I-130 online, time to get receipt notice (NOA1)

[omgslay 2]

Hi all, first post 🙂

 

My understanding is that if you file I-130 online, you need to wait to receive the NOA1 and include that receipt notice when filing the paper i-485 packet. SimpleCitizen told me the current wait for this receipt notice is 3-12 weeks, which seems absurd... I've seen threads here saying it took 1 week.

 

We wanted the convenience of the online I-130 since we can upload all the photos / evidence easily, rather than mailing it. But we don't want to miss the April 1 deadline for the old prices. We won't have a marriage certificate until March 16-20 since the wedding is March 11, so we can't file anything until then. Too risky to do the I-130 online?

Thanks in advance.

[Crazy Cat 39,324]

You should get a receipt almost immediately posted to your USCIS account after filing an I-130 online.  You can then send a copy of that receipt with the I-485 package.  That's one advantage to filing online. 

The information you received was referring to the actual hard copy paper receipt.  

Edited February 23 by Crazy Cat

[omgslay 2]

Oh wow, it seems that SimpleCitizen has been misleading us 😒

And including just the copy of that receipt won't cause any problems or an RFE? This has been battle tested, so to speak?

[Crazy Cat 39,324]

3 minutes ago, omgslay said:

Oh wow, it seems that SimpleCitizen has been misleading us 😒

And including just the copy of that receipt won't cause any problems or an RFE? This has been battle tested, so to speak?

The receipt is the NOA1.  Yes, it is "battle tested":

 

 

[Crazy Cat 39,324]

O course, your other option is to mail the I-130 package, the I-485 package, the I-131 package, and the I-765 packages all together.

[omgslay 2]

Thank you, kindly. I wanted to avoid mailing the I-130 since uploading photos and evidence seems much faster and smarter and, well, better for the environment

[omgslay 2]

Since you've been so helpful, Crazy Cat, I have another question.

 

I just finished reading the rather massive 71-page thread (below) about filing I-130 online but the thread was locked in March 2022. That's a bit of a bummer, because I wanted to see if people were still having the "early adoption" problems with the online I-130 recently that they were having in 2020. For instance, receiving a RFE due to "lack of signature" on page 9, in spite of it being digitally signed, etc.

 

I would love to see continuity of this thread but have not been able to find one. Perhaps we could start one? In an ideal world, there would also be a "Filing I-130 Online Guide".

 

I'm a software engineer by trade, so doing things digitally makes a lot more sense to me than chopping trees and mailing them around 🙂

 

Appreciate your time.

 

 

[Crazy Cat 39,324]

4 minutes ago, omgslay said:

I would love to see continuity of this thread but have not been able to find one. Perhaps we could start one?

Well, this thread is a good start. I would be happy to tweak the title if you want...  I don't recall any big issues with online filing lately.  At one time, people were complaining that some of the date functions were confusing....but those were solved by entering the current date.  When I filed an I-130, I don't think online filing was available.....but wife and I did file her N-400 application online.  There were no glitches regarding lack of a signature. 

[omgslay 2]

Sounds great, let's do it -- tweak away!

 

One immediate question for you would be whether I should add my own questions about the latest online I-130 to this thread or break them off as I go. For example, in the Native Language section, you have these instructions:

• If the beneficiary's native written language does not use Roman letters, upload a document with his or her name and foreign address in their native written language.
• If your documents are in a foreign language, upload a full English translation and the translator's certification with each original document.

It seems rather silly to upload a translation to native and back to English, esp. when they already have it in all her paperwork. Safe to assume that those instructions were a copy/paste from elsewhere and they just carelessly left it in, like in other parts of the I-130 online form?

 

 

[appleblossom 1,341]

Just now, omgslay said:

It seems rather silly to upload a translation to native and back to English

 

If they're in English, no need for any translation - as it says, it's only if the document is in a foreign (i.e. non English) language. 

[omgslay 2]

Hi Appleblossom! I'm talking about the fact that they're asking me to upload a PDF document containing my wife's name and address in her native (non-Roman) language, which would then become "a document in a foreign language", while advising me that any PDFs uploaded in a foreign language will require English translations.

 

This seems to be yet another place where the paper form has no such ambiguity, because on paper they just ask you to fill it in. They don't then advise you to translate "foreign documents", because fields in the I-130 form itself never become "a foreign document". The online I-130 is much more ambiguous and unnecessarily confusing...

 

I guess I just answered my own question?

 

Edited February 26 by omgslay

[omgslay 2]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:06 PM, Crazy Cat said:

Well, this thread is a good start. I would be happy to tweak the title if you want... 

 

Let me know if you're still game, Crazy Cat.

[appleblossom 1,341]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:11 PM, omgslay said:

Hi Appleblossom! I'm talking about the fact that they're asking me to upload a PDF document containing my wife's name and address in her native (non-Roman) language, which would then become "a document in a foreign language"

 

Sorry, didn't see this before as you didn't quote me. You'd just type something along the lines of (in English) 'As requested, please see below my name and address in my native language - xxxxxxxx'. No translation required.