KK85

Hi, Brownie!

Let's hope the information Twinkle was given is indicative of a new rule regarding the dates on the ACRO. So much for trying to be extra organised, hey!

Our petition was sent to Chicago, just a handful of weeks before yours! Wishing you lots of luck and a speedy journey, too.

Brownie87

Thank you! Same to you!

We sent ours to the Chicago Lockbox too. However, from there your petition would have been forwarded to a Service Center to be processed.

I believe Twinkle is correct, so hopefully we're good.

KK85

Ah, my apologies! Ours has been sent to the Potomac Service Centre. I'd not heard of this one! It looks like USCIS have started transferring some cases to this centre in order to balance workloads. The last we checked, they're still averaging at around 5 months for I-130 cases.

Brownie87

No worries!

Oh OK! From what I read on another forum, they only started transferring cases there in early 2016.

I think a lot of this process is down to luck, I've seen some cases approved really quick, some are around the 5 month mark and some even longer. Oh well, it will all be worth it in the end.

KK85

Absolutely! I think, provided there are no complications, these things take around 8-10 months in total, don't they. Unless you're unlucky. And then they take 43,000 years. We're anticipating/hoping for a late-Summer move for me.

Where in the States will you be off to?

Brownie87

Yes, it does seem to average at about that from what I have seen. Late summer seems feasible from your timeline.

My husband lives in New Jersey currently. I see you are headed to Harrisburg, PA. My husband and I passed through there last year, it looks nice from the little I saw.

KK85

It's a very small and quiet city (even compared to Cardiff), but very picturesque, and I've only ever had pleasant, friendly experiences there so far. I'm excited and keen to discover more about it! My husband actually lives in a very small suburb, about twenty minutes from the city, and we're not planning on staying in Harrisburg long term (he has a lot of family in Long Island, and we're in love with NY) but we'll almost certainly be within a 30 mile radius of Harrisburg for the immediate future.

My only experience of NJ is driving through it countless times on our way back from Newark/JFK! I hope wherever you're headed is somewhere you like and enjoy. I've found that element of this immigration process - the fact that (in my case, certainly) we just kind of "land" wherever our partner is, with little initial choice in the matter - to be one of the most exciting. Here's to exploring the unknown!

Best of luck to you!

Brownie87

That sounds like a plan! Even if you don't stay in Harrisburg for long, I'm sure you will have fun exploring it until your move to NY, which sounds amazing by the way, I also love NY!

There are some nice parts in New Jersey, and I think the proximity to other places on the East Coast is a plus. However, we are also thinking of moving, but to somewhere a bit cheaper. At this point, we're not sure when or where that will be.

I agree, it is very exciting!

Thanks for the kind wishes. I wish you the best of luck also!

ivanidea

Our I-130 was sent to Potomac, and 5 months after the application was sent, we were approved.

Three weeks later (today), and my wife received the letter with the case number.

Now we begin the next stage.

I assume that it should be fine to act as my own agent in this matter (next step is to choose an agent).

Also, my wife discovered there were 2 versions of the I-864. The full version and the EZ version. Can we choose which to use or will we be told which one to use?

The fee for the Police certificate is now £45.

ivanidea

Actually, reading the letter, it seems my US wife needs to start the online process, especially since she has the US bank account to pay the fee(s).

Is it better for her or me to be the agent?

ian-mstm

You can use the I-864EZ version only if you meet the 125% income requirement without using any assets whatsoever, you don't need a joint sponsor, and you have tax returns that demonstrate your sole income as being sufficient. If you don't meet those requirements, you must use the I-864.

Ian

KK85

Update:

Hello, all!

My USC husband and I received our NOA-2 on the 17th of May - the paperwork was dated 11th May. From submission to approval, our I-130 took ~6.5 months.

So now we're anticipating starting the NVC stage. As the beneficiary, I am still waiting to receive my paperwork from USCIS in order to start that part of the process - for now, I am still in the States with my husband (his mother passed away two days after I arrived. I am so glad I bought those flights when I did, and I'm so glad I can be here with him during this time). I will be here for 3.5 more weeks, and then back to the UK, with hopefully not too long a wait for my medical, interview and final Stateside move!

I have been absent from the forum for this past few weeks due to our sad circumstances, but I have updates for some of my other threads (moving my cat here, for example - he's doing well!) and will get to updating those as soon as I can.

Looking forward to sharing this next stage of the process with everyone.

Brownie87

Congratulations on your approval!

We're currently at the NVC stage, we submitted our documents 3 weeks ago.

It took 3 weeks from our NOA2 to get our case and invoice number from the NVC, but we didn't wait for them to contact us, we called them lol.

Sorry for your loss.

aless02

Congrats! Been wondering how you've been getting on.

KK85

Thank you both!