What's Vermont's excuse now for not approving NOA2s?

[Richie Rich 70]

Hi Guys --let us stop all the arguments and focus on the main goal ahead --getting our NOA2 and the visa for our love ones to be with us . No ''mudslinging '' and "bad mouthing'' each other will solve the problem . Lets us UNITE as one family on VJ. Constuctive critisim are welcome not personal attacks . Besides this forum was started to help us through the journey . We will get through this .All we can do now is wait and pray (if u believe in prayer ) .

[JiaYou 22]

I find it amusing the ones criticizing those of us who are frustrated have either already gotten their noa2, have waited less than 5 months or come from Canada or the UK where its far easier to visit your fiance than those with us who are forced to go all the way to Asia or East Europe. You can go visit them, they can come visit you it's all very simple and relatively cheap for both of you. My fiance doesn't have that option and I don't have the time or money to go to China once a month or every 2 months.

So go ahead and try to paint me or the others frustrated at this process as inconsiderate or impatient. My priorities lie in the people I know and care about not the Haitians or people who cut in line and were processed before me. If that makes me selfish then so be it. All we want is a fair process and this certainly isn't one and that's a good reason to be pissed off.

[KiwiBird 132]

I find it amusing the ones criticizing those of us who are frustrated have either already gotten their noa2, have waited less than 5 months or come from Canada or the UK where its far easier to visit your fiance than those with us who are forced to go all the way to Asia or East Europe. You can go visit them, they can come visit you it's all very simple and relatively cheap for both of you. My fiance doesn't have that option and I don't have the time or money to go to China once a month or every 2 months.

This type of comment has come up multiple times here, and I'm still not seeing it as true. For example, I haven't gotten my NoA2. Coconuts waited 7 months, I believe. And even checking United.com, it's $500 cheaper to fly to Beijing than Sydney. (Same dates, same leaving airport.) Even so, it's not really safe to assume that other people here can magically afford all this travel, or have all the time to do so. (Because in a lot of cases, it's inaccurate.)

Hell, I'm frustrated with this process, too. But am I going to turn into this steaming mad, pissed off selfish person because of it? No. I'm irritated at the system, too. In fact, because of the way the system works, I may have to completely refile and wait ANOTHER 5 months after waiting 5 already come Feb. So if anyone could be frustrated with the system, it's me. I have everything they need, and since there is no way for me to send it in before my case is reviewed, I risk denial.

I just prefer to find more productive things to do with my time than being pissed off on a forum that will accomplish nothing anyway. On top of that, I find it better for my own mental and physical health to keep a positive outlook on it, despite the fact there is more than enough reason to be pissed off.

However, that's just me. To each their own. I wish you guys good luck, though, cause being constantly angry about something you have no control over just simply isn't good for your health.

[Al422 221]

Actually, I think you used a very good analogy and I am glad you brought that point up

Here is the problem I have with it though:

I said before that my fiance lived in a very corrupt communist country her entire life.....Vietnam. Not just Vietnam, but Northern Vietnam which maintained it's communist ideologies far more then the south. She lived in extreme poverty and crime (in terms of theft and fraud). Things got so hectic for her that she now fears that going back to her home town will cause her to get kidnapped or murdered. To make matters worse, Vietnam gets hit by Typhoons (known as Hurricanes by us) from time to time. Lots of people have been known to die or loose their homes due to the violent winds and floods. Heck, the Philippines gets hit by Typhoons almost every single year and thousands suffer as a result of it. Not once have I ever seen the USCIS expedite petitions from Vietnam or even the Philippines because of these disasters. I could be wrong about it, but I never saw it myself. Let me give an example: The northern Philippines were hit by Super Typhoon Megi in October 2010. This thing hit land with winds over 150 mph. Just think about that for a second. 150mph winds. Anybody that has gone through a big hurricane, like myself, knows how devastating these monsters of nature can be.

My questions become:

Where was the petition expedite for the Philippines after Super Typhoon Megi devastated the area in 2010?

