How long does it take for card approval after PD becomes current (EB1C - India)

[grayleader]

My priority date is April 2015 and my I 485 (EB1C India) was filed on April 2019 due to the filing date being current.. Fingerprinting was done shortly after but we got an RFE in July. We responded to the RFE in a month and Interview was scheduled in October. The Interview was in December. Since the Final Action Date was not current, we did not get an approval and the document the officer gave us said they were unable to make a decision at that time.

My attorney told me that is normal and that they would take a decision when the Final Action Dates were current. My priority date became current in the April 2020 Visa Bulletin. The first three letters of the receipt number are MSC.

It has been about 6 weeks since the date became current. Is it normal for the approval to take this long? The online status tracker is stuck in 'On Ocrtober ... your interview was scheduled'. Are any of you in a similar situation as me?

[Enub4]

Did the officer told you that the only reason not to approve was your PD not being current? I have read a couple of posts from people that said that took up to 3 months after PD became current.

I hope you get your approval soon. Good luck.

[grayleader]

No the office didn't say anything. Just handed me a white paper which had a few options and the option which said 'we are unable to make a decision now was checked'. Our attorney said that if the priority date was not current they usually do that.
Thanks for your reply!

[scubby3]

Don't hold your breath. Altho all cases are different. My interview was October 31st 2018 until this moment my status still remains at interview was scheduled i called them so many times and they would not give me any information.

[dvp858]

This behavior seems to be common. Unfortunately there is way to tell how long it will take.

[IN888658S]

I am in the same boat as you are. My interview was complete in Oct 2018. Please do let us know how long did it take for USCIS to make a decision on your I485 application after the final action date became current in April 2020. I hope you have received your green card by now! Thanks.

[grayleader]

No. Not yet. With the layoffs at NBC I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

[R78]

There is no timeline. Could be a few days to several months.
When the final action date is current, it means the USCIS resumes processing of I-485 applications for that category. If additional evidence is needed (or an updated medical exam), then you will receive an RFE and your processing pauses. It resumes back up only when you submit the required documents per the RFE.

An application is only approved if there is an immigrant visa number available (on that day / at that instant). This is assigned to you from the visa pool. If the pool depletes to zero, then the application processing stops (internally) before it is published on the next bulletin.

[IN888658S]

WoW! Thanks for the clarification, R78!

As grayleader mentions the layoffs at NBC is not helping either. Looks like it is going to be a long wait even after the final action date becomes current.

I am hoping though as soon as the final action date becomes current, NBC will transfer the cases to the local USCIS center for the period that became current before they publish the next period in the following USCIS visa bulletin. I hope this is not wishful thinking because if they are advancing the dates in the next bulletin, it should mean that they have completed attending the cases in the previous bulletin. Otherwise, advancing timeline really doesn’t make sense!

Additionally, I am hoping that if the RFE’s, Medicals, interviews are all done and we are just waiting for visa to be available, then USCIS should process (within the same month) when the final action date became current. From grayleader’s experience, it doesn’t seem to be the case though!

[grayleader]

I filed an SR online recently and got this response (in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same):

On  05/21/2020 , you or your representative contacted U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
about your I-485 application because you believe your case is outside normal processing times.
We are still reviewing your case.
We will mail you a notice when we make a decision.

[IN888658S]

What is a normal processing times from USCIS standpoint. How many weeks are they expecting to provide a decision after the date becomes current per Visa bulletin for a category. Thanks.

[Enub4]

What is a normal processing times from USCIS standpoint. How many weeks are they expecting to provide a decision after the date becomes current per Visa bulletin for a category. Thanks.

I think there are too many variables and it just too different for each case. I have read 1 case that the GC was approved a week before the visa bulletin date that put the date as current (the visa bulletin for next month was already available), but others that wait 2 weeks and some several months.

OP has been waiting for 2 months.

[grayleader]

Yes. There has been no movement on my case so far. Maybe I am just unlucky and you may have better luck.

[IN888658S]

With the July 2020 bulletin out, I’m excited to see how India EB1 final action dates are progressing. I hope they become current soon!

And also hoping that once the dates become current, USCIS processes them as soon as possible. 2 - 3 months wait as we have waited so long is reasonable!!

Thank-you for keeping this post active!

[IN888658S]

One other question, Do we have to take the medicals again because of the delay in final action dates, even after it was submitted (and accepted without RFE) before the completion of USCIS interview. Thanks.