USCIS Testimonies and Speeches

[Al422 221]

FWIW, there was a much bigger surge in TPS applications in January of '09. The backlog of I-129F's was also very large - much larger than it is now, but that backlog preceded the surge in TPS applications, and they dramatically reduced the I-129F backlog by October of '09. Still, I filed in April of '09 when the I-129F backlog was bigger than it is now, and it was approved in August of '09. If I recall, the quoted processing time back then was 4 months. In January of '09 everyone on VJ was wailing about the slow processing, especially at VSC, and grasping at straws to find a reason for it.

That backlog was bigger? How is that? They posted 4 months at the height of the backlog, and you got yours in 4 months.

Heck, we would love 4 months. I would have my NOA2 next week. Instead, we are at 6 to 7 months.

So how is it that that backlog was worse? As I see it, we are presently at the worst backlog in 10 years.

Oh, wait a minute: The USCIS director says there is no backlog. And he wouldn't say it if it weren't true! :no:

Edited January 21, 2011 by Al422

[villaspurs 65]

Just popping in with a quick reminder that it is not our right as Americans to marry whomever we want and have them move to the States. Immigration is a privilege, not a right. So your rights aren't being trampled on; the privilege to have your loved one come here to get married is just taking longer than what you feel is appropriate.

When my husband and I were going through the process, petitions going through CSC were taking five-seven months on average (and VSC was much shorter). We were at the cusp of when things started to move more quickly, and once we were approved by USCIS our case flew through. Things got faster and faster over the winter, and then started slowing down again over summer. It's cyclical, as those who have been on here for a long time know. These problems didn't start with Obama, they didn't start with his administration, and they aren't going to change with a new administration. This is the reality of family-based immigration. Some times it goes slowly, other times more quickly. Some consulates are easier, some are more difficult. Some consulates will schedule you for an interview within a month, others take forever.

This is not a fast process, and it always feels awful and interminable when you are in the middle of it. I recently read someone on here say that they didn't care if AOS takes five years, since at least their spouse will be with them. I'm not one for prognosticating, but I'd speculate that person will change his or her mind when the AOS is actually happening--especially the EAD and AP. And then removing of conditions is stressful, and then naturalization is stressful... it's just the nature of the beast.

[Paul_Sasha 4]

There is no back log - yea right )

maybe the people who are not back logged should turn up at the liar's office and use one of our constitutional rites : freedom of speech to tell the truth. Nothing like bad press to get government moving. The likes of la Raza have been getting preferential treatment under this administration too, sorry to inform the crowd.

and yes, you are right immigration is a privilege. but when terrorists can arrive unhindered to the USA and illegals are getting priority - I do have a big problem with that. We are asking for something legal and honest and something that the USA was founded upon - legal immigration especially for our significant others - reunited families. Or is that too Christian for this administration as well ?

COME ON USCIS VSC Pull those K1 & other legal petition boxes down and lets get going.

[Ab44 3]

Villaspurs: "Just popping in with a quick reminder that it is not our right as Americans to marry whomever we want and have them move to the States. Immigration is a privilege, not a right. So your rights aren't being trampled on; the privilege to have your loved one come here to get married is just taking longer than what you feel is appropriate."

Thanks for posting that! People need to remember that there are people who abuse I-129F (albeit I have no idea about the stats on that). honestly I think it gets a lil dangerous when people start blaming certain groups for getting possibly preferential treatment..Did I have a lil twinge of jealousy when I heard things were possibly being expedited for TPS over I-129F? Sure. Did I immediately think of all the hardships they are going through while my fiance and I are sitting in our own in tact apartments and healthy and get the heck over that jealousy? YES ..It's really all about perspective. If people find themselves getting very angry about the wait times and judging others then I suggest you take a step back, maybe make sure you've done all the paperwork you need to for the next step..and THEN forget you even have an application for a month or two if you aren't even at the 5 month mark(I know easier said than done)..it makes it way less stressful than if you are focusing/obsessing on it every single day! Good luck everyone!!

Villaspurs: "Just popping in with a quick reminder that it is not our right as Americans to marry whomever we want and have them move to the States. Immigration is a privilege, not a right. So your rights aren't being trampled on; the privilege to have your loved one come here to get married is just taking longer than what you feel is appropriate."

