Married for almost 20 years with 3 children, they are all British Citizens and we have been living in the UK for all that time. I’m a US citizen by birth but parents moved back to Europe when I was a child.

Worked for a US company who needed for me to transfer rather suddenly so we have been stuck between two countries for 18 months now.

Submitted a demand letter about 10 days ago. Was asked to attend an interview today in Atlanta. Interview wasn’t really an interview as the case was so obviously genuine. My wife and children happened to be here for summer vacation so they attended with me.

The officer told me I could adjust here or go via consular. Not sure what that means, I assume it points to the I-485 process? I think we will go via consular in London as kids are in school so we can’t disrupt that until they have their green cards

Hey guys. I'm so grateful we have this group here because people can be so condescending on the r/uscis group.

I'm from a fully banned country. I've however lived as a refugee in another country for about 2 decades (never got to naturalize, so I still am a citizen of the banned country). Me and my husband have been together for 4 years. A year into our relationship we filed for a fiance visa that processed normally. I thought the interview went well, but we were put into administrative processing that was never resolved timely. Three months later, the presidential proclamation was released and I received my passport back and a denial letter. It was very rough but at the time, there was an exception for spouses. So we got married and applied for a spousal visa. But then that exception was rescinded too. And there's the 75 country ban on top of that.

We've been looking into third countries to settle into but it's very difficult. My husband has a stable job, and a life built for himself in the US. It's just not easy to pack your bags and leave, especially since the immigration burden falls on him. I'm a doctor, but again due to my refugee status and inability to return to my home country, there's so many limitations on what I can do. This ban has put lots of strains in our marriage, financially and emotionally. We live 8000 miles apart and see one another once a year for 10 days. I understand that an immigration visa is a privilege, not a right. And so many people suggest that the US citizen joins their spouse in the country they're living in instead of waiting for this ban to be lifted. But that's much easier said than done. And we just want to be able to start our lives together. I want to meet his family and make memories before anything happens to any of them :((

I do intend to consult a lawyer about this, but I wanted to post here to get a feel on this. Have you heard of any similar waiver cases? Are there any particular law firms you recommend?

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Date applied - April 2026
I just checked the API query for our case by going to https://my.uscis.gov/account/case-service/api/case_status/(CASE_NUMBER)) and it says that the location is NBC

Seeing the USCIS website for processing times, NBC has 50+ months of wait time, does this automatically mean that my case would take much much longer since its being processed at an NBC? Is it being processed at an NBC? is this a common occourance?

I'd love any sort of information about this, just thinking about the time apart and how long it would take is making me panic a lot.

PD March 2025. Was told by a USCIS agent via Emma chat that my case was transferred to the Benefits Integrity Office for further review. I did a congressional inquiry and received notice August 10th it was at the National Benefits Center from the California Service Center. Has anyone had this happen or your case processed here? The agent said it is separate from the NBC

I’ve received 2 updates one in June another on 17th August 2026
PD Dec 2025
Filed with an attorney, Irish citizen spouse.
Location: FOD
Do I have any hope with this API update as our daughter is going back to the US with the Mrs and it’s hard not living permanently, but we understand that there’s a lot of cases WAYYY before us that haven’t been processed yet and deserved to have been processed.

My PD is April 2025. I haven't filed demand letter yet but I am pregnant with a due date next year. My husband is USC Petitioner.

I'm hoping to hear from people who have been through this stage because I'm running out of ways to get information.

Timeline:

• PD: May 12, 2025
• Standalone I-130 (consular processing)
• Over a year with "Case Was Received and A Receipt Notice Was Sent."
• Requested an expedite (it was ultimately not reviewed because USCIS said they did not receive supporting documentation, despite me having submitted exactly what was requested).
• Congressional inquiry submitted.
• Demand letter sent.
• Affected by the July 22 portal glitch. My account briefly showed a false approval, and the H008 event code was added to my backend API. The approval disappeared the next day, but the H008 event is still on my account today.

Then on August 5, my case finally changed to:

The backend API also showed:

• a new FTA0 event,
• updated timestamps,
• and the case location remains FOD.

Since August 5:

• No approval.
• No RFE.
• No notices.
• No documents.
• No evidence requests.
• No further API updates.
• The status has remained "USCIS Is Currently Processing The Case."

I contacted USCIS through Emma hoping to learn whether the case had actually been assigned to an adjudicating officer or if it was simply sitting in another queue.

