Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	NVC Filers - January 2014	I got my approval from Nebraska on Jan. 3 and it was sent out to the NVC on the 6th. Gathering our the final pieces of paper right now and we're waiting for it to get to the NVC.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-08 10:56:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	NVC Filers - January 2014	I'm here, and I'll be posting once my case is actually sent out to the NVC!	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-05 10:44:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Help Help plz	And put in another service request. And reconstruct senators and congressmen, and do an InfoPath. Document everything. Then send them a letter stating you intend to file a Writ of Mandamus if your petition is waiting for a year. And contact a lawyer for that.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-01 17:38:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Non transferred cases...	I am also curious how these K3's are playing out. Is it slowing down their process Or what? Since it seems no one is getting one since the I-130 and I-129F are approved together.   Wondering where USCIS is getting their data of 5 months for a K3. So bogus. It's an average. That's the problem. Too easy to manipulate averages.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 12:17:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	I know that we've still got people in March waiting at NSC and TSC. Heck, we know there are still people from Feb. and before who are still waiting.   But if about 1/3 of the petitions being approved are doing it in 5-6 months, Hey, look, they kept their promise by May. With the out of order processing at the other service centers, that seems to be what we're looking at.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 11:03:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	Experience does matter, but it's not realistic to believe that the staff that processed I130's prior to the original workload shift would have all left the agency in the interim. They process other kinds of applications there as well. It's just not reasonable to think that it's inexperience that is causing the issues. If we were talking about the Overland Park office, I'd be right with there and have to assume that their processing times are that bad because they are (mostly) new to the job. But I think the more reasonable assumption is that the NSC, and TSC don't have as many adjudicators working on I130's at this time as the CSC has.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 05:37:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	If the transfers to NSC and TSC are twice as many, and they each have half the number of adjudicators working on the I130's that CSC does, it would certainly account for the difference in the processing times.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 05:32:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	We believe that straightforward cases take about 15 minutes because we have a former adjudicator who was on here explaining the process and yes, 15-20 minutes was about it for a straightforward case. These facilities are not just quality oriented, they are also volume oriented. They have access to the relevant databases that they need to search to see if there are obvious red flags raised or criminal activity. They get sent to a special unit if there are security concerns, and they stay there until those concerns can be cleared. (Or not.) If they are concerned that there is not enough evidence to prove a real marital relationship, then they can send an RFE. Or they can deny it because they strongly suspect fraud.     You can't just assume because of the amount of time since transfer, that there are security concerns or complications in the file. My case was straightforward as hell, and neither of us have criminal histories of any kind, and our names are most likely not going to raise security concerns based on their similarity to flagged names, no previous marriages, married 8 years, 2 kids, no over-stays, and it still took 58 days from the time I was transferred.  The cases within 20 numbers of me were all completed between Dec. 3 and Jan. 3. The ones immediately surrounding me all either got approved or RFE's either the day before me, or the same day as me.  I'm certain that we weren't all waiting on someone's desk for nearly 60 days. Someone grabbed our box that morning. That's it.    http://www.visajourn...dicator-q-and-a	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 04:21:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	It can also happen if there are more people processing I130's at CSC as opposed to NSC or TSC.  We don't know how many people are working on these cases at any facility. I think that it's much more possible that California has more staff working on them and that has created the disparity in the processing times.  If you'd seen the processing charts from months earlier, you'd have seen that California had been consistently processing more cases in a month than they received for some time, whereas the other Service centers were processing well under the number that they'd received.  I130's had been processed at all of the Service Centers, previously.  Edited by Kaylara, 16 January 2014 - 04:01 AM.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 03:55:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	????   It matters AT adjudication though.   What if someone filed several i-130s prior to the one being processed.   Wouldnt that delay pre-adjudication at CSC ??   Where am I wrong here ? It might make it longer to do the background checks. But as far as I understand it, you don't file the waiver inside of the I130 application, and divorces are not a rare thing, it would be part of the actual adjudication process. The multiple prior I130's would also show up during adjudication.  There's a thread around here somewhere that you should read, where a former USCIS adjudicator explained the processes that they went through. It does shed some light on what exactly happens during the process. Of course, there are plenty of things that have changed since that information was (semi) current, but I think we can safely assume that the majority of what is discussed there is probably the same.