BlueDevil

Many congrats on your approval!!

Did you get an alien registration number changed notice or something before the approval?

I received an email two days before I received my approval stating "your name was updated." I have seen others receive the alien registration number change email as well, while the rest receive no such notifications. So much like everything else with the USCIS, it is a massive ####### shoot!

My I-130 was finally approved yesterday!! Next step is to send a letter asking them to combine it with my I-485 filing. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter!

CCONGRATS!!!!!!! Pl.Fill your Time Line for IR1/CR1 and the spread sheet.

My case is not following the typical IR1/CR1 route so unfortunately the timeline format does not work for my situation. All the details of my case are listed in my signature below. The spreadsheet has been updated.

I totally agree with the OP! Another reason for that is that some of the fonts show up completely different when viewed on a mobile. I had that happen recently where I could barely read the text in a post and when I looked at the same post on a PC, it showed up in a different font.

As far as signatures go, they are helpful on certain occasions, such as mine for example. The immigration route that I am taking does not allow me to fill out an accurate timeline so the signature is the only place I can very briefly add in my case progress details for anyone else who might be going down the same route.

Cheers!

Thank you all!! My next step will not be the NVC since I am already in the U.S. on an H1-B visa. I have an I-485 already filed from an employer sponsored application so I will be sending the USCIS a letter this week to interfile my approved I-130 with my I-485. Once merged, the next step will be an interview! The end is near

Approved!!!

Post Decision Activity

On December 9, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

For approved applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include USCIS sending notification of the approved application/petition to the National Visa Center or the Department of State. For denied applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include the processing of an appeal and/or motions to reopen or reconsider and revocations.

Congrats!! Best wishes for the journey ahead.

APPROVED!!!!! WOOT!! WOOT!!

Just received the text and email message! It has been a long and arduous wait but step one is in the books! I am going to sleep well tonight!

My case was approved at TSC today so fellow Texas transferees, have faith! Things are starting to move along. Thanks to my VJ family! Sharing our frustrations and celebrations is what has made this process slightly bearable.

Best wishes to all those that are still awaiting approvals. I will update the spreadsheet in the morning.

Your Case Status: Post Decision Activity
On December 9, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

So we sent back our RFE via priority mail on Saturday. According to the tracking number it was delivered today. How long after they receive the RFE response do you usually hear something

If there's one thing accurate about the USCIS it is their uncertainty! There's no definite timeline on when you can expect a decision but if past history suggests and your RFE is fairly straightforward, it should not take too long. They are obviously at a point where they are reviewing your case for a decision so with them receiving the missing piece of information I would imagine they should be able to make a decision fairly quickly. As far as I know you do not lose your place in the line due to an RFE so they should review your case immediately upon receiving the missing information.

Best wishes to you!

My file is at TSC and I received an update this past Saturday. So, maybe they are operational, in spite of the weather? We can hope right?

I just received the following email notification:

"Your Case Status: Initial Review
On December 7, 2013, your name was updated relating to your I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please check our website at www.uscis.gov for further updates on your case. Please wait until the end of normal processing time before calling customer service at 1-800-375-5283 for live assistance."

I don't believe I have seen anyone else receiving a "name update" notification here before. Anyone else seen such notifications? It is rather odd since my name has been correct from the start so I'm not sure what prompted this. Or is it just a "touch?" Sort of like the A# being changed?

In any case, I will take this as good news that my case is being actively reviewed.

One last thing - the date on the notification is today! Surely the TSC staff isn't working on Saturday??!

On December 3, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

For approved applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include USCIS sending notification of the approved application/petition to the National Visa Center or the Department of State. For denied applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include the processing of an appeal and/or motions to reopen or reconsider and revocations.

I checked the USCIS site today and this was on there!! I am an April 9 PD. Transferred to CSC on 19 Nov. Things are starting to happen people. Good luck to all )

Congrats!! Looks like CSC is really chugging long! Wish the other centers would get on it as well!

never receive the tthird email that says being processed in a uscis office .but got hardcopy.anything wrong with that

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The hard copy is the important notice and as long as you have that, you should be fine.

I received 2 emails from USCIS couple of days ago and hard copy of the transfer notice in mail today. It went to Texas according to the hard copy. I wonder what the time line is at texas.......

Procession times at all the service centers are quite a crapshoot and don't necessarily follow any definite pattern/timeframe. A rough estimate from other members has been somewhere around one month after transfer. The letter does give a 60-day processing window but we all know that we cannot rely on any estimates the USCIS spits out.

Keep an eye on the April spreadsheet for some real data from fellow members. That might be the best estimate.

Us too. So confused why only two emails, and that it says local USCIS. Most others received all three emails pretty quickly if I recall correct.

I received the first email on 11/15/13 - "transferred to another office." Then on 11/19/13 I received two emails within the space of an hour, the first was the "local office" email and the second was a "transferred and is now being processed at a USCIS office" email. Finally, on 11/20/13 I finally received the hard copy notice (dated 11/18) that my case was transferred to TSC.

FINALLY ! ! ! ! ! !

CONGRATS!! Welcome to the club ;-)

So you are NOT beyond the Posted Processing time?..I thought the Posted Processing time is 7.4 Months now..that is what i see on USCIS Web site...

I wonder if the posted processing time the rep was referring to might have been the 60 days that they have on the transfer notice.

