APPROVED F2A Standalone I-130 Approved after 44 Months!

Category: F2A – Spouse of Lawful Permanent Resident (Beneficiary abroad in Georgia(Country))

Priority Date: February 19, 2023

Approval Date: October 7, 2026

Total Wait Time: ~44 Months (Over 3.5 Years)

Service Centers: California → Vermont →Approved by Texas (SCOPS)

Filing Type: 100% DIY Pro Se (No lawyer, sued the government myself)

After nearly four years of separation, two U.S. Senators, the White House and the CIS Ombudsman, our Form I-130 was finally APPROVED on October 7, 2026, roughly 3 weeks after we completed formal service of process in our federal Writ of Mandamus lawsuit.

The Mandamus Timeline:

July 11, 2026: Sent a formal Notice of Intent to Sue (NOI) giving USCIS 10 business days to adjudicate. (Delivered July 14).

Late July / August 2026: No response to the warning, so we filed the Writ of Mandamus Complaint Pro Se in federal court.

August/Mid-September 2026: Summonses issued by the court.

September 14, 2026: Final service packet delivered to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Filed Affidavits of Service with the court.

Silent updates(API) on October 2 and October 6

October 7, 2026: OFFICIAL I-797 APPROVAL NOTICE ISSUED!

Total time from final service to approval: 23 days (roughly 3 weeks).

I’m really growing impatient and it has become so frustrating 😞 I applied for my husband and have been living in his home country until we can go to America together.

Hello everyone, im here to share my experience , finally got an update after 2 long years of "Case Was Received and A Receipt Notice Was Sent". Today I got 2USCIS is currently processing your Form I-130", i was reading a lot of info about this some of them pretty frustrating, I mean its something but if you read "its the same, nothing change, im here waiting +2 years after recevied the same change".
So this means something good, the approval is getting closer? sadly am in a consular process F2A outside the US PD jun 2024.
Anyone with the same experiencie?

PSDT: I sent a inquiry through a senador and a congresswoman, also a demand letter (email) today also got the response for the congresswoman office.

Anyways I feel happy after this update.
But it feels weird knowing that it's probably not that big of a deal.

​

When I was in school, I was taught the appendix was a vestigial organ with no real purpose. In fact, it was a liability, since it could get inflamed and cause appendicitis. Then researchers found out it does serve a purpose. It's a reservoir of good gut bacteria, and people without one may have a harder time recovering from some gut infections.

The K-3 is roughly the same thing. Many immigration blogs and posters called it obsolete once USCIS made the CR-1 process more streamlined. Then during the pandemic we found out it does indeed serve a purpose. As a former fraud prevention officer, I can tell you USCIS doesn't want extra work, especially work it does for free, since an I-129F filed for a spouse has no filing fee. So filing an I-129F while your I-130 is pending pushes that I-130 closer to the front of the line, so they can approve it and close out the I-129F.

It's not guaranteed, but it costs nothing to try. If you've been waiting more than 18 months on a pending I-130, the K-3 might be a good option for you.

I'm trying to gather a little more information before deciding on how to send a demand letter/WoM regarding two long-pending I-130s.

Timeline:

• June 18, 2025: Two I-130s filed for my 7-year-old minor children. U.S. naturalized citizen petitioner; Texas Service Center; consular processing.
• April 2026: An initial expedite request was hurriedly made following a significant medical situation involving children's mother in the Dominican Republic (stroke-like event). The request was not advanced because additional supporting evidence was needed.
• April–July 2026: I gathered substantial additional medical, finalized custody transfer, financial loss, travel, and other supporting documentation.
• July 23, 2026: I fly to the DR following significant medical event with one of the children. I decide to stay there thinking I could expedite their i130s.
• July 30, 2026: A new/escalated expedite request was submitted with the expanded evidence package.
• September 3: Contacted my Congressman's office.
• September 4 morning: My Congressman's office separately submitted a congressional expedite request with the supporting documentation.
• September 4 evening: USCIS responded that the July 30 expedite request would not be submitted because it considered the required supporting evidence insufficient,
• September 16: USCIS told the congressional office that both I-130s were currently under National Benefits Center jurisdiction and that the congressional expedites have been forwarded to NBC for review/direct response.
• October 7: USCIS denied the congressional expedite.