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 03:39:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Stuck cases at California Service Center	I doubt that they are "stuck"   Some might be provisional waivers, re-marriage after divorce, other peculiar unique aspects of cases that might be causing additional delays.    I think California is doing just fine.    Texas and Nebraska take their sweet old time because they do not have experienced adjudicators handling this stuff Texas and Nebraska do have experienced adjudicators handling these cases.  That they'd stopped last year was not because no one knew how to process them. It's because they transferred that workload to the local offices temporarily.  (Backlogs, DACA, Workloads, Et al.)	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 03:30:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Emailing service centers	Just hoping to hear other's views, experience on this...   Emailed CSC on Jan 11 without any service request number to get update, venting a bit and pretty much very quickly got an automated response (I think) saying this email is to followup only on service request and that number needs to be included to be considered.   Emailed CSC again on Friday 1/31 and so far have not received any automated response.  Again no service request number was included but mentioned the 60 days approaching thing. Does that mean a human might be reading it and considering...any hope?  Have you heard anything back or is it automated?  any positive stories...without a service request number. When I wrote the NSC, I never got an automated response. No Service Request #. I was just calm and explained the situation, told them I got a letter stating that I should be processed within 60 days, and it was coming on 60 days. Did they actually have my case, and what was happening with it, etc.    I don't know if it was even looked at, but I got approved a few days after that.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 23:33:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE BEFORE USCIS GIVES APPROVAL ON I-130?	Yeah, I thought you could only do the I485 if you were in the US already.  I mean, I can't just bring my husband here on a tourist visa and then file an I485 to adjust his status based on the fact that he would be here already. I thought that the I130 had to be approved already and then you have to go through the NVC and Consulate/Embassy?	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-10-27 22:32:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	That might just be for the NYC office. (Although I've heard something similar for Newark. Except I think that they said they only work on it twice a MONTH.) Anyone who filed after Jan. of 2013 probably got sent to the NBC, though. I haven't heard about anyone who filed after that who actually got sent to a local office. The Service Centers appear to be working on them 5 days a week... Mostly.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-04 23:11:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	That may be  true for some but not most cases. I would say that it is the USCIS, and the the CO's  who drag things out and are not transparent and 'hiding' things. One can only look at their disorganization in making a simple service request or AP that lasts years and returned petitions that have no valid reason mentioned. That 'something that makes it different' should not be blamed on the petitioner and beneficiary when they have crossed every t and dotted every i and have been truthful in all aspects. That 'something different' can be biased and speculative assumptions without facts and evidence from a CO.  It can be a biased  'gut feeling' grounded in a personal belief that is beyond all logic. Checks and balances are missing from the equation. The CO who is too speculative has too much discretionary freedom to prolong this process. If every regulation has been complied with then either they need to get off the pot and get on with approval or be transparent and inform us of the reason why they aren't approving or why the process is dragging on. I believe it is as much the system and the people handling cases if not more so than a couple here and there with issues that really need an extra look for a reasonable time....not years.  There are way too many good people here including myself who have been dragging through this for years. Years ! Not months but years. I expect transparency in this process and not power trips from these agencies who can not answer a simple question when asked. "I have a gut feeling " is not an answer any CO should give. Ever. Let THEM tell the whole truth about our cases and get their  ####### together and follow their own memos given to them. I do agree with you that waiting with no end in sight is very difficult, therefore my mantra of "we need more transparency".   I agree totally.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-04 00:32:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	Perhaps... I just don't think raging at anyone who posts and flinging negativity and putting yourself through the wringer is a constructive way to deal with the stress of seperation. Not sure what you want to hear at this point? I tried to give you a different perspective and you jumped down my throat, people gave ideas about preparing g the house and other ways to use the time and you shouted them down too. So One or two people were Insensitive in their comments, no reason to go off the deep end. There HAS to be a better way to deal with the stress of seperation and all this negative energy cannot be good for the rest of the family as kids are sensetive to these things. Bottom line, immigration is a difficult and long process... It is not a right, it is a privilege... It is a slow and cumbersome system that is flawed and no amount of screaming or fighting will make it move faster for the people now reading this... To try to make a difference for future filers, ok, but for