VSC is MONTHS behind CSC

[zooropa 30]

This is the terrible truth. Please do not be persuaded to believe otherwise. Just look at IGORs list to see first hand.

Please contact your congresspeople... Senators...tell them this system is broken...we need to overhaul the ENTIRE program...not just one center...

[UK-USA-K1 128]

This is the terrible truth. Please do not be persuaded to believe otherwise. Just look at IGORs list to see first hand.

Please contact your congresspeople... Senators...tell them this system is broken...we need to overhaul the ENTIRE program...not just one center...

Coming from the perspective of someone who went through the same thing with CSC a few months ago, don't concentrate on CSC, focus your complaint on the fact that VSC is behind it's stated goal and needs to prioritize their case load better. They seem to listen to that more than anything else.

Do message your elected officials, but also contact the VSC directly by mail and email. It was a few weeks after the write in campaign to CSC that they started moving again. If enough people rise up and complain to the ones in charge, they may well adjust their priorities and get you back on track again.

I hope you guys are able to get VSC a swift kick and get them back on track. Best of luck to you

[Lynkali 163]

I fully FULLY support VSC filers contacting their representatives, ombudsmen and even center directors to make waves and changes and improvements. VSC is far behind their stated goal and are moving very slowly. It needs to improve, EVERYONE agrees on that.

I'd like to share what worked and what didn't, from my perspective when we went on an outraged campaign against CSC. I am not saying you shouldn't do anything and everything in your power -- you should! This is just my summary of what I feel was helpful:

(1) The OMBUDSMAN at OLUInquiries <OLUInquiries@uscis.dhs.gov> was incredibly responsive to emails, usually answering within 24-48 hours personally. Be polite and not hysterical. Cite absolute facts, such as the posted processing times and the national goals and the facts that you are aware of. Use VisaJourney data ONLY as backup to support what shows on official USCIS sites -- they often respond with "that is not official data and is invalid" if you only reference what Igor's List is telling us. (We know it's accurate but they deflect.) When contacting the ombudsman, there is no need to reference your case number -- you can make general complaints and raise awareness without even mentioning that you are currently in the system.

(2) Senators and representatives will generally only respond to specific case number complaints. There is often a very long wait (in my case, 4-5 weeks) before they even deign to look at your letter. Perhaps smaller states may have more luck, I'm California and my senators have 30 million people to handle. I recommend trying your local congress representative rather than senator, since they deal with far fewer constituents. I did not have good luck with broad, systematic concerns about the entire process -- instead, they wanted to know my specific case number and place an inquiry for me only. They were uninterested in the systematic issues I raised. Some posters reported their senators saying "yes we are aware of the rising number of complaints" but mine didn't even go that far. I hope you all have better luck than me in that regard.

(3) We did find the contact information for the Director of the Service Center and sent many postal letters and emails to him directly. Some received generic canned responses, others got no reply whatsoever. Even when he did not reply, I feel that the sheer volume of complaints all arriving on his desk in the same week must have made an impression. Indeed we saw CSC reallocate resources and kick into gear only about 2 weeks after our huge campaign. Our complaints addressed the entire system as well as the factual backlog specific to CSC. We had GREAT PEOPLE here on VisaJourney making graphs, charts and tracking OFFICIAL reports of the backlog. Referencing a graph using official data was, I feel, worth a thousand words that made no effect -- pictures tell the story very well. Again, however, Igor's List is not going to be of much help - they don't care what individual people enter in their timelines, only what the USCIS officially reports.

4) A few people started to look into contacting media outlets. I think that's a great idea but it's a bit harder to accomplish quickly. I don't know of any major media reports arising from our CSC activity, but I do recommend it if anyone has media contacts, I've had great luck with local issues via the media in the past (non visa related).

I truly wish you the best of luck and hope that the situation for EVERYONE no matter what center does improve quickly!

[goodlucklife 44]

This is the terrible truth. Please do not be persuaded to believe otherwise. Just look at IGORs list to see first hand.

Please contact your congresspeople... Senators...tell them this system is broken...we need to overhaul the ENTIRE program...not just one center...

I contacted ... They can't do anything... And even if they overhauled the system ... The change won't happen overnight ... I am afraid I say

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Also, may this have something to do with why VSC is always slower?

"The Vermont Service Center is the the only jurisdiction for all Violence Against Women Cases (VAWA) and all Form I-914 and Form I-918 applications."

