mal91

On 2/8/2019 at 12:12 PM, geowrian said:

The process is:

1. I-130 petition is processed by the USCIS service center.
2. The approved petition is sent to NVC.
3. Once the PD is about to become current, NVC will send a welcome letter and request additional documents. See the wiki here: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process
4. NVC will generally process the documents once the PD actually becomes current.
5. Once the case is complete at NVC, NVC will schedule an interview with the embassy/consulate.
6. NVC sends the case to the embassy/consulate.
7. Interview for the visa (a medical will be required beforehand)
8. Administrative Processing
9. Visa is issued*

*There can be other things that happen instead of the visa being issued, but this is the happy path.

 

The quota is dictated by law for all family preference categories. USCIS then breaks this into 5 categories:

F1: Unmarried sons & daughters of US citizens

F2A: Spouses and unmarried children of LPRs <- This is your case

F2B: Unmarried sons and daughters of LPRs

F3: Married sons & daughters of US citizens

F4: Siblings of US citizens

NOTE: Child = unmarried & under 21

 

Each preference category is allocated x visas per year. This is not based on the petitioner's state or beneficiary's country of chargability.

Some countries are oversubscribed in certain categories, and therefore have longer waits within those categories. The visa bulletin posted in my previous message outlines these cases.

For F2A, no country is currently oversubscribed so the wait is the same. State is not a factor.

 

Those are processing times for the USCIS service centers (and field offices for other form types). Some do process cases faster than others. USCIS has no quotas for processing forms.

But as noted above, even if USCIS processed an F2A case in 1 day, the approved petition would be sent to NVC and wait there for the PD to become current. This is where the quota comes into play.

The only time where USCIS would cause a delay is if the I-130 took longer to process than the PD becoming current. This is very rare...USCIS basically aims to process an I-130 for a category before the PD becomes current.

 

To try to simply it for you, the I-130 processing times with the service center provide a rough idea of when to hear back on the I-130's progress. But the real wait is on the visa bulletin.

 

The Priority Date is when USCIS receives and enters the petition into their system. The receipt date may be a few days off from that. USCIS considers a case out of normal processing timelines based on the receipt date.

Thank You so much for your detailed answer. We are planning to do a simple civil marriage on this May 2019 in USA. what's the process for this? Can you please explain? 

11 hours ago, geowrian said:

The only "visa center" in the US is the NVC. But that doesn't actually process visas...it just gathers and prepares paperwork for the embassy or consulate.

 

You are likely thinking of service centers. CSC (in California) handles I-130s under F2A category, which is what your case would fall under.

 

1. There is no "time limit". There is a Priority Date (PD) you receive upon filing the I-130 petition. This is basically your spot in line for a visa number. F2A visas are limited per year by law.
   1. There's no way to make the PD become current sooner. Even if USCIS were to process your form in 1 day, you would still be waiting for the PD to become current for around 2 years. This is not a processing speed issue, it's a quota issue.
2. You can marry anywhere. She can visit using a valid visa during the process. Every entry is at the discretion of CBP. She cannot overstay, violate status (i.e. work), etc. She also cannot enter the Us with intent to stay (she needs to intend to return back to Canada or elsewhere).
3. Both are fine. Montreal is the consulate handling immigrant visa cases. They aren't known to be particularly rough IMO. There's also a lot of people coming from Canada so the info on steps is probably more accessible.
4. Where you live in the US doesn't matter. The I-130 will be routed to a USCIS service center not based on where you live. In F2A cases, this generally means it will go to CSC in California anyway. As noted above, how long it takes for approval doesn't really matter...the PD is the biggest limiting factor, not processing speeds.

• She will need to have legal residency (student/work is fine...doesn't have to be permanent residency) to interview for an immigrant visa. If she ends up moving, you can have her address updated accordingly.
• A few notes:
  • Processing time for the I-130 and NVC is the same across countries.
  • The wait for the PD to become current - the biggest factor in the wait - is the same for all countries for F2A category (this is not always true for other preference categories).
  • See the Visa Bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html
  • Processing time at the embassy/consulate level does vary. Usually it's anywhere from 1-3 months or so. Montreal is in the middle-ish of that the last I've heard. No idea on Sri Lanka.
• She can travel to the US using a valid B-2 visa from anywhere.