those now in the system, it is what it is. Keep the communication with your loved ones open, work extra to save money, organize the house, pack items, keep the kids happy and busy, these are all tangible things that people can do to help,pass the time. Hopefully, for most others reading this, I have faith that the painful memories fade once they are together... Good luck to all, hope the separations are short and you are all soon together... OUT I haven't shouted down anyone, nor am I going off the deep end. I'm not raging at anyone (except the USCIS), nor putting myself or my kids through the wringer, but thank you for your concern. I responded to your difference of opinion. I wasn't aware that we weren't having a conversation here, but that everyone was just supposed to state their opinion, and then not comment on anyone else's. I think, perhaps, you are misreading my tone. Frankly, I usually only come on here during the day during the few minutes where I'm not horrendously busy, and don't have time to mince words.    I think your suggestions on dealing with the separation are good. My problem is that it seems that too many people who are done with it do seem to forget how difficult it was, and can get downright nasty in responding to the people who are still waiting. Or people who didn't have to wait nearly as long, who come in and chide others for being upset that it is taking a long time.  I don't think that we should be minimizing their pain. I just don't think that's in any way supportive or helpful. And for some people, coming in here and having people to commiserate with and vent with is very therapeutic and helps them to deal with the situation. I've seen so many people on here who are happy to just have other people understand what they're going through.    I can entirely understand how people might get sick of seeing the complaints, but they really don't have to read areas or threads that irritate them, nor do they have to respond to them.  If a post or a thread makes me that upset, I will either report it (if I think it's necessary) or I walk away from the discussion.   I do hope that most people forget or are able to move past their experience with the immigration system once their loved ones are here. But I hope that they would retain enough memory to be kind to those who are suffering because of it.  I have yet to come across one section of the Government that is effective and timely. Why should USCIS be different? So why shouldn't we work to improve it, then? Or should we just accept that it's inefficient, and there's no way to fix it? Because personally, I think that accepting it and not even attempting to fix anything is exactly how this level of inefficiency has developed.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 21:58:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	I agree with that entirely. I don't think that my case is the worst one on here by any stretch of the imagination. I feel terrible for those who have to wait longer, or go through a harder time.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 17:26:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	Where in the laws does it say that you get priority?   Where in the law does it say that cases like yours are entitled to more human resources?   You do realize that the US government has many responsibilities to many people right?    Just because your case is a priority for your, it does not make it so for the US government which has other fish to fry.   Essentially, I see you whine about how others are being served and not you.   Me. Me. Me.  That's the entitlement attitude that is ruining this country. Priority, in this context, implying that we were on the list of applications that had resources devoted to it. Which I thought was clear from the context of my post. Our cases had no priority, in that they had basically no resources devoted to dealing with them.    But that being said, US Citizens and their immediate family members DO have an expectation of priority. As the only immigrant classes that have no numerical limits and visas "immediately" available, along with the very clearly stated goals in our immigration laws of Family Unity being the #1 priority, it does mean that we should be first in line.    Yes, me me me, you're damn right. I'm an American Citizen, and my family absolutely should come before people who came to the US illegally because we are going through the proper legal channels. If that makes me entitled, then so be it. That doesn't mean that I think they shouldn't be serviced, but they should NOT be getting put in the line ahead of people who are following the law.     I'm not whining, I'm stating facts. And working to improve the situation, which is more than I can say for any of the posters here who continue to come in and actively try to discourage people who are already going through a bad time.    If you don't like reading my posts, you can always block me.   Also, I do so love being told that I'm the ruination of the US. It's such a powerful position, having the ability to single-handedly ruin a country. I wonder if I could expand this super power to other areas of my life.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 17:20:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	One thing I will say, once you are reunited and living together, the memory of all the separation and the stress fades away... So it gets more difficult to relate (even though in actuality, we all went through the stresses of this process) Like childbirth, you remember it hurt, but difficult to imagine all the pain and discomfort once you have the one you love... I suppose that is why people who went through the process a while ago can sometimes come off as callous. I like to think that in this way, it is a positive that someday, you too will distantly remember your seperation and it will seem like a short blip in your life... Spend this time getting your home, life and personal stuff in order as th vs get crazy and difficult once they arrive... I had a LDR with my husband before we married. We've been married 8 years. Even before this process, we did not forget how much it sucked. Because when things were difficult, or bad things happened, we could look at each other and say "at least we're together. At least we're dealing with this together."  