OPINION: I-130 processing adjustments to help Employment Based applicants

[dazzling]

I think USCIS decision to adjust I-130 processing to as and when visa numbers are available (http://murthy.com/news/n_delays.html) is a positive step for all employment based petitions. If one looks at the official backlogged figures then you will notice that I-130 is the most backlogged application (1.5 million applications backlogged against 3.7 million total backlogged applications). It makes sense not to adjudicate 130 before a visa number is available because anyhow the individual will not be able to get the benefit even though his application is approved. This may also reduce some backlog in 485 as some of 485 (though not many) applications are AOS based on pending 130 application and USCIS can focus on "clear applications" (i.e. employment based petitions).

I also think that this is the reason that we are seeing applications moving at a faster pace than the last couple of months as more and more resources are freed up from I-130 processing and deployed to other areas where immigration benefits can be provided earlier.

Any thoughts / discussion from the group on this is appreciated ...

 

[LaborApproved]

I agree with you. Let us hope it is the case.

 

[tammy2]

I agree with you. Let us hope it is the case.

This is good news but not very helpful. Out of 1.5 Million pending I-130 how many are not current? When citizen file for parent or Spouse there is no need of any visa numbers. Spouse of the citizen come immediately on K visa and apply for I-130 here. Most of the other kind of cases ( like Brother and sister of citizen) file I-130 at consulate itself. Since I-130 processing at consulate takes maximum one week.
In fact other directive might increase the backlog. Per new directive you can apply for I-130 in India only after 60 days of stay in India. People who does not get that kind of vacation will have to apply here in USA which is going to increase in coming months

I suspect out of 1.5 million cases more then one million cases are for immediate relatives. So it will not helpful so much in clearing backlogs as such

 

[dazzling]

This is good news but not very helpful. Out of 1.5 Million pending I-130 how many are not current? When citizen file for parent or Spouse there is no need of any visa numbers. Spouse of the citizen come immediately on K visa and apply for I-130 here. Most of the other kind of cases ( like Brother and sister of citizen) file I-130 at consulate itself. Since I-130 processing at consulate takes maximum one week.
In fact other directive might increase the backlog. Per new directive you can apply for I-130 in India only after 60 days of stay in India. People who does not get that kind of vacation will have to apply here in USA which is going to increase in coming months

I suspect out of 1.5 million cases more then one million cases are for immediate relatives. So it will not helpful so much in clearing backlogs as such

As far as priority dates go for brothers and sisters (Family Category 4), you cannot apply at consulates. So your assumption that not many of them are in the queue is wrong. Only Family 1 (spouse, unmarried children and parent of US Citizens) can apply at the consultate as there is no visa cap for these categories for any country. For all other categories, you have to file an application in US and have to wait in the queue until a visa number is available based on priority date for your country. It is all these applications that keep pending for years.

The previous process that USCIS followed was that these applications will be approved even if the visa number was not available and kept on hold until the visa number was available. Then again USCIS will go through the application (as lot of things change in 3-4-10 years) and then send it to consulates. But now they will not do the initial adjudication until the visa number is available, which helps them avoid duplicate work, especially when the beneficiary was not getting any benefit from their initial adjudication (other then his peace of mind that his application is in the queue and has been approved and it will take another 7 years for him to actually go to US ...)

 

[tammy2]

As far as priority dates go for brothers and sisters (Family Category 4), you cannot apply at consulates

Since New Delhi has BCIS office you can file at New Delhi. My Cousin has filed last year for his brother. Citizens Countries that do not have BCIS office (e.g. Bangladesh) have file at US.

 

[dazzling]

Since New Delhi has BCIS office you can file at New Delhi. My Cousin has filed last year for his brother. Citizens Countries that do not have BCIS office (e.g. Bangladesh) have file at US.

Hmm .. I didn't knew this. Even then filing at New Delhi will not expedite the processing as the visa numbers are still not available for Category 4 and currently they are processing cases filed in 1991.

 

[taresh73]

Hi there,

My father filed I-130 for his sons who are still unmarried but over 21 in May 1998. The application is still pending & my father has now become a citizen. He has
communicated this to the INS California service center & requested them to change the family preference from F-2 to F-1. 4 months have passed by but
haven't heard back from them. The priority date for F-1 category is June 2001
& so they should have approved the case after changing the preference to
F-1.

Is there anything we could do to help speed up the process like going to the
San Jose local office or write to a congress man. Could my father go to Delhi & file for my brothers from there ?

Any help/pointers etc would be very useful since we are stuck & dont know
what to do.

Thanks
Taresh

 

[Pineapple]

I think USCIS decision to adjust I-130 processing to as and when visa numbers are available (http://murthy.com/news/n_delays.html) is a positive step for all employment based petitions. If one looks at the official backlogged figures then you will notice that I-130 is the most backlogged application (1.5 million applications backlogged against 3.7 million total backlogged applications). It makes sense not to adjudicate 130 before a visa number is available because anyhow the individual will not be able to get the benefit even though his application is approved. This may also reduce some backlog in 485 as some of 485 (though not many) applications are AOS based on pending 130 application and USCIS can focus on "clear applications" (i.e. employment based petitions).

I also think that this is the reason that we are seeing applications moving at a faster pace than the last couple of months as more and more resources are freed up from I-130 processing and deployed to other areas where immigration benefits can be provided earlier.

Any thoughts / discussion from the group on this is appreciated ...

I don't know if many people have realized this, but: Even if CIS improves its processes so much that ALL the visa number quota is exausted in say, one day, Even then, the backlog Cannot theoretically increase. The backlog will either remain the same, or decrease. For those interested in logical reasoning problems, you can do the math yourself and see

 

[dazzling]

I don't know if many people have realized this, but: Even if CIS improves its processes so much that ALL the visa number quota is exausted in say, one day, Even then, the backlog Cannot theoretically increase. The backlog will either remain the same, or decrease. For those interested in logical reasoning problems, you can do the math yourself and see

hahaha ... interesting point ....

 

[forumuser]

Small correction !!..

The sum total processing time may not increase , but the number of backlog cases might increase depending on how fast they clear labour Vs 140/485 and visa numbers.