Thanks for posting that! People need to remember that there are people who abuse I-129F (albeit I have no idea about the stats on that). honestly I think it gets a lil dangerous when people start blaming certain groups for getting possibly preferential treatment..Did I have a lil twinge of jealousy when I heard things were possibly being expedited for TPS over I-129F? Sure. Did I immediately think of all the hardships they are going through while my fiance and I are sitting in our own in tact apartments and healthy and get the heck over that jealousy? YES ..It's really all about perspective. If people find themselves getting very angry about the wait times and judging others then I suggest you take a step back, maybe make sure you've done all the paperwork you need to for the next step..and THEN forget you even have an application for a month or two if you aren't even at the 5 month mark(I know easier said than done)..it makes it way less stressful than if you are focusing/obsessing on it every single day! Good luck everyone!!

oops sorry about the double post guys, i was having internet issues!!

[Al422 221]

But it is our right as American citizens to expect expedient service from the government. It is called due process, and it is found in the 5th Amendment to the Constitution.

The government cannot have it both ways: They cannot insist on use of a particular system and then make that system so bad that it becomes unusable. When they set up a legal system, they have a responsibility to make sure it works.

And what about communication? Is it right to shoo people away without any semblance of an answer to their question? Is that right? Don't we have a right to expect our government to explain what went wrong when a legal process takes longer than they told us it would?

Edited January 21, 2011 by Al422

[villaspurs 65]

How is the system unusable? You get an end result--in fact, you currently are using the system. It just takes longer than you want it to take. The system does work, just not in a time frame preferred by you. Every person on here will get a result in the near future, meaning in a time period measured in months. Since I've been a VJ member, only one person had a longer wait than that--I believe her name is Sara, and her experience is the only one I've seen where I feel like a true injustice occurred. As Jim pointed out, the TPS/Haiti thing is a red herring (I agree with his interpretation of the data available). I'm not arguing that the system is perfect--it's clearly not. I just think the caterwauling about rights to get married is a bit over the top. You can marry anyone you want. You just can't expect them to be able to move to the United States immediately because you feel like that is what is the best for you.

[Ab44 3]

@Al422 I agree, the government's lag is unacceptable! I'm not sure if you were referring to my post or not..I was referring that posters should stop making digs on the forum about/to Haitians or posting jealous comments to those who got their NOA2; as I saw occurred today..Not that I'm trying to control or censor anyone, just urging posters to be mindful of others; not to be complacent with the red tape.

[Gocka 17]

Villaspurs, go and shove it, you posted the same thing on many threads and your arogance and ignorance is unmeasurable. Im not even going to bother and argue with your twisted logic as to what our rights are. There is no such thing as privileges between people and goverments only rights. ONLY DICTATORS GIVE PRIVILEGES TO THE PEOPLE.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Gocka

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Villaspurs, go and shove it, you posted the same thing on many threads and your arogance and ignorance is unmeasurable. Im not even going to bother and argue with your twisted logic as to what our rights are. There is no such thing as privileges between people and goverments only rights. ONLY DICTATORS GIVE PRIVILEGES TO THE PEOPLE.

Gocka, I don't see any arrogance or ignorance in what villaspurs has posted. She's telling you the truth.

[Gocka 17]

Gocka, I don't see any arrogance or ignorance in what villaspurs has posted. She's telling you the truth.

she pops up in every thread and yams on about how its not our right to have our spouses imigrate here. That comment alone is pure ignorance as to 1) what our country is founded on 2) If it is a privilege then who decides who deserves that privilege and who doesnt? 3) the simple fact that a right is not something that is given, have you not heard natural born rights? thats enough of these threads really some people are just ..... I dont know fill in the blank, thats why the OP left the thread and I will do the same.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

she pops up in every thread and yams on about how its not our right to have our spouses imigrate here. That comment alone is pure ignorance as to 1) what our country is founded on 2) If it is a privilege then who decides who deserves that privilege and who doesnt? 3) the simple fact that a right is not something that is given, have you not heard natural born rights? thats enough of these threads really some people are just ..... I dont know fill in the blank, thats why the OP left the thread and I will do the same.

I think you are just upset because you are waiting. That is natural.

