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Topic: Did USCIS forgot us?
I see a good number of I-485 approvals (EB2-Nebraska) for the cases filed between January through May 2007. But only see few approvals for Sept-Decmebr 2006 cases. Can some one explain or have any idea what is going on for cases filed in 2006. Eevryday we see more approvals for cases filed in 2007. I beleive USCIS approves cases on receipt dats except when an applicant is stuck with name check etc. But all of us between Sept-Dec. 2006 are not stuck with name checks. Why we dont see more approvals for this time frame while USCIS processing time for employment base I-485 is Sept. 06, 2006. Don't understand this phenomena. Did USCIS forgot us?
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Me neither have no clue of what is going on. MY I140 has not even been touched since October 2006.
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Kazi
I am not expert on USCIS processing(and I dont think anyone is), but one thing that caught my attention with your case is that your I-140 was not approved until August.
I have this unsupported theory that the USCIS does have a FIFO system. However, the system only kicks into FIFO AFTER your name check is cleared and I-140 approved.
Back in April I pulled down a bunch of approvals from trackitt and noticed a clear pattern that on average people who did premium processing were receiving their 485 approvals quicker. That to me was a clear sign that they were not processing FIFO based on USCIS date. I bit the bullet, paid the $1000 and upgraded to premium.
So I think what is happening is that your case is not being regarded as being filed in December 2006 but instead August 2007.
Just my opinion. IN either case I also think that there is no consistent process that they follow. SO just pray that it is resolved as soon as possible and go on with your life in the mean time.
I wish you all the best!!
jaquil
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Thanks Jaquil. Your understanding makes sense.
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Jaquil,
I would appreciate if you could explain my case based on your theory as according to Infopass my checks have been cleared in May, 07.
I-140 approved 29 March, 2007......I too, have seen cases with RD/ND much later than me getting approved.
Is it my country of origin like Kazi?
Waiting for your reply,
mali03
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I have exactly same feeling, USCIS forget us. My EB1b, 140 was approved Nov., 2006, 485 submitted Dec., 2006, Name check cleared in April 07 according to the IO from TSC. Who knows why they don't approve my case? So sad. :(
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Interesting theory. I was just looking at your case and noticed it was received 3 days after mine. But how do you explain then, that you upgraded to premium and got I-140 approved in May and waited almost 4 months for approval, when I didn't upgrade, got I-140 approved in August 1st and GC approved just 10 days later????
I agree that until I-140 is approved, there won't be too much of a movement in your case, but I doubt they started working on my case only after the I-140 approval. And as weird as it sounds, I'm pretty sure they don't respect a strict order and work in batches, not verifying each time that older cases with approved I-140 and cleared name check are processed before newer ones. And also they missplace cases and make computer input errors.
So we shouldn't get very worked up if we don't see a clear order in processing. I know how frustrating it is, I had to put up with BEC and waited for LC for 40 months,while others who applied for LC at the same time already had their GCs. I also know it's human to look for explanations for what's happening to us, but we have to remember that our cases are in the hands of human beings like us, prone to biases and errors and even if they respected a perfect order, not every case is as complex as the other.
Congratulations to all the newly aproved and good luck to the ones that are waiting.
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my daughter case is in a similar situation....family approved to the end of april...her check cleared from the end of march....the big problem is that the lawyer stars to overcharge for this pending case.....does somebody have suggestion/advice.....can I take take the control of my case by myself?
Thank you
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Hi Dria:
I dont understand why your laywer is charging for pending case. You can control this case. Technically I-485 is your application. If family cases have been already approved, your daughters cases will be approved (my understanding). Goodluck.
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we just had to renew the advance parol and he asked $400 over the fee ..and he does periodical checks....and he received all papers from USCIS...is there a form to be filled to remove him from the case ?
Thx,
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Danc
I know what you are saying and I saw exceptions like you point out too. There are several people like you who had regular processing who got approved before me.
