With the holiday season now beginning in earnest, families from all over the world are starting to gather together in order to celebrate the festive period. However, many families are separated and because of this expressions of concern from the general public in regards to extended processing time for the Petition for Alien Relative, also known simply as the I-130 form, have been received by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
US immigration is very concerned about preserving family unity and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is very mindful of the need to have I-130 forms processed both accurately and quickly. Because of the recent concerns that have been raised by the general public, addressing delays in the processing of these forms has been the focus of the organization over the course of the last few months.
In November the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services started to transfer standalone I-130 forms to service centers in California, Nebraska and Texas from their National Benefits Center, so that cases can be adjudicated in a considerably more timely fashion. The bureau also recently released a statement confirming that forms filed as recently as in the February of this year are now being adjudicated.
Given that previously published data indicated a backlog dating to October 2012, this is a significant step forward and by the May of next year it is expected that I-130 form processing times will go back to an average of around five months.