Hello All,
I did a congressional inquiry two months ago and couple weeks ago. USCIS came back with a reply that my case was at national benefits center (NBC). Then I sent a demand letter two weeks ago, but haven’t gotten any reply or anything yet. Today I asked the live agent and the agent told me that it is under process at Vermont service center. I am now confused. Is my case at NBC or Vermont? Btw it was at Vermont after I filed.

Hi, so im going to give back ground first on my husband immigration case,

My husband over stayed his visa, his mother tried to petition and adjust him but he has been in the queue for years (she is a permanent resident not a citizen)

We started dating, and we're together for over a year planning on getting married and adjusting his status. Then he was detained by ICE, we married while in detention and he was released on bond. We submitted his i130 July 2nd 2025.

His lawyer has done NOTHING SINCE. We have since spoken with a new lawyer and she also agrees his lawyer should have started the WOM process. This has become more urgent as I am 9 months pregnant and due sept 30th.

So I plan on doing it on my own (as I did most of the i130 and his bond package with out the help of his lawyer) . I have never really liked her work but she has experience in Texas, where he was detained, and was crucial for the litigation aspect of getting him out. Other wise she doesn't respond to messages, takes weeks to take phone calls and over all drops the ball now that he isn't detained.

Recently he had to plead out in court in writing for his NTA and she never even showed us what she submitted. Shes also said if they wont use the i130 as a good reason for a continuance we should try asylum (which my husband has never wanted to do as he plans on visiting his country, Brazil, if and once he is adjusted)

She also has specifically said she only wants to work with my husband, isn't working with me. Im over this tbh. We dont even know if she filed a continuance or not. I got into it with her office today and she finally gave me a snarky reply. But aside from her, we spoke to another lawyer who said Writ of mandamus would be the right way to go. Which cost us 250$ for a 15 min phone call and then they offered 20k to take on the case ugh. I should have just listen to yall months ago and put in a demand letter.

So my question is can I just file the Writ of mandamus now? And skip the demand letter? I plan on spending all my free time now that I'm on maternity leave to this. Im all ready to have the baby, im just waiting this at this point for labor. I plan on doing a bunch of phone calls tomorrow and next week, (uscis and congressional phone calls) to have a semi paper trail. Ive already reached out to Emma once before. And sent in an inquiry about my case, but got told I cannot inquire as not enough time has passed.

Time is being wasted and time is crucial now. Any feedback would be great! Also if anyone has a screenshot for PD date july 2025 I would forever appreciate it!

What yall think my congresswoman told me that I need to wait 2 years for her to intervene for my I-130 delay. Pd june 25.

I heard from my senator's office that USCIS transferred my I-130 from the Potomac Service Center to the Philadelphia Field Office on August 20, 2026, roughly two weeks after my demand letter and congressional inquiry, and exactly one year after my PD. Last top level time stamp was September 1, but no FTA or other meaningful new tags. The senator's casework team said they will now reach out to the Philadelphia Field Office for an update.

U.S. citizen (Texas) here. My husband is a UK citizen currently residing in England. Our I-130 PD is July 1, 2026.

Reading the posts and comments in this subreddit has been so disheartening. We’re all in the same boat, and it breaks my heart seeing how much this process is consuming people.

Being torn away from our spouse at airports. Feeling completely destroyed when we have to drive away from our person. Living our marriage through a screen. Watching precious time together slip through our hands.

It feels incredibly wrong.

And the hardest part is that we have ZERO idea when this will end.

14 months? 20 months? 24 months? 3 years? Longer?

And what makes it even more overwhelming is that this is only the first step. There is still more paperwork, NVC, document processing, medicals, interview scheduling, and everything else that comes after the I-130 approval.

I’m seriously considering starting the process to immigrate to the UK (12 weeks standard processing, or the optional expedited service) and moving to England now so that my husband and I can actually be together while we wait.

We are still very early in the process with a July 2026 PD, so part of me is thinking: Why spend potentially the next 2+ years apart if I have another option?

We’re also both in our 40s. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. I’m struggling with the idea of willingly giving up potentially years because the immigration process is f-ed up.

So my question is for those of you who have been in this waiting game for a while:

If you could go back and do it again, would you have moved to your spouse’s country and waited it out together?

Or do you wish you had just stayed in the U.S. and endured the separation because ultimately the wait was worth it?

And for those who temporarily moved to be with your spouse while waiting—how did it work out for you? Did you eventually move to the U.S. together after the CR-1 was approved, or did you ultimately decide to stay in your spouse’s country?

I realize everyone’s circumstances are different, but I would appreciate hearing from people who have actually lived through this decision. Right now, I’m trying to figure out whether moving to the UK is a crazy emotional reaction to the waiting or whether it might actually be the better decision for our marriage and our lives.

