The 2010 London Waiver List

[Traci - Andrew 14]

I can only hope that the USCIS are going to hold off until Friday because Monday is a bank holiday and then they should be able to please a few people over the extended weekend..

They have 9 cases under review and they have not updated us now for 7 days and on Friday it will be 9 days.. So if the average of 1.3 cases per week still holds true they will have completed 2 cases on Friday, but if they want to try and up their average then they need to get through a whole lot more as they are currently doing better just recently at 2.25 cases per week meaning that we should hopefully see at least 3 completed cases this time around, but lets also hope they don't try and do the old trick of just approving new cases that do not require much work, some of us have been waiting a long time.

Obviously I will inform you if any changes occur tomorrow (Thursday) but I doubt it, I still think our best chance of seeing any update will be Friday.. So lets all relax and enjoy the wait.

Come on USCIS I want you to make me busy with my spreadsheet, I am getting bored !!

Take care everyone.

Andrew

[city2countrygirl 0]

Don't worry, I can only speak for myself, but it just came across as frustration at the bureaucracy involved, and of course we can all identify with that!!

Thanks for your empathy...Monday is indeed a Bank Holiday which is why I'll be emailing the embassy on Tuesday for my 'exactly four weeks since the last' update As far as I know my case is in mandatory processing, ie Washington namechecks etc, so I know there's not much the embassy can really say or do, but it'll have been ten weeks this coming Monday

There's a thread over on the UK forum where a couple of posters are saying all cases go through AP (which is actually true) so not to worry if you're told that after your interview, especially as it covers a multitude of sins, and another poster saying yup, 'I panicked and started stressing but actually got my visa within ten days, not too bad'. Ok, so they were lucky, and I'm exceptionally unlucky as I don't fit the AP profile as a British woman, but if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. And when you're told AP you don't know it's 'only' going to be ten days...when I found out that I was in AP almost three weeks after my interview I thought it was because the embassy had forgotten to ask me for my extra passport photos and that when I sent them in I'd be on my merry way...little did I know that it wasn't a case of missing photos and that coming up to ten weeks later I'd still be waiting :( And before I start feeling too sorry for myself, there are people who've been in AP and have been given the run-around far, far longer than I have. All too easy to say 'don't worry' when you're not the one in the 'black hole' or on the waiver list and your life is on hold, and you get your visa without too much if any delay :ranting:

Sorry, rant over. All smiles again It's almost Friday - hopefully at least a few of you will be hearing good news!!

Hi Tree, after reading this post I have decided that I am probably in 'unofficial' AP, even though I too do not fit the profile, but just goes to show, you never can tell ..huh: but maybe its because spring is here but I feel optimistic that something will give for us all very soon.

[JustJ 0]

Just checked the list & it already says April 30th. I guess they've already decided they aren't going to complete any cases tomorrow either.

Nice.

[JustJ 0]

By the way, is there any chance that "May Day," Monday's holiday, requires chocolates?

I only ask because with the huge Valentine's Day & Easter updates, I'm beginning to suspect that large batches of completions are entirely candy-based.

[Traci - Andrew 14]

I-601 UPDATE !! (Thursday 29th April)

Well what a NON EVENT...

What on earth do the USCIS think they are doing, we wait 9 days since the last update and they just add 2 more cases to the Pending pile.

No movement anywhere, no more completed cases and no more moved to Under Review...

Do the USCIS think we are stupid, by posting the update today (Thursday) and then publishing tomorrows date (Friday 30th April 2010) as if we would not notice, why rush to update this on the Thursday when they obviously are not going to be doing any work or updates tomorrow, maybe they have wound down for the Bank holiday early... I am mad that they have had 10 days as of tomorrow since the last update to work on the 9 Under Review cases or the 22 existing Pending cases before the additional 2 got added today... what the hell are they doing? How long does it take to make a decision when you have all the info in front of you?

If they continue on with this poor performance and lack of information I will have to raise a concern to the Ombudsman and complain, not just for our case but for and on behalf of all of us.

Lets hope USCIS read this post and decide to pull their finger out and complete some more cases before the end of tomorrow, they have managed to update the PDF file before twice in a day and the next day at the end of March.. lets see if they can repeat that performance to win back our confidence..

I am sorry if I come across as moaning and whinging, but we fall swiftly now in to another month... 15 weeks I was told at my Interview, it is now currently 24 weeks so far another couple of weeks more and it will be 6 months.. What the hell are they playing at?

