3 months...

*Reference link to abbreviations/term post*

So, it's been exactly three months now that USCIS has received our I-130 package.

Some good news! Someone I became friends with on VJ (and later, Facebook) informed me she got approved Tuesday evening! She has the exact same NOA1 date as me, so it looks like CSC is working on September petitions. I also found out on Tuesday that someone with a September 3rd NOA1 date got approved as well. And just today, I found two more people with approvals (one with the same NOA1 date as ours and the other with a September 10th NOA1 date). So far, that's 4 people with September NOA1 dates that have been approved at CSC. Really good news! I believe the mass transfer of petitions from CSC to TSC really did help the load at CSC.

I'm checking the USCIS website even more often now. And I have my husband's email account open on my other monitor all day, so I know instantly when he gets an email. Keeping my eye out for one from USCIS about an approval.

In other news, Ben left Tuesday :( His flight in Montreal ended up getting delayed for an hour. We were both really worried since, with this delay, he wouldn't make his second flight. And neither would his luggage. But near the end of his first flight, thankfully, his second flight got delayed. He was able to make it (along with his checked bag). The plane ended up being delayed almost another hour on the runway since Chicago was backed up. He finally made it to Sioux Falls and got home around 3:30am my time.

I was sad to see him go, but I didn't cry as much since I know he's going to be back for Christmas. I had a great time while he was here. We saw Harry Potter together and went out to my favorite Japanese restaurant twice. We also had dinner with my grandparents and uncle and aunt. We also watched the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy over two days. He's never seen the movies before, so I was really glad we got to watch them. Plus, I haven't seen the movies in years and enjoyed watching them again. I can't wait to see him again in about a month! Hopefully we'll have our NOA2 by then.

~Lindsay

Mass CSC to TSC transfers

*Reference link to abbreviations/terms post*

So, perhaps more good news.

Within the last few days, there have been many petitions from CSC being transferred to the Texas Service Center on VJ. I've been following this one thread specific to this mass transfer and it might be good news for both those transferred and those still at CSC. Apparently, VSC did a mass transfer awhile ago as well to TSC and within a few weeks, many people were getting their NOA2s. TSC doesn't usually process I-130s, so most likely the processing times will be reduced for those transferred. Plus, with all these transfers, there's less petitions at CSC now, so petitions should be approved faster there as well.

Someone also mentioned in this thread I'm following that in March/April/May there were a lot of petitions sent, and now that CSC is through that (they're currently approving petitions from June), petitions will get approved faster since there are fewer petitions sent in June/July/August. Which is great news for Ben and I. I really do believe we might hear something by the end of the year. If we do, I might just be able to make it to South Dakota on time for our one year anniversary, as long as there are no major problems or hurdles.

~Lindsay

P.S. Ben booked tickets a few days ago for another visit! Since he's in the USA, they have Thanksgiving at the end of November. His work gives November 25th and 26th off for the holiday. So, he's going to leave the 24th after lunch (he gets paid a full day if he leaves after lunch) and will return to the USA the following Tuesday, the 30th. Almost a week with my love! *excited*

2 months...

So it's been 2 months that our petition has been at CSC now. Still keeping all fingers and toes crossed that I get a Christmas present (or earlier ^_^ ) of an approved petition from USCIS.

~Lindsay

Renewed hope!

So, I get notifications to my email on a few threads on VJ and I got one for an August 2010 filer thread that I'm a part of. Anyways, I checked out the new comments on the thread and was shocked. Apparently someone who has an NOA1 of August 10 (about a month before ours) got their NOA2 4 days ago! That's amazing that it was approved in less than 3 months. The average time now for CSC is 5-6 months. This has given me renewed hope that it's possible for our petition to be approved by Christmas. I'm hoping that our petition at CSC lands on the same desk that the person above got because it must have been one speedy officer!

~Lindsay

One month mark...

Really quick update:

So, it's been exactly one month from our NOA1 date. Processing times for CSC has roughly been 5 months, so I'm hoping there's only 4 more months to wait. Less than 4 months would be fantastic. I'm hoping to get a wonderful Christmas present from USCIS. Getting a birthday present would be even better, but that's unrealistic. I'm hoping CSC starts to speed up on processing times. I really, really want to be in South Dakota by our first year anniversary.

~Lindsay

I-130 transferred

Thursday night Ben got an email from USCIS saying that they received our I-130 package and that it's being transferred to the California Service Center to be processed. They also mentioned in the email that we should receive the NOA1 in 7-10 days. Yay for progress! And once we get that, we can start tracking our package on the USCIS website to see if anyone has looked at it. I'll be checking it everyday religiously.

In other sadder news, Ben will be leaving tomorrow morning. We need to leave my house at 5:45am to beat the traffic and get to the airport on time. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to him, but I know he'll come back and visit when he can.

~Lindsay