I-130 electronic filing - “My USCIS” processing time

[MT84 12]

Hello everyone,

 

Apologies if this question has been covered elsewhere, but I have not been able to find anything at all on this topic anywhere online.  

 

In the “My USCIS” portal where I e-filed the I-130 petition there is a section titled: “processing time”.  I have been monitoring this section and it does appear to be counting down, i.e. at the end of December 2022 the “estimated time until a case decision” was 3 months, and now (early Feb 2022) it is showing 2 months.

 

My question is: Does anyone know whether the “processing time” provided in the My USCIS portal is more or less accurate than the publicly available data?

 

The additional background is that I (US Citizen spouse) filed for my husband (NZ Citizen) at the start of November 2022. We are both living abroad, with our two children (dual US/NZ citizenship), and will undergo the NVC process via the overseas US Consulate. We married in August 2018, and have been living overseas but now intend to move back to the U.S. The I-130 receipt appears to be generated by the Texas Service Center. The “Case Status” has remained the same (“case is being actively reviewed”) since the submission date in November 2022.

 

Based on the public information, TSC seems to be processing 80% of I-130’s within around 11 months. The “visa journey” tracker suggests our fact pattern will likely be processed by around Nov/Dec 2023 (c.12 months).  

 

I’m now trying to reconcile the c.12 month estimate vs the “My USCIS” estimate of 2 months from now (c.5 months total). Anyone have any clue how the estimate is generated / why there is such a discrepancy?  I thought there were more helpful facts about our application that would perhaps make the process quicker, or possibly by online filing that speeds things up?  But, I also thought that applications are processed in the order received and so just because we filed online (and have been married for longer before applying for the I-130) wouldn’t push our application up the queue?

 

Any thoughts /practical experience welcome!  We’re trying not to be too optimistic on timing, but also need to plan for an international relocation with kids schooling, pets, jobs, etc…

 

Thank you!

[Chancy 6,233]

*** Moved from IR1/CR1 Process & Procedures to IR1/CR1 Progress Reports -- topic is about processing estimates ***

 

[Mern V 14]

Hi, 

 

They are behind. My husband filed my I-130 petition on Feb 4, 2022. Received a notice that they started "actively reviewing" on June 17 2022. 

 

My current "timeline" on the portal now says that our case is "taking longer than expected". It's been over a year now, still no I-130 approval.

 

I have heard of others in the same situation. 

 

[MT84 12]

Hi @Mern V

 

Thanks for your reply.  Are you saying that your portal timeline also showed a potentially shorter wait time, but that at “zero” it changed to “taking longer than expected”?

 

If that’s the case, then it may be the USCIS “goal” timeline (or maybe when they might first pick up the petition), and not an “actual” estimate?  This would make sense when comparing to other public data.  In other words - the 12-18 month timeline is probably more realistic.  Weird that they include a strangely optimistic timeline in the filing portal though!

[Mern V 14]

10 hours ago, MT84 said:

Hi @Mern V

 

Thanks for your reply.  Are you saying that your portal timeline also showed a potentially shorter wait time, but that at “zero” it changed to “taking longer than expected”?

 

If that’s the case, then it may be the USCIS “goal” timeline (or maybe when they might first pick up the petition), and not an “actual” estimate?  This would make sense when comparing to other public data.  In other words - the 12-18 month timeline is probably more realistic.  Weird that they include a strangely optimistic timeline in the filing portal though!

Yep. the timeline got progressively shorter, until I was down to "1 week" at the beginning to mid January. Then it changed to "Your case is taking longer than expected". 

 

Of course I had a freak out. Then upon googling, realized I am not alone, I think they are just really backed up. As I said in another thread, everything pointed to "10 1/2 months" as an average processing time (Nebraska) but that seems to have shot up to 12 1/2 months. It's frustrating.

[Christian And Van 6]

Just chiming in here as it appears I am in the same situation - however it has been saying 2 months - and now it has gone up to 5 months

Has anything changed for any of you since Feb?

[MT84 12]

So far mine has progressed very similarly to how Mern V described above (unfortunately). My timeline was counting down monthly, and then weekly down to “1 week”, and then last week the estimate shot back up to 7 months. 
 

I still don’t understand the logic behind the estimate, i.e. why I would’ve had such a short estimated time to begin with, or how it is determined (or if it’s just completely random or based on really old data). 7 months from now seems much more realistic based on my VJ estimate - around 12.5 months from filing - Dec 2023.  
 

Would be nice if USCIS provided some commentary on the estimated processing figure in the e-filing portal since it is quite prominent and from “the source” directly. I haven’t been able to find anything official though.

[kthunt 0]

Hi,

I have a New Zealand husband and I (US citizen) submitted our i-130 last year 01/09/2023. Still waiting for a response. It just shows our case is taking longer than expected. I see on the website the processing time is now 14 months. Did anyone have any luck with theirs getting approved?

 

We have his work rights approved, waiting on his travel rights: the advanced parole (that says 3 weeks, hopefully, took them about 6 months to process that). 

[PushaKee 42]

On 2/29/2024 at 12:05 PM, kthunt said:

Hi,

I have a New Zealand husband and I (US citizen) submitted our i-130 last year 01/09/2023. Still waiting for a response. It just shows our case is taking longer than expected. I see on the website the processing time is now 14 months. Did anyone have any luck with theirs getting approved?

 

We have his work rights approved, waiting on his travel rights: the advanced parole (that says 3 weeks, hopefully, took them about 6 months to process that). 

I'm a February 2023 filer and we were approved for the I-130 in January 2024 so it was 11 months for us. I don't think you can contact them until you get to the priority date or whatever it is called.