Why do processing times continue to increase specifically for the I-130 and the I-129F visas?

There are a lot of applications that are going to immigration and they don’t have the people power to review the applications. The applications are going to certain service centers that handle the spouse visa I-130 petitions. There are other service centers that handle the I-129F visa petitions and depending on caseloads and staff, those wait times can fluctuate.

There are a lot of cases and not enough individuals to review them. It also comes down to a matter of systems and procedures and how immigration is reviewing these applications. With processing times in mind, immigration is making a concerted effort to make changes.

Did the processing times for K1 and CR1 spouse visas change after Biden’s bill passed?

Immigration has announced they are making concerted efforts to hire more people to review their systems and to find ways to be more efficient and process applications faster.

Unfortunately, these changes take time. These changes will not happen overnight. But immigration is hiring more people, training more people, and working on more efficient systems to get applications processed in a faster manner.

What You Can Do

Our attorneys and team members have advocated in DC. We’ve spoken with members of congress not just in our states and district but we’ve been able to speak directly with congress and letting them know the impact these long wait times have.

You can actually do the same thing. You can search and look for who is your representative. They’ll have you put in your address so you can find who your representatives are and you can actually reach out and share your story and tell them how the wait times are impacting you and your future.

This is something that you do to bring awareness. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the congressional representative would make your particular case go faster. In some situations, that’s possible.