britintx

I'm confused about INS processing dates.

I have I-140 receipt notices dated Dec 2001 at Texas Service Center (TSC) for EB1-Extraordinary Ability and EB2-National Interest Waiver, and have heard nothing back since then.

However, the TSC figures for June 2002 show they are currently processing I-140 applications with a receipt date of 03/24/02! How long does "processing" take - i.e. should I have expected to hear something by now?

Also, do all I-140 categories take about the same time, or do some typically take longer than others - what's the average processing time for each (EB1, EB2, EB3)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Tue, 09 Jul 2002 15:20:07 -0700, britintx wrote:

    > I'm confused about INS processing dates.
    >
    > I have I-140 receipt notices dated Dec 2001 at Texas Service Center (TSC) for
    > EB1-Extraordinary Ability and EB2-National Interest Waiver, and have heard nothing
    > back since then.
    >
    > However, the TSC figures for June 2002 show they are currently processing I-140
    > applications with a receipt date of 03/24/02! How long does "processing" take -
    > i.e. should I have expected to hear something by now?
    >
    > Also, do all I-140 categories take about the same time, or do some typically take
    > longer than others - what's the average processing time for each (EB1, EB2, EB3)?
    >
    > Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know about the Texas service center, but in some centers, they actually
rotate the processing - one month, they only process EB-1s, one month, only EB-2s,
one month, only EB-3s, etc. The receipt date you see then becomes completely
meaningless - it's just the last application of that month's type that is currently
being processed.

Regardless, you should have at least received a receipt notice for the I-140.

Ingo

britintx

Yes, I have a receipt notice from the Texas Service Center (TSC) dated early December, which also says that "It usually takes 200 to 275 days from the date of this receipt for us to process this type of case".

However when I call the TSC's automated call center the message tells me the processing time is now down to 150-180 days.

My I-140 has now been with them some 210+ days. I've tried calling the Center during the day but the line is always busy. Their web site says they prefer faxes anyway - has anyone any experience of their responsiveness to faxes?

Also, should I bother them at all, or leave it a month or so?

Ingo Pakleppa

On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 10:20:27 -0700, britintx wrote:

    > Yes, I have a receipt notice from the Texas Service Center (TSC) dated early
    > December, which also says that "It usually takes 200 to 275 days from the date of
    > this receipt for us to process this type of case".
    >
    > However when I call the TSC's automated call center the message tells me the
    > processing time is now down to 150-180 days.
    >
    > My I-140 has now been with them some 210+ days. I've tried calling the Center
    > during the day but the line is always busy. Their web site says they prefer faxes
    > anyway - has anyone any experience of their responsiveness to faxes?
    >
    > Also, should I bother them at all, or leave it a month or so?

You should ignore both the number on the receipt and on the phone system, they are
essentially random without meaning. What you should do is look up the actual
processing times that INS inofficially publishes (you can get them through various
Web sites, such as http://www.shusterman.com or http://www.visalaw.com) and compare
your own processing time with that. Then allow an extra 30 days (that's because the
dates listed there are not when the INS officer approves it, but when it is forwarded
to his desk, 30 days earlier). Once that time has passed, you can indeed send a fax,
and when I did that several years ago, INS seemed fairly responsive.

Ingo

britintx

Ingo, thanks for the advice.

The published TSC processing times for I-140's is even less at 131 days!

So my two are effectively 80+ days beyond that without even an RFE.

I have tried to get a fax through to them, but the line always seems busy, even at midnight - do they leave it on at night?

...sigh...

britintx

I can give up trying to call/fax INS because I got word from my immigration lawyer that they got an I-140 approval notice today.

Thanks for your advice.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 13:20:04 -0700, britintx wrote:

    > I can give up trying to call/fax INS because I got word from my immigration lawyer
    > that they got an I-140 approval notice today.
    >
    > Thanks for your advice.

Congratulations!