RooDee

Tell me about it ! My timeline is very close to yours and I also feel that it is time they worked on our applications and approved them. I realize that I could be approved anytime between now and 2-3 months from now but I sure hope that the approval comes sooner rather than later ...

-D

I would have to guess that your case is delayed because of some background checks. But it is quite frustrating to see VSC whip out approvals in a month and half for people who applied in Jan 09 (not just standalone I-130 but also a case of I-130+I-129F) while they let people who applied 7-8 months back rot in hell. I know we have not waited as long as some people on this forum but our patience is already starting to run out.

-D

Anybody ? Bueller ? I can almost hear the crickets chirping here ... maybe that is a good thing because it means they can get to my case sooner

-D

It is unusually quiet in the NO touches and NO approvals thread and so I was wondering if I was the only active August/September filer on VJ. It sure would be nice to have some company in what will be hopefully be the final stretches of this excruciating wait.

-D

Now that all the people who started these threads in the recent past have been approved, it is time to pass the baton to the next batch waiting for their approvals. Time to continue the tradition that Narina started (and which has worked really well for us so far) of hoping for NO touches and NO approvals this week. VSC - you can hang on to my applications for as long as you like. Don't even think of approving them this week, next week or EVER !

-D

It did turn out to be lucky Thursday after all. 3 approvals so far including two long overdue approvals. Congratulations !!

-D

Congratulations ! That is great news !!

-D

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Your timeline is very similar to mine. Hope it will be my turn soon enough (but I also hope that the people who have been waiting longer than me get approved soon).

-D

The processing time information that USCIS publishes is useless. And they do everything to ensure that they are not held accountable to it. First of all you cannot file a service request unless your case is at least 30 days outside their official timeline. That gives them an extra month. On top of that they publish the processing times as of December in February. That gives them another 2 months. So they have a 3 month buffer after they have started processing say July applications before the July filers can start bugging them (within which time they are likely to process all the applications from July anyway).

The timelines from VJ need to be taken with a pinch of salt as well because they can be quite optimistic. For instance VJ timelines say VSC is working on September K3 cases whereas a majority of July and August filers are still waiting for approval. The VJ timelines are likely based on a small sample set with no mechanism in place to correctly account for expedited cases, cases transferred from VSC to CSC and so on (at the very least the I-130 timelines need to be split into K3 and CR1 because CR1 tends to be faster for I-130 approvals).

All in all I have found that spending too much time obsessing about the timeline information leaves me all the more confused and frustrated. There are some K3 cases from September that have been approved. Does that mean that I will also be approved soon ? But then again there are July filers still waiting. Does that mean I may have to wait another 2-3 months ? I wish there was more of a rhyme or reason to this process but as I have found with USCIS in the past (having gone through the green card and citizenship process myself), the best thing to do is to not get too stressed out and to let things happen in due course. Of course this is something you realize when you look back on the process but as you are waiting for an approval each passing day seems like a torture - especially if people behind you in the queue are getting ahead of you every day.

-D

I am surprised that your applications are taking so long to be approved at CSC. Maybe you are stuck in some kind of background check. In any case you won't be able to do much about it until your case is at least 30 days past the official timeline. After that you can call USCIS and request a review of your case (hopefully the official processing times won't go back by then putting your case within the normal timeline).

-D

Bring it on ! Very glad to see at least a trickle of new approvals after a few quiet weeks. Congrats !!

-D

Sorry I cannot answer your question but I simply had to post to express my astonishment that someone could be stuck in this K3 process for the better part of 3 years ! And some of us here feel that their situation is bad. I really hope that things work out soon for you.

-D

IAM NOT HAPPY WITH THIS IAM A JUNE FILER TO

The timeline you posted says you are an August filer for I-130 and September filer for I-129F (just like me). What date are you referring to ?

GIven that they have approved some August cases I am hoping that our turn comes soon enough. Good luck !

-D

Hmmm ... We are exactly at the 6-month mark on my I-130 (as of today). I don't expect anything to come out of it but I will call them on Monday anyway. Filing the I-129F is the biggest mistake we made especially since we have decided to go with CR-1 anyway (no way am I putting up with USCIS again for AOS !).

Deepak

It is a short week. Monday is a holiday (President's Day). But we can always hope - can't we ? My timeline is very similar to yours and so I hope we both hear the good news soon.

-D

I am sure your I-129F was approved at the same time. They sometimes don't send both e-mails at the same time but when you get the paper copies of the NOA2 you may get both together (I think Narina had a similar situation). Anyway congratulations !

Deepak

EVERYONE WAS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I received the e-mail that my wife's I-130 was approved, and I feel for those who sent petitions before July, and I know there are some, but even though I did not expect the approvals, I also expected the K-3 approval first. I thought that was supposed to be the game plan.

Now, I have the I-130 approval for wife and child, I am wondering which is better for us now. Any suggestions?

I have spent so much time in limbo, that I did not even pay attention to the next step.

So.............as I have done since September, I ask those of you on VJ who have gone before me.

With the approval date of the K-3 unknown, what comes next in the I-130 process?

Best wishes for everyone on this St Valentines Day

Joseph,

My timeline is very similar to yours. I am hoping both of us will hear some good news soon (along with everyone else here who is long overdue for an approval).

Deepak

That's great news ! Although VSC has been very slow in churning out the approvals, it is encouraging to see that there is still some life there. I am about a month behind you in terms of timelines and so I am hoping I hear something within the next month.

Deepak

Congrats Narina !!! How did you find out one was approved and not the other ? I am pretty sure that when the paper notices show up it will be both approvals together. Good luck with the rest of the process and hope that approvals for the rest of us are not too far behind.

-D

I was hoping it was an approval but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel like you said. It is interesting that they do the background checks in advance. That may explain why some people get approved so quickly while others have to wait forvever (if the initial checks are inconclusive and they need to do further checks). Hopefully your approval will come in a matter of days and not weeks or months.

-D

One more from August ... there are still people from April waiting and so who knows how long it will be before it is our turn to be approved ?

Deepak

You have to give VSC some credit for approving more petitions (close to 50) in January 09 than they have in several of the previous months combined. Of course the approvals were quite sporadic with some April filers still waiting and some August filers approved. I hope they have an equally productive February and that they make much more progress in reducing the backlog they have accumulated ...

Deepak

This has nothing to do with petitions filed on Nov 30. They are simply saying that on Nov 30 they were processing cases filed on April 01. What they are processing now is ambiguous. It could be June or July (as they have already approved some of those applications) but they refuse to say so because they are afraid they will be flooded with calls from people asking why their case is not approved. The date will move forward to June or July only after they are done processing all the cases filed up to that date. They will do that a few months from now citing a "as of" date of January/February.

Deepak

No, it means that they are processing NOW petitions filled on Nov 30th/2008.

If it says 6 MONTHS, means they are processing NOW petitions filled 6 months ago.

Awesome ! It seems that Sonia is the first in a larger group of people who are approved but don't know it yet ! A&M is the third such case today (congratulations !). Maybe VSC hasn't been so idle for the past week after all ...

Deepak

I don't think there is any good news with the processing time update except maybe for Monica&Isha who can now call VSC and start bugging them. Almost everyone else is still within the official timelines. In any case when they publish a date (April 01 in this case), they consider themselves done with all the cases before that. Of course their officers are assigned 2-3 months worth of cases at a time and it is no surprise that some June cases are getting approved. This also fits well with the fact that the April 01 date is as of November 30 and so nearly two months later they have had a chance to look at May and June files - but they won't publish that date now because not all May and June filers are approved yet.

-D