 14]

Hi everyone,

 

I think I remember some thread where someone said they received a notification that their I-130 is now being processed before getting the NOA2. We turned in our I-130 in early April and I just did a search in the database and was very surprised to see that most people who sent their applications around the same time (like us from Europe/EU/Germany) already have theirs approved. We are still waiting...  I know that this topic comes up very often. Should we be concerned about this (of course I am concerned, but I am just surprised how fast the process is for many in a similar situation as ours, especially as ours should be a super-safe case)? I am still getting the same message since we turned it in...

 

On April 8, 2021, we received your Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, Receipt Number (removed), and sent you a receipt notice or acceptance notice. The notice describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

 

On my receipt it says we're at Nebraska Service Center. I read somewhere that that might not be correct if I filed online. How do I find that out?

 

best, Tom

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ontarkie
edited to removed personal information

[Ontarkie 13,918]

~~Post edited to remove personal information.~~

[StrawberryKiss 170]

Hi, fellow German here  

It does sound like your case got transferred.
We were in the same situation. Filed online, got assigned to Nebraska (per online status and NOA 1), got a super-safe case (married over 8 years, 1 child, lived together both in the US and Germany for several years), saw other people get approved after 4 months and started wondering. So we started investigating and found out that our case got transferred to California without any notice. You can try finding out by “asking Emma” on the USCIS website and keep typing that you want to speak to a representative/live agent (or that you need technical assistance - worked for some at least). We were crushed due to the processing times (23.5 - 30.5 months), but got approved after 7 months eventually, which is technically still within the processing times of Nebraska (1 - 7 months) when compared. 
Btw, the only change in status we got between NOA 1 and 2 was that our case was being “actively reviewed”. However, it kept saying that for 6.5 months, so it’s not always a safe indicator that NOA 2 is going to come around soon. 
Good luck on your visa journey!

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

54 minutes ago, adventures said:

Hi everyone,

 

I think I remember some thread where someone said they received a notification that their I-130 is now being processed before getting the NOA2. We turned in our I-130 in early April and I just did a search in the database and was very surprised to see that most people who sent their applications around the same time (like us from Europe/EU/Germany) already have theirs approved. We are still waiting...  I know that this topic comes up very often. Should we be concerned about this (of course I am concerned, but I am just surprised how fast the process is for many in a similar situation as ours, especially as ours should be a super-safe case)? I am still getting the same message since we turned it in...

 

On April 8, 2021, we received your Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, Receipt Number (removed), and sent you a receipt notice or acceptance notice. The notice describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

 

On my receipt it says we're at Nebraska Service Center. I read somewhere that that might not be correct if I filed online. How do I find that out?

 

best, Tom

Hi Tom! No reason to be worried. Its actually, unfortunately, seemingly mostly about luck. There may be (and mostly likely are) some inner workings that none of us know about, but some people get VERY lucky and get theirs approved within 2-3 months. I was so hopeful I would be one of these people. Then 3 month mark came.. and nothing. I did get approved right before the 6 month mark. As far as checking your case, its best to Ask Emma, ask for a live agent, and ask where its processed. My receipt was also from Nebraska but it turns out it was at Potomac. Hope you get an approval soon!

[adventures 14]

36 minutes ago, StrawberryKiss said:

You can try finding out by “asking Emma” on the USCIS website and keep typing that you want to speak to a representative/live agent (or that you need technical assistance - worked for some at least).

sadly, that doesn't seem to work anymore :(.  https://old.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/jrq3q4/as_of_today_you_can_no_longer_get_through_to_a/

But @StrawberryKiss. Your timeline seems to suggest that you asked Emma later than the above reddit thread was created?(I tried with Emma  and it didn't work, at least today...). maybe I should contact them by phone....

[adventures 14]

@Strawberrymermaid: did you receive "actively reviewed” notifications?

 

thx for the heads up..   this waiting time is amazingly hard..  especially with children where we really want to avoid getting separated as a family.

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

1 minute ago, adventures said:

sadly, that doesn't seem to work anymore :(.  https://old.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/jrq3q4/as_of_today_you_can_no_longer_get_through_to_a/

But @StrawberryKiss. Your timeline seems to suggest that you asked Emma later than the above reddit thread was created?(I tried with Emma  and it didn't work, at least today...). maybe I should contact them by phone....

It still works. I did it around a week ago. You type " speak to live agent" and then "I want to know where my case is". Or maybe you click something that says Case status. And it connects you to live agent. You also have to do it with the times the office is open. Like 8am-5pm EST I think. You can also call, but that takes a long time on hold. Ask Emma takes like 10 mins

Just now, adventures said:

@Strawberrymermaid: did you receive "actively reviewed” notifications?

 

thx for the heads up..   this waiting time is amazingly hard..  especially with children where we really want to avoid getting separated as a family.

and yes I did. I was actively reviewed on 5/27 and 8/27. Two times. I think sending in the I-129F pushed my case tremendously bc Potomac is very slow otherwise.

