Another victim of USCIS’ Carelessness

[jenimmi]

It’s going to be 2 months soon since I filed I-130, I-485 bunch for my Mother and I still have not received the FP notice, whereas the most recent cases (with Newark, NJ as their DO) have gone for their FP.

I called the Info line on Feb 21st and spoke to an officer and she said, “Oh.. it’s too early for you to expect a FP notice. Wait for another month. I don’t see any progress on the I-485 on my system”. So, I waited until y’day (3/16) to call them again and guess what?

This time the officer on Info line says her system shows that a FP notice was already sent on Feb 3rd. I was shocked. I check my mailbox religiously every day and definitely it was not sent. So far, we’ve received every single mail from Immigration – God knows, if it was even sent out this time. When I asked her, what I should do now – she asked me to simply write to the Missouri Service Center b’cos that’s from where FP notices are usually sent. I cannot believe b’cos of the mis-information the 1st time around, we’ve actually waited close to 2 months for NOTHING.

Just to confirm what the officer told me y’day, I called the line again today and the same thing was confirmed once again by another officer. This time this officer suggested that I go for a Walk-in for FP – but when I called Newark, they said that they don’t do FPs unless someone walks in with a FP notice.

After trying several times, I got to speak to a AOS Supervisor at Newark and she confirmed that they have not received my mother’s file and suggested that I write to the Missouri SC about missing FP notice. Which is what I am going to do anyway. I asked her about making an InfoPass appt at Newark, and she said the info she gave me is what the officer at Info Pass is going to give me anyway – but the next appt is not until March 31st.

But can someone tell me how effective writing to MSC and waiting for their response is going to be? Has any one done this before – what was the result? How long are we going to wait for this re-scheduling to happen?

Can I get some ideas from you guys if there’s a way to get the FP done quickly? Is there something that I can do to speed up the FP appt process? Please help! This is extremely frustrating that it’s not our fault that the FP notice was lost - but there’s no way we can quickly remedy this without going around in circles.

 

[cherr1980]

That the mail got lost or the letter didn't reach you happened to many people. And just to clarify that even some folks can say that they never had a problem with the 800 number, there are others that had to call many times to get a more logic answer of what is going on. First, the people who talk to you on the phone they are not immigration officers, they are contractors as the same as the ASC (where you take your FP's and biometrics). And in general they only can tell you is what is on the system, not exactly what is going on at MSC.

Many people have wait more than 60 days for the FP notice so in general I don't see that the waiting from your receipt date is not as long as you might think. Anyway if it pass the 90 days you can make an INFOPASS and your mother can get her iEAD. There are many people who just go and try to do walk ins with their I-485 receipt on the ASC, don't call they of course will answer no. I don't know about Newark but in other ASC's people sucessfully has made walk-ins.

Now, I don't understand the dates that they gave to you about your FP notice and your dates. How is possible that they sent on Feb 3rd the FP notice if the receipt date for your mother's application is on Feb 3rd as well?

Good luck,

 

[needurhelp]

I agree with Cherr, that's exactly what crossed my mind.

I think the misinfoline guys must be talking about the Receipt Notices of your initial application form, it may not be about the FP Notices at all.

Call a week later and see, meanwhile, if you wish, send a letter to NBC.

Good Luck!!!

 

[amishah]

jenimmi,
I think if you need ti write to Missouri Center then do so. I think they are better in responding. I got very quick reply when I had a typo on my EAD.

 

[JohnnyCash]

The people who work for USCIS are also human beings like you and I. Thus, you cannot totally rule out for a mistake not to be done by them. Nevertheless, I don’t think that USCIS was careless in your mother’s case, nor I believe you mother is a VICTIM of them as you are saying here. Do you think they purposely picked on your mother to be their “victim”? If so, then why did they send mails to her until NOW? I’ve family members who work for USCIS as adjudication officers, thus I know how tiresome job is this.

A lot of times mails get lost. As for the people on 800 number with USCIS then they are tier 1 and tier 2 operators. Tier 1 are contractor operators, while tier 2 are immigration officers who can give ONLY basic information because they cannot see into more screens to inform you full details of the case as they don’t know the codes to open those screens.

Also, just because someone from Newark was already scheduled for fingerprinting, that doesn’t mean ALL the applicants from Newark area should have been fingerprinted at the same timeframe. Every case is unique and individual. Plus, different clerks and officers work on different cases. Thus, it is totally nonsense to compare a timeline of a case with other people’s cases.

