silverjetplane

1. Country USC resides in: Chile

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: NOA1 April 7, 2014

4. How long had you been living abroad: Since February 2010

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes. I am a US with permanent residency in Chile.

6. What is the reason for your residence: I live and work in Chile and am married to a Chilean.

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes.

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Nit really - I did not send a copy of my passport pages or documentation from Chile showing legal evidence. I did write explicitly in my cover letter: "As a note, I have lived and work abroad in Chile since MONTH YEAR."

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes. See above.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? Apparently. 15 days from NOA1 to NOA2.

Well... I GOT IT! I-130 has been approved as of a few minutes ago! NOA2 in almost exactly 2 weeks! We haven't even received NOA1 hard copy yet!

I can't believe how lucky we all have been filing in April!

Just to clarify, this was filed for abroad to Chicago and routed to CSC.

Good luck to everyone! You are all the first I've told after my husband. I told him that I needed to tell my new friends. Haha. Take care and I'm hoping this means that they can process all applications faster for all of you who filed domestically.

Time to spend my weekend obsessing over the next steps!

Congratulations on the approvals! I saw another approval from a timeline I'm following - same deal: filed abroad to Chicago to CSC. All in the course of a few weeks.

As Abby&Mario posted before, if you've been approved from abroad, please fill in the information on the following thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/page-39

Go to the last page, copy the previous comment and make the changes as necessary.

My two week window from NOA1 is tomorrow. Needless to say, I am cautiously optimistic.

Good luck everyone!

Hi TeaCup - sorry I thought the original poster shared their cover letter. I didn't see that you had already sent it - I wasn't trying to pick it apart!

You are right that only some of the information applies to some people in certain situations. We all have different circumstances and therefore our advice is based on our assumptions. A lot of advice is subjective and I was only trying to give a response that reflected the hours of cases I studied here and elsewhere. I wish the best of luck to you and everyone else here. We are not alone in any of this process!

So we have finally finished everything for our i-130 application.

Now, since we both live in Sweden. Which postal service should we use? does it matter?

What did you guys use when you applied abroad ? My guess is fedex or UPS?

I would use FedEx/UPS/DHL as it's generally easier to track. Personally, I don't like the change of hands from the local postal service to USPS. If there is a problem with delivery, using a courier service will at least remain consistent. There is no blaming over what the local postal service did versus what USPS did. In fact, when I realized I forgot to send our passport photos with the G-325A, I called FedEx and they were able to call the driver of the truck the same morning of the delivery and destroy the package. I resent one of my backup copies the next day and I was shocked at how attentive the service from FedEx was. I don't think that would happen with USPS. But really, whatever you are most comfortable with. As others have noted, use the courier address and NOT the PO Box address if you send it this way.

Also, this was our cover letter if it'll be of any help

Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services

Nature of Submission: I-130 Application

Please find enclosed my I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of my wife (INSERT NAME)

Please find enclosed:

Check enclosed for the amount of $420.00

Completed form G-1145

Completed form I-130

Completed form G325-A Signed by me the petitioner (INSERT NAME) with attached signed passport-style photo

Completed form G325-A Signed by wife (INSERT NAME) with attached signed passport-style photo

Copy of our Marriage Certificate

Copy of petitioners birth certificate (Front, Back & Apostille Stamp)

Copy of my wife's longform birth certificate *Printed on two (2) pages

Copy of Petitioners passport (INSERT NAME)+ visa stamps to Ireland

Copy of petitioners Irish visa card

Copy of my wife's passport + visa stamps from visits to the U.S.A.

Original bank statement as proof of co-mingling financial resources

Original photographs as a secondary evidence of a bonafide marriage.

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date.

　

Signed: _________________________ Date: ____________

Others will probably jump in, but:

• Is the check drawn on a US Bank?
• Your need to send EITHER a copy of the petitioner's birth certificate OR all pages of the US passport. Not both.
• You don't need to send the beneficiary's birth certificate at this point.
• You don't need to send copies of your wife's passport, but the stamps are good for bona fide evidence.
• I'm not sure if your Irish visa card is necessary, but the stamps are good for bona fide evidence.

