Delays in USCIS processing I-130 petitions beginning mid 2023.

[cgt 3]

Filed an I-130 petition with USCIS 11 February 2023. Original estimated time for a decision was 10.5 months, Nebraska processing center. At one point our petition was advanced 2 months for a decision. Then when we were about to count down to 1 month for a decision suddenly 10 months was added and our estimated time to a decision was 11 months. That would put our case to the extreme 100% of cases being processed. We were never given an explanation for the change to our estimate. All the processing centers have now been combined and the estimated time for 80% of cases are set to 14 months. But, with the delay we were given about last September our estimate is well beyond the 14 months of normally processed cases for 80% of petitioners. 

 

This appears very peculiar because news reports of USCIS diverting staff to process the surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border of the US appears to coincide with the delay we suddenly had added to our petition. I'm wondering if anyone else is affected in their petitions as we have been. 

USCIS redirected to prioritize illegals_compressed.pdf

Edited January 5 by cgt

[Dreamer7 16]

20 minutes ago, cgt said:

Filed an I-130 petition with USCIS 11 February 2023. Original estimated time for a decision was 10.5 months, Nebraska processing center. At one point our petition was advanced 2 months for a decision. Then when we were about to count down to 1 month for a decision suddenly 10 months was added and our estimated time to a decision was 11 months. That would put our case to the extreme 100% of cases being processed. We were never given an explanation for the change to our estimate. All the processing centers have now been combined and the estimated time for 80% of cases are set to 14 months. But, with the delay we were given about last September our estimate is well beyond the 14 months of normally processed cases for 80% of petitioners. 

 

This appears very peculiar because news reports of USCIS diverting staff to process the surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border of the US appears to coincide with the delay we suddenly had added to our petition. I'm wondering if anyone else is affected in their petitions as we have been. 

USCIS redirected to prioritize illegals_compressed.pdf 823 kB · 1 download

Unfortunately when I filed i360, processing time was 21months and now it’s 37months. That’s crazy. It’s been 3 years and still nothing my case.People who crossed the border got their gc before me. It’s been 8 years for me and I’ve been paying taxes , I went school and I’m part of that society.

its just so hard to understand what did we do wrong when we were trying to do everything RIGHT

Edited January 5 by Ozy7

[appleblossom 1,442]

The online ‘countdown’ is notoriously inaccurate, if you search the forum you’ll find tons of threads about how it’s best to completely ignore it. 
 

Hopefully you’ll have approval soon, you can search the forum for more accurate timelines from those who’ve shared theirs. 
 

Good luck. 

[appleblossom 1,442]

6 minutes ago, Ozy7 said:

Unfortunately when I filed i360, processing time was 21months and now it’s 37months. That’s crazy. It’s been 3 years and still nothing my case.People who crossed the border got their gc before me. It’s been 8 years for me and I’ve been paying taxes , I went school and I’m part of that society.

its just so hard to understand what did we do wrong when we were trying to do everything RIGHT

If you applied in 2020 then I suspect that’s more to do with the Covid backlog than anything else, all processing times increased hugely after that. 

Edited January 5 by appleblossom

[cgt 3]

Ozy7... Hoping for more information about what USCIS is up to. But I suspect we know! I have other news reports as well, but their file sizes are too large to post here. 

 

I empathize with anyone experiencing what appears to be unjustified delays imposed by the US Government. Myself, I'm retired, like you paid taxes, also served in the military during Vietnam era. My wife and I are senior citizens, and long delays affect us disproportionately... when we age out... that's the end for us, and we might never see each other if that were to happen. Even under normal circumstances, age is not a consideration in the immigration process. But, prioritizing illegals, supposedly for their safety and protection at the expense of US citizens and their families separated, is sickening, utterly unacceptable. The US government that did this to us has to change... we won't forget when it's time to vote. I guess that's all we can do. I have written to my Senator, no answer so far, the Office of the President of the Philippines, hoping they might bring this up with the US through their Ambassador. I've written to many media organizations, and not a single answer so far. Appears we have been cut adrift. Hopefully, some of us will compare notes and maybe someone has a good idea of something we can do to change this situation.

 

Good luck, and start fighting like we are, I guess.

[Dreamer7 16]

6 minutes ago, cgt said:

Ozy7... Hoping for more information about what USCIS is up to. But I suspect we know! I have other news reports as well, but their file sizes are too large to post here. 

 

I empathize with anyone experiencing what appears to be unjustified delays imposed by the US Government. Myself, I'm retired, like you paid taxes, also served in the military during Vietnam era. My wife and I are senior citizens, and long delays affect us disproportionately... when we age out... that's the end for us, and we might never see each other if that were to happen. Even under normal circumstances, age is not a consideration in the immigration process. But, prioritizing illegals, supposedly for their safety and protection at the expense of US citizens and their families separated, is sickening, utterly unacceptable. The US government that did this to us has to change... we won't forget when it's time to vote. I guess that's all we can do. I have written to my Senator, no answer so far, the Office of the President of the Philippines, hoping they might bring this up with the US through their Ambassador. I've written to many media organizations, and not a single answer so far. Appears we have been cut adrift. Hopefully, some of us will compare notes and maybe someone has a good idea of something we can do to change this situation.

 

Good luck, and start fighting like we are, I guess.