Even though I'm in a different filing category, I thought I might post in here since my case was transferred to Texas as well. A brief summary of my case: I have been on an H1-B visa since 2001. Employer filed an EB petition in 2003 but that has gone nowhere due to retrogression. I got married last year to a USC and filed my I-130 in April of this year (receipt date 4/8/13). Once the 130 is approved, it will be merged with my EB I-485 filing. So for all practical purposes, my I-130 is a standalone filing at this point.

The 130 was sent to Chicago and then was sent to NBC. I received multiple emails on 11/19 about transferring to a USCIS office, then local office. I then received a hard copy notice in the mail on 11/21 that my case was being transferred to the Texas Service Center.

I will keep you posted on the progress...

Cheers!

April 5 pd..Transfered Nov. 18...nothing after that..hope to hear something soon..

Our cases are pretty close to each other. My NOA1 was on April 11. I would imagine we see approvals fairly close together.

I filed I130 last sept. 28 2013 and got noa1 october 3 2013...

Last november 22,2013 it said it was transferred to local uscis.. And today it says it transferred to uscis... I got hard copy today and it says it was transferred to TEXAs... Gosh! I dont understand all this...

Here's some info on why your case (and mine) might have been transferred to Texas. I received the same notifications. I received an email that stated my case was transferred to a local office, but the hard copy notice said it was transferred to Texas. Hard copy takes precedence.

http://lawandborder.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/USCIS-Stakeholder-Email-re-I-130-Processing-Times-2013-11-20.pdf

I am not 100% sure, but I have never heard of it, and it seems rather backward.

From reading your link, the law office says it is not officially on the books and USCIS may or may not do it, so it sounds like a crapshoot.

Best of luck, I suppose. Though you could have had a GC by now, had you paid for a new I-485.

Well, I really did look long and hard at a fresh application altogether. There some pros and some cons to it (additional $1000 in fees vs. time saved). I have an H1-B visa and a stable/secure job so I could afford to wait the extra few months that an interfiled application is taking. So, I figured I'd save on the fees and just let it ride this way. My lawyers have processed a few cases similar to mine and they don't see any issues being just the additional time that this process will take. Either way, you can use me as the guinea pig for this process

BlueDevil,

You are hoping that a work-based I-485 can be attached to a I-130 for relative?

No, no, it can't.

When you filed the I-485 you checked a box for work-based. Now you need to submit a I-485 with the box checked for family-based.

Had you done that you would have had your GC long ago, like in July.

Harpa,

Are you sure on that? Interfiling is a fairly common practice I thought, and doing so saves on a new 485 filing and associated fees. Here is an article from Murthy.com's website speaking to this issue. My coporate lawyers also didn't mention anything about it not being an option. I'm pretty sure I remember reading up on this subject in the field adjudicator's field manual as well, though it might take me some time to find that section again,

http://www.murthy.com/2013/08/05/interfiling-new-immigrant-petition-into-pending-i-485-case-2-of-2/

Hard copy, always.

Thanks, Harpa! That will make my case much easier since my 485 filing is sitting at TSC, so combining the two will be a much simpler process!

So here's the situation regarding my I-130 that has been stuck in initial review...

I received an I-797C info notice in the mail (notice dated 11/18/13) stating that my case had been transferred to the Texas Service Center for processing due to the backlog at NBC.

Here's the problem ... I also received two emails from the USCIS on 11/19/13. The first one said that my case "was transferred and is now being processed at a USCIS office." The second email received a few hours later on the same day said that "On November 18, 2013, we transferred your I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN, to your local USCIS Office for further processing."

For what its worth, the case status online states that it has been transferred to the local USCIS office as well.

So now I have no idea where my case has been transferred to. Memphis is my local office. What notice/email should take precedence? Common sense would say that the hard copy notice should take precedence, but I have found with this whole process that common sense is thrown out the window!

Thank you for your comments...

I have yet another update! I received an info notice in the mail yesterday (notice dated 11/18/13) stating that my case had been transferred to the Texas Service Center for processing due to the backlog at NBC.

Here's the problem ... I also received two emails from the USCIS on 11/19/13. The first one said that my case "was transferred and is now being processed at a USCIS office." The second email received a few hours later on the same day said that my case "transferred to your local USCIS Office for further processing."

For what its worth, the case status online states that it has been transferred to the local USCIS office as well.

So now I have no idea where my case has been transferred to. Memphis is my local office. What notice/email should take precedence?

I sort of hope it is Texas since that is where my I-485 filing has been sitting idle. So merging the two will be that much easier.

Even though I'm in a different filing category, I thought I might post in here since my case was transferred to Texas as well. A brief summary of my case: I have been on an H1-B visa since 2001. Employer filed an EB petition in 2003 but that has gone nowhere due to retrogression. I got married last year to a USC and filed my I-130 in April of this year (receipt date 4/8/13). Once the 130 is approved, it will be merged with my EB I-485 filing.

The 130 was sent to Chicago and then was sent to NBC. I received a notice in the mail yesterday that my case was being transferred to the Texas Service Center.

I will keep you posted on the progress...

Cheers!

For my fellow April filers who might still check in here, I have another update. I received a text and email last night that my case was now being transferred to the local office which for me is Memphis.

I mailed my package in April to the Chicago lockbox, and then I imagine the case was forwarded to Lees Summit (since I have a MSC number). So for 7 months, it was probably sitting in some room or stuck in a pile on someone's desk before they decide that oh a local office should probably process the case. It took them this long to figure this out? What the heck?! So flipping frustrating! Who knows how long it will take in my local office now!

/rant over

I guess I should be thankful that I can at least work and am not cooped up at home like some other people waiting on the process to run its course. Will keep y'all posted on how things progress from here on out.

Cheers!