Being in the US as a student, Will form I-130 be processed faster than if I never came here?

[appleblossom 1,333]

48 minutes ago, Albert2 said:

My birthday is in April 19 in 2024, I will submit my application next week. I am very concerned about my studies because it is very expensive to go to a 4 year university (i am now in a community college), I can get in-state tuition when I adjust status because my brother will be my guardian. So it does not take just two years to process I-130? This visa bulletin thing you guys mentioned is really troubling me..

 

As everybody has said above, the I-130 is only the first step of the whole process. That's the petition, but then once that's approved you need to apply for a visa, and you can't get one until your Priority Date is current on the Visa Bulletin. As you can see from this month's visa bulletin, those in your category (which will be F2B) who applied back in September 2015 are only now eligible to get visas, so they've had just over an 8 year wait. The current date is 22nd September 2015. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2024/visa-bulletin-for-december-2023.html This is assuming your country isn't Mexico or the Philippines of course, as you can see from the above they have an even longer wait. 

 

So let's assume your father applies for you this month and your priority date (basically the date you applied) is 15th December 2023. If the same wait applied then you wouldn't be able to apply for a visa until 2032. But the reality is that the Visa Bulletin isn't moving forwards much in that category, you can see all previous ones here - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html As you can see from that, the date for your category in July 2021 was 15th September 2015 - so it's only moved forward one week in nearly 2 and a half years. Realistically you're looking at a wait of at least a decade before a visa becomes available to you, so you'll either need to return to your home country once your F1 expires, or find another way to stay on a different kind of visa route (but bearing in mind that then you'll be known to have immigrant intent so it may be not be as easy to get certain visas). 

 

HTH and makes sense so you understand the Priority Dates and Visa Bulletin now. Good luck.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by appleblossom