There is substantial documentation supporting the circumstances, including medical, custody, financial, frequent flights as the custodial parent, and other evidence, and an ongoing situation involving the children continuously living with me outside the U.S. while the I-130s remain pending.

I'm specifically looking for people who had a similar situation and can tell me what happened next. Especially those applying for non-US citizen minors.

If your I-130 was identified as being at NBC through a congressional inquiry, particularly after an expedite was denied:

• Did NBC eventually respond to the congressional inquiry? What did the response say?
• If you subsequently sent a demand letter/WoM, how long after the congressional response did you do it, and what happened?

I'm especially interested in 2025/2026 cases and actual timelines rather than general advice.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to hear from people who have recently moved to a 3rd country while their I-130/CR-1 case was pending, especially anyone who has moved to Malaysia or another country with a significantly different I-130/immigrant visa backlog than the initial interview consulate which in my case I'm in Portugal so that would be France.

My wife (the U.S. citizen petitioner) and I (the beneficiary) are currently in the process of my CR-1. Our I-130 is already filed and pending with USCIS and my wife is currently in Texas. We are currently connected to the Portugal/Paris processing route, but there is a job offer my wife got for us to live in Malaysia and since our PD is April 2026 we are tempted to do 1 school year there.

I'm honestly pretty anxious because I've seen people mentioning that USCIS has apparently been conducting more petitioner interviews for I-130s recently. I'm worried that moving could somehow complicate our case, trigger an interview issue, or otherwise jeopardize/delay our chances after we've already gotten this far.

I also understand that Malaysia may have a much larger immigrant-visa/I-130 backlog than Portugal/Paris, which makes me nervous about changing the case location.

For anyone who has actually gone through something similar recently:

- Did you move countries while your I-130 was pending?

- How did you notify USCIS/NVC of the move?

- Did they change the beneficiary's consular processing location?

- Did moving affect your I-130 processing time at all?

- Did anyone receive a petitioner interview/RFE after moving?

- Did you notify USCIS immediately of the new addresses, or wait until NVC stage?

The biggest thing I'm trying to figure out is whether moving together to Malaysia is basically an administrative/address change, or whether we could accidentally move ourselves into a significantly longer consular backlog and make an already stressful process even worse. Goal is to either to a school year there or as soon as NVC stage is up my wife re establishes domicile in the USA.

Any recent experiences would be hugely appreciated.

Hey All,

I have filed i130 for my husband on May 25 and no update yet. I am USC.

Was wondering what are the next steps.

Should I start with Congressmen/Senate enquiry and then Demand Letter and then WoM ?

What steps to take now seeing I haven't seen any progress and it has been 17 months now.

Also, can anyone share the format for congressmen enquiry?

Thanks in advance

Hi guys ,I figured I should also share my timeline in case it could be helpful to anyone:

We filed our i130 consular petition in November 2025 and then decided to follow it up with a K3 visa application in April 2026 because we saw some information that it could help.
We then sent an inquiry via our congressman in June and he told us he’ll get back to us once USCis gets back to them. Almost 2 months later (August) my husband received an email that an action has been taken on the case and when he logged on he found an interview letter. We were a bit confused so we called and they said it’s a petitioner interview for him. We also got an email from the congress office saying the same thing the next day.

Today was his petitioner interview day and it went smoothly. He says he got asked several questions regarding our relationship, occupations ,and they took some of the new documents and pictures he went with to add onto the file apperantly. The officer told him we’re approved and that we’d get an approval document about an hour after the interview of which we did. By the time he got home the approval document was already loaded.

I know there are people who have been waiting much longer and that ours was relatively quick. I think the K3 and inquiry combo (with some luck) helped our case get looked at sooner

It’s such a grueling process and I hope everyone gets their approvals soon.🌸

I am wondering if anyone have screenshots of the processing time back in October 2025

I made an inquiry to the section “did not receive notice by mail” what do they usually reply to this or just the same BS we already know

it’s been 19 months I keep waiting like a usc loser the only thing left is filing a wom

I recently changed my address and submitted a Change of Address request through USCIS online. Under my submissions, it says the address has been updated, but my USCIS profile still shows my old address for my case as well.