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Also, another e-mail address to send your complaints to - USCIS Headquarters Office of Service Center Operations: SCOPSSCATA@dhs.gov

Mail address to the director -

Daniel M. Renaud

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Vermont Service Center
75 Lower Welden St.
Saint Albans, Vermont 05479

My fiance is also e-mailing the Ombudsman currently.

Edited May 23, 2013 by QueenOfBlades

[QueenOfBlades 224]

An e-mail my fiance just sent to the USCIS Ombudsman -

USCIS VSC Complaint

Hello, my name is ____ and I am writing this to make a complaint about the USCIS Vermont Service Center. My fiancee and I filed for our I-129F K-1 Fiancee petition in January 2013 and we are fast approaching the 5 month mark. Not long ago the Vermont Service Center posted a October 15, 2012 processing date as their current status. This means that at their posted rate it would be 7 months or more until our case is adjudicated. The K-1 Fiancee visa was originally intended to be a faster route for couples intending to marry to be together and start their lives together. Since July 2012, a significant number of filers have had to wait 6 months or more following the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) applications for illegal immigrants. I believe that US citizens looking to start their lives with their loved ones should be placed ahead of those who are already in the country illegally.The California Service Center has reduced their processing time to 5 months on their official website and I am aware of a large number of K-1 filers from January and even February 2013 (without expedites) are seeing approvals from the CSC. Whereas Vermont Service Center still has a 7 month wait in their processing time and a backlog of 2012 petitions and seem to be processing slower than CSC. With the official time posted on VSC's website, it makes it impossible for filers to put in service requests or make general complaints despite an unrealistic and unfair waiting time. It is also unfair that CSC is processing the same type of petition faster (2-3 months faster) than VSC.I feel very distressed and frustrated that a major aspect of my life is currently in the hands of a system that is being very slow, non-transparent, and inconsistent. While I do understand the difficulties of such a system, and the need to handle the needs of immigration in general, I believe that more of a priority should be placed on legal US citizens waiting to start their lives with their loved ones and are mostly separated for the duration of a process that in total currently can take up to a year.I trust you to look into this matter of my behalf and on the behalf of current and future K-1 filers so that hopefully loved ones don't have to be separated for such a long, stressful and unreasonable time. Even some military deployments don't last this long.Thank you for your time,

___________________

[Bugs 455]

Not months behind really, when one center skips huge caseloads to approve a few later, which is what has happened in CSC. I'd look at the raw backlog numbers to get a more accurate discrepancy.

[zooropa 30]

Why do CSC people ALWAYS feel a need to take over every Vermont thread and state " not months ahead" ...please tell me how many Nov and Dec filers have been approved at CSC (percentage) and then give me the VSC numbers...then we can talk about January....

[xoxoJ 6]

An e-mail my fiance just sent to the USCIS Ombudsman -

USCIS VSC Complaint

Hello, my name is ____ and I am writing this to make a complaint about the USCIS Vermont Service Center. My fiancee and I filed for our I-129F K-1 Fiancee petition in January 2013 and we are fast approaching the 5 month mark. Not long ago the Vermont Service Center posted a October 15, 2012 processing date as their current status. This means that at their posted rate it would be 7 months or more until our case is adjudicated. The K-1 Fiancee visa was originally intended to be a faster route for couples intending to marry to be together and start their lives together. Since July 2012, a significant number of filers have had to wait 6 months or more following the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) applications for illegal immigrants. I believe that US citizens looking to start their lives with their loved ones should be placed ahead of those who are already in the country illegally.The California Service Center has reduced their processing time to 5 months on their official website and I am aware of a large number of K-1 filers from January and even February 2013 (without expedites) are seeing approvals from the CSC. Whereas Vermont Service Center still has a 7 month wait in their processing time and a backlog of 2012 petitions and seem to be processing slower than CSC. With the official time posted on VSC's website, it makes it impossible for filers to put in service requests or make general complaints despite an unrealistic and unfair waiting time. It is also unfair that CSC is processing the same type of petition faster (2-3 months faster) than VSC.I feel very distressed and frustrated that a major aspect of my life is currently in the hands of a system that is being very slow, non-transparent, and inconsistent. While I do understand the difficulties of such a system, and the need to handle the needs of immigration in general, I believe that more of a priority should be placed on legal US citizens waiting to start their lives with their loved ones and are mostly separated for the duration of a process that in total currently can take up to a year.I trust you to look into this matter of my behalf and on the behalf of current and future K-1 filers so that hopefully loved ones don't have to be separated for such a long, stressful and unreasonable time. Even some military deployments don't last this long.Thank you for your time,

___________________

I just sent a similar email.