We are not together right now. We have a limited ability to comfort and support each other. Our children have reached the end of their ropes. My eldest daughter is breaking out in stress rashes, her stomach constantly hurts, she tells me every day that she's sick, and doesn't feel good. They tell me both every day that they miss their father. She told me a few weeks ago that she thought she was never going to see her daddy again.  I sincerely, truly, do not believe that anyone in my family or extended circle of friends is going to forget this any time soon.     Things will certainly be better when we're together. That doesn't mean that we're going to forget that we were apart for so long. (The longest we've gone without seeing each other since we got together, 10 years ago.) I certainly wouldn't consider telling other people to just get over and suck it up while I was enjoying the company of my husband. That's incredibly insensitive and callous.    But I also remember the births of both of my children in very clear detail, and the hell that I went through trying to get my residency permit in the Netherlands. So maybe some people just have longer memories than others.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 17:07:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	I'm so sorry to hear that everyone's having such a hard time with the process. My wife and I have also been separated since August 2012 and at the time she was pregnant. My son turned 1 in December and we are still waiting. At times it seems like I'm going crazy with the process but I know that when we are reunited I will have my family back. I work for the government in my country and I experience first hand at how people complain about the length of time thing take but what we need to be reminded it is people/ human beings who has made it hard for ourselves if people had adhered to the rules the process would have been seem less instead people treat these things like a business and now everyone had to be thoroughly investigated because of these unscrupulous characters. It's the legit ones like us who suffer but as they say such is the way of life. We're not waiting because of normal processing times. We're waiting because the USCIS decided to process DACA cases instead of I130's. And once they started processing them again, they did not devote enough human resources to it. This wait isn't because of increased security checks. It's because they decided that we didn't have any kind of priority.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 16:56:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	Shame on you.   What is the alternative to dealing with the immigration system?   ###### and moan and create stress?   It's not about being heartless.  It's about how to deal with the separation.   Isn't it better to be prepared for and accept the separation than to ###### and moan about it when the OP can not do anything to change it? Wrong. We were prepared to wait and accepted it that we would be apart for a while. We weren't prepared for the fact that they were going to hold our case for as long as they did, because people who'd filed just a few months before us did not experience those delays.     Instead of telling people to suck it up, we should all work towards improving it. You're assuming that we can't change anything. In that, I think you're entirely wrong.    As far as how to dealing with separation, well, telling someone suck it up is not helpful.  It doesn't give any tips on dealing with the stress. It doesn't give tips on effective communication with your spouse. It gives no hint of how to work around financial hardships that come from trying to maintain 2 households. It does not show any empathy or consideration for someone who is going through a rough time, and thus no emotional support.   Telling someone to suck it up says: Sucks to be you. If coming from someone who got their fiancee/spouse here in a short amount of time, it says: I got mine, who cares if you get yours. It says: Your pain isn't important or real.  It minimizes and demeans someone who is already feeling extremely low. Telling someone to stop complaining about something that is bothering them just says that you don't consider them important enough to have real and valid feelings and opinions. YOU have the option of not responding or not reading threads where people are complaining if you don't want to see or hear complaining. But coming in and basically telling someone to shut up and take whatever their given is bullcrap.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 16:46:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	The length of the wait that we were seeing on VJ when I applied was considerably shorter than what we've had to wait, and we're not even done with it yet. It's not that we weren't expecting to wait. But we made the best decision based on the information that we had available at the time. There was no way that we could have known that they were going to leave our application to gather dust for 7 1/2 months.  I actually checked the information here and at other immigration sites, and they were consistently a 8-9 month wait from PD to POE.