Anyway I will update you as and when I hear some more, until then the 2 additions have been reflected in my spreadsheet:> I-601 Waiver Update Spreadsheet 29th April 2010

Take care

Andrew

[JustJ 0]

I'm glad you have the strength to get angry.

Frankly, I'm so deflated that I feel nothing at all.

Mother's Day is coming up - painful reminder that yet another year has passed without the opportunity to even try our alternative reproductive therapies.

[Andrew-Traci 5]

I'm glad you have the strength to get angry.

Frankly, I'm so deflated that I feel nothing at all.

Mother's Day is coming up - painful reminder that yet another year has passed without the opportunity to even try our alternative reproductive therapies.

I am so sorry JustJ... I wish I had some great words of encouragement to offer you, but I am at a loss for words at present I can't believe that they have already released the update with tomorrow's date on it....I have a few choice words for them (none of which are printable) Almost time to flip the page on the calendar to a new month and still NOTHING.

Well to my hubby...we missed your birthday together, if things keep going the way they are I don't think we will be together for my birthday... maybe we should set our sites on our anniversary???? So disappointed in the bloody immigration system... so disappointed.....

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi

Firstly I would like to say thanks to JustJ, City2CountryGirl & TreeHugger for all their supportive comments to me and my wife Traci and everyone else in this hell hole of Waiver & AP

I have calmed down a bit now. . but I thought I would do a little research in to making a complaint about the small amount of cases that the USCIS I-601 unit is getting through and the fact that the timescales being quoted are vastly misleading (15 weeks at my interview and we are now approaching 26 weeks), however it seems that there is no way you can complain, and if you do complain to the department of state you do you will be sent a standard form reply letter and basically nothing happens.

I was reading about one case (Not an I-601 case) that a very ill person applied for an urgent Visa to enter the USA to get treated in a US hospital where they could get the expert medical treatment required, otherwise they would not be able to be treated in the UK and would die. The London US Embassy refused a visa to this person and the officer who interviewed them was apparently very rude stating that they were unlikely to live long enough and therefore would end up dead in the USA causing a lot of issues, they appealed maybe by I-601 but this is a guess and months passed before they eventually got the all clear to attend the hospital in the US, but the person suffered during this time and their health deteriorated enough that they almost did not survive, however they did get the treatment and they are still alive.

This goes to show that even if you are going to die, you still don't get a break and that was just for a tourist visa?

What made me laugh though was the final statement on the US London Embassy USCIS i-601 website page:

Processing of The I-601

Upon receipt of the I-601 package, USCIS will send a postcard via email or post to the applicant confirming when the I-601 was filed with the USCIS London Field Office.

If you do not see your case number listed on our tracking system; this will mean that this office has not yet received your I-601 package from the U.S. Consular Officer where you had applied for the immigrant visa. In this case, you will need to contact the U.S. Consular Officer to ascertain the status of your application.

We ask that you please refrain from contacting this office for status checks while your application is pending. Your cooperation will help us ensure that we maintain our exceptional processing times.

They are joking right

Thanks for reading my rant..

Andrew

[JustJ 0]

Andrew, is this the link you posted earlier? Forgive me if it is - my mind is GONE with stress.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.f6da51a2342135be7e9d7a10e0dc91a0/?vgnextoid=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&CH=afm

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Andrew, is this the link you posted earlier? Forgive me if it is - my mind is GONE with stress.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.f6da51a2342135be7e9d7a10e0dc91a0/?vgnextoid=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&CH=afm

I think this is a newer online version than the one we posted, as the one we gave people was a document I downloaded and shared out via my link.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5362871/i601_AdudicationOfficer.pdf

I hope this helps...

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi

I thought I would post here a copy of an email I just sent to the Ombudsmen for USCIS, this is for your info only, if you want to send one also here is the address: OLUInquiries@dhs.gov

We will see if this does any good or bad..

"Hi

I am currently going through the CR1 Visa process as I am a UK citizen married to a US citizen, I was denied at my interview and a I-601 and waiver was submitted, at this time I was told the average processing time was 15 – 16 weeks from the time the case number appeared on the USCIS I-601 Status PDF file on the London US Embassy website: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/forms/i601_status-web.pdf

Our case number appeared on 10th Nov 2009 on this Status PDF file, however we were” pending” for a very long time (140 days or 20 weeks) then we moved to “Under Review” which was great as we started to see our case progress, however this has now been under review for the last 30 days or 4 Weeks, if we wait 2 more weeks it will be 26 weeks or 6 Months from the outset of the I-601.