Forget it everything now and just do two things at the same time. First, write immediately to Missouri Center to reschedule your mother’s fingerprints. Secondly, make an appointment with Newark District officer right away and go there on the scheduled appointment date with your mother. Tell them that you are told by two different officers on 800 number that a Fingerprinting Appointment Notice was mailed to your mother on so and so date, but you NEVER received, and you are also advised by them to go to local office to have fingerprinting done. Believe me, they will take your mother’s fingerprints right away on the spot.

Don’t listen to anyone if someone (even immigration officer) will tell you that fingerprinting is not done in local officer or they will do it only with appointment letter or otherwise. I deal with Newark office on a daily basis, thus I know how they operate. But don’t tell them that you already requested Missouri center to reschedule it. If somehow you were to bump with a hardheaded officer at local office, then your request to Missouri would be a back-up plan.

I believe EVERYONE wants to get immigration benefit soon if they could. Plus, having fingerprinted done so soon, doesn’t mean the case will be processed soon too. And it should also be known that a lot of people are struck in name check processing despite of being even women (even older ones) and from countries that have nothing to do with terrorism. Plus, security check is completed within 72 hours after fingerprints are being submitted to FBI, unless someone gets a hit on his/her name in FBI system. While a I-485 case will NEVER be over within 4-5 months anyway.

People should learn to appreciate USCIS for drastically improving their efficiency lately; otherwise an applicant for I-485 used to be asked for fingerprinting 10-13 months later of submitting his/her application. And until few years, I-485 used to take 2-3 yrs in most parts of the country.

Similarly, an application for Naturalization used to take at least 2 yrs until a year ago in NJ, NY and other parts of the country, but now it is wrapping up within 4-5 months in NY and in 6 months in NJ and all other parts of the country regardless of what is the timeframe mentioned on USCIS website for it.

I’ve seen many times people blame USCIS for pending name check, but what these people don’t know or don’t want to know is that USCIS has nothing to do with Name check processing; rather it is FBI jurisdiction. Yes, some officers in USCIS wrongly and fairly treated some people, but one cannot judge whole USCIS based upon those few wrong officers.

This being said, people should learn to have a patience, understanding and appreciate how things have changed lately with USCIS.

 

[jenimmi]

That the mail got lost or the letter didn't reach you happened to many people. And just to clarify that even some folks can say that they never had a problem with the 800 number, there are others that had to call many times to get a more logic answer of what is going on. First, the people who talk to you on the phone they are not immigration officers, they are contractors as the same as the ASC (where you take your FP's and biometrics). And in general they only can tell you is what is on the system, not exactly what is going on at MSC.

Many people have wait more than 60 days for the FP notice so in general I don't see that the waiting from your receipt date is not as long as you might think. Anyway if it pass the 90 days you can make an INFOPASS and your mother can get her iEAD. There are many people who just go and try to do walk ins with their I-485 receipt on the ASC, don't call they of course will answer no. I don't know about Newark but in other ASC's people sucessfully has made walk-ins.

Now, I don't understand the dates that they gave to you about your FP notice and your dates. How is possible that they sent on Feb 3rd the FP notice if the receipt date for your mother's application is on Feb 3rd as well?

Good luck,

Thank you all much - Cherr, needurhelp and Amishah. I appreciate your quick response.

Ami - I took your advice and sent a letter to the MSC with copies of receipt notices already.

Cherr and needurhelp - That's a good point - what you two said makes sense about Feb 3rd being the Notice Date and how could they have sent the FP notice on the same date as the Notice Date for receipt of applications? Well.. that's what I was told by the Officer (I say officer because the reps always said they were transferring my call to an Immigration officer, as the I-485 Receipt # I gave them could not be found even on their system, which is another thing that really bothers me).

Two separate times, when I called I was speaking to two different "Immigration Officers" (although I'm not sure when they say that they tranferred the call to an Officer - I was on hold for a really long time - if it was still being transferred to a another level of contractor) and they both said the same thing. That the Biometrics appointment notice was sent on Feb 3rd. Either there was a mistake on the case update or the fact that the appointment letter was indeed lost.

Cherr - Thankfully my Mom did not apply for EAD, so that's one less headache about the iEAD.

