lolita

Wow, I thought that it would be faster. Thank you so much Rene for all the info.

Noorah101

Here's a link to what Priority Date means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priority_date

It's really only faster for spouses or parents of USCs. Those get a visa number immediately available, and are processed right away (takes around a year or less). The problem is that the other categories don't get visa numbers right away, so they have to wait in line for their turn to get a visa number...there are only so many numbers in those categories issued each year, and you just have to keep waiting for your turn...thus such a long backlog.

Rene

lolita

What do you mean by a visa number? they already have a number that looks like the alien #, is this the number???

Noorah101

Where did they get such a number? You need to be more specific.

But no, the Alien number is not the same as a Visa number. But if they already have an Alien number, it seems they've immigrated here before. Is that the case?

lolita

the number, which start with teh letter A, appears in the second letter that they received. I guess is the alien number because it has the same amount of numbers as the alien #

Noorah101

OK, now I'm confused. When you say "they", do you mean the son and grandsons? What letter did they receive?

You only said that your grandmother received I-130 approval in April. You didn't say anyone else received anything.

The alien number still isn't the same thing as a visa number, but now I'm curious what letter the son received?

lolita

teh son didn't received any letter, it was my grandmother, who lives here in the US. She received 2 letters, one saying that they recieved the case, and teh other on april saying that it was approved (the case), this letter came with 2 numbers, one, the case number, and the second one, which it seems like an alien number.

Noorah101

Oh, ok. When you said "they" I thought you meant the son and grandsons.

OK, sounds normal so far. I suppose that could be an alien number, yes. But it doesn't mean anything for now. It still can't be processed until the priority date becomes current. That means, on the link I provided before to the visa bulletin, that when the date of April 2007 shows up in their category (which now says 2001), then it means the I-130 will start to be processed and after that it might take around a year or so.

Rene

lolita

it sounds too far, well, then the only thing that we can do is to wait I guess, thanks Rene for all your help.