₦airaland Forum

VisaOfficer:
Right now F2A cases that were filed before August 1, 2013, are eligible to be scheduled for interviews.
It's not a backlog, technically (although I know it feels like one to people who are waiting). There are limits on how many immigrant visas can be issued worldwide each year, and some categories have preference over other categories. For instance, as the spouse of a Legal Permanent Resident, you have a shorter wait than the adult children of Legal Permanent Residents and citizens, but not as short as the spouses of U.S. citizens. That's one of the many advantages of being a citizen. Here's the official explanation:
Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.
So, in Nigeria, as everywhere, we may only issue visas to 25,620 principal applicants and 7,320 dependents each year, and they are divided up among the various family-sponsored and employment-based visa categories. These are different than immediate relative (IR and CR) cases, which have no numerical limits and no priority-date-based waiting time. But your visa category, F2A, spouses and minor children of Legal Permanent Residents, has the shortest wait time of all family-sponsored visa categories.
(In Nigeria we don't actually see 25,620 cases a year, but only because there aren't that many Nigerian cases that are eligible to be scheduled for interviews. The number of petitions filed every year is growing, though, so who knows, we may get to that point some day! We take every case the National Visa Center has ready for us; if they sent us 25,620 cases, we would process them. I'm very proud that we don't have a backlog in my office.)
Hiring an immigration attorney will not help your case move faster. The wait time is normal, and an attorney can't make it shorter.

Thanks for the response. My husband is considering spending more time in Nigeria  pending the time the Visa is granted.

Are there any implications making this move as regards his eligibility as a permanent resident?

Hello VO, my husband (who was my fiance then) applied for his visa and was issued a green card sometime in August 2013. We got married January this year and he filed for me as at February when he went back to America. He later informed me that it appears there's a whole lot of backlog for immigrant visa applications and could take up to 2 years of waiting. Please I would like to find out how long it takes to be called up for interview and if there is anything we could do to help speed things up (like getting an immigrant lawyer), as this has caused us both, so much emotional trauma. We really cant wait to be together so we can start a family. Will be waiting for your response. Thanks and God bless.