I only go by the timeline that I see for Newark applicants on forums such as these and I'm made to believe that if everyone in that DO gets their FP around a certain timeframe - which is within 10 days of their ND - then I should expect ours around that benchmark. That's what got me worried as my mother has to be out on AP by June for something very important and I didn't want this FP thing to stretch that far. And the rule of the thumb here is being "Pro-Active", as you've all known and experienced with USCIS. So, I hope you can understand my concern.

I'm still open for ideas from you, even if teeny please do let me know.

 

[jenimmi]

The people who work for USCIS are also human beings like you and I. Thus, you cannot totally rule out for a mistake not to be done by them. Nevertheless, I don’t think that USCIS was careless in your mother’s case, nor I believe you mother is a VICTIM of them as you are saying here. Do you think they purposely picked on your mother to be their “victim”? If so, then why did they send mails to her until NOW? I’ve family members who work for USCIS as adjudication officers, thus I know how tiresome job is this.

A lot of times mails get lost. As for the people on 800 number with USCIS then they are tier 1 and tier 2 operators. Tier 1 are contractor operators, while tier 2 are immigration officers who can give ONLY basic information because they cannot see into more screens to inform you full details of the case as they don’t know the codes to open those screens.

Also, just because someone from Newark was already scheduled for fingerprinting, that doesn’t mean ALL the applicants from Newark area should have been fingerprinted at the same timeframe. Every case is unique and individual. Plus, different clerks and officers work on different cases. Thus, it is totally nonsense to compare a timeline of a case with other people’s cases.

Forget it everything now and just do two things at the same time. First, write immediately to Missouri Center to reschedule your mother’s fingerprints. Secondly, make an appointment with Newark District officer right away and go there on the scheduled appointment date with your mother. Tell them that you are told by two different officers on 800 number that a Fingerprinting Appointment Notice was mailed to your mother on so and so date, but you NEVER received, and you are also advised by them to go to local office to have fingerprinting done. Believe me, they will take your mother’s fingerprints right away on the spot.

Don’t listen to anyone if someone (even immigration officer) will tell you that fingerprinting is not done in local officer or they will do it only with appointment letter or otherwise. I deal with Newark office on a daily basis, thus I know how they operate. But don’t tell them that you already requested Missouri center to reschedule it. If somehow you were to bump with a hardheaded officer at local office, then your request to Missouri would be a back-up plan.

I believe EVERYONE wants to get immigration benefit soon if they could. Plus, having fingerprinted done so soon, doesn’t mean the case will be processed soon too. And it should also be known that a lot of people are struck in name check processing despite of being even women (even older ones) and from countries that have nothing to do with terrorism. Plus, security check is completed within 72 hours after fingerprints are being submitted to FBI, unless someone gets a hit on his/her name in FBI system. While a I-485 case will NEVER be over within 4-5 months anyway.

People should learn to appreciate USCIS for drastically improving their efficiency lately; otherwise an applicant for I-485 used to be asked for fingerprinting 10-13 months later of submitting his/her application. And until few years, I-485 used to take 2-3 yrs in most parts of the country.

Similarly, an application for Naturalization used to take at least 2 yrs until a year ago in NJ, NY and other parts of the country, but now it is wrapping up within 4-5 months in NY and in 6 months in NJ and all other parts of the country regardless of what is the timeframe mentioned on USCIS website for it.

I’ve seen many times people blame USCIS for pending name check, but what these people don’t know or don’t want to know is that USCIS has nothing to do with Name check processing; rather it is FBI jurisdiction. Yes, some officers in USCIS wrongly and fairly treated some people, but one cannot judge whole USCIS based upon those few wrong officers.

This being said, people should learn to have a patience, understanding and appreciate how things have changed lately with USCIS.

Thanks, JohnnyCash. I HAD decided to do the same things that you've mentioned in your post, based on some of the earlier responses to my query.

I hope you can try to understand what I'm saying here. I do not want to start an argument, but definitely disagree with you on your personal views of my situation. I appreciate your sentiments about USCIS officers and such, but there's an old expression I've heard from my part of the world "Only a person who gets a head-ache knows the pain". And I never said they "picked" my Mom's case to be a Victim.

Right now I am going through certain limitations and anxieties with my Mom's case being processed at this rate and therefore do not have the time to learn "PATIENCE" as you've mentioned in your post. As I've said earlier, being PROACTIVE is the key with USCIS. If I notice that a process is deviating from what is considered a normal timeline for a specific DO, then I have to ACT. Not sit and wonder and wait for USCIS to take the next step, which may be nothing. The same fact was said to my by the supervisor who I got in touch with at the Newark DO, this morning. She said "I'm surprised that you have relentlessly followed up and being proactive is always good, so you don't wait until they decide No-show and deny a case".