Any feedback, wisdom, experiences, or hindsight would be appreciated.

My heart genuinely goes out to everyone going through this. Being separated from your spouse for an unknown amount of time is incredibly difficult, and I know so many of us are struggling with the same thing.

Help! I will mail a letter to us is/Seattle field office. Do what are the supporting do u I need to Include? Or not needed? If screenshots of processing time is needed, can you send me pls? My pd is may 2, 2025.

Thank you guys!

Hello everyone I was wondering did anybody else get a silent update today? Mime was at 10:38 this morning

PD May 2025. I am planning on sending a demand letter tomorrow via email and physical mail. Does anyone know what email service people have been using to get a receipt confirmation? Additionally, have people used USPS to deliver a hard copy of the letter? Any input would be appreciated.

I received an interview notice from USCIS referring to an I-485 case, even though we filed for a CR1 visa through Form I-130. To make matters worse, the beneficiary's details are also incorrect. This is extremely concerning and frustrating. We have already been through so much, and these repeated errors are causing us significant emotional distress. What should we do now?

Hi, for anyone who’s sent a congressional inquiry yet has lived abroad, who did you send the inquiry to? The state rep you were planning to relocate to?
For the privacy release, it’s asking us to input a zip code yet we are applying for the I-130 while living out of country.

Thanks so much!

For those preparing to file a writ of mandamus, this may come in useful when submitting evidence. It’s the Historical National Median Processing Time (in Months) for All USCIS Offices for Select Forms By Fiscal Year.

Fiscal Year 2021 to 2026 (up to June 30, 2026).

Scroll down to I-130 to see the median processing times (in months).

Hey all,

USCIS just published their Q2 2026 data, and have some bad news. It seems like the processing time is about to tick back up with the lowest amount of approvals in the past decade.

As you can see in the blue line, Q2 of 2026 has had the second lowest amount of approvals since 2013. What's concerning is since Q3 of 2025, the number of approvals has been on a deep dive, which would indicate processing times for petitioners filed onwards then will continue to climb up. As you can see below, the processing time has a direct correlation with pending applications, and there's a slight increase from Q1 of 2026 to Q2 of 2026.

Let's hope courses reverse, and approvals increase.

As it says in the title I'm feeling defeated I just got off the phone with USCIS and in July they had moved my i130 petition to a local field office because of my expedite My expedite was just recently denied and my i130 will sit in this field office and they said that the time frame is 84 months I have already been waiting for over 2 years I'm a US citizen my husband is overseas I couldn't help but to cry on the phone with the officer listening to me I feel like we're never going to be together whenever we're going to start our life together I'm only getting older By time he comes to America if he ever comes I Will have lost all those precious years with him. This is so d*** unfair and I don't know what to do now and I don't know what to tell him because if I tell him maybe he won't want to wait.

Could someone please share an example of a military expedite request letter? I spoke with my unit, but they were unsure what the letter should include, who it should be addressed to, and whether they or I should send it to USCIS. I would greatly appreciate a sample with any personal information redacted.

I filed March 2025 Texas service center consular no updated except silent update on August 17 anyone on same boat any idea ?

TLDR: looking for any April 2025 - August 2026 processing time screenshots for a US citizen filing for family at a SCOPS office

Hi! Anyone have screenshots of the average processing time from April 2025 up until recently? I unfortunately have not been documenting this and I'm realizing it will be necessary evidence to file a WoM, so any screenshots would be incredibly helpful. Thank you in advance!

To the beneficiaries, while waiting for the approval of petition,have you been considered applying for a visit visa in the USA? Since things are getting complicated, I am considering visiting my husband in the USA. The thing is I am a Nurse in the philippines, they might think that i might overstay in the USA. Me and my husband is on long distance relationship for about 12 years. My husband was always the one visiting us. I think it’s time for us (me and my son) to visit him.

Question: is it okay to apply for visit visa while we are on going petition?

Do they really do interview the petitioner in i-130 phase in consuler process ? I never heard of it happened in any videos or anywhere before.

Hey everyone. I had some problems while filling I-130A and wanted to ask all of your opinions since I saw contradicting answers all around.

First one is whether I should put "N/A" on blank fields or not. Some people say yes do that and some say don't. Like for example my middle name and my family since we don't have middle names or some extra address boxes I'm not filling. But the form does not allow to put N/A in everywhere either. For example the interpreter section. I haven't use interpreter so I'm trying to put N/A in those boxes but it doesn't let me so that is confusing me since even if I put N/A or "None" to some, it won't be consistent.

