i130 for Spouse filed in Sep 2019

[Aman123]

Hi All,

I am GC holder. I filed i-130 for my spouse in September 2019. My spouse is still overseas. Our service center is Texas Service Center. We are still waiting for our case to be approved. Called USCIS then figured out that the case is still in background verification from Aug 2020. So, my questions are

1. Is it normal timeline?
2. What all the steps we can take to expediate the request?
3. Is there a way to escalate so that background verification team can escalate?
4. What are next steps after approval? How long does it usually takes?

Any guidance or recommendation would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Surmeet Kaur]

I heard that USCIS is taking 18-20 months to approvw i-130 due to covid.

my friend just got aproved who has filed in aug 2019