About the timeline that I tried to follow in Newarks' cases - that's what we do here mostly in this forum - compare timelines of applicants from the same DO - don't we? We have specific threads to compare and learn from our timelines. Again I do not agree that it is "Nonsense" to compare timelines. That's what gives you a clue about your process or when to expect FP, interview, GC etc.,

She also told me that in some cases the applicants directly get called for an interview without FP (I too came across such a case recently, in another forum) and will further be delayed - b'cos only at the time of interview they realize that FP is not done, then they schedule it, wait for Name check results etc. So, if I know and have heard all this in advance, why should I not blame USCIS that they could actually schedule someone's interview without making sure that FP was done? Well.. there are so many examples on how USCIS bungled up cases, but that's not relevant to this thread - I just used it as an expression in the topic for this thread.

While a I-485 case will NEVER be over within 4-5 months anyway.

I think you need to catch up a li'l bit on this. If you follow the parents' timeline and even some marriage based cases on this forum, you will notice that they've been approved well within 5 months.

 

[Suzy977]

I'm still open for ideas from you, even if teeny please do let me know.

Like I've said before, my advice is to stay on their tail all the time.
Waiting and hoping for the best is not working with CIS.

The Notice of Action for I-495 I've received today for my parents says that they will be scheduled for biometrics appointment:

"WHAT TO BRING TO YOUR APPOINTMENT:
Please bring this letter and your photo identification to your appointment.
....................
"If you don't bring this letter and photo ID , we cannot process you."

What if you try to walk in for fingerprints just with the I-797C (Notice of Action) and ID...I don't know if it works, is just an idea...

 

[jenimmi]

Like I've said before, my advice is to stay on their tail all the time.
Waiting and hoping for the best is not working with CIS.

The Notice of Action for I-495 I've received today for my parents says that they will be scheduled for biometrics appointment:

"WHAT TO BRING TO YOUR APPOINTMENT:
Please bring this letter and your photo identification to your appointment.
....................
"If you don't bring this letter and photo ID , we cannot process you."

What if you try to walk in for fingerprints just with the I-797C (Notice of Action) and ID...I don't know if it works, is just an idea...

Thanks, Suzy.
I was told y'day by one of the Info Line "Officers" that I can do a walk-in at Newark ASC on Wednesdays only between 8 and 4. I was planning to do this next wednesday until AOS Supervisors at the Newark DO told me TODAY that Newark does not allow walk-ins, except when a FP notice is shown. But as per advice from all these posts, I am planning to take my Mom for a walk-in on Wednesday. Newark DO has sort of a unique situation -
i.e. when we make InfoPass appt to meet with an officer it is at a certain location, but the FP appts are done at a different location. So, even if I try to convince a Supervisor to help me, they tell me that they are sort of disconnected from the other office where FPs are done and it may not happen on the same day - i.e. both InfoPass and FP.

I've now decided to take a chance and go there anyway next Wednesday for FP, directly to the FP location. One of the Info line "officers" told me that 2 photo identification(s) are required, but any secondary photo id other than PP issued in her country are not acceptable. My Mom only has her PP which is one Photo id, but she doesn't have a StateId or anything else issued in the US. What do you do for another?
Needurhelp, Simidude and others sponsoring parents - what did you do in your case?

 

[Suzy977]

Thanks, Suzy.
I was told y'day by one of the Info Line "Officers" that I can do a walk-in at Newark ASC on Wednesdays only between 8 and 4. I was planning to do this next wednesday until AOS Supervisors at the Newark DO told me TODAY that Newark does not allow walk-ins, except when a FP notice is shown. But as per advice from all these posts, I am planning to take my Mom for a walk-in on Wednesday. Newark DO has sort of a unique situation -
i.e. when we make InfoPass appt to meet with an officer it is at a certain location, but the FP appts are done at a different location. So, even if I try to convince a Supervisor to help me, they tell me that they are sort of disconnected from the other office where FPs are done and it may not happen on the same day - i.e. both InfoPass and FP.

I've now decided to take a chance and go there anyway next Wednesday for FP, directly to the FP location. One of the Info line "officers" told me that 2 photo identification(s) are required, but any secondary photo id other than PP issued in her country are not acceptable. My Mom only has her PP which is one Photo id, but she doesn't have a StateId or anything else issued in the US. What do you do for another?
Needurhelp, Simidude and others sponsoring parents - what did you do in your case?

