Hello everyone -
Facing a dilemma whether to submit online or paper application. Did some math and research and wanted to get some expert opinion on this.
July 30 - Feb 02 online applicants started getting AOR.
August 11 - March 8 online applicants have started to get AOR.
At a similar ratio, for every 2 weeks that pass, 4 weeks of BL is being cleared for online applications.
Based on above ratio, after 3 months( current AOR processing time for paper calculation), 6 months of BL should have been cleared which gets AOR for online applications September 8th timeline.
Currently paper application AOR is taking about 12 weeks (3 months) which means applicants applying in August are looking at mid-November timeline for AOR.
Conclusion: If online applications keep processing at the current rate, it would actually pass paper applications and an online applicant who applied today (Aug 11) would get their AOR potentially around October 22 vs a paper applicant who will get it around November.
Assumptions: Paper application rate stays similar to current state (12 weeks)
Apologies for the long post but would love to hear your thoughts on this as I'm not sure which route to go anymore.