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-03 16:30:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	I feel the pain I felt almost one year ago today, of being told that she had failed her chest x-ray at St. Luke's in Manila, and had to undego go 9 weeks of the "sputum" fiasco.,.,.I know the pain.,.but we got through it, and 10 months and 4 days she P.O.E.,.,., Alanta. Did any of the the members on this site consider K-1 visa, as in ""general"" it is 1/2 the time. Just a thought. Circumstances prevail, and you each have to do what is best for you, at your time, to file a visa. When this gets fixed is when the USA adopts term limits on both branches of congress, so that after two terms we have fresh minds in congress, this thing of ""carear"" politions in Washington, is sickening, as we do elect a president every 4 years! Why are we stuck with the same ""fat cats"" and law makers that are allowed to be "rubber stamped" there for 20, 30, even 40 years.,.,.,.,until WE the people, make change in Washington, and stop this madness going on in USCIS.,.,.,.it is what it is! I talked to a friend that brought his wife from Cebu, Philippines like I did, and as little as 7 years ago, it was a 2-3 month process.,.,.,no traps, little to no paperwork.,.., but we have let our politicians build this, that we have to deal with! Just my ""opinion"".,.,.meant to offend no one, just venting, for the lady, that has so much grief! I have been there, I feel your pain! A K1 would have been great, had I not moved to my husband's country 8 years ago, or married him. A K3 would even have been fine, we would have paid the added expense. But that's basically an obsolete visa, and it takes about the same time as the IR1 visa that we're going for, while also being inferior.  I guess that's a great suggestion for those who are considering whether to go for a K1 or CR1 visa, but for anyone who has been married for years, the only real choice is the IR1 visa. And that entails a long wait.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-06 03:18:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inhumane	You chose to be in a relationship with someone in a foreign country.  I'm sorry but trying to say that your pain is an less intense or any less of a choice than a military family is not fair at all.   I liked our time on Skype, we annoyed each other a lot less than we do in person.  Once your in person honeymoon phase wears off and you start to hit the real stumbling blocks (like we have in the 1.5 years of in person time) like infertility, multiple miscarriages, death of parents, family drama, home renovations, money issues, moving countries twice, etc. etc.  Relationships are rough, cross cultural relationships comes with issues, and trust me this little separation is NOTHING compared to what you will face in the future. Bull. I've been married for 8 years, and spent that time (up until this past year) with him in his country. So I went through the immigration system in his country as well. And waited 2+ years for a residency permit that was supposed to take 6 months, but at least I was allowed to stay with him during the time it took to process my case.   The relationship issues you're describing are your own, and not everyone's experience with marrying someone from another country/culture. My husband doesn't annoy me, nor I him. We dealt with infertility, the deaths of several of my close family members, money issues, systemic racism and sexism in his portion of the country, and a litany of other #######, because that's life. Our relationship is a source of great joy and happiness. Our being from different cultures keeps things interesting. But people have been telling us that we were going to grow out of our honeymoon phase for the better part of a decade. Obviously, we're just delusional.    To call this separation "little" is dismissive and flippant.  It's not little to us, nor to our children. This is the longest that we've ever been apart in the 10 years total that we've been together. We like what little skype time we get because mostly we talk on the phone. Because when our children see his face and talk to him on the computer, they spend the next several days moping around and crying hysterically. During this time apart, I've also had to put away most of my pictures of him, because the little one carries them around the house talking to them, kissing them, and playing with them, and the big one sees them and cries.  So you go ahead and be flippant because your wait is a blip in your rear-view mirror already. I personally don't forget how much it sucked not being able to work or do anything for 2+ years while we waited for my Verblijfsvergunning over there. Just because you have come to this conclusion and have had this reaction does not mean everyone will or should have the same one.     I don't think missing out on a year (or more) of our lives together is a blip. A year, right now, is half of our youngest daughter's entire life. Just because my family isn't dying of famine, or being ravished by war, it doesn't mean that it's not suffering. Just because there are worse things in this world, it doesn't mean that this is fine and normal. One bad thing doesn't cancel out or negate another.      This entire situation sucks, and if there's something I can work towards to try to improve the system so that people in the future don't have to deal with this kind of anguish, I'm going to do it. The fact that people are stuck in limbo for years with no answers is entirely unacceptable. Positive thinking and just keeping going are great coping mechanisms. But real change is not brought about by positive thinking alone. It requires real world action.  OP, I'm so sorry that you're separated from those that you love. I hope that your process will be over quickly. *hugs*	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-06 03:11:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	How come november i-130 filers have been approved ?	http://t.co/bdEvW119p2 already did that. Ya'll can sign it if you want. Edited by Kaylara, 04 February 2014 - 03:53 PM.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-04 15:53:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	If this doesn't have the desired effect, another possibility that I've been reading about are  Writs of Mandamus. (And I've seen more than one immigration lawyer mention it in regards to family visa processing.)  Obviously that is the more expensive and complicated path.  For those who haven't a clue about a what I'm talking about:    Mandamus may be a command to do an administrative action or not to take a particular action, and it is supplemented by legal rights. In the American legal system it must be a judicially enforceable and legally protected right before one suffering a grievance can ask for a mandamus. A person can be said to be aggrieved only when he is denied a legal right by someone who has a legal duty to do something and abstains from doing it. -From Wikipedia	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-18 10:47:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	You're not even 8 months into it based on your timeline.  