Personally, I think the bona fide evidence is a bit light. The bank statement is good (EDIT: Send a copy, not original. Nothing but the forms should be original at this point.), but do you have anything else in both of your names? Contracts? Leases? Letters/Invitations? When you say original pictures, how are you packaging them? The best advice I've seen (and what I did) is to print several color pictures on normal printer paper and accompany each photo with a date, location, and brief description. You aren't allowed to send albums and a stack of loose pictures can be disorganized and hard to store together. In any case, you should try to label the pictures with dates, locations, and descriptions. Do you have anyone who could write and notarize an affidavit as back-up? Generally, USCIS prefers hard evidence along the lines of contracts and co-mingled finances, but I consider what you currently have to be a bit lacking.

In any case, good luck!

Congrats to everyone getting their notifications or even their approvals!

Congratulations!

I just checked the tracking number and it seems that it arrived at Chicago Lockbox on 4/21 at 11:54 AM Chicago time. Yet, it is now 4/24 and still no notification. Can anyone think of why they wouldn't have emailed me? Is there a chance that I screwed something up?

It's great that it arrived! I think it is still too early to worry. I sent mine from Chile on 11 Apr and it was received 14 Apr and I got my NOA1 on the 17th. That is a Monday to a Thursday.

According to your dates, they received it on a Friday and probably didn't do anything until Monday. I would at least wait until next Monday. I have a feeling you'll be the email today or tomorrow, based on other timelines. They've only had a few business days.

Wow! Congratulations! It's great news not only for you, but also for other filers out there who have sent their documents from abroad and have been routed to California. This is increasingly becoming a pattern and I'm hopeful that something is happening on purpose. Perhaps part of "5 month processing goal" for USCIS (or at least CSC) is to return to processing internationally filed petitioners more rapidly to free up time for other applications? Whatever it is, I'll take it!

I'm a little worried. That's the same day that I sent mine as well using express mail and I still haven't heard anything back. I filled out the email notification form and put it on the very top of the whole packet, too. Should I be worried?

I wouldn't be worried yet. We are still at the very beginning stages and the NOA1 doesn't really mean much (but it still feels great to get!). There are many factors that could have an effect on your situation. TM713 sent their packet from abroad (as did many others), so he/she probably used FedEx or a similar service which must be sent to a different address in Chicago than items sent via USPS Express Mail. Did you send it from the US or abroad? Do you have the tracking number to see if USCIS has received it? If they have received it, I think it's just a matter of days now before you get a notification.

When you do get your NOA1, I suggest going to the USCIS website and making an online account where you can obsessively check the status.

Take care and good luck!

Hi fellow april filers! Just wanted to share some good news...I checked my case status online and it says "On April 21, 2014, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. "

It only took 14 days to get approved (California service center) we are both overseas, living in the Netherlands, and in the cover letter we mentioned that my husbands new job in USA starts in May.

Keep you posted, but i'm sure everything is moving much quicker now at USCIS, even if USC is not residing overseas. We all picked the right time to file, good luck guys!

xx Angela

Congratulations! It must be a great feeling! This is becoming a sort of pattern for April filers from abroad who got routed to California... I have to admit that it's hard not to get my hopes up!

In any case, good luck on the next part of your journey!

The samples here on VJ and on some other sites say to check OTHER and write very neatly on the petitioner's G-325A: "In support of SPOUSE'S/FATHER'S/ETC. I-130" or "In support of NAME NAME's I-130.

For the beneficiary, they are supposed to check STATUS AS PERMANENT RESIDENT.

http://www.***removed***/forms/g-325a-biographic-information.html

Good luck! Be meticulous!

I think you have to use the address where she is currently living, in your case in Sweden. I have heard of conflicts of petitioners using a US address for the current residential address and then submitting bank statements, leases, or other supporting evidence with the foreign address. I think USCIS is looking for consistency.