However when you have some free time, do the following excercise. Sort trackitt records for the past say five months for Appprorved 485 with Concurrent filing.
then paste in excel
Then do a resort by regular and then by premium.
then break the excel sheet in two and then average the days it takes between the USCIS date and 485 date. There is a big difference between the average days for regular processing and the average days for premium processing.
I even took out the anolmolies that would have skewed my results and the picture was still the same that people with premium processing was getting processed quicker. This says to me that I-140 can become an obstacle if not approved!
But you are right my theory does not apply in every instance. But overall I believed so strongly in my theory that I was willing to fork out the $1000.
IN fact I am thankful to trackitt becuase inititally my employer said they would not pay the $1000 but armed with the data from trackitt and a theory, they changed their minds and paid for it.
jasquil
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Mali03
As you can see in my most recent post, my theory of FIFO ONLY AFTER NC clearedd and I140 approved is based on aggregate stats from Trackitt.
When I did my regression analysis, there were many exceptions and there were also many anamalies.
In other words, my theory doesnt apply in every instance but it applies in most instances. Your case could be an exception or an anomaly. And dont forget, my theory could be all wrong!!
You brought up anohter issue of country of origin. I do believe that citizens of countries like Canada and UK are processed quiker. That could be another factor that my theory does not factor.
I guess my approach to all this is that I cannot predict what USCIS will do, but I can put myself in the best possible situation to improve my chances which is why I was willing to pay the $1000.
Wish I could be of more help.
jasquil
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This discussion about I-140 is an exercise in futility since it is no longer an option. But I see a lot of variability in approving regular I-140s, from a couple of months to 10-11 months, compared to premium processing where they got approved in 2 weeks more or less. This time last year the common belief was that the only reason one would have wanted I-140 to be approved faster was if that person was planning to change employers so I-140 approved would have warranted that faster. Perhaps there was also the idea of having peace of mind, knowing that this piece was approved. Otherwise, six months or less was the usual waiting time for I-140 (and it was not common to see I-485 being approved in 3 months!), therfore why pay $1,000? Obviously I-485 can not be approved before I-140, but fast-track cases were not common, plus the idea that EB2 is lower on the priority implied that a fast approval was not possible.
Now one major thing is evident from trackitt (maybe it was happening before and trackitt only makes is visible), that USCIS has no respect for priority dates and rankings. Otherwise we should not see a single EB3 case adjudicated in two months, when EB1 cases are still waiting in line. Period. No excuse.
As far as I-140 is concerned, a pattern i see is this. The most recent I-140 approvals (July and August) were followed by 485 adjudication in less than a month, but exclusively for cases filed in 2007. Cases like mine, filed in 2006, although had I-140 approved in June, is still not touched. My theory behind it is US CIS gets new I-140 approvals everyday, they cannot keep up with in the inflow therfore an older case gets lower and lower in the pile, until the time when the flow slows down or more people are assigned to a pile (which tells you this is a theory, right?)
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Cadp
I agree with you 100% that its useless to talk about premium processing because it is no longer available.
However do you agree with me that over the past 9 months, the premiums are being processed faster than regulars??
Even though filing premium its no longer an option, this statistic may still provide some explanation as to why the 2006 people filers are still outstanding. Keep in mind we are dealing with averages so it wont apply in every case
Your thoughts??
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I agree with you 100%, but it looks as if only those who paid the premium or switched to premium within 2-3 months from the date they filed got their I-485 faster. Or perhaps (as I said) if your application was not older than 6 months, premium processing and approval of I-140 took it out of idle mode, but if older than that not even premium could help...
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Cadp
In my regression analysis that I used to present to my employer, I did not distinguish between people who filed for premium immediately as opposed to people who filed for premium processing much later. So you could very well be correct.
I will look to see if I have still have the regression analysis on my comptuer at home and rerun the numbers. Of course as you aptly point out such an exercise is useless and academic at this point becuase premium processing is no longer an option.