At this point you're still well within the guidelines of what they consider to be timely for this process. Perhaps you truly don't understand, and that is why you can so flippantly say something like this, while you were approved and now have your fiance here already. After 7 months (give or take) of processing time. You haven't already combined your lives, you're just starting out on being together as spouses. I have actually lived and built a life with my husband already, for years. I'm 8 months into this process, and that's more than enough time to be separated from him. When I filed, the average time for the ENTIRE process was 8-9 months. The USCIS portion was not 8 months.   If their target processing time is 5 months, then their statement that I may have to wait a total of 13 months for just this first step is NOT normal. That they say it's normal, does not make it so. Nearly tripling their processing time is unacceptable. Especially given the fact that they are not processing K3's at the moment.    We don't accept this behavior with ANY other service that we pay for.    I know that if the situation were reversed, and they were taking 2 years to finish the fiance process, I'd be horrified. Not gloating to people who are hurting that I got mine quickly, and oh, don't you know that you aren't entitled to service or a processing time that doesn't stretch into years or accurate information. I'm not going over to the K1 forum and telling everyone who is adjusting their status that they deserve to be stuck in *that* limbo for whatever insane amount of time the USCIS feels like making up this month.  Because it's insensitive, it's ridiculous, and it's flat out nasty to behave like that, and I don't wish that ####### on anyone either.       Seriously, if you're sick of reading about people complaining about the waiting time for their spouses, then why are you trolling threads that are obviously going to contain a lot of spouses complaining about their waiting times?	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-17 23:33:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	Thank you, I appreciate it, as does my entire family.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-16 16:53:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	Im gonna get fried over this but i have to say it anyway........we have the right to petition for our relative....federal government gives us that right.........how ever we do not have the right to demand anything other than the processing of the petition.....where it gets sticky is when they drop our petition into a black hole that is a catch 22 called  security check....not even the government can demand that they hurry that process up because its in the best interest of the USA to have security checks and clearances before any interview and after any interview to make sure nothing has changed.......as i found out for my self it can last two years or longer......the very minute a case is stated to be in security checks your done until they finish what they set out to do......sucks but its the way it is.....do i like it? nooooooooooooooooo   sara That would be all fine and dandy, if any of us had been told that we're being held up for security checks. This is not the case, nor has the evidence that we have found support that we are being held back because of security checks. What we've found indicates that all resources for the I130's were transferred to deal with DACA applications, and as a result, our petitions have literally been sitting at the NBC collecting dust for months. This is not a good enough reason.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-16 11:19:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	Actually the OP Is demanding to be approved. Over and over, day after day people here complain and demand their petitions be approved. I demand accurate and timely adjudication of my case. This is something that I'm entitled to by virtue of having paid for a service that is not being rendered. If there is a reason why my case cannot be processed in a timely manner, then I am entitled to real and accurate information as to why. I have not received the service nor the information that I paid for.    The fact that you went through the process comparatively quickly seems to have dulled your ability to feel any compassion whatsoever for anyone who is currently being effected by the situation at the USCIS. Telling people over and over again to not be upset or complain about a ridiculous situation is not helpful. If you don't want to hear people complaining, then why are you continuing to read threads where it is clear that people are going to be upset and complaining? Why are you trying to convince people to take no action to attempt to improve their situation or to fix the clearly broken USCIS?	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-16 11:16:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	unfortunately immigration is a pain in the back side and if they use the old tired excuse of they are doing security checks you cant hurry them......i have found thats a black hole nobody can control or get any answers from anyone about why its taking so long       sara No, we've gotten answers from the USCIS, but they've all been lies. The only real facts about what's going on are the ones that we've been finding ourselves, independently of the USCIS.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-15 13:00:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	Wow, your case went through really quickly. Congrats on that, especially given the current state of the I130 petitions. I honestly don't wish a situation similar to mine on anyone else.