The Mystery of the elusive sealed box

[OrderofProtection 42]

First off, I'll start by saying, I'm happy for them:

http://www.visajourn...8316-isabel616/

However, I'm trying to grasp just how VSC and CSC process these petitions.

Say, you mail a petition (hypothetically )

CSC or VSC get it and put it in "a box" ne'er to be seen again for 5 months. (or more)

How is it.....say.....that a 12/1 petition gets processed around the same time as a 1/31 petition. Now, I understand that different folks have different boxes and so I understand the idea of overlapping...some.... and I understand the idea of expedited. I just think some of the overlapping is a bit wide of a gap no?

The case at the top was not expedited, at least, I don't think so because she sounds so surprised.

Just how does a petition from 5/9 end up in the January pile?

Maybe this question goes on the forum for unanswered mysteries of the universe:

Where is Amelia Earhart?

the lost city of Atlantis?

the lost colony?

where do your socks go in the dryer?

Edited June 1, 2012 by MaryNYC

[Aurelya 0]

Every petition are different! and we will never get the answer of why some application are being approved after 2 weeks or 1 month! it's the BIG mystery! For sure i think it's unfair for others who have to wait several months to have their NOA2!

[C-ma'am 684]

where do your socks go in the dryer?

I NEED SOMEONE TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION FOR ME!

Ohhh wow! What a lucky pair! I think it is another Unanswered Mystery of the Universe...

VCS and CSC must have a Twilight Zone of sorts.... a Bermuda Triangle for K1s, if you will

[Tommy and Maria 4]

this is hilarious, i don't have any answer, but I am glad you posted this.

First off, I'll start by saying, I'm happy for them:

http://www.visajourn...8316-isabel616/

However, I'm trying to grasp just how VSC and CSC process these petitions.

Say, you mail a petition (hypothetically )

CSC or VSC get it and put it in "a box" ne'er to be seen again for 5 months. (or more)

How is it.....say.....that a 12/1 petition gets processed around the same time as a 1/31 petition. Now, I understand that different folks have different boxes and so I understand the idea of overlapping...some.... and I understand the idea of expedited. I just think some of the overlapping is a bit wide of a gap no?

The case at the top was not expedited, at least, I don't think so because she sounds so surprised.

Just how does a petition from 5/9 end up in the January pile?

Maybe this question goes on the forum for unanswered mysteries of the universe:

Where is Amelia Earhart?

the lost city of Atlantis?

the lost colony?

where do your socks go in the dryer?

[sabi 148]

I am wondering about the same thing each day... I have a weird feeling they separate those petitions by country or at least continents, also by those having kids, being divorced etc... Otherwise really it doesn't make sense why there are still unapproved petitions from last year (no RFE or anything) and we already see January filers getting approved and I mean like late January, where people from December or beginning of January are still waiting...

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Perhaps they randomly pulled some petitions that had just arrived for training purposes and went all the way through to completion with them. I remember a guy on here who met his fiance in person the first time and got NOA2 within a month of that meeting. It's a lucky fluke like winning the lottery.

[Adriene H 89]

Maybe a box lands on their desk in the mornings like the

way the Tardis lands in random fields and backyards on Dr Who ...

[Peter_Pan 661]

He is Cuban, those tend to be sort of expedited by themselves.

[JohnR! 5,495]

1338551898[/url]' post='5412139']

First off, I'll start by saying, I'm happy for them:

http://www.visajourn...8316-isabel616/

However, I'm trying to grasp just how VSC and CSC process these petitions.

Say, you mail a petition (hypothetically )

CSC or VSC get it and put it in "a box" ne'er to be seen again for 5 months. (or more)

How is it.....say.....that a 12/1 petition gets processed around the same time as a 1/31 petition. Now, I understand that different folks have different boxes and so I understand the idea of overlapping...some.... and I understand the idea of expedited. I just think some of the overlapping is a bit wide of a gap no?

The case at the top was not expedited, at least, I don't think so because she sounds so surprised.

Just how does a petition from 5/9 end up in the January pile?

Maybe this question goes on the forum for unanswered mysteries of the universe:

Where is Amelia Earhart?

the lost city of Atlantis?

the lost colony?

where do your socks go in the dryer?

Where do all cabs hide when it's raining in the city???? :-)

[MangoAve 25]

I am wondering about the same thing each day... I have a weird feeling they separate those petitions by country or at least continents, also by those having kids, being divorced etc... Otherwise really it doesn't make sense why there are still unapproved petitions from last year (no RFE or anything) and we already see January filers getting approved and I mean like late January, where people from December or beginning of January are still waiting...