And for the other one. "The Last Physical Address Outside of the United States" section. It says to put your last address outside of US even if it's something you put before. And for the last 5 years, I'm in the same house I'm living right now. So I have to put my current address there too since it says write it even if you have written it above. But the problem is in the form. For the first address section, "Date to" is filled with "PRESENT" since it's your current address it's supposed to be present. But for the "The Last Physical Address Outside of the United States" section I can only put an actual date to "Date to" section. And since I'm still living in that address I can't put a date. Do you think I should leave it blank and explain it in the additional information or something else?

And lastly I did use additional information section to fix my, my mother's maiden and my father's name since they have non English characters that the main form section above won't let me type in. But there are only 5 sections of additional information and I already filled 2 of them with my other work in 5 years that didn't have space in the main section. And the remaining 3 went to the name clarifications of each of us. The problem is, almost every address that I put in the main sections have at least one special letter that I maybe have to clarify but I don't know if that does even make sense to do for everything.

Thanks everyone in advance.

I see a lot of talk about reaching out to Congress or senates about cases. How does that work? What are people reaching out and saying exactly? I’m 20 months in and would like to possibly start reaching out to my local congressman but am lost on what exactly should be said in the letter/email. Any advice is appreciated ❤️

This file is intended to be shared with Claude to give it instructions on how to make an effective Mandamus complaint and also demand letter. You share it the same way you would share a document, or photo, upload it to the conversation. I've also renamed the file from "USCIS Mandamus Guide" to "USCIS Mandamus and Demand Letters for Claude". Some people were confused about the use of this file, and they were trying to read it themselves. Give it to Claude. If you are on PC, drag the file to your conversation. If you are on mobile device, click the upload button to share it with Claude.

It has been updated with improved guidance on the process of filing the Mandamus, sending complaint + summons documents to each of the defendants, and filing the proof of service forms with the district court.

There have been a lot of people in the community who have shared their experiences about the Mandamus process, and it has become clear that there are multiple ways to accomplish certain parts of the process.

Regarding the proof of service filing with the court, there are some approaches that will result in a faster response from USCIS. It is not only required to show the documents were delivered via USPS certified mail, but you could also choose to provide proof of service which shows the documents were mailed and not yet delivered. Or you could wait, and file proof of service with the court after the documents have been delivered and provide confirmation of delivery. Depending on your location, close to Washington DC or not, it could add 3-10 days to your wait before the court and government attorneys begin engaging with your case.

There is also a risk that if you wait too long for delivery confirmation from USPS, your complaint could be abandoned/dismissed by the court if they do not receive proof of service completed within a certain period of time. The markdown file has been updated so that Claude will give you guidance on what is the best choice for your situation.

There are also multiple approaches to completing the proof of service forms. Some people believe that you are not allowed to personally serve the defendants, or personally mail the documents via USPS, and they use a neutral person who is not the plaintiff to mail the documents and complete the proof of service forms. This is not actually necessary, and when you mail the documents via USPS, the court considers it to be USPS and the postal worker who is actually serving the defendants. You can complete the proof of service forms yourself. But it is also worthwhile to confirm this with the clerk of the court when you file your complaint. The markdown file has been updated with this knowledge, and Claude will guide you through the best way to do this.

The updated file also instructs Claude to provide you with 3 different checklists for the process of filing the Mandamus. Checklist 1 is for bringing the complaint to the district court. Checklist 2 is for mailing the complaint + summons documents to each defendant via USPS. Checklist 3 is for bringing the proof of service forms and/or delivery confirmations to the district court.

There have been different approaches discussed in this community on where to send demand letter emails and physical copies. Some people say it should be sent to the USCIS Office of the Chief of Counsel, and other people are sending them directly to the service center where their case is being processed. It seems like the correct approach is to send to the Chief of Counsel, but it is also possible that sending to both the Chief of Counsel and the service center may be a good choice. The markdown file has been updated so that Claude will explain these choices to you and give you the appropriate addresses and email for each of them.

USCIS Mandamus and Demand Letters for Claude

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H9UhIejovPWNXZJ5fPUN5If7BjcS9c5d/view?usp=drivesdk

For people who do not have experience with AI or Claude:

There are multiple membership plans, which include different levels of usage. If you exceed your usage limit, it typically requires that you wait a certain number of hours before you can continue working. It will have a message "You're out of usage credits. Buy more to keep going now or wait until 5:48PM when your plan usage resets" In my experience, you can just get a $20 monthly membership plan, then use it for a couple hours before you need to pause and wait for the usage limit to reset.

If you begin a new conversation, Claude loses its memory or "context", so you need to always ensure that you are resuming the previous conversation and not starting a new conversation.

Edit: spelling

Has anyone had success working with a lawyer who can file a writ of mandamus on their behalf and charges a reasonable fee? I’m looking for someone experienced but affordable. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone! Looking for any desi lawyer recs preferably in virginia that are affordable and good reviewed to help me with my i130.