New USCIS regulations for CSPA - Page 2

(I'm going to comment on family-based immigration)

The CSPA was enacted to account for administrative delays by the USCIS. It does not compensate those applicants in oversubscribed visa categories. What it does account for is the time it takes from the initial filing of I-130 to an approved I-130. The potentially very long wait after the I-130 to the time a visa becomes available is not accounted for in the CSPA formula.

Formula (using I-130 as an example):

Age of "child" at the time a visa number is available in his/her category - (Date I-130 applied for - Date I-130 approved)

It is very important to clarify the terms that are being throw around. "Petition" essentially means "I-130." An "approved petition" IS NOT the same thing as "visa number becomes available," which even the USCIS information seems to misconstrue. The thing that screws most of us over is the time after the I-130 is approved to the time an immigrant visa number becames available (when we can file, for example, for Adjustment of Status). To my knowledge, the CSPA does not cover that. It essentially "credits" the time it takes for the USCIS to approve an I-130 because as we all know, it is a completely inefficient and incompetent agency.

Sent you a pm, rocksteady.

So from May 2010 to June 2010, the F2A category's current priority dates move ahead from DEC 06 to JAN 08. Where was this big jump when I needed it 6 months ago? My petition was approved earlier than I expected, so I lost my CSPA qualification and got transfered to F2B, currently at MAR 99. This is so arbitrary! Sorry, only venting. I would have been on my way to being legal by now, but it was not to be. Sigh.