Where was the petition expedite for Vietnam when Tropical Storm Mindulle and Typhoon Conson flooded northern Vietnam for days and days in 2010? Didn't these people suffer natural disasters as well? Why is Haiti more important then other countries? Remember, these are poor countries that are not equipped to handle natural disasters very well.

This has nothing to do with who is suffering in the world and has everything to do with the USCIS thumping their big Super Man chest in front of the world. If the USCIS really cared about suffering, they would expedite cases from ALOT of 3rd world countries from all around the world.

THIS should be brought to your Congress Member's attention in the form of a letter. They were the ones who adopted Haiti as their poster country last year with the Help Haiti Act of 2010 and directly have the power to change that. The problem (at least for you) is the media. Everyone here in the U.S. learned of the earthquake and hurricane in Haiti because those events got plastered all over the news, but these weather events in Vietnam are something I did not know about until reading your post, and I am sure a lot of other people did not know either (like your Congress Member).

This is a good chance to show Congress how arbitrary they were in selecting Haiti as their poster country and ignoring the rest of the world. By doing this you would be helping a lot of other people too.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I find it amusing the ones criticizing those of us who are frustrated have either already gotten their noa2, have waited less than 5 months or come from Canada or the UK where its far easier to visit your fiance than those with us who are forced to go all the way to Asia or East Europe. You can go visit them, they can come visit you it's all very simple and relatively cheap for both of you. My fiance doesn't have that option and I don't have the time or money to go to China once a month or every 2 months.

So go ahead and try to paint me or the others frustrated at this process as inconsiderate or impatient. My priorities lie in the people I know and care about not the Haitians or people who cut in line and were processed before me. If that makes me selfish then so be it. All we want is a fair process and this certainly isn't one and that's a good reason to be pissed off.

I find comments like this offensive. I waited five months for my NOA2 (okay, maybe four days less). And you know what? I'll likely wait another five before the process is all over due to how slow Montreal's consulate is. And I won't be visiting my fiance at all until this process is over because even though he's "close", I don't have $600 to afford a plane ticket. All of my money has been put away for the rest of this process. So I don't see how my being from Canada makes my wait any easier or less significant than anybody else's. Don't judge someone's situation by their location, please. It's ignorant.

[Al422 221]

For once, Coconuts and I agree on something (had to happen sooner or later). You can't possibly determine from what little we know of each other whether any of us is in a position to visit our SO.

In my case, despite the distance, flights to Russia are actually quite cheap. I can get a round trip on Aeroflot to Ekaterinburg for $700.00 plus the $200.00 visa fee, so it is not really all that much, and I have the money to pay for it right now.

BUT I need the money and the vacation time to take care of Elena once she arrives here.

So, like Coconuts, although I have the money and would love to visit Elena, it would be irresponsible for me to do so.

[qaz_j 0]

<i>Heck, the Philippines gets hit by Typhoons almost every single year and thousands suffer as a result of it. Not once have I ever seen the USCIS expedite petitions from Vietnam or even the Philippines because of these disasters. I</i>

The US plays political games with some visas, partly depending on what party is in power. People from Haiti are poor but guess what, so are a lot of other people in the world. Same with Cuba, there's many other places with much worse political persecution. This is why many other Latinos don't identify too much with Cuban immigration policy which says you are OK as long as you touch land. Given what is going on in Northern Mexico, many of those could easily qualify for refugee status, bot of course they are called illegals.

Have one set of rules for everyone.

[Andy and Kayla 45]

I find comments like this offensive. I waited five months for my NOA2 (okay, maybe four days less). And you know what? I'll likely wait another five before the process is all over due to how slow Montreal's consulate is. And I won't be visiting my fiance at all until this process is over because even though he's "close", I don't have $600 to afford a plane ticket. All of my money has been put away for the rest of this process. So I don't see how my being from Canada makes my wait any easier or less significant than anybody else's. Don't judge someone's situation by their location, please. It's ignorant.