It’s always good to share sir. I live in Florida, I’m very successful at my job, I have a fiancé from Florida, but we can’t start our lifes and get marry. Why!?? Cuz I don’t have a greencard and my i360

is still pending and we can’t have our dream wedding in my country w our families. Not able to see my brother for 8 years? Just can’t understand why???? But again, we trust the lord and all I can do keep praying, staying strong and keep working… I hope we all will hear good news soon but Im gonna be honest. I don’t think that our cases are moving at all

Edited January 5 by Ozy7

[cgt 3]

appleblossom... Thanks for the suggestion, but we are well aware of this being told to people in general waiting for processing. The issue is to have the estimated time, move forward and then backward by a large amount. However, we have gone beyond our original estimated 80% time, but had a large amount of time added that puts us up against the 100% processing time, which doesn't normally happen. I have tracked many cases and never heard of that before. And now we have many news reports telling us that USCIS has in fact abandoned our petitions for processing to process illegals in order to parole them into the country. Someone has to do that processing, and USCIS has complained all along about their lack of staff to handle cases without the surge of illegals that have appeared particularly this year... record breaking arrivals. In fact, the illegal arrivals now outnumber the entire birthrate for the US... did you know that? Elon Musk himself posted a chart on X showing that... 

 

Thanks for the optimism, but there is a lot of information that justifies concern now.

[Dreamer7 16]

6 minutes ago, cgt said:

appleblossom... Thanks for the suggestion, but we are well aware of this being told to people in general waiting for processing. The issue is to have the estimated time, move forward and then backward by a large amount. However, we have gone beyond our original estimated 80% time, but had a large amount of time added that puts us up against the 100% processing time, which doesn't normally happen. I have tracked many cases and never heard of that before. And now we have many news reports telling us that USCIS has in fact abandoned our petitions for processing to process illegals in order to parole them into the country. Someone has to do that processing, and USCIS has complained all along about their lack of staff to handle cases without the surge of illegals that have appeared particularly this year... record breaking arrivals. In fact, the illegal arrivals now outnumber the entire birthrate for the US... did you know that? Elon Musk himself posted a chart on X showing that... 

 

Thanks for the optimism, but there is a lot of information that justifies concern now.

Also can’t understand their “earliest inquiry date”

i360 “80% of the cases completed within 37 months”

my case has been pending for 37 months now and when I put my earliest inquiry date it states that August 19,2024. 8 months later…

[TBoneTX 43,419]

Thread with political discussion is moved from the "Bringing Family of USCs" forum to the Current Events forum.

[cgt 3]

Now that this is deemed political, no one notices where it's been moved to rather than where it was where people with spouses would see how this affects their cases, how they are being affected and what they need to start doing rather than simply time pass them by...

[TiffAndMike 8]

As a collective group, we need to come together and figure out exactly which senators are highly anti-illegal immigration and very vocal about it and just flood their office with letters, asking them to be the voice for those of us who are trying to bring our families over here. 

 

The only politician that I have heard mention anything about coming over here the legal way is Nikki Hailey.  She has stated that her parents are immigrants and they are appalled by the illegals .

 

 

[appleblossom 1,442]

On 1/5/2024 at 5:22 PM, cgt said:

Now that this is deemed political, no one notices where it's been moved to rather than where it was where people with spouses would see how this affects their cases, how they are being affected and what they need to start doing rather than simply time pass them by...

 

Maybe start a new thread without the anti-immigrant stuff in the relevant forum and then hopefully you'll get pertinent responses. But as I tried to say above, the online processing timeline thing has always been inaccurate, it's best to always stick to the USCIS processing times quoted on the website which are usually more accurate (I'm sure that the online countdown is just somebody having a laugh most of the time). That says 14 months which would be about right for most people. 

 

And you can search timelines and see how much quicker it has been recently compared to the past, it used to take much longer. 

 

Good luck.

[Dashinka 23,368]

13 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

Maybe start a new thread without the anti-immigrant stuff in the relevant forum and then hopefully you'll get pertinent responses. But as I tried to say above, the online processing timeline thing has always been inaccurate, it's best to always stick to the USCIS processing times quoted on the website which are usually more accurate (I'm sure that the online countdown is just somebody having a laugh most of the time). That says 14 months which would be about right for most people. 

 

And you can search timelines and see how much quicker it has been recently compared to the past, it used to take much longer. 

 

Good luck.

That might be tough given the overall tenor of the thread.  It does seem the out-of-control migrant crisis fueled by the current administration would have an impact relative to DHS/USCIS, so the conclusion by the OP seems justified.  The fact that those following the process legally and actually paying the bills for USCIS are now being moved to the back of the line can be very frustrating.  We always say there is no such thing as premium processing, but on the surface it seems the administration has now allowed for those paying whatever fees are required to the handlers in Mexico to get to the US Southern border are getting first class service from USCIS.

[appleblossom 1,442]

6 hours ago, Dashinka said:

That might be tough given the overall tenor of the thread.  It does seem the out-of-control migrant crisis fueled by the current administration would have an impact relative to DHS/USCIS, so the conclusion by the OP seems justified.  The fact that those following the process legally and actually paying the bills for USCIS are now being moved to the back of the line can be very frustrating.  We always say there is no such thing as premium processing, but on the surface it seems the administration has now allowed for those paying whatever fees are required to the handlers in Mexico to get to the US Southern border are getting first class service from USCIS.

 

If it does have an impact (yet to be seen - as processing times have sped up recently, not slowed down) then maybe. Personally if I was a spouse visa applicant I'd be far more annoyed about other factors i.e. employment based green cards being processed so much more quickly, or lack of funding and staff to process existing applications, than I would about people risking their lives to try and better them. 

[TBoneTX 43,419]

13 hours ago, Dashinka said:

being moved to the back of the line can be very frustrating

This happened to everyone active here when the DACA program was decreed -- USCIS dropped everything in favor of DACA.  A member here produced some elegant, exhaustively detailed statistics related to processing, but in a format that didn't survive over time.