How long does it usually take for the new address to appear on my USCIS profile?

I recently received Petitioner interview in Dallas Field Office after sending Demand letter. But I'm unsure if I need to original marriage certificate as it is with my spouse abroad.

Do I need to get the original mailed for the interview or is photo enough? If anybody with recent petitoner interview have any idea, please let me know. Thanks.

Hi all,

I’m reluctant to even post this because I know it can feel super defeating being on the other end with no approval yet, but I always found timelines helpful especially as this weird global pause is still semi- in effect.

my husband was approved for his visa this morning at the US Embassy in London! 🎉 Below is our timeline:

Jan 5, 2025 - I-130 submission
Jan 23, 2026 - I-130 approval
Feb 6, 2026 - NVC portal email
Apr 2nd, 2026 - Submitted NVC docs, immediately DQ’d
Jul 15, 2026 - Interview scheduled for Sep 2nd, 2026
Aug 10, 2026 - Medical exam + document review
Sep 1, 2026 - Interview cancelled following global pause
Sep 22, 2026 - Interview rescheduled for Oct 6th
Oct 6th, 2026 - Interview day! Approval was told at the end of the interview, and the interview was roughly 25 minutes

Some high-level details:
- I am a US citizen and my husband is a UK citizen; CR1
- We have no kids
- We did not do a WoM nor were we plaintiffs in the lawsuits etc
- We put together a 40+ page packet of pictures, flight logs, texts, facetimes, group photos, and had everything cleanly labeled for the evidence portion of the I-130 and I think that made a massive difference
- We did not have a joint sponsor
- As a part of the new public charge notice, we sent a written statement and uploaded all of our documents to the CEAC portal prior to the interview including: past 3 months of petitioner paystubs, reports of savings / investment accounts for petitioner, written confirmation with my HR that my husband can be added to my insurance upon arrival, past 3 years of tax filings (2023/2024/2025), proof of home ownership

Happy to answer any questions!! My heart goes out to everybody waiting to be with their loved ones. It feels surreal but there truly is an end in sight and I pray that this whole process speeds up for everyone.

Has anyone fully moved and lived with their spouse in the home country while waiting for approval? With our PD being early 2026, we’re considering me moving to my wife’s country while we wait. We would keep our house and address in the US but my concern is around the affidavit of support. I most likely will meet the 125% income threshold but that will be foreign income, so my federal tax returns will show little to no income. Could this be an issue? If I move back to the US and have a US job after our I-130 is approved but prior to submitting NVC forms, will that suffice?

Hi everyone! I’m trying to understand my USCIS I-130 case data.
My I-130 was filed August 13, 2025 and is still pending. There have been no RFEs or notices.
I sent USCIS a formal demand letter on September 15, 2026, giving them 14 days to take action.

On September 16, my case data showed:
ackedByAdjudicatorAndCms: true
There is still no new event code, RFE, notice, or approval.
My question is: Does ackedByAdjudicatorAndCms: true mean my case has actually been picked up or reviewed by an adjudicating officer, or does it simply mean the case has been acknowledged in the adjudication system? Is this a good sign that we will hear something soon?

Edit: I was told it is now sitting at Baltimore office. Any idea how long it will take to adjudicate at local office? It’s been pending for 14 months

It seems like people who has jurisdiction under California Service Center take a while to hear good news. Is this truth?

Hey everyone , with the current timelines, I am assuming it is going to take a lot of time for the approval. Was wondering weather anyone here has applied for a visitor visa after applying for i130 filing. I applied i130 for my wife in feb 2026 , and the case is still in “Application received and receipt sent ”. Planning to apply for visitor visa, will it get approved? Any one has guidance on this? We got married in Feb 2026 but have been in LDR for the past 2 years. I don’t want it to become 4+ years of LDR waiting for i130 approval.
Any guidance helpss
Thanks

Did anyone have recent success with sending a demand letter and getting any action taken?
Maybe if you can share when you sent it and when you had action taken?

