Jen Chem

We sent in the request to expedite in January and I thought if we didn't hear anything within 2 weeks we were OOL, but somewhere online I saw that they may be behind in processing the requests. A week or so after I thought we had probably been denied we got a letter in the mail saying that they had received the request and that if there was no response within something like 10 business days we should assume it's been denied, and that average processing times for the I-601 are 11 months or more, but then a day later we got the email from USCIS saying that the actual I-601 had been approved! 

Absolutely no way of knowing, presumably it is sitting in somebody's tray awaiting action.

Hello! My Husband had his immigrant visa appointment in Ciudad Juarez in November and was denied. We submitted the I-601 waiver and an expedite request and it was all approved on February 8th at USCIS. The consulate in Juarez took their sweet time in contacting us but a month later they sent a letter requesting us to send them nothing else but his passport.
 
From everything I have read online this means that we should be close. We shouldn't have to do the medical appointment or fingerprints again because it is all within 6 months of the time of his previous appointment and denial. We mistakenly thought we were supposed to hand-deliver his passport so we came up to Juarez and have been waiting around hoping for our approved visa and packet, but at the CEAC site it still shows REFUSED. We call the hotline daily asking if they have more information but all they see is that the passport was received at the consulate on March 23rd. They tell us to keep calling.
 
It has been over 2 weeks now since they received the passport, but only 8 business days due to la semana santa. Our lawyer called the hotline in the US and they said that average processing of the passport is 2 weeks, but it could be more, and they could still request more documents. However, people online have mentioned it taking only a week to get their approved visa and packet after the consulate in Juarez received their passport. I've only seen one person say that they sent in the passport and were waiting 2 months later.
 
Should we assume that they're going to potentially sit on the passport without doing anything for another month or two and just pack up and leave, or continue to wait another couple business days and hope that they should be sending it out any time now? It feels like we're so close but we've been here in Juarez since March 18th and with our two young children (1 and 3) it has been really hard on us, not to mention having to pay for the room we're staying in.
 
Thanks for any insight.

I heard from family that my cousin worked for USCIS and was processing 8 or 10 applications a day and got reprimanded from processing so many. I also knew a family friend who was completely xenophobic and said that if she had received my brother's request for a fiancee visa she would have denied it. A lot of it has to do with a lack of oversight, lack of checks and balances, and a lack of economy of government resources. It doesn't help that the current presidential administration put that hiring freeze on the Department of State last year and they have their own agenda and internal memos to dictate how the process should go. The amount of faith that I lost in the United States government during this process was significant.

I think you typed date of birth pattern wrong, it should be month/date/year. 

Update . . .
12/11/17 sent petition letter
12/14/27 Acceptance Letter 
5/25/18 Approval Letter and routed  to NVC.
7/11/18 We got our case number for my Mother.
7/12/18 Case number for my father.
Paid IV today,waiting to clear.

This is not true if OP is a usc, as long as can document the relationship to the stepchild she can file directly for the stepchild regardless of father’s immigration status. Geowrian mentioned this above too. Again this is IF OP is a USC, the info is confusing and OP has not clarified.

If he has been out of the country longer than the ban then I don know why you would need to file the waivers, and there are no exceptions for the waiting period unless its a medical necessity or the other few conditions defined by them on their website.

On june 24th it has been 14months exactly for the 601 and still nothing. the 212 is another 10 more days before it hits the 14month mark. Its so cruel and unfair to be punished like this due to a stupid CBP officer who bullied my wife into making a false statement.
The Nebraska service center is just horrible to delay with. When I call as the husband, us citizen and petitioner, the person who filled out the apps they refuse to relay any information at all due to their BS privacy policy.
We have lost 3years trying to get all this paperworks approved and like so many others are unfortunate to have to deal with this democratic BS.
you are treated like a foreigner and not a citizen with nor respect or care on how difficult it is to be in this situation.
With our president only making matters worse. But what I really can not understand is why they raise the app fees for $500 to $1000 per app and making the process longer and more difficult.
I think  the best solution at this point is move to another country where citizens are treated with respect and not just a number!

The only way to expedite is due to undue hardship on the beneficiary or for a beneficiary on active military duty. You just have to make your case as best as you can and provide all the evidence you can based on what they specifically will consider as undue hardship and reasons for an expedite. 
 
After waiting since March 23rd, our visa was approved on April 11th and we received our packet and crossed on the afternoon/evening of April 12th (we chose the Applicant Service Center for our packet, not a regular DHL location). We are still over the moon and my husband is a changed person- we both can now plan for the future and work towards goals like purchasing a house, new car, getting my doctorate and him getting certified as a diesel mechanic, etc. I will keep all of you in my thoughts as you agonize through the wait.

The only way to expedite is due to undue hardship on the beneficiary or for a beneficiary on active military duty. You just have to make your case as best as you can and provide all the evidence you can based on what they specifically will consider as undue hardship and reasons for an expedite. 
 
After waiting since March 23rd, our visa was approved on April 11th and we received our packet and crossed on the afternoon/evening of April 12th (we chose the Applicant Service Center for our packet, not a regular DHL location). We are still over the moon and my husband is a changed person- we both can now plan for the future and work towards goals like purchasing a house, new car, getting my doctorate and him getting certified as a diesel mechanic, etc. I will keep all of you in my thoughts as you agonize through the wait.

We sent in the request to expedite in January and I thought if we didn't hear anything within 2 weeks we were OOL, but somewhere online I saw that they may be behind in processing the requests. A week or so after I thought we had probably been denied we got a letter in the mail saying that they had received the request and that if there was no response within something like 10 business days we should assume it's been denied, and that average processing times for the I-601 are 11 months or more, but then a day later we got the email from USCIS saying that the actual I-601 had been approved!