jm1409

Wait, you can get your visa issued the same day? I thought it takes days to process and up to two weeks to have it sent through the mail.

Update: received DQ notification on 5/8

UPDATE: As of today, my NVC CEAC portal now is showing Paid again on both fees. So bizarre.

As of today, my NVC CEAC portal now is showing Paid again on both fees. So bizarre.

Right, that’s my concern too. I want to say no because DQ in theory should override this glitch… I hope.

Same. It’s been an issue for a lot of us apparently.

Update: We got DQ’d on 5/8 but our NVC portal still says not paid….super odd. unsure if I should wait it out, or make another payment In hopes the first payment gets rejected and then avoid a potential 30 day delay…but being DQ’d with the “pay now” in the portal has me questioning.

Ok. I ended up submitting an inquiry showing my bank statement with the fees being taken out. Hopefully this helps resolve it quickly.

I paid the AOS fee on 4/17 and then that transaction took the money out of my checking account on 4/18. The NVC portal showed the AOS fee as 'Paid' on 4/20. I then proceeded to make the payment for the IV fee on 4/20. That transaction took took the money out of my checking account on 4/21. The NVC portal showed the IV fee 'Paid' on 4/23. Both show paid, so we upload all of our documents and wait for DQ as of 4/25. As of today, 5/5, I receive an email from NVC about the IV Fee saying "Unfortunately, the receiving bank was unable to accept your payment for the following reason: No Reason Provided." My checking account still has both fees deducted though -- and now the NVC portal is saying 'Not Paid' for the IV Fee and there's a message saying the IV Fee was rejected. I have read through lots of experiences people have had where it would take a long time to show 'Paid' after they made payment...but that common issue isn't this one. This issue is (I think?) nuanced because the money left my checking account, NVC showed paid, and now it shows unpaid. Has anyone ever heard of this? Should I be worried? What should I do?

Got it. So there is a risk in additional delay even with expediting -- I wonder if it's possible that the risk isn't worth the reward and that expediting could be have been a bad call. Any idea how long those 221g/holds can delay for?

Ah, makes sense. Is there any risk/delay involved with getting the case on hold and receiving the 221g as opposed to having the medical exam completed prior to the interview?

We have recently put in a request to expedite (via Senator, same route we expedited successfully through via USCIS) our NVC case 1 day after we submitted all documents and paid fees, in hopes to be DQ'd quicker and get interviewed quicker. One thing we're concerned about though is if by some chance that we get the interview scheduled prior to us being able to get the medical exam done, since that's required before the interview can take place. Is this situation common? Should we be worried? Appreciate your help.

NVC documents submitted on 4/25/23

Does anyone know if it's safe to make payments with this still showing for yesterday's maintenance? The only thing that makes me worried is the part of the sentence that reads: "Maintenance is expected to be completed by Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:00 PM EDT, but may be extended beyond this time." It mentions that it may be extended but doesn't say that it is or isn't, just the same warning message from yesterday, 4/15.

I heard it's best to make one payment at a time, wait for it to be marked 'Paid' and then make the other payment to avoid delays.

No idea if true or not but an admin from a Facebook group I’m a part of for USCIS folks said this: ”USCIS change the estimated processing time for I-130's member are freaking out. Times did not actually go up , USCIS just changed the WAY they calculate the processing times. USCIS stopped using "cycle time" as a way to calculate times and switched to. "Processing Time Methodology" Why? to give a more accurate processing times. this will explain the difference between the two ways to calculate times. Under the Cycle Time Methodology USCIS takes the number of previous months of receipts number of previous months of receipts it takes to equal the current month’s pending receipt volume. USCIS’ hypothetical sample calculation reflects that if form I-129 has 500 applications pending for the month of March and received 200 receipts in January and 300 receipts in February, then the cycle time for Form I-129 in March is 2 months (200+300=500 pending applications). This is then defined as the lower range value. The upper range value is normally the lower range value x 1.3. If the cycle time is 2 months, then the upper range value would be 2 months x 1.3=2.6 months which USCIS would round up to 3 months. So the range for Form I-129 processing for the month of March in this example would be 2 months to 3 months. This also means that the times listed on their website regarding your application are based on how long it took the Service to process applications, in some cases, before your application was even received. Processing Time Methodology on the other hand calculates the number of months that elapse between the date USCIS received an application, petition, or request and the date that USCIS completes the application, petition, or request (when USCIS issues and approval or denial). USCIS provides a hypothetical example that if the Service received a Form I-485 application on February 23, 2020 and completed the application on April 5, 2020, then the processing time for that specific application is 41 days. The Service makes this calculation for every Form I-485 application that it completes in a specific period (in USCIS’ example here, this would be April 2020). USCIS then calculates the median value (or 50th percentile) for all Form I-485 applications completed from November 2019 to April 2020 inclusive, which represents the lower range value. USCIS also calculates the 93rd percentile, which represents the upper range value (or the “Receipt date for a case inquiry”). For example, for April 2020 for Form I-485, the Service’s processing times ranged from 19.5 months to 26.5 months. This means that USCIS adjudicated half its cases in 19.5 months or less (the 50% mark) and 93% of the applications in under 26.5 months. USCIS then completed the remaining 7% over 26.5 months. In this example, the hypothetical range that would be posted on the website for Form I-485 for April 2020 would be 19.5 Months to 26.5 Months. In other words, while it may only take, for example, 41 days to adjudicate an application, it may be 17 to 22 months before that application reaches an officer’s hands.”

California and Potomac seem to be the slower ones from what I've seen.

oh wow.

Any update on our June 2022 filers?

Nice! Ours just went into 'Actively Reviewing by USCIS' today.

Let's hope. 8-10 months away sounds super far!

Yeah. Can't they get transferred multiple times?

Chatted with Emma today and they said our case is now in Potomac.

Have you been able to check with Emma to see if your service center has changed? Been trying a bit today and have not been able to get through to anyone to see.

Oh gotcha, ok. Yeah, we have no intention of withdrawing - thanks for the info!