Karen2021

Congrats!  Sounds like the NVC stage is next.
 
Good Luck!
 
When your I-130 petition is finally approved, the service center that processed your petition, will send you another Notice of Action letter indicating your approval, and the forwarding of your approved petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, along with a phone number to contact the NVC with. Your case will now only be dealt with by the NVC. The service center that you filed with, will have no more knowledge on the status of your petition or case.
 
A few weeks after you have received your last Notice of Action indicating the approval and forwarding of your I-130 application to the NVC, the NVC will send your relative a packet of forms that you and your relative must fill out before your relative can be given an interview date with a consulate abroad. The packet will likely contain instructions to fill out the DS-261 and DS-260 online forms, by the intending immigrant. An I-864 form is also included that must be filled out by the petitioner (living in the US). The I-864 is the Affidavit of Support form that requires copies of the petitioners past 3 U.S tax returns (or tax transcripts which are free from the IRS) as well as any bank or financial records available (see the I-864 for exact requirements based on your case). The petitioner must make at least 125% above the U.S federal poverty to indicate to the U.S government that the intending immigrant will not become a federal charge to the government when he/she arrives in the U.S.. If the petitioner cannot meet these requirements, then he/she must still file an I-864, and find a joint sponsor who can meet the requirements on his/her own. When a joint sponsor is needed ,proof of their U.S citizenship or permanent residency is required. (i.e. copy of birth certificate, immigration status etc). The joint sponsor must be residing in the U.S, and he/she must also submit his/her past 3 years U.S tax returns along with bank or any other financial records available. The joint sponsor must submit his/her own I-864 form to accompany the petitioner's I-864 form.
 
 
 

Their estimations cannot be trusted. For many people, the predicted time passes, and they don't get approved. It's best you create your own timeline here and compare with others.
How are we supposed to know? You didn't tell us what US Consulate the beneficiary will interview in.
Also, there's still the NVC stage. Assuming you sent in all the correct documents, it takes 1.5 months to become "documentarily qualified". Then depending on how backlogged (or not) your consulate is, the wait starts.

No real way of predicting, it all depends on how quickly the NVC stage goes for you. Documents can get rejected, etc. NVC should take at least about 2 months. After that, you’ll have to get scheduled for your interview and this could also take some time (depending on your embassy).
 
Also, please note that the new estimated processing time tab might not be the most reliable estimate.
 
Best advice is to just take it as it comes and go with the flow!

Once your petition has transferred to NVC, USCUS is finished with it.  NVC will assign a DOS (Department of State) case number which you will use to track the case until the visa is issued.  You can't do anything until NVC has assigned the case number.

Yes. It is in a totally diffetent system to your personal USCIS account. It is an active working account fir the sole purpose of completing the NVC steps. As @crazycat has said, you cannot “do” anything until the NVC has your approved I130 and has initiated your NVC processing. You can, however,  study through the NVC process and understand it thoroughly 

Joint sponsors must actually provide evidence they currently reside in the USA.

That is the correct address.  No, you do not need to include evidence of your resident status abroad.  It's best to use a US address as your mailing address, if possible.  It could be anybody's address that will accept your mail. This will avoid delays in receiving any notices from USCIS.  The I-130 allows for separate mailing and physical addresses.

Exactly

Yes, but you can also pay by credit card using a paper form when filing by mail.  Payment by "check" must be a check drawn on a US bank in the USA.  Can be anybody's check though.  Back before they took credit cards and you could only file on paper, people would send their package to a friend or relative who would add the check and forward the full package onward.  It can still be done that way too.

It won't hurt to include the beneficiary spouse's birth certificate, but it will need to be submitted to NVC later regardless.  For a non-spouse beneficiary, the Birth Certificate is definitely needed when filing.

That is correct. It's submitted later during NVC process.
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-130instr.pdf https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-5-collect-financial-evidence-and-other-supporting-documents/step-7-collect-civil-documents.html I recommend to do it yourself and use the online filing option: https://www.uscis.gov/i-130
 
File Online