New processing times - is the USCIS lying?

[NickD 202]

Thanks Illinois, never did check in there, and I see when members state their case was touched, they actually mean when it was Last Updated.

"* Note on "Last Updated" date:

Your case may have a new "Last Updated" date and you may receive an Email Notification of your case being updated, without the status of the case changing. This is due to internal USCIS processing being performed on your Case. This will be reflected in the "Last Updated" date, but may not result in a different status message"

Likewise our date is also 04/02/2008.

We will be in Chicago, the 21st of this month, not for the USCIS, but to update my wife's and daughters foreign passport, looks like the way things are going with the USCIS, they will need them. And then probably another trip to St. Paul.

I love my wife, she always has a positive outlook on life, looking forward to seeing Chicago and St. Paul again, and when I showed her that letter from Ombudsman, she said, good, I have even more proof for my employer that we are doing everything we can.

[coloradogirl 0]

I noticed several folks here have said they filed their N-400 and think maybe that has something to do with their I-751 being moved to CSC (or wherever we think they went!). My husband hasn't filed his N-400 yet, but it seems a lot of us in about the same time frame were touched and moved together. All we've received so far is just that one email, nothing like some of you got. In any case he'll be filing for naturalization shortly, as he is also severly limited as to where he can travel because of where his passport is from....

[tammiandtom 0]

I noticed several folks here have said they filed their N-400 and think maybe that has something to do with their I-751 being moved to CSC (or wherever we think they went!). My husband hasn't filed his N-400 yet, but it seems a lot of us in about the same time frame were touched and moved together. All we've received so far is just that one email, nothing like some of you got. In any case he'll be filing for naturalization shortly, as he is also severly limited as to where he can travel because of where his passport is from....

I don't think applying for the N-400 has anything to do with that.

[kearinne 0]

I noticed several folks here have said they filed their N-400 and think maybe that has something to do with their I-751 being moved to CSC (or wherever we think they went!). My husband hasn't filed his N-400 yet, but it seems a lot of us in about the same time frame were touched and moved together. All we've received so far is just that one email, nothing like some of you got. In any case he'll be filing for naturalization shortly, as he is also severly limited as to where he can travel because of where his passport is from....

I don't think applying for the N-400 has anything to do with that.

I have to agree. I never filed N-400 but my case got transferred somewhere... hopefully not a new black hole!

At any rate I'm hoping to god I hear something soon, I kind of have a conundrum... . I need to renew my passport but my extension letter expires next month so I'm afraid if I send in my current passport now it won't get back in time to be stamped. So, this means I need to get a stamp in my current passport, but if I get the stamp in my current passport I can't send it in with my application to be renewed because I'd need it with me as it would be my only proof of legallity to live and work here... BUT if I don't send in my passport to be renewed somewhat soon, it'll expire and will be no good anyway, stamp or not and then where does that leave me...

Please USCIS help me out here!

Edited April 5, 2008 by kearinne

[NickD 202]

From what I read on the net, the USCIS has a long tradition of extremely slow processing times with the I-751 and some that have applied for US citizenship, actually received their citizenship before getting their ten year permanent resident card.

Maybe someone can explain to me why they call it a permanent card when it comes with either a two or a ten year expiration date.

We send in our N-400 for my wife exactly one week ago, I already have the canceled check in my hand, somebody wrote on the front of my check a LIN number with only seven digits that the case status won't accept. Maybe we will get something in the mail, again, this is my first time at doing this. But I know they got their money.

Like the rest of you, getting an extension for travel and work authorization is of prime concern for now. But who should really be concerned? With my wife working with my earned income shooting us into a higher tax bracket, between FICA, federal, and local taxes, they already received an extra $80,000.00 in revenue that they will lose if she doesn't have her work authorization. You would think they would hand her a new card on a silver platter.

kearinne, you mentioned sending your passport in for that stamp, can you mail these in for that? Thought you had to make a trip to your assigned field office. Not that I would trust them with any important documents, especially through the mails.

Not sure what's going on now between the USA and Canada, been driving up there all of my life, just like driving to the next town. Except for having a plant in the vehicle, they are real touchy about that, with the winds, why aren't they stopping nature from blowing seeds back and forth across that man made line?

They invented globalization and at the same, made those map drawn lines much more critical, when you think about it, it's crazy.