All I can say for those still waiting is just pray and move on with your life. For a while this immigration thing was taking a toll on me. I was tentative about buying a house, buying a car and just enjoying life. Then one day I just convinced my self that its out of my control and moved on and continued living as if everything will work out. I know that is easier said than done but there is no better alternative that I can think of.
So just pray and live your life as if things will work out. Thats all I can say.
jasquil
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I don't think that is because of the visa for China or India. There are many people from other countries stuck in that period. My theory is they lost track of our files after the holiday season and don't want to make an effort to dig them out. Who care, it is your business....
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a2007 (78)
Thanks for your reply. I understand the retrogression problem for China and India. But my case is EB1b it was no retrogression in 2007, after the big mess of visa bulletin in July, now if you see the new visa bulletin, the visa cut off date for China is Jan.1, 2007 for EB1, my PD is Oct. 06. I just don't understand why they don't precess my case. I contacted senators to get paper confirmation of my NC clear, then I will contact USCIS again.
Any way, wish all the people who are waiting good luck.
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Ssme here. I-140 (NSC) Receipt Date was 10-16-2007 and still pending. Filed for I-485 on 06-15-2007 and had the FP done 08-02-2007. Let us see how things move.
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The country you are from is a problem BEFORE you apply for adjustment of status, but once you got passed that filter, country is no longer a factor. I honestly do not belive someone runs querries periodically to pick applications from Canda or UK to adjudicate them preferentially. But I continue to believe that, if applications get "old" from one reason or another, they tend to be left behind more and more. And one observation above is only "partially" right. There are not too many things one can do when a pending application shows signs of being left behind. I called customer service and was delivered the information I already knew; I had an InfoPass appointment and was told there are no unusual circumstances and just to wait; I contacted one of state's senators and was told they will rather wait for at least 30 days passed the current processing time before they inquire upon my case. In this time, everything is out of control, apllications from July 2007 get approved, my co-nationals get approved and so on.
I have to say to the person who started this thread" Yes, it seems USCIS forgot about old applications". As long as the accountabilty of this institution is handled the way it is, being lucky or unlucky in this process matters.
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Capd
I dont think they intentionally look for Canada and UK applications and move them up to the top of the pile. However, I do think name check for people from Canada and UK moves quicker. I also believe people from certain countries might be scrutinized a bit more than residents of CAnada and UK. Either of these could contribute to delays to none Canadian or UK citizens
Just my unuspported opinon.
jasquil
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Yes, cadp, I agree with you. I got the same response from USCIS and my congressman. But the more frustrating thing is the processing time never moves. I guess the only thing we can do now is pray to our god or forget about it altogether, enjoy our life without GC.
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OK, I decided to repeat jasquil's study. In the concurrent tracker, I selected all cases in which both 140 and 485 were approved since Jan 1,2007 at NSC or TSC (earlier cases may not represent recent trends). There are 257 cases in total.
Below is the average time from RD to 485 AD:
NSC, regular (76 cases): 240 days
NSC, premium (57 cases): 175 days
TSC, regular (80 cases): 134 days
TSC, premium (44 cases): 107 days.
For a $1000 price tag, the waiting time from 485 submission to GC approval decreases on average from roughly 8 months to 6 months at NSC, and from 4.5 months to 3.5 months at TSC.
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I was able to look at the summary (but not the details) of my analysis from an email I sent to general counsel in my company. The only reason, mine should be different is the time period. Remember I made my decision to upgrade to premium processing back in May. So I would have been considering data for maybe the last part of 2006 and the first few months in 2007. But here was my results when I did it. Look especially at the significant differnce with Nebraska where my case was. This made my argument to my employer more compelling
Texas Premium 57 days
Nebraska Premium 134 days
Combined Premium 94 days
Texas Regular 120 days
Nebraska Regular 236 days
Combined Regular 152 days
Texas Difference 63 days
Nebraska Difference 101 days
Combined Difference 58 days
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Your difference calculation is about 1 month longer for both nebraska and Texas. Like I said the only thing that should skew this should be the time period.
