Got my I-130 finally approved.

We filed Nov 28, 2016. Scheduled for interview on Sep 18, 2017 (due to prior removal order). We did okay however the officer wanted more documents to decide the case. We gathered up everything we could muster in short period of time and just sent it to the field office a week later. Late October, got an RFE asking for more evidence, due Nov 22, 2017. We were in middle of gathering literally everything, pictures, gift receipts, bank statements, affidavits from family and college friends, as of today we have about 60 pages of various things.

Out of the blue, today we got an approval notice, dated 11/7/17. We didn't yet respond to the RFE. Best guess is that they reviewed the documents we quickly gathered up right after sending us an RFE and decided to approve the case, or the case somehow ended up in review in NBC which reversed the field office.

I was ready to file for an appeal to the BIA should this case had been denied.

Well still have immigration court to deal with, then I-601A, then consular, but it's a first major step.


Feel free to merge this post into whatever you think is relevant. Just needed to share.

Congratulations mate!

Congrats! How long were you guys married for?

Since Nov 22, 2016. Irony of having the RFE due on our anniversary was definitely not lost on me.

Congratulations on a major step. I know having this application approved is a major turning point. Now it is time to present the case to the court and send copies of the evidence to opposing counsel before going to court. All(Judge, Government and yourself) are on the same page and it gives no reason for the government to request an extension of time to review evidence.

Congrats, hope everything work out for you

Congrats! I bet you feel better.

Congrats!!! I know the feeling of just getting something approved ....stepping stone

what documents did you initially submit that they requested more evidence? were you married for a short period of time before sending your package?

We just sent in copies of marriage license, her passport, and my passport. Usually that's enough for a standalone I-130.

Turns out they basically treat it closer to an AOS interview if you were in removal proceedings. So we got a call in notice that gave us basically 1 week. We quickly got a letter from the landlady, pictures, and some other stuff. Guy said it's not enough and to send in more to his attention. We gathered up some financial documents, a few more photos, all pages of my passport (no idea why he wanted to see that during the interview). Send in it a week later. Got RFE, we started collecting everything: all financials, all pictures we could find, email conversations (more just to show they date back to 2013), affidavits from family and friends. We almost had everything wrapped up and yesterday the approval arrived.

Guess they issued an RFE prior to reviewing the first batch of hastily collected documents.