Timeline of i130 for husband/wife of a US Citizen

[TheBoss 1]

I helped a friend file an I-130 on March 2025 for her husband. She is a U.S. citizen, and her husband lives in India. Is there any place where we can see real timelines or updates from other people going through the same process? That way, I can help her understand when her husband might get an interview, visa approval, or arrive in the U.S.

Thanks

[Rhema1 548]

11 minutes ago, TheBoss said:

I helped a friend file an I-130 on March 2025 for her husband. She is a U.S. citizen, and her husband lives in India. Is there any place where we can see real timelines or updates from other people going through the same process? That way, I can help her understand when her husband might get an interview, visa approval, or arrive in the U.S.

Thanks

Are you not able to get it on the USCIS web page?

"Case updates"

A friend of mine received a response after about 16 months 

Edited 14 hours ago by Rhema1

[TheBoss 1]

we can do that but i want to compare with others who filed around the same date, see how long their I-130 took, and when they got interview or visa outcomes

[Rhema1 548]

1 minute ago, TheBoss said:

we can do that but i want to compare with others who filed around the same date, see how long their I-130 took, and when they got interview or visa outcomes

OK I got it now.

Someone more helpful to you will surely Chip in 🤲 🙏 

[appleblossom 5,624]

20 minutes ago, TheBoss said:

I helped a friend file an I-130 on March 2025 for her husband. She is a U.S. citizen, and her husband lives in India. Is there any place where we can see real timelines or updates from other people going through the same process? That way, I can help her understand when her husband might get an interview, visa approval, or arrive in the U.S.

Thanks

 

Ignore the 'My Progress' bar on her case page completely, it's notoriously inaccurate. Current processing times (which tends to be more accurate) are here - https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ And you can search VJ timelines, seems about 15-16 months is the norm. 

 

That's only for the I-130 though, the second stage (actual visa application) will very much depend on them (i.e. when they pay the fees, how quickly they upload the documents etc). Once they've done all that and been DQ'ed, it's about a 4-5 month wait for a visa interview at Mumbai. 

 

So maybe, as a very rough guess, they'll be finished towards the end of the year (assuming he doesn't get put in to admin processing). 

Edited 14 hours ago by appleblossom

[TheBoss 1]

thanks for that case on the receipt notice i see below service center. so which option i need to choose form the Field Office or Service Center to check the processing time? 

 

 

[appleblossom 5,624]

2 hours ago, TheBoss said:

thanks for that case on the receipt notice i see below service center. so which option i need to choose form the Field Office or Service Center to check the processing time? 

 

 

 

 

Neither, it's SCOPS. See the 'alert' at the top of the processing times page. 

[S2N 616]

4 hours ago, appleblossom said:

And you can search VJ timelines, seems about 15-16 months is the norm. 

VJ timelines tend to be slower than what is being reported through the API data by 2-3 months. My theory is we get the “trouble cases” so it skews slower.

 

They’re currently processing December 4, 2024, so 13 months exact for around 50% of cases. Whatever is on the USCIS website is the 80th percentile.

 

We were trending towards 11 months before the government shutdown, but October/November really slowed down. Speed looks to be picking back up again since we’re at 13 months exact, which is down two weeks from September.”

 

If the current conditions continue I think people applying today will be in the 11-12 month timeframe we had in 2023 before Biden-era USCIS decided to focus on I-485 from overstays.

Edited 10 hours ago by S2N