Start by checking the contact information and the acknowledgement instructions for your actual application. The program’s description in weeks is not a guaranteed response date. If the expected communication is missing, ask through the official channel using the payment reference; prolonged unexplained delay may warrant legal advice about available follow-up options.
Checking status without inventing a clock
Keep a simple log: the payment date, each verification you performed, each enquiry and any answer received. That log is useful evidence if a discrepancy appears later, and it stops the same question being asked three ways at once. Remember that vetting, the gift instruction, the EB-1 or EB-2 determination and visa availability each have their own pace, and none of them promises approval, a date, or eventual citizenship.
Silence is not a party you can chase, so identify one that is. The official channel answers enquiries about a specific application; a payment processor answers questions about a transaction; counsel advises on what follow-up options exist if an unexplained delay continues. Direct each question to the body able to answer it, and record who you asked and when.
Hypothetical example: an applicant who designs planting schemes for commercial sites sets a single review date in the calendar and, when it arrives, makes one enquiry through the official channel rather than three enquiries by three routes. The pace of vetting, of the gift instruction, of the EB-1 or EB-2 determination and of visa availability is set by others, and none of them promises approval or a date.