Now my issue is not just how long these take as I understand that some cases are more complex than others, however we talk to others waiting on a Forum and ours is less complicated than a lot of other cases out there, but we have been the longest case under the “Pending” heading since I have been recording the updates and movements of the cases since October 2009.

I just think that we are lacking in few areas:

1 – Up to date accurate information regarding the status of the case

2 – Proper timescales (Best guess based on previous similar cases)

3 – Targets that the USCIS should be processing

I have been keeping a detailed spreadsheet of all the updates since 16th October 2009 which is publicly available here : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5362871/Waiver%20Timescale%20I-601.xls

This clearly shows that the USCIS office in London have not processed any waivers at all during some periods of time and in small spurts they complete a few, but this spreadsheet makes interesting reading as it clearly shows that updates are irregular sometimes as long as two weeks between updates, then sometimes they update the status PDF by changing the date and nothing else or just add a couple of new “Pending” cases to the waiting list.

I have calculated that they have only managed to complete 1.3 cases per week, so if this stays the same over a complete year, this would mean that they would only process to completion 67 cases from their entire case load for the I-601’s per year. Which I consider to be rather a low number considering the amount of cases they must get each year.

Also if you look at the Rome I-601 case status PDF they actually give the results so others can see how many failed or succeeded, the UK system needs this and more.. If I can compile this spreadsheet to monitor how many days cases have been Pending or Under Review or even Completed then I am sure USCIS can, this information can then be used to assist the US citizens and foreign spouses as to how long to expect to wait, as we all have our lives on hold during this entire process which for me and my wife has taken over 2.5 years so far.

It also annoys everyone looking at this I-601 update when they just change the date and nothing else, or as in the case of the last update dated 30th April 2010 which was posted to the website on the 29th of April 2010 1 day earlier than the document states, making it appear that they posted it on the Friday but really it was posted on the Thursday afternoon.

Other times at the end of March this form was updated twice a day which is fine however they then started to post on the 1st of April but cases were backdated to March 31st.

If you could please look in to why we have a unreliable update schedule, Poor information i.e., less than Rome gives on their I-601 update & why cases are taking way longer than the average given out by the Embassy staff.

Many thanks

Andrew xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Take care

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Just some STATS for you and the USCIS to read whilst having a coffee.

Number of cases completed by Month

Nov 2009 = 11

Dec 2009 = 2

Jan 2010 = 0

Feb 2010 = 12

Mar 2010 = 8

Apr 2010 = 2

Number of cases from Pending to Under Review by Month

Nov 2009 = 1

Dec 2009 = 0

Jan 2010 = 3

Feb 2010 = 4

Mar 2010 = 5

Apr 2010 = 6

I Hope that you understand the above figures, if not drop me a post or email.

Created for my wife Traci >

Regards

Andrew

Edited April 30, 2010 by Traci - Andrew

[city2countrygirl 0]

Hi

I thought I would post here a copy of an email I just sent to the Ombudsmen for USCIS, this is for your info only, if you want to send one also here is the address: OLUInquiries@dhs.gov

We will see if this does any good or bad..

"Hi

I am currently going through the CR1 Visa process as I am a UK citizen married to a US citizen, I was denied at my interview and a I-601 and waiver was submitted, at this time I was told the average processing time was 15 – 16 weeks from the time the case number appeared on the USCIS I-601 Status PDF file on the London US Embassy website: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/forms/i601_status-web.pdf

Our case number appeared on 10th Nov 2009 on this Status PDF file, however we were” pending” for a very long time (140 days or 20 weeks) then we moved to “Under Review” which was great as we started to see our case progress, however this has now been under review for the last 30 days or 4 Weeks, if we wait 2 more weeks it will be 26 weeks or 6 Months from the outset of the I-601.

Now my issue is not just how long these take as I understand that some cases are more complex than others, however we talk to others waiting on a Forum and ours is less complicated than a lot of other cases out there, but we have been the longest case under the “Pending” heading since I have been recording the updates and movements of the cases since October 2009.