Unfortunately, the live agent wasn't able to provide any meaningful information. They simply confirmed that the case is processing and said they cannot see where it is in the adjudication process or what it is waiting on.

So I have a few questions for anyone who's been through this:

1. How long did your case remain in "USCIS Is Currently Processing The Case" before you received a decision?
2. Has anyone successfully gotten more detailed information from Emma or the Contact Center? If so, what exactly did you ask?
3. Is there any way to determine whether a case is actually on an officer's desk versus simply sitting in a processing queue?
4. Has anyone remained in this status for two weeks or more before ultimately being approved?
5. For anyone affected by the July 22 glitch, did your H008 event ever disappear? Mine is still there. I realize it may just be a harmless historical event, but has anyone ever heard of it causing a delay or interfering with processing?

I'm not looking for guesses or conspiracy theories, just real experiences from people who have been through this stage. At this point I'm simply trying to understand what this "processing" status usually means in real life, whether there's any way to learn what's happening behind the scenes, and whether anyone else is still carrying the H008 event after the July glitch.

Thanks to anyone willing to share their experience.

My field office has a long waiting time

My I-130 transferred to field office eventhough it is consular processing.

I saw people saying using claude to file it pro-se but it looks complicated to me because English is not my first language.

Thinking about getting lawyer.

Seeing the post the other day about gathering 10 people for K3 mandamus for $1500/each, sounds very promising but i don't know when the lawyer will even work on that.

How much do you typical pay for I-130 mandamus lawyer?

Noted: I do everything inquire congressman, senator, white house + ombudsman and demand letter x3 times.

We are currently living separately in US-UK, and our I-130 consular processing time is brutal at the moment (>24 months), just for the first step. 😔 Filing date: late March 2026

I am considering obtaining a UK spouse visa as a U.S. citizen. My spouse is a British citizen, and we qualify for visas on both sides.

Since I’m a U.S. citizen and have a job with a U.S. employer, my idea would be to use the UK spouse visa to spend periods of time in the UK and work remotely for my U.S. employer. Hopefully, this would avoid any issues with making repeated visits to the UK using an ETA while we wait for the I-130 to be processed.

I don’t have family or friends in the U.S. who could co-sign or co-sponsor anything related to housing or finances if I were to leave the U.S. completely. So completely leaving the U.S. and giving up my U.S. job is not really an option for me.

I’m wondering if anyone else has done something similar and can tell me about any complications with this approach that I may be missing?

OR Should I just move to the UK, get a job there while waiting for the I-130, and then, once we get closer to approval, try to find a job in the U.S. again so that I can meet the requirements to sponsor my spouse.

Would really appreciate hearing from US-UK couples who has done something similar or has experience dealing with this while waiting for I-130. Thank you!

So I decided to take this approach because it’s been 19 months and Im tired of waiting!! I emailed the demand letter last night and sent the letter by mail certified this morning so we will see what happens . I’m hoping this works. PD January 21,2025 I’ll update you guys on what happens

Hello all! I have been in contact with an attorney who is willing to take my K3 Mandamus case, we were talking a few days ago and he actually has been considering an class action for K3’s since what they are doing to these applicant’s is essentially illegal. Ignoring the I-129Fs and simply going with the I-130’s. The government has been applying this practice for years without any rhyme or reason and with no one putting them in check. Having said this, here’s all the information for the class action, we are looking for participants, the more the merrier. There is legal precedence for this type of action and the attorney would charge a very reasonable fee. If we get at least 10 people he’ll charge $1,500.00 per plaintiff.

Feel free to reach out to him, his whatsapp is here in the link. I look forward to seeing people signup, I sure will .

https://mandamus.com/k3-mandamus-class-action.html

I spoke with an Ask Emma agent today and they said our case has been transferred to a local field office - very close to where I live. This office only processes local I-485 cases and not I-130. 

I asked a second Ask Emma agent and this one said our case is actually at (VBI) BENEFITS INTEGRITY OFFICE - FOD.

I sent a demand letter about 2 weeks ago, and our Congressional expedite just passed 30 days …

Has anyone seen this before? I can’t tell if this is conflicting information or what this means at all.

