Current i-130 Approval Processing Time?

[samcmac]

Hi,

 

To be more specific: I filed a i-130 petition in Guangzhou for my wife last thursday. It was her choice to use an agent for this process -- one based in Guangzhou -- though I'm sure I could've done it with you fine folks. The agent gave a very different answer to us re: wait times pending approval than the embassy did, though the embassy guy I spoke to tended toward dodging any direct answers to my questions of this nature. Anyways, the embassy guy said he had "heard" that the low end of the wait time for i-130 approval was "about 4 months." The lawyer, in great contrast, assured us we would have an answer in "two weeks," that at the moment application volume is low and that she does this so often that she's very aware of how long these things are taking right now. Personally, mentally, I've been splitting the difference, roughly, and assuming it will take about 1-2 months. That seems to be what most of the literature I've read has suggested, anyway.

 

I'm just curious, since you all have been really helpful in the past, if anyone has current info on this, and could ease my anxiety-ridden mind a bit. I know all this is gonna take some time, I know that no one knows exactly how much time -- but any wisdom at all is appreciated.

 

I had really hoped we'd be able to leave by Christmas, or at least New Years. It's, again, something our agent assures is possible. I imagine it's not likely, but having some kind of general time frame would help us plan our future a bit. For instance, I'm still not working.

 

(On that last point, I'm here in China currently on a Q1 visa. I haven't been home to the US for over a year, and I haven't worked for the last 4 months because of my visa status, save some tutoring. This shouldn't be an issue for the public charge portion of the DCF process, however, since my grandparents have already filled out the applications of support as our joint sponsors, and their income fits the requirement.)

 

S.

[Randy W]

2 to 4 weeks for USCIS approval and 3 to 4 months overall should be the rock bottom SHORTEST time you might experience. It HAS happened.

 

Yes, possible for this year (by Jan. 1), but not very likely. Remember that there are some holidays in there (and only THREE months left).

 

I would expect you could interview early next year, but remember there's a holiday THERE as well (Chinese New Year is Feb. 19 this time around - hopefully, you can get in before that).

 

What is the length of stay on your visa? Have you had to make runs to the border to keep it current? You might check with the PSB to see if they can help you out there, if you haven't already.

[samcmac]

my visa is up february 20th. it's a 6 month visa issued at the PSB after I got married. they were grouchy about giving it to me and wouldn't give me any straight answer about renewing it. but they did make it very clear i wasn't allowed to work while i'm on it. i'm living with my wife's family, and they love me and are very supportive of us, and understand that i can't work. but still, we're growing restless. we've been at this since june in some form or another -- first attempting a tourist visa, then a student visa (which still frustrates me to no end that she didn't get), and now this one. it's also frustrating that the agent has insisted that she's very sure we'll have a response in 2 weeks. i wanted to believe her, but with some distance from our meeting (we went to her office when we were in Guangzhou), i recognise it isn't true. why would she say such a thing, i wonder? anyway, we'll just hope for the best i guess. and really hope that this at least resolves before my visa expires -- or really before chinese new year.

[dnoblett]

Hang in there, typical DCF process time tends to be 4-5 months so as Randy pointed out sometime around end of the year. I would suspect you should have the CR-1 visa in hand before Feb 20 next year, baring any issues.

 

Worse case would be for you to return to the states before spouse interviews for visa, after which she would follow you.

[samcmac]

We got our email today! We're officially in Step 2. For those counting, it took exactly 2 weeks and 1 day from the time of our petition filing in Guangzhou. So, our agent was actually pretty much dead-on when she estimated 2 weeks! Color me surprised. Now we just need to fill out this DS-260 thing and submit a couple other docs; she needs to go for her medical, and wait that out; and then we need to make our interview appointment (we've got all the docs ready for that, including apps of support). Looking like our hopes of being home for Christmas are that much closer to a reality! Plan to write up our process in more detail when it's all said and done. Pretty easy/fast so far.

 

For now, quick question re: medical exam. When my wife (gf at the time) did this for her Canadian student visa (which was denied) earlier this year, they told her to go to a specific hospital in Hangzhou, and she did. Will the US Embassy instruct similar you imagine? We're in Zhejiang, fairly close to Hangzhou. Hope we don't have to go to far.

[Randy W]

Immigrant visa instructions

 

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrant_visas.html

 

http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp

 

Instructions for the Medical exam are in the Immigrant Visa Instructions