^ This. Our consulate has been the slowest in the world for a long time - unless you get very lucky you're likely going to have double the timeline if you're going through Montreal, so don't assume that because we're from Canada it's any easier.

[dogspot 90]

Where was the petition expedite for the Philippines after Super Typhoon Megi devastated the area in 2010?

Where was the petition expedite for Vietnam when Tropical Storm Mindulle and Typhoon Conson flooded northern Vietnam for days and days in 2010? Didn't these people suffer natural disasters as well? Why is Haiti more important then other countries? Remember, these are poor countries that are not equipped to handle natural disasters very well.

There is no comparison:

casualties from Typhoon Megi: 19

casualties from earthquake in Haiti: 316,000

Please don't write that letter.

[mckay76 11]

There is no comparison:

casualties from Typhoon Megi: 19

casualties from earthquake in Haiti: 316,000

Please don't write that letter.

just playing the devils advocate on this one...but maybe they were referring to their losses of personal property and infrastructure and not necessarily loss of life? Either way both are terrible and if the US wants to help they should help across the board and not pick and choose.

[cedwards001 18]

There is no comparison:

casualties from Typhoon Megi: 19

casualties from earthquake in Haiti: 316,000

Please don't write that letter.

I just want you to know that my post is intended to point out the B.S from USCIS, not you ok?

In the Philippines, 19 died and over 200,000 lost their property as a result of flash flooding from Megi. Don't just focus on 1 disaster. They get hit over and over again. The 300,000 + that died in Hiati are not immigrating anywhere. They are going to Heaven. Have you ever traveled to Asia? Do you know that most Asian countries, like the Philippines, gets hit multiple times by typhoons. Don't believe me? Ask VJ'rs from the Philippines regional forum or check out this link:

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/

Just go to the West Pacific section and select any year from that list. Check out 2009 and see how often the Phil's got hit.

The point was, who is the USCIS to decide who suffers more then somebody else? Let's use an analogy: Look at a few posts from up above by JiaYou and Coconuts about it being easy to travel to visit their fiance because some live in Canada versus Asia. It was perceived as being offensive because how can somebody else determine what is difficult travel for another person? They have no idea what the job situation or financial situation is of the other person. So traveling to Canada may be JUST as difficult for one person, as it is to travel to Asia for another person.

That is my main point. How can any one person or group of people quantify human suffering or death and just sit there and say "oh this is worse then the other". To the families of the 19 dead in the Philippines from Typhoon Megi, that WAS the worst disaster they ever faced. But I guess suffering, like what happens in Asia as a result of typhoons is just not enough suffering in the eyes of the USCIS.

Edited January 23, 2011 by cedwards001

[Blob18 111]

I just want you to know that my post is intended to point out the B.S from USCIS, not you ok?

In the Philippines, 19 died and over 200,000 lost their property as a result of flash flooding from Megi. Don't just focus on 1 disaster. They get hit over and over again. The 300,000 + that died in Hiati are not immigrating anywhere. They are going to Heaven. Have you ever traveled to Asia? Do you know that most Asian countries, like the Philippines, gets hit multiple times by typhoons. Don't believe me? Ask VJ'rs from the Philippines regional forum or check out this link:

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/

Just go to the West Pacific section and select any year from that list. Check out 2009 and see how often the Phil's got hit.

The point was, who is the USCIS to decide who suffers more then somebody else? Let's use an analogy: Look at a few posts from up above by JiaYou and Coconuts about it being easy to travel to visit their fiance because some live in Canada versus Asia. It was perceived as being offensive because how can somebody else determine what is difficult travel for another person? They have no idea what the job situation or financial situation is of the other person. So traveling to Canada may be JUST as difficult for one person, as it is to travel to Asia for another person.

That is my main point. How can any one person or group of people quantify human suffering or death and just sit there and say "oh this is worse then the other". To the families of the 19 dead in the Philippines from Typhoon Megi, that WAS the worst disaster they ever faced. But I guess suffering, like what happens in Asia as a result of typhoons is just not enough suffering in the eyes of the USCIS.