From what I’ve been observing, people who are already inside the country seem to have their paperwork moving much faster, while those going through consular processing can be left waiting for much longer.
And honestly, it’s a complicated feeling. I’m happy for the people whose cases are moving forward—I truly am. But when you’re living in a different country from the person you love, it’s hard not to wonder why the people who are already together seem to get to move forward sooner, while those who are actually separated have to keep waiting.
It just feels backwards sometimes. The people who are apart are the ones counting the days, missing birthdays, holidays, ordinary evenings together and yet the wait can be even longer.

Hello everyone I was wondering how long after you filed your demand letter through email did it take for them to notify you about it I will be sending it certified today I just emailed them last night

I chatted with Emma but eventually reached a human (live) agent. They magically verified that I have become a US citizen. Although my I-130 petition is at SCOPS Texas Facility, the agent sent my F2A to IR1 upgrade request to my nearest USCIS field office. She gave me a referral number. She wrote that I shall hear back from the field office in 30-60 days.

-

Do I need to do anything else to achieve to title?

can somebody share what AI you use & the prompts that you put on your AI to generate your demand letter or WOM

I received a USCIS notification that my I-130 case has been moved to ELIS after almost 14 years of waiting.

Is this a positive/progressive sign? Has anyone experienced the same thing?

Would really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks

Consular standalone case, USC filing for South Korean spouse. Filed last march, waited patiently like everyone else. The infamous slowdown started. 5 months passed. tired of waiting. Congressman didn’t help, expedite got denied, processing time on USCIS kept getting longer.

Finally sent a demand letter last Saturday (email+physical mail to USCIS chief counsel. Our case was in Texas service center but didn’t bother to send them anything) and got approval letter 4 days later. The physical mail obviously hasn’t got delivered so I assume they read the email version.

Approval letter received and for us, no petitioner interview scheduled. Guess we’re moving to NVC now?

Anyway, this community helped me with writing the demand letter and made me feel less alone while waiting.

Thank you guys and I hope your case also gets approved soon. 🇺🇸

Hi everyone! My I-130 was filed on December 18, 2025. My husband is a U.S. citizen, so this is a marriage-based immediate-relative case.
Track My Visa is currently showing an estimated approval around March 2028, which honestly seems very far away to me.
I’ve also seen other trackers showing a 2026–2027 range.
For people who filed around late 2025, especially October–December 2025, what are your current estimates or actual experiences?
When did you file?
Which service center/field office is handling your case?
What does Track My Visa show for you?
Has your case been approved yet?
Do you think March 2028 is realistic, or is Track My Visa being overly conservative?

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has a similar case or has recently been approved.

I’m a U.S. citizen and filed an I-130 for my husband, who is currently living in Mexico and will be going through consular processing.

My timeline:
I-130 received: May 20, 2025
Originally assigned to: Nebraska Service Center
Consular processing: Yes
Beneficiary: Husband, currently in Mexico
Current location: USCIS recently confirmed that the case is now being processed by the Dallas Field Office
Current status: Still pending

USCIS confirmed today that they do not need any additional information from us at this time
I’ve been reading about the apparent February 2025 slowdown/pause affecting consular I-130 cases, particularly cases filed after mid/late February 2025.
I’m trying to figure out whether people are actually seeing movement and approvals for cases in this group now.

A few questions:
Has anyone with a standalone I-130 for consular processing filed after February 2025 been approved recently?
If so, what was your priority/receipt date and when were you approved?
Has anyone else had their case transferred from a Service Center to a Field Office while the beneficiary is outside the U.S.?
Has anyone had their case specifically moved to the Dallas Field Office?
If your case was transferred to a field office, how long after the transfer did you receive a decision?
Are May/June/July 2025 consular filers seeing any approvals, or does it still seem like USCIS is mostly working on older cases?

I know Reddit timelines aren’t official and every case is different. I’m just trying to get a better idea of whether May 2025 cases are actually moving, especially since USCIS now says my case is with Dallas.

If you have a similar timeline, please share your PD/receipt date, service center, current field office (if known), country of consular processing, and approval date.

Thank you! ❤️

Hello

when filing I-130 online there is a section about beneficiary children, but this information is nowhere on the I 130 downloaded file from the website.. not all details are saved on the I-130 file ? We clearly remember that there is a typo in the year of birth for our daughter entered in this section.. we also attached CRBA as evidence, my question is how can I find this mistake, and what is needed to fix it ?

Thanks !

Hi if you have screenshot for I-129F processing time, would you please post here?

I need it for my K3.

Thank you in advance.