They might add scrutiny if it looks like you don't currently live together. You may want to do more research, but I would definitely put the address in Sweden. You can always call USCIS later to change the address. Another petitioner included the explanation in the cover letter to have all mailed materials go to her mother's house in the US, even though she was living abroad. Then again, USCIS often ignores requests in cover letters.

Here is my response from the other thread. I'll put it here too:

Thanks, yeah, it was a total shock! I didn't ask why--I thought about it, but I didn't want to push it. Tier 2 reps are not the most cheerful people on the planet and it took me telling the guy today that someone else had told me the approval e-mail might be a "glitch in the system" to finally get verbal confirmation that we were approved. The most I got from one the other day was "quick approvals have been known to happen" when I was still trying to figure out what my real case status was. Just getting the damn case status was enough work that once I got that, I was out of there.

If you've never come across this thread, you might want to take a look: http://www.visajourn...-living-abroad/

Basically, for a while there after DCF was taken away from most of the world, many couples filing from abroad were "auto-expedited." It's a pretty interesting (but LONG) thread, although that trend seemed to die pretty quickly. I added my case there because it may be happening again. That's honestly the only explanation I can think of.

I was extremely meticulous in putting our I-130 packet together and we both looked over it many times before sending it off, but there are plenty of people who put perfect petitions together with oodles of relationship evidence who then have their file sit on a shelf for months. We'll probably never know for sure why it happened to us.

I tried to make this related thread happen but it got pushed down really quickly: http://www.visajourn...-go-to-csc-now/ Would be interesting to see if we start seeing more quick approvals out of CSC.

Thanks for the response. I imagine you are feeling great! I read the thread you mentioned before and even tried to beg the embassy here in Chile to let me do DCF (haha). I didn't request to expedite the petition at all, but I did file abroad to Chicago and onto California like you.

I was also incredibly meticulous with the I-130 packet so maybe the Latin gods are looking down on both of us! Like you mentioned, having a perfectly put together file doesn't mean it will magically go faster.

In any case, I read this thread today: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/492167-whats-after-noa2/ and the petitioner also filed from abroad, also went through California, and also got his NOA2 in 15 days! Here's hoping you've started a trend for us all!

Filed from Chile, also to California.

Yesterday, we received NOA2 via email saying that the I-130 application was approved. It was 15 days after NOA1.

We applied through Chicago Lockbox from oversea. We haven't received the hardcopy yet but it might be helpful to prepare in advance.

Thank you

Thanks for the replies.

We were very careful with every documents we filled out. And we added evidences like lease agreement, some dated and captioned duet photos from when we were dating for 2 year, and plane tickets which we travelled together. We signed up for USCIS notification too. I think everybody is careful about everything and provide enough information. We are just lucky yeah

First of all, congratulations! This is strange/exciting/good news... and the second time that I have read this today. Another I-130 petitioner filed from abroad in April 2014 and got approved in about two weeks (through Chicago Lockbox and transferred to California Service Center). Where were you transferred to?

Good luck in the next part of the process!

It's a miracle!!! We've been approved. Got it really and truly confirmed talking to Tier 2 today. You can see the previous drama here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/491871-on-second-thought-uscis-does-not-know-if-they-approved-our-i-130-or-not/

I can't believe it. We filed from abroad and were sent to CSC. I have Colombian residency. We would have been able to do DCF in a few months if it existed, but it doesn't anymore. They used to process people like us very quickly but seemed to have stopped. Either they are starting up again, it's completely random or they wanted to give me a birthday present (I'll take it). Wow wow wow. Still in shock.

Congratulations! I commented in another thread to you, but I think it might be important here as well. Were you able to ask why they expedited the petition? I also filed from abroad and the petition was sent to CSC. I really hope that perhaps they are expediting petitions filed from abroad but I am definitely not counting on it.

Take care!

