Upgrade an application from F2A to IR

N

nidhin0006

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

I have filed form i-130 for my wife when I was an LPR and now I became a US Citizen. I called up USCIS office about it and they sent me a letter indicating that I need to sent the naturalization certificate to upgrade the petition. I have sent it and the package reached USCIS on tuesday as per the ups tracking info. Will they be sending me an acknowledgement saying my application is upgraded or they will just upgrade it without any acknowledgement. I called up USCIS office and they told me that they cannot check whether my application is upgraded or not. Is it that that particular customer rep doesnt know to check or is it right. should I try calling them up again. how long it ususally take to upgrade a petition. My I-130 priority date is july 12th and USCIS has already passed that processing date. So after I gets upgraded I should be approved any tiem. that is why i am worried about fast upgrading. When i call customer service center can I say that I am filing as a us citizen for my wife now so that they can escalate the process since it passed the processing time...


plzzz help as I am so worried waiting for this approval for longgggggggg time....

thanks in advance for all your help....
 
You probably won't get any acknowledgement. Wait a few weeks to give them a chance to process the upgrade, then make an Infopass appointment to inquire about it. Plan to make multiple visits and phone calls and hassles over the next few months to get confirmation of the upgrade. Sometimes they'll even tell you it's been upgraded when it wasn't.

Their slowness and lack of transparency when handling the petition upgrade for a spouse outside the US is why it's often better to file the I-130 after you naturalize, so you know it's treated as an Immediate Relative case from day 1, particularly in your case where filing it after you naturalize would have meant a wait of only about 6 months (or less, if you naturalized before January). When you file I-130 as an LPR, they tend to process it slower because they don't expect to have to take any action on it for 2-3 years, so the I-130 takes longer and then you have to deal with the hassles of upgrading it and confirming the upgrade.

However if your spouse is inside the US, the upgrade isn't a problem because when you naturalize your spouse can just file the I-485 with your US passport or natz. certificate without waiting for upgrade confirmation, and the I-485 will set the ball in motion for fingerprinting, EAD, and interview.
 
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thanks man...I did get a response of request letter but doesnt indicate anything about upgrade..but just a response letter with the documents that I sent to them.. i dont know why they sent the copy of naturalization and the letter I sent, back to me...may be they just took a copy and sent it to me!!... anyways i will try calling them up tomorrow and see what say...

Jackolantern said:
You probably won't get any acknowledgement. Wait a few weeks to give them a chance to process the upgrade, then make an Infopass appointment to inquire about it. Plan to make multiple visits and phone calls and hassles over the next few months to get confirmation of the upgrade. Sometimes they'll even tell you it's been upgraded when it wasn't.

Their slowness and lack of transparency when handling the petition upgrade for a spouse outside the US is why it's often better to file the I-130 after you naturalize, so you know it's treated as an Immediate Relative case from day 1, particularly in your case where filing it after you naturalize would have meant a wait of only about 6 months (or less, if you naturalized before January). When you file I-130 as an LPR, they tend to process it slower because they don't expect to have to take any action on it for 2-3 years, so the I-130 takes longer and then you have to deal with the hassles of upgrading it and confirming the upgrade.

However if your spouse is inside the US, the upgrade isn't a problem because when you naturalize your spouse can just file the I-485 with your US passport or natz. certificate without waiting for upgrade confirmation, and the I-485 will set the ball in motion for fingerprinting, EAD, and interview.
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My priority date was july 12th 2011. That is when i applied for I-130 for my wife,when i was LPR. Now the date of processing for the 1-130 for citizens's spouse is july 12 eventhough the website says 5 months. That is what uscis customer cervice center told me.

But today when I called them they told me that if I upgrade, they will take my application out of the F2A category and put it into the IR category and they will put it at the last.. does it mean that it will be considered as an i-130 filed for wife as IR on feb 12th,when petition is upgraded. and i have to wait until they gets to my application. Is it like that. I am worried a lot about this because I will be loosing 8 months of the processing time just because of the upgrade. but If I was still in F2A, it would have got approved in 1 month. when I asked can they put me into the old category they said you are already removed from that category and it will be more complicated.


Please help with any advices or information. What should I do now. Or is the info I got from that rep. is not right?.
 
nidhin0006 said:
I have received the upgrade letter to upgrade my petition from F2A to IR, and it was indicating to sent only the naturalization certificate copy and i did sent it to USCIS and I have received a receipt of request letter back from them. My priority date was july 12th 2011. That is when i applied for I-130 for my wife,when i was LPR. Now the date of processing for the 1-130 for citizens's spouse is july 12 eventhough the website says 5 months. That is what uscis customer cervice center told me.

