Reaching out to my congressman

[Ctavarez90 244]

Hello everyone. I recently reached out to my congressman regarding my I-130 petition. He said that it will probably be 30-60 days before he receives a response from them. My question is does your congressman reaching out to uscis really help at all? Will I probably get my approval before they get a response?

[SalishSea 16,770]

53 minutes ago, Ctavarez90 said:

Hello everyone. I recently reached out to my congressman regarding my I-130 petition. He said that it will probably be 30-60 days before he receives a response from them. My question is does your congressman reaching out to uscis really help at all? Will I probably get my approval before they get a response?

In general, your congressperson will get the same response as you would, when making an inquiry.  When was the petition filed?

[Boiler 43,429]

Depends on what sort of enquiry you are making

[Ctavarez90 244]

1 hour ago, Jorgedig said:

In general, your congressperson will get the same response as you would, when making an inquiry.  When was the petition filed?

Aug 31 2021. It’s at California Service Center. I’m hoping I get my approval by end of July at the latest

[SalishSea 16,770]

2 minutes ago, Ctavarez90 said:

Aug 31 2021. It’s at California Service Center. I’m hoping I get my approval by end of July at the latest

Are you outside of the USCIS published normal processing time?

[Ctavarez90 244]

49 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Are you outside of the USCIS published normal processing time?

Yes. But it says I can not send in an inquiry until the end of July. But I’m already at 8.5 months 

[Redro 4,598]

1 hour ago, Ctavarez90 said:

Yes. But it says I can not send in an inquiry until the end of July. But I’m already at 8.5 months 

USCIS has recently changed the way they report processing times. 

They are only reporting the bottom limit not the top limit. 

You won't be outside of processing times until the end of July. 

Unless the processing out of California slows down and it exceeds 8.5-10.5 months.

Edited May 20, 2022 by ROK2USA

[SteveInBostonI130 3,319]

1 hour ago, Ctavarez90 said:

Yes. But it says I can not send in an inquiry until the end of July. But I’m already at 8.5 months 

I assume the published processing time is 8.5 to 11 months?

 

You cannot send an inquiry until after the longest wait in that range - 11 months.

[SalishSea 16,770]

3 hours ago, Ctavarez90 said:

Yes. But it says I can not send in an inquiry until the end of July. But I’m already at 8.5 months 

Then there was really no point in having the congressperson make an inquiry.  The results are the same whether you do it, or he/she does.

[Ctavarez90 244]

2 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

USCIS has recently changed the way they report processing times. 

They are only reporting the bottom limit not the top limit. 

You won't be outside of processing times until the end of July. 

Unless the processing out of California slows down and it exceeds 8.5-10.5 months.

Okay good to know. Thank you 

[SJordanS 342]

To be honest, and I know everyones experience is different, I LOVED working with my local Congressman and highly recommend it. In fact thats how I knew my husbands Green Card was approved. Through them. They knew before my lawyer. My lawyer eventually knew when she called in that same day but they emailed my CM with details. Prior to that I had put in an inquiry to my CM and they said they will check every 14 days. So on the second time around they inquired they got the detailed response via email not even lawyers can get. This is not the first time my CM gave me good news. The same happened when the issued my husbands Visa. I heard through the CM office with details so I say GO FOR IT! Good Luck.

[Gomast 65]

My inquiry was useless. My congresswoman got the same response as the one online, that my case is under review. My senator was even more useless as he hasn’t given me any response. And the ombudsman was also not helpful. I never heard back from them. I have been waiting for 31 months when normal processing times are 15.5 in my field office. 

[Redro 4,598]

1 hour ago, SJordanS said:

To be honest, and I know everyones experience is different, I LOVED working with my local Congressman and highly recommend it. In fact thats how I knew my husbands Green Card was approved. Through them. They knew before my lawyer. My lawyer eventually knew when she called in that same day but they emailed my CM with details. Prior to that I had put in an inquiry to my CM and they said they will check every 14 days. So on the second time around they inquired they got the detailed response via email not even lawyers can get. This is not the first time my CM gave me good news. The same happened when the issued my husbands Visa. I heard through the CM office with details so I say GO FOR IT! Good Luck.

Did you request help when your application was outside normal processing times? Did they help you move the case forward or were they just keep in touch with you and send updates? 

It is awesome you got some help from them! Always good to hear a positive story. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by ROK2USA

[Ctavarez90 244]

3 hours ago, Gomast said:

My inquiry was useless. My congresswoman got the same response as the one online, that my case is under review. My senator was even more useless as he hasn’t given me any response. And the ombudsman was also not helpful. I never heard back from them. I have been waiting for 31 months when normal processing times are 15.5 in my field office. 

But you are inside the states now correct?

[Gomast 65]

2 hours ago, Ctavarez90 said:

But you are inside the states now correct?

Correct. I filed AOS from K-1.