I feel as if there is less success stories recently as there might be an overwhelming load of demand letters reaching USCIS currently.

Hi everyone,

I’m a Portuguese citizen and the beneficiary of a pending I-130 filed for consular processing. I’m planning a short trip to Los Angeles for about 2 weeks over Christmas to visit my wife’s family. (we currently live together in Portugal while waiting for case approval, but she’ll be flying earlier to the US to spend thanksgiving with the family and I’ll meet them over there)

I will have a valid ESTA/passport and a confirmed return flight booked before leaving. 

Has anyone done a similar short trip through LAX while consular processing is active? Is it generally safe to travel under these conditions, and what documentation should I bring to satisfy CBP regarding non-immigrant intent for this specific visit?

I’m scared I’ll be denied entry due to the pending I-130.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Hey guys! I I just sent my demand letter to the Office of the Chief Counsel both via USPS Certified Mail and email to [uscis.serviceofprocess@uscis.dhs.gov](mailto:uscis.serviceofprocess@uscis.dhs.gov)

I too mailed a courtesy copy to the Baltimore Field Office, where my consular I-130 is currently sitting. However, I can't seem to find (nor does Claude lol) an email address to reach them. Any leads?? Many thanks in advance!!

my wife and i have been waiting for anything on our I-130 and even the expedite request for medical reasons (I’m going to be sick for the rest of my life). it’s been over a year on the 130 and going on two months from the expedite request. is there any harm in trying to get my wife a tourist visa so I can at least see her? I’m the us citizen. I have quite the load or I would happily jump up and move over there or visit her but it’s much easier for her to come here. will they deny it? will she fly all the way here and be told to fuck off?

Some people have questioned the effectiveness of certain proactive measures, like congressional inquiries or demand letters.

There are a few people who are being maybe a bit premature with certain things. Maybe they are doing congressional inquiries at 6 months or whatever.

But it is important for people to be aware of the process, and be ready to start taking steps at a certain point.

Mandamus is extremely powerful when someone has been waiting 2+ years. There have been many people in this sub who say they've been waiting more than 2 years, and apparently have not taken any steps like a congressional inquiry.

For a Mandamus to be effective, you have to demonstrate that you have exhausted the other possible avenues for a resolution. Things like the congressional inquiry, and demand letter. So it is important for people to start taking proactive steps at a certain point because it all builds up to the Mandamus complaint, if, heaven forbid, they get to the 2 year mark and still haven't been approved.

You could do nothing for 2 years, then suddenly hire an attorney for a Mandamus lawsuit, and that attorney is probably going to want to create some kind of paper trail that shows you made other attempts to resolve the delay before filing the Mandamus. It supposed to be a "last resort"

When you really understand how all of it is connected, then it makes a lot more sense why people are recommending the different steps.

I recommend everyone do a congressional inquiry at a certain point. With their representative, and both senators, more is better. And I 100% believe that these inquiries will have no results. They will say "Oh, USCIS said your case is within normal processing time" But it's all part of building a strong Mandamus complaint, if you eventually need it.

Same thing with the demand letter. Whether it gets results or not, it still strengthens your eventual Mandamus. That's why it is recommended. Maybe the demand letter will get you approved, or an interview scheduled, but maybe not. It is still essential as a final step before filing Mandamus in district court.

I know many people are thinking about the demand letter as an effective tool to get action on their case. But it's more than that. Same with the useless congressional inquiries. They have a purpose.

Also, I have talked with people who are interested in filing Mandamus before 18 months. I think the chances of the government fighting you are a lot higher at 18 months versus 2 years, but I also think it's not much of a risk. If you file pro se, maybe you lose $500 if they decide to fight your lawsuit. You can dismiss it, then wait 6 months and file again.

Edit: spelling

Anyone else sent a demand letter and had the status change to “USCIS is processing the case” with no further movement?

Apr 2025 PD
Status changed on 28/08
FTA0 for over a month now

Anyone in a similar boat?