[StrawberryKiss 170]

10 minutes ago, adventures said:

sadly, that doesn't seem to work anymore :(.  https://old.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/jrq3q4/as_of_today_you_can_no_longer_get_through_to_a/

But @StrawberryKiss. Your timeline seems to suggest that you asked Emma later than the above reddit thread was created?(I tried with Emma  and it didn't work, at least today...). maybe I should contact them by phone....

What a bummer! Give it another try! I definitely asked Emma in April and May and it worked! The live agent couldn’t (wasn’t allowed to?) tell me why or when exactly our case got transferred, but could confirm the transfer itself. And on the bottom of our NOA 2 it did say CSC, and not NSC anymore. 
If asking Emma doesn’t work, then I’d call. But sometimes you have to wait for over an hour to get ahold of someone. 
 

edit: Follow Strawberrymermaid’s advice. You first have to select the category “case status”, then type in “speak to live agent”, then ask about the transfer or service center. Ask Emma only works during the operating hours of USCIS and not on weekends. Just be persistent. 
Our case stats “being reviewed” got updated twice as well. Somehow, our case magically got pushed by our child’s CRBA interview in Frankfurt. I’ve seen that happen to a few people on VJ. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by StrawberryKiss

[adventures 14]

35 minutes ago, StrawberryKiss said:

Our case stats “being reviewed” got updated twice as well.

so do you know if everyone who gets approved gets an "actively reviewed" notification before receiving NOA2? because if I take your guys' notifications as a guideline, it would take at least another 6 months for us even if I got that notification tomorrow...

 

ohh man..  that doesn't sound like good news to me...  Also we did my last childs CRBA interview right after sending in the I-130 in April but nothing happened.

[pushbrk 12,122]

3 hours ago, adventures said:

Hi everyone,

 

I think I remember some thread where someone said they received a notification that their I-130 is now being processed before getting the NOA2. We turned in our I-130 in early April and I just did a search in the database and was very surprised to see that most people who sent their applications around the same time (like us from Europe/EU/Germany) already have theirs approved. We are still waiting...  I know that this topic comes up very often. Should we be concerned about this (of course I am concerned, but I am just surprised how fast the process is for many in a similar situation as ours, especially as ours should be a super-safe case)? I am still getting the same message since we turned it in...

 

On April 8, 2021, we received your Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, Receipt Number (removed), and sent you a receipt notice or acceptance notice. The notice describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

 

On my receipt it says we're at Nebraska Service Center. I read somewhere that that might not be correct if I filed online. How do I find that out?

 

best, Tom

The notice you mention was a letter to a politician's aide, not an official notice from USCIS.  No, there are no notices between notice of action 1 and notice of action 2, but NOA2 is not always an approval notice.  It can also be an RFE or a denial.

[Chancy 6,233]

9 hours ago, adventures said:

do you know if everyone who gets approved gets an "actively reviewed" notification before receiving NOA2?

 

"Case being actively reviewed" does not come as a notification like NOA1, but just a case status update online.  That status update is also not a guarantee that the case will be approved soon.  Many here on VJ had cases stuck at "being actively reviewed" for months before approval.

 

[StrawberryKiss 170]

9 hours ago, adventures said:

so do you know if everyone who gets approved gets an "actively reviewed" notification before receiving NOA2? because if I take your guys' notifications as a guideline, it would take at least another 6 months for us even if I got that notification tomorrow...

 

ohh man..  that doesn't sound like good news to me...  Also we did my last childs CRBA interview right after sending in the I-130 in April but nothing happened.

From what I’ve seen, the status always changes from “case received” to “case is being actively reviewed” before it finally gets approved, denied or you receive an RFE. For some people, the date of this status apparently never changed (or they didn’t notice). In our case, the date (“As of X, we are actively reviewing your case…”) got updated twice (January, then July). 

Edited September 3, 2021 by StrawberryKiss

[Jacobgrijpskerk 3]

Dutchie here - so a German neighbor.

Thanks for sharing about this!!

I just got through to a live USCIS representative through Emma via the tips in this thread and they confirmed a transfer to Potomac - we were originally at Nebraska.   Couldn't confirm when or why. 

 

The rep also said filing i129F doesn't expedite the I130 approval process...

We got a notice that USCIS was being actively reviewed as of August 27 - we got our NOA1 on April 12 so we're at the 5 month mark as of a couple days ago.  Hoping we here something by mid October!

[powerpuff 5,907]

~ Moved from IR1/CR1 P&P to IR1/CR1 Case Filing and Progress Reports ~

[adventures 14]

As a small update: my status changed to actively reviewed as of Sept. 10th. . Finally managed to get to Emma. We are apparently in Vermont don' know if thats good or bad. Heads up everyone ;).

 

Pretty similar situation here @Jacobgrijpskerk. I hope we get the approval soon :P.