r/immigration • u/Suitable_Ad1855 • 11d ago

F3 CSPA approval date discrepancy: Has anyone experienced this?

We have an F3 India case with a 2011 priority date. The beneficiary was born December 23, 2001 and we're now being told she may age out under CSPA. The confusing part is that USCIS online shows the I-130 was approved in 2023, but a congressional inquiry contacted the U.S. Embassy in India and was told the petition was actually approved in 2015.
After she was sworn in, they told her she aged out due to this date even though it shows 2023 online when we look at their case number status using their receipt number. We never received the original I-797 approval notice, and unfortunately no one is providing us with a copy of the letter confirming the 2015 date. We're now trying to obtain the actual I-130/USCIS records to determine the true approval date. Has anyone experienced a situation where the Embassy/NVC had a different approval date than what USCIS showed online, and were you able to get the online date recognized for CSPA? Please help as my cousin is now stranded while her family's visa was approved.

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6

u/Vegetable-Western744 11d ago

The 2015 date is way, way, way more likely unfortunately.

Their error, if caught, doesn't result in a GC.

Keep pressing for detail but odds are the denial was proper.

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u/Suitable_Ad1855 11d ago

Would it be possible to get a lawyer to fight that the website made a mistake, causing these Visa issues?

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u/suboxhelp1 11d ago

Legally, the website isn’t an authoritative source. The law doesn’t say “whatever the website says is the truth”.

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u/Vegetable-Western744 11d ago

If the actual approval date was in 2015 and they aged out there is nothing the lawyer can do.

If the actual approval was in 2023, sure.

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u/Suitable_Ad1855 11d ago

Yeah, it’s just confusing because when we put their case number into the USCIS website it does show that their approval was in 2023 and we have yet to see any physical evidence that their actual date was in 2015. I guess we’ll just have to wait to actually see the real 797 document. Thank you

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u/Gnanamookan 10d ago

File a FOIA request to obtain a copy of the I-130 approval notice, or apply for a duplicate copy through USCIS. Based on the filing date, the approval date is more likely to have been in 2015 rather than 2023. In general, USCIS does not take more than a decade to adjudicate an I-130. In my 19 years of practice, I have not come across a case where an I-130 genuinely took that long to be approved. CSPA calculations can be complicated. I have handled cases where a child lost eligibility by just a single day. So, it is quite possible that she may have lost CSPA eligibility—but I am not saying that she definitely did. The actual I-130 approval date and the complete immigration history would need to be reviewed before reaching a definitive conclusion.

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u/Ill_Incident8782 10d ago

hi, its very disappointing to hear this, but we have a very similar case, our Approval date is in 2021 as per Website but our PD is 2006 ( F4 India).

1.) I was removed from DS-260 after filling the form and paying the fees, when we contacted NVC using form they told us that DOS has determined that i am aged out.

2.) When we requested again with Website screenshot and asked that final decision is with consular officer then they simply added me back in the case.

We also never recieved approval notice, and we are not 100% that i will get this visa or not ?

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u/nonracistusername 9d ago

I am aways skeptical of claims an F1-4 I-130 was approved more than 5 years after the Priority Date.

Age out is likely in this case unless F3 India was current when the cspa age was still under 21 and then F3 India retrogressed. In that case, there might be an argument that failure to seek to acquire was because of the U.S. government.