Also I excluded any anomalies which just did not fit the norm. For example I remember a person reporting receiving his gc in like 1 month.
We are not that far off I guess.
But you know what I dont take anythign for granted with this immigration thing. I had an intial RIR application pending for a few years and just about 1 month before they got to my application, they decided to start this backlog thing. My case was thrown in there and just got lost.
That disappointment taught me that jump on any opporunity that comes by because you cannot predict what will happen tomorrow. I remember a bunch of people in May debating premium or regular. Right after that, premium was suspended. I have also heard rumours that concurrent filing will also be suspended.
So stay vigilent on your case and push the process however you can. A few days could affect whether you end up in a back log or retrogression. Consdiering this uncertainty and potential for pitfalls, $1000 may well be worth the one or two months potential time savings.
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One other difference, may be, is that recent regular cases (in the absence of PP) get more resources allocated and are processed faster than when PP was in place and manpower was shifted from regular to premium. May be, this is why the gap between regular and premium is now narrower then when you did your study. Apparently, it is true that PP cancellation benefited regular filers like me even so it screwed up some other people who were in need of an urgent 140 approval.
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Burkino,
You may very well be right and that makes sense.
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Look at travelbug73 :
His labor was filed on 08/25/2005 and he filed his I-485 in September 2005 ( Visa bulletin was current for EB2 back in September 2005).
His green card got approved ahead of folks with earlier pds because he filed his I485 before the earlier pd applicants had filed their I-485.So you are right the USCIS does approve cases based on receipting date and visa numbers available to that employment category.It is FIFO for EB2 & EB3.
Now one would argue if the receipting dates are identical but the priority dates are not - then ofcourse the one with the earlier PD would win.
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In fact, I sorted trackitt list by date of I-140 approval. For a very strange reason, those approved in August flew through US CIS and were out and adjudicated in a blink. July is somewhat active, not as much as August though, and then June and back look pretty quiet, a few cases here and there approved since then. Therefore I don't think that there is much substance in our speculations above. It looks more like our applications' brownian movement in US CIS's soup!
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Hi All,
Can u guys look at my case, I got EAD and APs for my family after 2 months,
My case was PP I-140 but it went for NC, So uscis took more then 6 months now and still nothing,
Still in NC, I don't know why USCIS holding my I-140,EAD and AP becuase of NC, I Did 2 times SR but nothing.
What can I do now I lost my hope,
Thanks,
hope2007
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Hi All,
Can u guys look at my case, I got EAD and APs for my family after 2 months,
My case was PP I-140 but it went for NC, So uscis took more then 6 months now and still nothing,
Still in NC, I don't know why USCIS holding my I-140,EAD and AP becuase of NC, I Did 2 times SR but nothing.
What can I do now I lost my hope,
Thanks,
hope2007
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You are well within processing dates of TSC. Your RD is 01/2007, while TSC is currently processing I485s received in 10/2006. So I am not sure why you lost your hope already? There are a lot of people here been stuck in NC for much longer. I am waiting since 05/2006, which is not that long as compared to others. A wait of 2 - 3 years is not unusual, and 4 - 5 years is not unheard of once you get stuck in NC. Your country of origin can also play a factor. If I were you, I'd start loosing hope when I've been waiting for more than 3 years.
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i also some how think that the theory of pd date, category status, i-140 status all will be considered. take a look at my case
filed labor 5/6/2002, filed i-140 DEC 2005 and approved jul 2007. when i applied for 485 on july 18th, my i-140 was pending now some how i think since it was pending i am not getting my receipt. many got receipts who's 140 was approved. since we put a cover heading on the 485 applciaton saying 140 pending they may not look at them quickly since 140 is pending. even though uscis is saying they are processing july 26th or after cases why i did not get my receipts yet ...any way that was just my thought....do you also think soo...let me know...
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Hope did you get your H1 stamped in the last three years? Name checks (FBI one) is done there too. Do you know if having that cleared once expediates things here in the 485 ?
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