I've got a State ID for each of my parents from DMV. I don't know if you can do the same thing in NJ, it looks like OR is much more "relaxed" than the "hot" States like NY, NJ, CA, etc.
Here they even didn't ask for INS papers, $29, a photo ID (Passport) and proof of residence at the address (Credit card bill for my father, my mother didn't have any but I told them is obvious that they live together) was enough to get it done.

 

[JohnnyCash]

I've heard from my part of the world "Only a person who gets a head-ache knows the pain" .

I think this expression applies to EVERYONE no matter which part of the world s/he lives, so this is not something from your part of the world.

Secondly, this expression has NOTHING to do with a business as usual. Pain and headache should come when things go beyond its control. Your mother's case is filed barely two months ago, and you already started talking about this expression?????

 

[jenimmi]

I've got a State ID for each of my parents from DMV. I don't know if you can do the same thing in NJ, it looks like OR is much more "relaxed" than the "hot" States like NY, NJ, CA, etc.
Here they even didn't ask for INS papers, $29, a photo ID (Passport) and proof of residence at the address (Credit card bill for my father, my mother didn't have any but I told them is obvious that they live together) was enough to get it done.

Thanks, Suzy. Let me try the DMV for the State ID.

Oh.. it looks like it's time to start a new thread and close this one, before it gets tooooo far

 

[JohnnyCash]

I never said they "picked" my Mom's case to be a Victim

When you say ANOTHER VICTIM of USCIS, then it's automatically (as a matter of common sense) established that you are referring your mother to be a victim of USCIS, which means USCIS picked your mother as a victim because victims are picked up by offenders than choosing them randomnly.

 

[JohnnyCash]

Right now I am going through certain limitations and anxieties with my Mom's case being processed at this rate and therefore do not have the time to learn "PATIENCE" as you've mentioned in your post.

First of all, everyone who deals with USCIS at any time normally goes thru all kinds of anxieties and worries, thus your personal situation as to this is nothing unique.

Secondly, just because someone is going thru certain limitations and anxieties because of whatever reasons, that doesn't mean Patience should not be there. Otherwise, every people will enter in USCIS building and justify their actions of not having "PATIENCE" because of their PERSONAL SITUATIONS.

 

[JohnnyCash]

As I've said earlier, being PROACTIVE is the key with USCIS. If I notice that a process is deviating from what is considered a normal timeline for a specific DO, then I have to ACT. Not sit and wonder and wait for USCIS to take the next step, which may be nothing.

Yes, being a PROACTIVE is the key but you are trying to be PROACTIVE in a case which is barely filed just 2 months ago. PROACTIVENESS comes in the picture when things go out of equation like cases of Publicus and Suzy.

Do you even know WHEN it is considered a process deviating from NORMAL timeline for a specific DO? Again, the case in hand is barely filed not even 2 months ago. That means-nobody can notice/judge ABNORMALITY OF THE PROCESS with a specific DO yet, and not even in whole process.

 

[jenimmi]

JohnnyCash -

I know your ability to pick line-by-line of some one's post if they disagree with you on anything and go on with your explanations. People who have read your posts for long are well aware of this..

I had started this thread mainly to get some ideas on how to proceed b'cos there may have been similar cases in the past and I wanted to learn from their experience - not because I want some one to dissect my post and take what I said out of context or concentrate on something that's not relevant to the main topic of this thread. Either we can leave it at this or you can go ahead and do what you are very capable of doing, as I've mentioned above - which is not of any use to me.

Other folks out here in this forum know what my concern was when I started this thread and know exactly what I meant!

 

[JohnnyCash]

The same fact was said to my by the supervisor who I got in touch with at the Newark DO, this morning. She said "I'm surprised that you have relentlessly followed up and being proactive is always good, so you don't wait until they decide No-show and deny a case".

You cannot take the words of USCIS officers or supervisors on everything on a face value. They always contradict themselves. Let me give you a little specimen to it. One side this officer/supervisor told you that it is ALWAYS good to be proactive, but on the other hand USCIS try to act retroactively by denying people's cases and by filing motion in the Federal District court to dismiss people's cases when people sue them the court. Check the recent cases of USCIS on how they are dealing with lawsuits.