And all this ado about a piece of paper, if the USCIS wants to play around, why can't they just send out a I-797c with two, three, four, five...etc. years extension typed on it, that way they won't feel pressured.

[Gulskjegg 0]

I called my local office and they said we can mail my wifes passport in for a 1 year extension stamp. We are authorized to do so on the 27th of April, 2008. It seems a fairly informal matter. That being said, I TOTALLY agree with you about USCIS passing out 3 to 5 year extension letters. I requested a 2 year extension and the local office refused, stating the maximum was 1 year at a time.

One of the Founding Fathers, I forget who, was asked what was the defining aspect of a police state. He thought about it and replied "When those that enforce the law exempt themselves from the law, you live in a police state". We see rules and regulations that we, the citizen, must follow explicitly when dealing with the USCIS upon threat of deportation, or worse.

Yet the USCIS is free to do what they want, when they want, for whatever reason they want, without consequence. Even if it means we and our families suffer or our hopes and dreams are ruined.

Sucks to be us.

[Peter T 0]

Two recent lists recombined, also some details added like jennybrigitta's stamp etc. Many of us have received notices about a transfer of our applications from NSC to presumingly CSC, including me. I haven't added that information, because it is so common; I hope it will accelerate our adjucation.

List of I-751 to NSC, after the last known approval in 2007 (NOA 06-Dec-06)

and before the first known transfer to CSC in 2007 (NOA 05-Aug-07), ordered by date on NOA

UserName...........Date of I-751.....Date on NOA...Biometrics......Approved.....RFE, Service Request, etc.

haozi101...........11/27/06..........12/06/06......01/03/07........09/14/07.....

Bertrand...........12/19/06..........12/27/06......01/20/07........01/29/08.....N-400

sandeepb...........12/26/06..........01/04/07......02/05/07........03/31/08.....I-551 stamp for 12 months, service request, N-400

coloradogirl.......12/27/06..........01/04/07......01/30/07........--/--/--.....

echostorm..........12/--/06..........01/05/07......02/16/07........--/--/--.....

mew5280(CAPG)......01/06/07..........01/16/07......02/15/07........03/20/08.....I-551 stamp for 6 months, interview, verbal approval

jennybirgitta......01/13/07..........01/18/07......02/14/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 6 months, service request, congressman, N-400

traversm...........01/14/07..........01/18/07......02/14/07........--/--/--.....

MDandZJ............01/21/07..........01/25/07......02/14/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months, senator

Ruari..............--/--/--..........01/25/07......02/23/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12(?) months, congressman

ron&nadine.........01/07/07..........01/22/07......02/27/07........--/--/--.....

firebrand..........--/--/--..........01/26/07......02/22/07........03/25/08.....N-400, GC arrived 03/27/08

colonelc22.........01/13/07..........01/27/07......03/14/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months, Service Request, congressman, N-400

dee................01/25/07..........01/29/07......02/20/07........--/--/--.....

Peter T............01/27/07..........02/01/07......03/09/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

drawbridgep........01/11/07..........02/02/07......02/15/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

danutuke...........01/29/07..........01/31/07......03/06/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 2 months, Service Request, N-400

Illinois77.........01/31/07..........02/02/07......03/02/07........--/--/--.....

chus...............01/26/07..........02/03/07......02/23/07........--/--/--.....

STBM04.............01/31/07..........02/05/07......03/02/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

ives_damian........01/31/07..........02/06/07......03/12/07........--/--/--.....

winterpassing......02/06/07..........02/12/07......03/09/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

MonicaT............02/08/07..........02/14/07......03/10/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

iansig40...........02/02/07..........02/16/07......03/23/07........03/17/08.....

grenoble38.........02/01/07..........02/20/07......03/03/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

Illinois...........02/19/07..........02/23/07......04/18/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

onur ............. 06/26/06..........03/15/07......04/13/07........--/--/--.....

Tammi..............02/23/07..........03/23/07......04/05/07........--/--/--.....

decharte...........02/28/07..........03/26/07......04/10/07........--/--/--.....I-551 stamp for 12 months

ace13..............03/22/07..........03/27/07......04/17/07........--/--/--.....

NickD..............03/27/07..........04/--/07......05/01/07........--/--/--.....congressman, senator, Ombudsman

Lyuba..............--/--/--..........04/17/07......05/07/07........--/--/--.....

gyuwono............04/17/07..........04/20/07......05/18/07........--/--/--.....

