Beginning May 16, 2007 visa petitioners may submit I-129 applications for O or P visas up to a maximum of one year in advance of their need for the foreign artist’s services.  Currently, the earliest petitioners may file is only up to 6 months in advance of a performance.  Extending the earliest filing date from 6 to 12 months may provide relief for those petitioners prepared to file far in advance of a performance. Remember—file petitions as early as possible to be spared the $1,000 Premium Processing fee and to allow more time for consular processing to be completed. In June 2001, and in the aftermath of 9/11, processing times are hard to predict. In most cases, though, they have increased dramatically, in some cases to as much as six months.

In response to each filing, USCIS provides an I-797 filing receipt that indicates the range of processing time anticipated for the particular type of petition or application. It is unclear how accurate or up-to-date these estimates are. Moreover, these processing time ranges do NOT take into account the time needed: for the service center to print and mail the approval notice after approval is entered into the computer; for the petitioner (not the artist) to receive that approval notice (especially if regular mail is used); for petitioner then to transmit the approval notice to the artist abroad; and, crucially, for the artist then to apply for and receive the visa through consular processing.

What is clear is that since 2001, many, many petitioners have experienced turnaround times considerably in excess of the estimates stated on the I-797 receipt notices. Accordingly, depending on the circumstances, filing as early as possible seems advisable, even at the risk of having to respond to a request for further evidence, and even at the risk of having to substitute some personnel after the fact when petitioning for P classifications. Indeed, filing well in advance is critical. Always file absolutely as early as possible, and at least six months in advance unless premium processing. No service center sympathizes with those who, with proper planning, could have filed sufficiently in advance but did not, only later to seek an expedite!

Fortunately, USCIS has made it easy to discover real processing times and to track the progress of individual cases. Clicking here will take you to a page from which you can check the status of an individual case on line. However, the only information this reveals is whether the case is in process, approved or denied. Also, the processing times this page quotes correspond to those on the filing receipt. The same site will enable you to check processing times, updated bi-weekly, at either of the service centers. It even is possible to create an account to enable USCIS automatically to email any status updates.

Knowing the service center processing times is crucial because National Call Service Center (NCSC) operators are not supposed to provide additional support until the case is past due according to the currently quoted processing times. In short, the information on the receipt that is repeated online is useless. What counts is the current processing time estimate by the service center for the particular type of petition or application.