hopeJourney

To my knowledge, the Department of State doesn't provide wait times for interviews (nor does any other government agency). The only thing they release is the number and type of visas issued each month by consulate or place of birth.

Me (USC) and my wife (Turkish national) were married in the U.S. At the NVC stage, when uploading civil documents, is our US marriage certificate sufficient? Or do we also need the Turkish version too (we registered our marriage in Turkey after our U.S. marriage)? I ask because on the civil documents page for Turkey (link below), in the "Marriage, Divorce Certificates" it only has information for the Turkish version. I cannot find anywhere online that says if you were married in the U.S., then you only need the U.S. marriage certificate and not the foreign one. It makes sense to me that a U.S. marriage certificate is sufficient, but wanted to hear from the community. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Turkey.html

We are interested in the wait time too in Ankara for IR1/CR1 visas for Turkish citizens.

I am happy to report that our I-130 was approved. IR-1 - Spouse or US citizen Submitted Online August 27, 2021 NOA1 - August 27, 2021 Active Review 1 - February 21, 2022 Active Review 2 - June 2, 2022 NOA2 - June 2, 2022 NOA1 was from the Texas Service Center but was transferred to the Vermont Service Center the day of submission (I found this out via Emma). I am hoping my fellow August 2021 filers are next!

You are probably just spinning your wheels. They go by what is posted on the website now, and according to that, you have to wait. I am in the Vermont Service Center and I keep watching the time increase; it is frustrating. Based on your NOA1, you are right at the median time of case processing across the centers (9.6 months). Hopefully your case gets approved soon. Also, I personally haven't seen anyone get any useful information from making case inquires besides standard language like "we are performing required background checks." If someone has examples of useful responses from case inquires, I would like to seem them. Maybe if a case if far outside the normal processing time a person could get useful information, but since your case is still within a "reasonable" timeframe, I don't think the information will be useful.

The 80% statistic applies to forms that use the "process time" method, which the I-130 and some other forms do not use (they use the "cycle time" method). I wrote about this issue with an example in this post: Understanding USCIS I-130 processing times - IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports - VisaJourney. You can also read about the process times on the USCIS website Case Processing Times (uscis.gov). They should have been more careful with their language on the listening session.

The 8.5 months quoted on the processing times pages doesn't mean all cases will be processed in 8.5 months. I explain what it means in this post: Understanding USCIS I-130 processing times - IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports - VisaJourney After considering the processing times, I think the best metric is what is reported on the USCIS Historical Processing Times page. Currently, for I-130 for Immediate Relatives, the median time for approval across all service centers is 9.5 months (for Fiscal Year 2022). I like this metric because USCIS shifts cases around to balance the workload, and this will capture that. It also uses the "processing time" methodology rather than the "cycle time" methodology, which I think is better (and explained in my linked post). I think the way they present the processing time data isn't great and leaves more questions than answers. Like you, I am frustrated at how long it takes, but the backlog is insane. As of Dec 31, 2021, there were 308,775 pending IR1/CR1 cases across all service centers. From Oct 1-Dec 31, 2021, they processed 61,861 cases (about 20,620 per month). So even if they completely stopped accepting new cases, it would take them 15-months to process the cases they currently have. And this is only for IR1/CR1. It is considerably more when you add the other categories. It is even worse for those who are applying today because the backlog is the highest it has been since at least Dec 2018 (and probably longer but I don't track it before 2018). For perspective, there were 223,249 pending cases on Dec 31, 2018 (which is 32% lower than Dec 31, 2021). In other words, the backlog has grown by 32% over 3 years. Luckily the Biden administration is giving USCIS more funding and committed to reducing the backlog. We would be in a much worse situation if Trump got 4 more years, or thinking ahead, if a different conservative administration gets elected in 2024. Because after the IR-1 process, most beneficiaries will apply for citizenship, which is also extremely backlogged. Elections have consequences and at least for me, I will vote for candidates who are committed to fixing the US immigration system, because it is broken. We deserve better.

Currently, the median time for an I-130 for an immediate relative is 9.5 months (Historic Processing Times (uscis.gov)). That means 50 percent of cases are processed within 9.5 months. Then it takes 1-8 weeks for USCIS to send the case to NVC. Once NVC receives the case, you can expect about 90 days for them to process everything (NVC Timeframes (state.gov)). Then it totally depends on at which consulate you will do the interview. If you are in a backlogged consulate in countries like Mexico, India, and Pakistan, I've heard of waits of 9-12 months. At other consulates, it is as short as within one month. On here and Facebook you can usually find groups that have information on your specific consulate's wait time. Here is a reasonable time frame: 10-12 months for I-130 approval (12 months might be more reasonable depending on service center) 1 month for NVC to receive case 3 months for NVC to process case 4 months to schedule interview (note again there is much variation based on consulate) Total: 18-20 months Also note that if you get a request for evidence (RFE) at the USCIS or NVC stage, it can add 3 months. It is critical you submit everything correctly. Read the directions carefully and have someone double-check.

There are a few and some are specific to service centers. Try searching for "I-130 filers Immigration Visa Group" or "I-130 Texas service centre." There is overlap in posts between VJ and FB, so just keep that in mind. It can seem like more are being approved than actually are because of cross-posting (which is a good thing to reach more people). I also track the VJ service center tracker and I find that really helpful. For example USCIS Monthly Filers & Approvals (Igor's List) (visajourney.com).

Yes, it seems they have started to approve some cases with NOAs in early August 2021. I have seen 5-6 over the last week here and on Facebook. Keep in mind there were over 268,000 thousand pending cases in Jul-Aug 2021, so seeing a handful of August filers getting approved doesn't mean ours will soon, but it is nonetheless a good sign.