Kearinne...........04/09/07..........04/30/07......06/02/07........--/--/--.....

charlie & yeng.....4/27/07(resubm.)..05/01/07......06/02/07........--/--/--.....

Frances............04/02/07..........05/05/07......05/24/07........--/--/--.....

Kanadka............05/12/23..........05/23/07......06/11/07........--/--/--.....

Badgerbabe.........05/10/07..........05/24/07......06/11/07........--/--/--.....

debeselizz.........05/24/07..........05/31/07......06/21/07........--/--/--.....

nitty66............05/25/07..........05/31/07......06/27/07........--/--/--.....

sandy2000..........06/--/07..........06/12/07......07/13/07........--/--/--.....

lizmissy...........--/--/--..........06/14/07......07/12/07........03/18/08.....interview, daughter also processed

laura19angel.......--/--/--..........06/15/07......07/13/07........--/--/--.....

seaflower..........06/12/07..........06/22/07......07/12/07........--/--/--.....

pkmk...............06/18/07..........07/02/07......07/13/07........--/--/--.....

wifiman............06/29/07..........08/05/07......08/15/07........08/25/07.....NSC > CSC

NSC claimed accomplishments for processing I-751s:

Posting date......Processing timeframe

12/14/07..........02/09/07

01/15/08..........02/10/07

02/15/08..........07/05/06 (yes, they went backwards)

03/15/08..........07/05/06

If you're not in the list but should be, please add yourself or post your data separately in the thread. If you're on the list, please check your data for correctness. Important: If you are on the list and get approved, we would like to know it - please write a posting in this thread.

[Ruairi 0]

Yep, just to clarify. I got my stamp for 12 months and the immigration officer at the time told me my case was in the CSC now. Thanks.

Edited April 6, 2008 by Ruairi

[kearinne 0]

kearinne, you mentioned sending your passport in for that stamp, can you mail these in for that? Thought you had to make a trip to your assigned field office. Not that I would trust them with any important documents, especially through the mails.

Not sure what's going on now between the USA and Canada, been driving up there all of my life, just like driving to the next town. Except for having a plant in the vehicle, they are real touchy about that, with the winds, why aren't they stopping nature from blowing seeds back and forth across that man made line?

No, what I mean is I need to mail in my passport to renew the passport. The passport expires this year and If I mail it in, I dont know how long it'll sit in Canada til they send me my new one. So, do I get the stamp now, hope I dont need it and mail in my passport to renew or do I send in the passport and hope to god I get it back in less than a month?

Oh and I can't drive to where I travel... My daughter is in Ottawa, Canada and I'm across country in Oregon, US... over 3k miles. Need to fly. Without passport it makes things a bit difficult. Also I'm wanting to change jobs soon... without extention stamp in a passport (or new greencard) dont think I can do that.

[NickD 202]

Good old USA State Department, took them 3 1/2 months to get me a US passport when it wasn't suppose to take over two weeks. Claimed the new passport requirements for Canada and Mexico caused them a jam, also that I needed a background check. I called them twice a day near the end, why a background check, my clerk of court already did that and it's on the application. Just all kinds of excuses, I paid the premium price, send me my passport, I was getting very angry. They also had a case status on-line that was a bad joke. I was suppose to leave on a Friday and they said it was finally mailed the Wednesday before, overnight, the stupid post office sent it to the wrong place. Talked to my post office general, she tracked it down and arranged special processing. I finally got my passport six hours before my flight was due to take off, and thank God, they didn't make any mistakes on it.

Heaven help you if you are two minutes late in paying your taxes.

I did get a letter back from my congressman with a promise that his office will do everything in their power to get my wife and daughter their valid green cards before the ending extension date. Should say my wife got that letter, for some reason, even though it was my signature at the bottom of that I-751 form, they prefer to talk to her. Hey, this is my family, and don't let me ever hear you guys talk about family values when you are running for re-election!

Also discussed with him the complete redundancy of the I-751 and we have another government agency telling us we are guilty of a major crime until we proof ourselves innocent? Where does the US Constitution fit into all of this?