Thank you so much for your time and detailed answer.   

• Yes. I'm mentioning about the service center. So the service center in California pass the files to NVC?

"""" You are likely thinking of service centers. CSC (in California) handles I-130s under F2A category, which is what your case would fall under.

1. There is no "time limit". There is a Priority Date (PD) you receive upon filing the I-130 petition. This is basically your spot in line for a visa number. F2A visas are limited per year by law.
   1. There's no way to make the PD become current sooner. Even if USCIS were to process your form in 1 day, you would still be waiting for the PD to become current for around 2 years. This is not a processing speed issue, it's a quota issue.""""""

• If PD is quota based,  does every state has different quotas? 
• https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/
• In this website of uscis it shows that different 'service centers has different 'receipt dates for case inquiry' . So different service center has different quotas? 
• And What's the difference between Priority Date (PD) and Receipt dates for case inquiry?

Sorry for asking so many questions. Actually I'm confused with the whole process.

20 hours ago, WeGuyGal said:

No, can't reduce wait times, it is what it is. Everyone has to wait for whatever the processing time is. 

 

She can visit, but each entry is at CBP discretion. They're usually let in, but in some cases deny her entry if CBP thinks she's spending too much time in the US.

Thank You so much.  

18 hours ago, NikLR said:

~~moved to bringing family members of LPR to the USA from tourist visas~~

Thanks. 

1 hour ago, WeGuyGal said:

No, can't reduce wait times, it is what it is. Everyone has to wait for whatever the processing time is. 

 

She can visit, but each entry is at CBP discretion. They're usually let in, but in some cases deny her entry if CBP thinks she's spending too much time in the US.

Hi Thank You for your answers.

I also have some more questions.

She is finishing her studies this April. If she is staying further she has to apply for work permit.  

4. Does the processing time varies depending on the country she lives?

4.1 If yes, Which country has less processing time ? Comparing to ther other? Sri Lanka / Canada.

5. She got her visa from Canadian US Consulate, in the visa the port name mentioned as :'Canada'. If she goes back to Sri Lanka, Is it possible for her to travel with the same B1/B2 Visa?

2 hours ago, Khallaf said:

1. there is no way to reduce the wait time

2.once you get married you can file for the visa, she will need to remain in Canada while the process goes through, if she has a valid visitor visa, as long as CBP let her in she can still visit, but it is up to CBP to allow her in.

3. she can have her interview in Canada if that is where she will be when it is completed.

 

and how did you obtain your green card?

 

if you are here as a LPR it can take up to 2 years to complete.

Hi Thank You for your answers. I obtained through DV Lottery. 

I also have some more questions.

She is finishing her studies this April. If she is staying further she has to apply for work permit.  

4. Does the processing time varies depending on the country she lives?

4.1 If yes, Which country has less processing time ? Comparing to ther other? Sri Lanka / Canada.

5. She got her visa from Canadian US Consulate, in the visa the port name mentioned as :'Canada'. If she goes back to Sri Lanka, Is it possible for her to travel with the same B1/B2 Visa?

Hi, I obtained my US Greencard recently (Born & lived in Sri Lanka), and planning to marry my long time girlfriend (born in Sri Lanka and currently an international student in Canada). I live in California and I have several doubt on the process.

During my search I found several visa centers have different processing times. And as I am living in California, California service center takes much long time to process the case(about 2-5 years).

1. Is there anyway to reduce this time limit?

2. She already has B1/B2 Visa from Canada, If we are marrying can she visit me during the process? or will her visa will be cancelled (at the port of the entry)?

3. Applying from Sri Lanka, or Canada which can make the process easy?

4. Is there anyone who lives in California, got approved visa? If yes, how long it took?

What are the things I can do to live with her and to minimize the time. Please explain. I'm worried.