Is it better to file your I-130 online or by paper? We're in an interesting time in USCIS
history where they are trying to roll out new
technologically advanced ways of working with applications which is great and we definitely
support those efforts. But, it's still in a, they won't say it's beta, but it's sort of a
beta. It doesn't do all of the applications and
we run into glitches with the online system. That being said, as a law firm of
course, we're doing a ton of these. We always want to know what option gives
our clients the best advantage because if paper is working better or if online filing's working better.
There was a time when it looked like the online was going to be faster and
they had proposed making it ten dollars cheaper to encourage people to be
the first guinea pigs on that system. We periodically test
both methods so that we can always know where they're at. But what we've seen so far is
you're fine to file either way right now. This is really up to you and I'll
talk about some of the pros and cons. From our perspective, we have been periodically
testing the online I-130 and we do not yet see an advantage to the online filing versus the paper.
Specifically because sometimes, when you're working on an online I-130, you'll run into glitches where
the system can be slow. The data entry definitely takes a lot longer on the
online system. There's a lot more repetition and there aren't tools that we can use to
fill it faster which we would be able to do with the paper form. And sometimes, the system will
erase your stuff or it'll disappear for a while and it'll be weird. Sometimes, it works great.
It's really up to you. Especially if you're doing your own case and you're only doing one,
you probably don't mind as much as we do if it takes you like three times as long to do the
online version versus the paper version. We have definitely heard some officers say at interviews
with adjustments where they would have filed the I-130 and things like
that. No, not with adjustments actually. I take that back. We've heard officers say however that some
of the online filed forms, that the system that the information goes into,
it then gets transferred over to their system and sometimes there seem to be glitches in that system
too. Just like any computer system, it's not always perfect. Sometimes, we've had an experience where
the client seems to have had glitches that were introduced by the online filing. That can
be remedied but in general, we're still preferring paper. Not because we prefer paper. We're a fully
digital law firm except for what we have to file with immigration. But just because right now,
it's still kind of beta. That being said, the advantage of filing online is that
you do get a receipt notice right away which gives some people a definite feeling of security.
I do want to clarify, one of the misconceptions is people say if you file
online, you get in line faster. But for most people, that's only going to be a matter of hours or days
because even though the paper receipt notice is a little bit more delayed, they're still going to
backdate it to the date that they received it. If you file it today and you send
it overnight, tomorrow is the date that shows up on your receipt. Even though they don't
get the receipt tomorrow, they will down the line and you can also file the form G1145
just so that you get electronic notifications a little bit sooner than paper notifications also.
We'll have to have a regular thing where it's like the
state of the electronic filing with USCIS obviously impacts all of us a lot. And so,
we're watching it closely. We do appreciate the movement towards the technology and a lot more
technological implementation in offices. We'll keep you posted on this one but
for now, you're good either way. There are a lot of forms you still can't file online and
people are sometimes like, "Why can't I file this?" or "Why can't I file my whole adjustment
online?" The system doesn't do that yet so what are you gonna do?