Im only using your qoute in response to the main thing. I happen to be one of those December filers still waiting. I noticed the slow down for last week, right before the holiday. But there are certain concepts that don't add up when you look at people more than a month difference being approved while the earlier is still waiting. If there is a way to expedite, they have to know exactly where that single petition is that they are expediting. The USCIS def has some system that tells them petition EACXXXX is located in box #2345. Also, I made myself a spreadsheet looking at all numbers between XX2784 and XX2900 just to see. All that spread includes I-485, I-821, I-130, I-129F and a few others. Of those 117, where even the 4th one to receive a receipt number (which is obviously sequential and not random) was received at the same date as the rest, 18 are I-129F from the same day. They should end up in the same box, yet some how one is approved April 10 while other approvals or RFE's are in May while I'm still waiting. There is some sort of preferential treatment.

[MangoAve 25]

Wow. It wouldn't allow me to edit my own post.

But as far as box #'s go. Obviously they are all clearly marked with some sort of tracking number. Why would they pick up box #2376 right after finishing #2345, and let #2346 just wait? Companies do have order numbers associated with whatever they receive. Do you not get a RMA# when you return something to get fixed? You can tell by lower numbers which ones arrived first. From a business stand point I can understand why certain customers get service first. But with the USCIS, our fees are what provide 99% of their funding. All fees are flat so everyone pays the same price for the same petition/application. Could they really believe that more revenue will come from one filer versus another? That deserves a #######.

[kate&javi 26]

You are right. I don't know how people who filed at the beginning of the month get approved at the end of the month, without expedite. We would assume that they get put into boxes by order but I guess we will never know the ins and outs of the process. Unfortunately, we can only wonder and hope that ours get approved in a logical order. We are at their mercy.

[Calicolom 265]

I don’t lose any socks in the dryer, all my socks are the same, they have to be, and I am color blind. These questions and answers are so good from all the Visa Journey members, there are so many smart people out there, and yet no one can figure out how this works. I don’t think they want anyone to know how this process works, someone could then figure out how to do it more efficient and some autocrat could lose his job, and we can’t have that, where would they find another job, in the private sector. Now my petition will never get approved.

[Adriene H 89]

That deserves a #######.

#######!

[Gosia & Tito 199]

I don’t lose any socks in the dryer, all my socks are the same, they have to be, and I am color blind. These questions and answers are so good from all the Visa Journey members, there are so many smart people out there, and yet no one can figure out how this works. I don’t think they want anyone to know how this process works, someone could then figure out how to do it more efficient and some autocrat could lose his job, and we can’t have that, where would they find another job, in the private sector. Now my petition will never get approved.

I recall one episode of Seinfeld in which Newman (the mail guy) says: "Zip codes have not meaning whatsoever"; same applies to USCIS confirmation numbers; thus a lower EAC number means absolutely nothing. Now, as to why some petitions seem to be approved fast, my conspiracy theory mind says that petitions go thru many stops, offices, service center and hands and the end result of all that is that by the time they are in "a box" for inspectors to adjudicate; they are esentially in a random order. The only known charecteristic of the "box" is approximate date of those petitions (not all but a good percentage), thus that helps to maintain the 5-6 months average; but, and here is the key, among those petitions in a box that says January 2012 for example, if you would go 1 by 1, I bet you would find 1-2 from 6-7 months before; and likewise, you will find 1-2 that just came into USCIS the day before; luck of the draw and the randomizing mechanism (not by design, but by virtue of the convoluted process and offices of USCIS). End result: someone will always be approved within few weeks and someone will always be waiting for many many months; while the majority will fall within the 5-6 months average. There will be some exceptional cases of someone waiting really long and someone approved in a matter of days literally. On top of all this, USCIS service level (if we can call it that way) is based in average times; so I wouldn't get past some inspectors to purposely pick up some really new peititon that will skew the average in the right direction when put together in a group of older ones; it would be impossible to prove that the 'new' petition was not in that 'box' getting processed for the same randomizing mechanisms listed above. If you recall, when members call USCIS, they often get told one thing and something quite different happen: like being told you need to call back in 90 days and week after you have approval. They don't go search in a box, they go by whatever their screen says; and we all know, this is not Fedex where they can trace your package anywhere in the world within a few hours window of what location it was/is/going to be.