UPDATE: Called again today and got verbal confirmation from Tier 2 (took a bit of work but I got it out of him) that the system shows that WE HAVE BEEN APPROVED! I requested that they send another NOA2 to our U.S. address since the first one was likely sent to our old Bogotá address, and according to this guy they will do so. What happened was that they approved the petition before I called to change the mailing address address, but I was unaware. I mean, it must have happened mere hours before I called about the address. What are the odds?? The address change was processed after the approval, which is what put our status back to initial review. It was just automatic. I've been instructed to ignore what my case status says online because we were indeed approved.

Thank you to Visa Journey for letting me vent and for all the great information y'all make available here. This is truly an invaluable resource and I continue to be impressed by the work of the veteran posters and especially the mods, who run such a tight ship, every time I log in.

Wow! I am really happy for you and very surprised! Do you have any idea why the case was expedited so quickly? Were you able to ask anyone? I read in another post you wrote that you speculated about filing abroad having some effect. I am really interested because I also filed from here in Chile and the petition was sent to the California Service Center. In any case, congratulations and good luck for the next steps! Keep us updated!

I almost died when I got a case update just now! Pretty sure this doesn't mean anything at all but hey, something happened! I'll take it.

(Also, the email is two days late...)

On April 15, 2014, your Alien Registration Number was changed 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.

I would have screamed and shouted! Thats great news - I'm hopeful that all of this means USCIS is finally getting back on track! Congratulations!

Wahoo! I received my NOA1 via email last night around 1:00 local time. Rerouted to California Service Center.

Good luck everyone!

Yes, I resent everything today - passport sized photos included and meticulously checked twenty times. It should arrive Monday morning, so I am feeling much better.

On a side note, I am so impressed with FedEx. Firstly, I had no idea destroying a package in transit was even an option! And secondly, I realized that as of this morning, their website said my package was on the truck and being delivered. I called the customer service number and asked what the situation was and the representative immediately escalated the call to her manager who called the dispatch center who in turn called the driver of the truck! He pulled my package and it was eveually shredded back at the sorting facility. Talk about customer service! I don't mail much, but they have definitely earned a lifelong customer!

Regarding the G-325As, I read on these forums and others that if you can't fit the information while typing, you can print out the form and complete that part manually using a pen with black ink. The USCIS website notes that you should obviously write clearly and legibly. I had to do the same thing with some of the employer information: it was too small to list the full names and addresses of the employers.

About the last residence question on the G-325A: yes, repeat the same address. If he/she still lives at that address, you can again print out the form and write clearly and legibly, "Present" in black ink in the address box. I had to do the same on both of our forms. Supposedly, leaving that box blank can cause an RFE.

Why aren't the affidavits signed? Were they done by email? You can always ask the person to print, sign, and scan the affidavit to send it electronically to you. You may send a printed copy with the I-130 while you wait for the original to come in the mail.

I received my email from the USCIS at just after midnight! Yippee

Though I know this is only the first step in a long journey, I was still thrilled to see it. Mine was sent to Chicago lock box and now it's on to Nebraska! Can't wait to actually see my case info on uscis website!

Please no RFE's!!!

Congrats, patnjac! Like you said, this will be a long journey but at least you've started it! Here's hoping there are no RFEs for you or anyone else on this thread!

Congrats on the NOA1, S&A! My hopes are up, too. I am going to re-mail the petition tomorrow. I've also seen 5 months at most of the service centers and I'm hoping for a little less. I think the joy of this website (apart from the wealth of knowledge) is the sense that we aren't in this alone. Hopefully we can all stay same throughout this process.

Good luck!

Good luck to you too, patnjac! I don't know if that will be a problem, but I think you might be OK! It doesn't seem to serious and I think they should understand.

As far as my situation, luckily I was able to contact FedEx who informed me that they can destroy the package in transit before delivering it. I would rather just pay to send it all again instead of waiting an additional 30 days to receive the RFE just to send the pictures again. Since I'm mailing from abroad, the cost is going to be $50.00 whether I send the entire application again or if I send just pictures. I had no idea that FedEx offered this! Good thing I made three copies of everything before sending it... phew!

Good luck to us all!Q