But today when I called them they told me that if I upgrade, they will take my application out of the F2A category and put it into the IR category and they will put it at the last.. does it mean that it will be considered as an i-130 filed for wife as IR on feb 12th,when petition is upgraded. and i have to wait until they gets to my application. Is it like that. I am worried a lot about this because I will be loosing 8 months of the processing time just because of the upgrade. but If I was still in F2A, it would have got approved in 1 month. when I asked can they put me into the old category they said you are already removed from that category and it will be more complicated.


Please help with any advices or information. What should I do now. Or is the info I got from that rep. is not right?.
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The people on the phone will often tell you a bunch of nonsense. They're not going to put it in the back of the queue just because of upgrading to IR.

When they were transferring many cases from Vermont or Nebraska to the Texas Service center a few years ago, some of them were saying similar nonsense, that they are going to treat it as if the case was filed on the transfer date rather than the original receipt date. But then people started getting approved en masse shortly thereafter.

You filed the upgrade request barely 10 days ago. Give them another week or two to process the upgrade before you get concerned.
 
Thank you so much for the reply...lil relaxed now...I was on fire until I read your message....god bless you...

Jackolantern said:
The people on the phone will often tell you a bunch of nonsense. They're not going to put it in the back of the queue just because of upgrading to IR.

When they were transferring many cases from Vermont or Nebraska to the Texas Service center a few years ago, some of them were saying similar nonsense, that they are going to treat it as if the case was filed on the transfer date rather than the original receipt date. But then people started getting approved en masse shortly thereafter.

You filed the upgrade request barely 10 days ago. Give them another week or two to process the upgrade before you get concerned.
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USCIS created a service request for me indicating that my case is out of processeing time. California service center responded back with saying that they will make every effort to adjudicate your case in an expeditious fashion. Does this indicates that my case will get processed soon. Within how many days I should expect a reply..just an approx...coz they didnot indicate anything like, if you have not heard back , contact after this many days or anything ...thts y...plzz help

nidhin0006 said:
Thank you so much for the reply...lil relaxed now...I was on fire until I read your message....god bless you...
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Its been almost 15 days after I received the letter saying they will process my application in an expedited fashion..and still no response...I am very much tensed abt why this is happening..is it normal..will it usually takes this much time after they say they will process in expedited fashion also...should I take an appointment in infopass and enquire there..if I go with a lawyer, is there anything that a lawyer can do besides what I am doing..plzz help

Jackolantern said:
The people on the phone will often tell you a bunch of nonsense. They're not going to put it in the back of the queue just because of upgrading to IR.

When they were transferring many cases from Vermont or Nebraska to the Texas Service center a few years ago, some of them were saying similar nonsense, that they are going to treat it as if the case was filed on the transfer date rather than the original receipt date. But then people started getting approved en masse shortly thereafter.

You filed the upgrade request barely 10 days ago. Give them another week or two to process the upgrade before you get concerned.
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My wife applied for me in 2010 when she was LPR. She became a USC this past December. What I did is, I sent AOS application with the copy of approved I130 and everything went really smooth. My interview was on March 8th and my green card is on it's way. If I were you I would just send AOS application along with copy of approved I-130 and you should be fine. This way everything goes faster. That's what I did and my AOS application took 3 months. They are slow. Don't wait for them. Just send it and they will look it up and adjust the status for your wife.
 
Also a good thing is if you have copy of the I130 that you sent. I didn't have it and they didn't ask but my lawyer said they might. My interview was really weird. I was in the room not even 5 minutes. She only asked me YES/NO questions and that was it. She hasn't spoken to my wife at all. She didn't even ask her for her name. We sent a lot of supporting documents with applications so that might be the reason. I don't know. Don't wait man. Send your application today.
 
dude ..my i-130 is not yet approved..it is still in uscis and I upgraded the petition more than 2 weeks back. Then they sent me a letter saying that since I am out of the processing times, they will process my application in expeditious fashion. I got this message 2 weeks back and still no responses..

skoja said:
I just saw that your wife is outside US.
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Finally after all these waiting and hazles...the status of my i-130 petition changed from initial review to RFE..I dont know what that means...I sent all the documents that they mentioned and they are asking for additional evidence!!..anyone have any idea what it could be..
 
Hello all,

I got my i-130 approved...thansk for all your help...just for any other readers knowledge, if you upgrade your petition from F2A to IR at USCIS , your petition will get adjudicated soon and will get done in almost 1-2 mnths, as i experienced from my case..how will NVC process the case..is it through email or regular mails..any ideas..

nidhin0006 said:
Finally after all these waiting and hazles...the status of my i-130 petition changed from initial review to RFE..I dont know what that means...I sent all the documents that they mentioned and they are asking for additional evidence!!..anyone have any idea what it could be..
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