We've had these conversations around here before about "rights" and I've heard others talk of "natural born rights".

Immigration law does give you the right to petition for your spouse. But really, that's about the end of it. Unfortunately.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

That backlog was bigger? How is that? They posted 4 months at the height of the backlog, and you got yours in 4 months.

Heck, we would love 4 months. I would have my NOA2 next week. Instead, we are at 6 to 7 months.

So how is it that that backlog was worse? As I see it, we are presently at the worst backlog in 10 years.

Oh, wait a minute: The USCIS director says there is no backlog. And he wouldn't say it if it weren't true! :no:

Look at the national trends for both TPS and I-129F filings going back to early 2009. You'll see the TPS backlog spiked at a level which is about 30% higher than the Nov 2010 level in Jan/Feb of 2009. You'll also see that the I-129F backlog was coming down from a previous spike which is about 40% higher than the Nov 2010 level. The backlog isn't how long it's taking them to process petitions - it's how many petitions are sitting in the queue waiting to be processed. What you're complaining about is the processing time, which is solely dependent on how fast they're moving through that queue.

How can that be, you say? How can the processing times be so much shorter when the backlog was so much higher? Because USCIS has capacity to handle far more petitions than solely I-129F's or I-821's. They simply put more adjudicators on I-129F's back in early 2009 to clear up the backlog. Heck, they didn't even have to shift a sizable percentage of their adjudicators over because their total capacity is huge - more than 50 times the total number of I-129F's and I-821's combined.

This is why I say that TPS filings are not the cause of the current backlog. There simply aren't enough of them to make a substantial difference. The timing of the problems suggest to me it has to do with when they changed the submission process for I-129F's, but I'm not going to come right out and say for certain that's the cause. There's no way to know that.

[villaspurs 65]

Villaspurs, go and shove it, you posted the same thing on many threads and your arogance and ignorance is unmeasurable. Im not even going to bother and argue with your twisted logic as to what our rights are. There is no such thing as privileges between people and goverments only rights. ONLY DICTATORS GIVE PRIVILEGES TO THE PEOPLE.

Actually, I posted on two threads (which is no where near "many," FYI), both of which were relevant--especially since the other thread (you know, the one other thread on which I posted) was giving direct feedback on a letter being sent about this subject. Furthermore, I think posting the official position taken by the U.S. government is neither arrogant nor ignorant, although I think your replies have demonstrated both of those qualities in spades. I have no idea why this statement has wound you up so much, since it's fairly commonly found on these boards. This isn't something new I coined just to piss you or anyone else off--it's the reality of the situation when petitioning to have a fiance or spouse apply for a visa. I didn't make up the rules, I didn't make up the philosophical construct, and I didn't make up the phrase, so please be a bit more civil.

[Al422 221]

I do not actually think that we should have an absolute right for whoever we marry to immigrate. If an American woman married Osama bin Laden, how many of us think Osama would then have a right to live on your block?

But that power of the government should be very, very, very limited, for use only in extreme cases like Osama. Presently it goes way too far. For example, if your lady was a prostitute 10 years ago and got busted and sent to jail but since then cleaned her act up and lived a perfectly law abiding life, I think she should be allowed in. But the present law says she should be blocked. And that law is wrong.

The really big wrong is the waiting time. 30 days, 60 days is one thing, but 6 months is patently unreasonable and a system that doesn't work. Just because it works in 6 months does not mean that it works. There is a point where passage of time means that it does not work.

To those of you who say "it works, just not fast enough for your liking", what if it took 10 years? And what if you told me it doesn't work? And what if I told you "Just wait 10 years. It works, just not fast enough for your liking". Does it work? Or do you now see a point where passage of time makes it not work?

[KiwiBird 132]

To those of you who say "it works, just not fast enough for your liking", what if it took 10 years? And what if you told me it doesn't work? And what if I told you "Just wait 10 years. It works, just not fast enough for your liking". Does it work? Or do you now see a point where passage of time makes it not work?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/291729-whats-vermonts-excuse-now-for-not-approving-noa2s/page__view__findpost__p__4419488

Let me pull out the area I'm pointing at:

"Even ten years is better than twenty years."

Edited January 22, 2011 by KiwiBird