Again, I'm not saying not to be proactive; rather what I'm saying is that the case in hand is filed barely two months ago, thus there is nothing to be proactive at this time. Mistakes happen sometimes. But if you realize or find out that something odd, then you should handle it properly as the way you are handling now. That is all. Missing mails from USCIS is very normal.

 

[JohnnyCash]

About the timeline that I tried to follow in Newarks' cases - that's what we do here mostly in this forum - compare timelines of applicants from the same DO - don't we? We have specific threads to compare and learn from our timelines. Again I do not agree that it is "Nonsense" to compare timelines. That's what gives you a clue about your process or when to expect FP, interview, GC etc.

There is nothing wrong in following up the timeline of cases to get a clue, and I'm very well aware of the fact that people follow their timeline with others', but everyone knows that these timeline is just an approximate timeline just to get an idea or a clue. That is all.

But you took other persons' timeline on the face value when you talked about other person having been fingerprinted within 2 months and showed impatience. Taking the things on FACE VALUE when it is too early to say anything is considered a nonsense in my opinion. Again, the case in hand is barely filed 2 months ago, thus nothing could be followed upon compare to other people's timeline.

Besides, I did mention in one of my previous postings that the pre-adjudication processing lies upon clerks and other level of people in the USCIS than assigned adjudication officer. And as you may already know that each person is different because some clerks act quicker than others. It is same to the fact that when people send an application for Naturalization to a Service center then some people receive fingerprinting notice within 2 weeks while other people receive 8-16 weeks later. Why? Because the officers who are responsible for creating a file (entering the data in the USCIS system) are different to each other.

Again, I'm not writing all this to offend you or to dissect your statement; rather I'm writing all this to make you understand how process works and how it should be handled. That is all. If you disagree with me or don't want to handly the way it should be, then it is your choice. Since a lot of people read on this site, then all this explanation might help to someone someday, so that they would know about keeping patience when dealing with USCIS in the beginning at least.

 

[JohnnyCash]

She also told me that in some cases the applicants directly get called for an interview without FP (I too came across such a case recently, in another forum) and will further be delayed - b'cos only at the time of interview they realize that FP is not done, then they schedule it, wait for Name check results etc. So, if I know and have heard all this in advance, why should I not blame USCIS that they could actually schedule someone's interview without making sure that FP was done?

First of all, one cannot BLAME USCIS for scheduling an interview without making sure if FP is done or not BECAUSE there is no any law in the book that says that USCIS cannot interview an application without having FP done first. USCIS cannot approve a case without SECURITY CHECK, but they can surely interview the person. Since USCIS has drastically made many major changes in the ways how it used to operate, then USCIS is now (in many cases) taking interview without FP. It is same to the fact that USCIS has now not interviewing on I-751 unlike before when they used to interview the applicants on this. Now, I-751s are adjudicating within 1-2 months unlike a year ago it used to take at least 2-3 yrs after filing it.

Also, USCIS is now not interviewing parents in mostly cases because there is nothing to interview anyway if all the documents and formalities are completed. Thus, it is true what officer or someone else told you about getting approval without interview on parents' cases. Everything has changed lately.

Besides, I think you are aware of the fact that USCIS has always been interviewing people even if they dont receive clearance on applicants' FP from FBI; otherwise not so many people had filed lawsuits against USCIS. Thus, you cannot blame them to schedule an interview without making sure if FP is done or cleared or not.

 

[JohnnyCash]

I think you need to catch up a li'l bit on this. If you follow the parents' timeline and even some marriage based cases on this forum, you will notice that they've been approved well within 5 months.

I don't think I need to catch up anything on this because I'm fully aware of the timeline of cases pertaining to parents. As a matter of fact, I said myself few weeks ago to you about all this timeline if you still remember. Plus, things has been changing so quicky within USCIS that nobody can predict what will happen. Everything is happenning for good. They have hired thousands of extra officers to clear up the backlog. They have opened new offices and sections. That's why mostly parents cases are diverting to CA service center regardless of where applicant lives in the country. USCIS is determined to complete a case within 6 months period by the end of this year, for which they received millions of dollars from Congress since last year.

That's why everything is moving so quickly. The same application used to take 2-3 yrs a year or so ago, but for the last one year everything has changed. It turned to 8 months, then to 6 months, now 5 months, and who knows it will take only 1-2 months very soon.

Again, each case is different and unique. So does each assigned clerk and officer. If everything goes smoothly without stucking in name check or any other incomplete process, then this timeframe looks good.