After submitting your relevant details, paying the fees, and filling in all the documentation the USCIS update requires, your Case can either be approved or rejected; You can know this by checking your Case Status online. They update Case Statuses according to specific processing times. Processing times are a huge contributor to your Case Status and give you an estimate of how long your case will take before the decision of approval or rejection is made. The USCIS updates processing times monthly.
How to check your Case Status?
How can you check your Case Status? You can check your Case Status on their website https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do by entering your receipt number which has thirteen characters, three of them being letters and the rest being numbers. When entering the receipt number, hyphens/ dashes is omitted and other characters included, for example, * as long as it is part of the receipt number.
Processing times and how they work?
The Processing time is the duration of time it takes the USCIS update to complete 80% of case status that have been adjudicated in the last six months. In simple terms, this is the duration of time, in months or days, that has elapsed from the time the USCIS received your petition/application/request to the time they approve or reject your Petition/application/request.
To check the processing time for your specific case, visit their website https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ and choose the form and form category that has your case from the drop-down menu as well as your service center/ the field office that is processing your case (found on your receipt).
What happens when your Petition is approved by the USCIS?
After the USCIS approves your petition, they then transfer your case to the Department of States National Visa Center, where they will create an original case for you in their system and after that is completed you will receive a welcome letter. Once you receive the welcome letter, you will be required to pay a processing fee that is to be paid from a U.S checking or savings account.
There are two types of processing fees; The Affidavit of Support Fee and the Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fee, which are to be paid one at a time. The processing of your payment will take about a week and your financial sponsor is allowed to fill the Affidavit of Support as a requirement. On completion of the form by the sponsor or sponsors, they will need to provide evidence of their finances along with supporting documents.
The next step is the completion of the online visa application (DS-260) which is to be filled by you, the immigrating party, and submitted. The confirmation page must be printed and brought to the visa interview. You will then collect the civil documents that support your visa application, scan them, and submit them. After this preparation for the interview is to begin, followed by attending the actual interview. If unfortunately your visa is rejected you will be notified of the reasons by the consular.
Conclusion
One can estimate the time it will take for their case status to be updated by using processing times.
Where is the receipt number found?
You can find your receipt number on the receipt note provided by the USCIS, which contains;
Form type or Case numberReceipt number (13 characters)Receipt dateUSCIS office
You can also contact their toll-free number 800-375-5283 for further queries.
How come USCIS switched from providing a variety of times to providing only one?
USCIS received some complaints about the confusing times and opted to resolve this by only showing one processing time on their website.
My Case is taking too long. What should I do?
First, you will need to check your processing time, and if you find that it is far from the stated range and thus beyond the time it takes to complete 93% of adjudicated cases they will provide you with a link where you can submit any queries.
What is premium processing?
Premium processing occurs when a supplementary fee is paid to expedite the adjudication process of specific forms to about 15 days.
In the calculation of processing times, are premium cases included?
No, they do not include cases that undergo such types of processing in the calculation of processing times.