Not to mention the Christmas Tsunami. No TPS priority preference was given out to Thailand or other Asain countries. Only reason this administration did this is because they were losing face all over the globe and from the people of this country so they tried to do a political PR stunt as Haiti is so close to the U.S.

[Al422 221]

That's just my point. This is political footballing by Congress, who decided to make Haiti their poster country simply because they got hit with one large disaster instead of a lot of smaller ones.

Every processing priority means that someone else gets pushed back. Who is fine where they are and who is suffering is too complex of an issue to be solved by making one country Congress' poster country.

And how do we know that EVERYONE in Haiti is suffering? What if someone with loads of money who lives in a magnificent villa, with servants and the whole nine yards, gets preference while someone in a disease infested Vietnamese village waits?

Just forget about this whole priority thing, put adequate resources into USCIS to get all these things processed in 30 days, and everyone's problems get solved all at once. This is, of course, much too easy for a government that just loves to foul up everything they can get their hands on.

[KiwiBird 132]

I don't understand. People are upset about giving TPS priority and they are also upset that USCIS doesn't always do that for natural disasters or hardship?

Maybe they don't always give TPS priority because they were too busy processing fiance visas?

I can understand doing it now though... wasn't it something like 316,000 casualties for the earthquake and now over 100,000 from the epidemic of cholera? I certainly wouldn't want to send someone back to a place where they might likely catch a raging disease and die. But that's just me. Its one thing to have a natural disaster hit and have widespread property damage and whatnot.. and another to have a contractable deadly disease running rampant. One you cannot protect people from and the other you can. No way can anyone prevent earthquake or tsunami deaths because you don't know they are coming. But if you know they can very likely die from a disease in the area, you can prevent that by not sending them back there just for the sake of 'gotta process these first'.

Again, just my opinion. I dont speak for anyone but me, nor am I saying people should feel this way.

[cedwards001 18]

I don't understand. People are upset about giving TPS priority and they are also upset that USCIS doesn't always do that for natural disasters or hardship?

Maybe they don't always give TPS priority because they were too busy processing fiance visas?

I can understand doing it now though... wasn't it something like 316,000 casualties for the earthquake and now over 100,000 from the epidemic of cholera? I certainly wouldn't want to send someone back to a place where they might likely catch a raging disease and die. But that's just me. Its one thing to have a natural disaster hit and have widespread property damage and whatnot.. and another to have a contractable deadly disease running rampant. One you cannot protect people from and the other you can. No way can anyone prevent earthquake or tsunami deaths because you don't know they are coming. But if you know they can very likely die from a disease in the area, you can prevent that by not sending them back there just for the sake of 'gotta process these first'.

Again, just my opinion. I dont speak for anyone but me, nor am I saying people should feel this way.

Kiwi, you can't just throw numbers around like that. 316,000 casualties > 100 casualties so it has to be worse. Worrying about catching a disease if you are sending people back to Haiti is not exclusive to the earthquake. This applies to MOST natural disasters. It's this easy number throwing that gets a lot of people upset.

I said before that my fiance lived in dirty poverty conditions. It is totally unhealthy the way she lived. Totally 100% unhealthy. But it's not reported on the news. Nobody cares. So my fiance's suffering is worthless compared to Haitians according to USCIS.

I filed my petition in May 2010. A few other friends of my fiance also did the same. I heard rumors about this expedite happening for Haitian petitions and I would not have any of it. I bitched so often and so loud that the USCIS almost begged me to stop. I send several hundred letters, email and phone calls to USCIS, my state governor, Senator and Reps. This happened around the 3 1/2 month mark. Shortly before reaching the 4 month mark, I got my petition approved. Do you know what happened to my other friends who applied in May 2010 just like me? Every one of them waited over 6 months. Right around Thanksgiving they got approved. As of this date, they are still waiting to schedule an interview while my wife is already living with me.

I say that this picking who suffers more by the USCIS is unjust. You either fight them like I did or get pushed around and get served last. That is my 2 cents worth.