I just think that we are lacking in few areas:

1 – Up to date accurate information regarding the status of the case

2 – Proper timescales (Best guess based on previous similar cases)

3 – Targets that the USCIS should be processing

I have been keeping a detailed spreadsheet of all the updates since 16th October 2009 which is publicly available here : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5362871/Waiver%20Timescale%20I-601.xls

This clearly shows that the USCIS office in London have not processed any waivers at all during some periods of time and in small spurts they complete a few, but this spreadsheet makes interesting reading as it clearly shows that updates are irregular sometimes as long as two weeks between updates, then sometimes they update the status PDF by changing the date and nothing else or just add a couple of new “Pending” cases to the waiting list.

I have calculated that they have only managed to complete 1.3 cases per week, so if this stays the same over a complete year, this would mean that they would only process to completion 67 cases from their entire case load for the I-601’s per year. Which I consider to be rather a low number considering the amount of cases they must get each year.

Also if you look at the Rome I-601 case status PDF they actually give the results so others can see how many failed or succeeded, the UK system needs this and more.. If I can compile this spreadsheet to monitor how many days cases have been Pending or Under Review or even Completed then I am sure USCIS can, this information can then be used to assist the US citizens and foreign spouses as to how long to expect to wait, as we all have our lives on hold during this entire process which for me and my wife has taken over 2.5 years so far.

It also annoys everyone looking at this I-601 update when they just change the date and nothing else, or as in the case of the last update dated 30th April 2010 which was posted to the website on the 29th of April 2010 1 day earlier than the document states, making it appear that they posted it on the Friday but really it was posted on the Thursday afternoon.

Other times at the end of March this form was updated twice a day which is fine however they then started to post on the 1st of April but cases were backdated to March 31st.

If you could please look in to why we have a unreliable update schedule, Poor information i.e., less than Rome gives on their I-601 update & why cases are taking way longer than the average given out by the Embassy staff.

Many thanks

Andrew xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Take care

Andrew

WOW Andrew... You ROCK At the risk of sounding 'trite' I hope it gets something moving for you all stil waiting on the Waiver List, and please try to have a nice weekend, even though it means an extra day of inactivity and if you're like me you just can't wait until Tuesday. And Tree: I won't get any good news when I least expect it, as that is a big part of our problem: Like you, I'm expecting some news every minute of every day and the day I'm not expecting it will be the day I give up altogether, which will not come. take care everyone and stay in Love

[treehugger 23]

Hi

I thought I would post here a copy of an email I just sent to the Ombudsmen for USCIS, this is for your info only, if you want to send one also here is the address: OLUInquiries@dhs.gov

Andrew

Gosh As my husband would say, 'you're poking the bear!' I'm a firm believer that if we (generally) always just accept things the way they are, they'll never change for the better, even though we might not benefit ourselves. Unfortunately in this case I can't take a leaf out of your book, but I do hope that it has a positive effect...now go 'enjoy' the Bank Holiday weekend with the inevitable rain

I've just called the DOS for my weekly update, and I wished I hadn't My best guess based on recent developments was that I'd either get my visa in the next few days (those succesful applicants who had their interview just before me), or in another two months (the rest of the successful applicants)...and as it doesn't look like the former :crying: This is all just so unfair :(

Edited April 30, 2010 by treehugger

[JustJ 0]

Oh Tree... I'm so sorry. I know how it goes - you brace yourself for the worst news, and yet, you somehow hold out hope. I feel like that when I click the link to check the list. I tell myself not to get excited, that it probably hasn't changed. But preparing myself still doesn't take away that sinking feeling that accompanies reality.

This past change was the worst. They updated on the 29th with April 30th at the top, as if to say, yeah, that's right, we didn't complete any. And we won't be completing any TOMORROW either.

Reading the adjudicator's manual has given me some insight. It sounds like the file goes from this person to check A, then to another to check B. At each stop, I'm sure the file gets behind other files, and if the employee is on holiday, it stalls.

I'm resigned to go about my business here as if I'm not even on that list. For a while, I was freaking out about it, but all that did was raise my anxiety level. It did nothing to mow my lawn, till the garden, cut down this winter's firewood, etc. So I'm starting all that next week. My husband has planted his own garden. He tells me that he won't be there to harvest any of it, but just in case we are denied, or end up like poor C2C, he won't starve.

Things were much easier for me when we first filed our I-130. I was braced for the 6 months they said it would take. This last wait seems to be the worst - maybe because it's the last.