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-15 12:21:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	Immigration is a privilege, not a right. You are still within the normal processing times. Just because you are a citizen doesn't give you the right to bring anyone here. 12-16 months is not normal processing times just because they are saying it is. Because I am a citizen, the law says my case should be a top priority of the USCIS. What you are suggesting is that I should not be able to have the expectation that the USCIS follow the law, nor that I have the right to accurate information, or that I shouldn't be able to complain that the USCIS is not performing it's job.  I vehemently disagree with this assessment. I may not have the right to bring my husband here, but I do have the right to have my case processed in a timely manner. What we're discussing here isn't whether or not our relationships are bonafide, because even the USCIS stats seem to show that most petitions are approved for this immigrant class. If they're going to deny our petitions, then it shouldn't take more than a year to do so.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-15 11:46:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Decrease wait time for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative	To have our petitions processed in a timely manner? To get a service that we paid for? To get actual information regarding our cases instead of being outright lied to? To not be delayed for an indefinite period of time because the USCIS's internal processes?  As it says here: http://uscgreencardp...e.blogspot.com/    "According to federal law, adjudicating residency petitions of US citizens, for their foreign spouses who are living abroad, must be a top priority of USCIS, in the interest of unifying our families. "     This is not what happened, and not what is happening. There is no excuse for creating this backlog. They could have continued sending our petitions to the field while they got the NBC up and running. They could have taken some people from various petition categories instead of just the I130's.  They could have allowed the K3 petitions to be processed instead of joining them up and administratively closing them. There are a zillion and a half things that would have been better than how they handled it.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2013-11-15 11:40:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	letting off steam :(	*hugs* I'm so sorry that you're still waiting. I hope that you get your approval soon. I know how much this sucks.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-16 04:30:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Marriage in the Philippines? I-130 petition...	Thanks for the response!   I forgot to mention that part.. I will need to use a cosponsor and because of this we thought I-130 is the way to go.. I've read that the chances of being approved for K1 in the Philippines are slim if we use a cosponsor..  I think I've read as much as well.     In theory, the USCIS is saying that they'll have the processing times down to 5 months by May of this year. However, based on the way they appear to be approving cases, it's almost impossible to tell whether or not that will happen. (Personally, I'm extremely doubtful.) And that's just an average. You might get lucky, and get processed very quickly. You also may be waiting much longer than 5 months for a CR1 visa. We just don't know what's going to happen in between now and May.  If they pick up the adjudication rates, then you still have to wait for the majority of the present backlog to get processed before it'll be your turn. Unless, you just get randomly selected to be processed quickly.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-10 02:33:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Marriage in the Philippines? I-130 petition...	Hard to say at this point. Most people from last year are still waiting to get through the USCIS step. If you want to be together quickly, the K1 route is best at the moment. Could you get married in the US, wait until you get your green card, and then go have a party back with your family?	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-01-10 02:17:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Letter Writing Campaign - Feb. 2014	The time for letters has passed because we now have a contact claiming knowledge about the backlog.  I believe we all have the right to speak directly to the USCIS spokesperson named in the New York Times article, Christopher S Bentley.   Christopher Bentley Press Secretary at DHS/USCIS Washington, District Of Columbia (Washington D.C. Metro Area) Public Relations and Communications http://www.linkedin....ntley/7/568/636   Headquarters Press Office: (202) 272-1200   We should go to the source since no one at the lower levels of USCIS, from tier 1 contractors to service centers ISOs, is on the same page.  Our fees pay for his salary and so do our taxes so I say it's time we put him to work answering our questions.  Call Washington, D.C. and keep calling until you hear from them.  If you were named in the article, you have even more reason to contact them because they can't ignore you at this point.     I was going to address it to him as well, and thought that sending it to our representatives and the upper management at the USCIS would be a good move at this point. I may need help writing it in a way that doesn't make me look like a raving lunatic, though.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-12 18:48:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Letter Writing Campaign - Feb. 2014	I would like to turn my comments found here: http://www.visajourn...ny-times/page-9  into the next letter. I figure we can add any other information that we believe will prove our case.  I think the most relevant information is compiled there.  I seriously think that we need to refrain from blaming the DACA filers, and instead focus the attention on the inconsistencies between what the USCIS is saying publicly vs. their data. What do you guys think?	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-12 11:09:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Got my I-130 approved within 5 monsths :) :)	Good to know that they can process F2A's this quickly. Good luck with the rest of your journey!   Edited by Kaylara, 07 February 2014 - 11:00 AM.	Kaylara	Female	Netherlands	2014-02-07 11:00:00