Following that case on Tope Awe and her brother, where their parents came here in 1989 for medical treatment, and stayed and wondering how those two kids got that far. To enroll my daughter into high school, had to bring all kinds of proof she was going to be a permanent resident, same thing for her drivers license, and again now for her enrollment in college, again trying to explain why the USCIS is so slow. From what I hear, large cities like Madison and Milwaukee don't follow the law like the small towns do and the illegals that are hear, go down there for their drivers license. I spent a week faxing proof back and forth to our governors office just so my wife could get her license renewed. It took a direct order from our governors office to our local DMV to get her license renewed, then they treated her in a humanly fashion.

And why did I have to spend thousands of dollars to get all their documents translated into English when the USCIS has a Spanish speaking line? 50 bucks a sheet is the standard rate. And why could I travel to Venezuela and Colombia without a visa when it took my mother-in-law over a year to get a visa to visit us? Doesn't say much for a country that has a reported over 20 million illegals here that may even get amnesty.

What really tipped the scales is the EPA is no longer going to monitor the ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gas emissions from these animal over populated corporation farms. They also hire Mexicans to operate them are also exempt from the USCIS because they have less than three workers. They consider only the father to be the worker, his wife and kids are not, but they have to work. Not easy living in a country with a dual standard.

Stuff like this doesn't hit home until you experience it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

No, what I mean is I need to mail in my passport to renew the passport. The passport expires this year and If I mail it in, I dont know how long it'll sit in Canada til they send me my new one. So, do I get the stamp now, hope I dont need it and mail in my passport to renew or do I send in the passport and hope to god I get it back in less than a month?

Oh and I can't drive to where I travel... My daughter is in Ottawa, Canada and I'm across country in Oregon, US... over 3k miles. Need to fly. Without passport it makes things a bit difficult. Also I'm wanting to change jobs soon... without extention stamp in a passport (or new greencard) dont think I can do that.

Get your application for your passport together, along with your photos asap. You can go to the Passport Canada site for Canadians living in the US http://www.ppt.gc.ca/cdn/form.aspx?lang=eng&region=USA and in the center, in red, is a place you can download the old passport form allowing you to us US guarantors who are in certain professions (ie. doctor, chiropractor, lawyer, etc.). The biggest delay is in getting a qualified guarantor if you do not have one in the area and have to send stuff away to them for signing. Make sure your photographs absolutely meet the right criteria - they are NOT like the US passport photos. Over half of all passport applications sent in from the US are denied because the photographs do not meet the necessary criteria. Most photography stores using a digital camera can print them on the Kodak image processor by turning the image sideways, then cutting the exterior down to the correct rectangular size. That is what I had done. Send your completed application by courier to the Passport Office (I also did that) and it is couriered back to you. I received my new passport back in less than 10 days just this past February. I was expecting it would take a while, but if the application is complete and correct and the photographs correct they can process them quickly. You do need to send in your expiring passport with the application along with your birth certificate and other identification.

Good luck.

[NickD 202]

First go around was professional passport photos, expensive and neither my daughter or wife liked how they turned out. But USCIS is making a bad habit for requiring new photos, so do it myself. Find a white wall in the house with a receptacle on the wall and plug in a 100 watt bulb that is about 18" above the floor place a 15" high stool two feet in front of that wall and have them sit down, switch on the auto flash and redeye reduction and the longer telephoto setting, about 135mm on my digital and take a number of shots from the breast up.

The telephoto does two things, very narrow focal range so the background is burred out, and keeping the flash far from the subject reduces redeye and washout.

Load that into my computer, let the girls pick out the picture they like, but I have the final say with zero shadows, eyes open, straight face directly at the camera, head not tipped up or down, no jewelry with all the passport photos requirements met.

I use CorelDraw 11 that let's me place a grid on top of the photo with a snap to feature, normally set that at 0.125". As passports want a 1 3/8" high face on a 2 by 2 inch photo, I simply count the grid lines from the top of the head to the chin, divide that by two and add that number of grids to the top of their heads, and the bottom of their chins splitting that number in half.. That 1 3/8" to 2" ratio is approximately 2/3, cutting that in half is 1/3 and again, 1/6th.

So if I count say 20 grids, that should leave ten extra grids for the top and bottom of the head, or five up and five down, I crop that part of the picture out and save that as a new file. Open that file and resize that to 2 by 2", the width is the same number of grids as the height using the resample with corel and 216 dpi resolution.

Make a new file with also 216 dpi 6 by 4" and a one inch snap to grid and copy and paste that photo six times, grid lock aligns the photos perfectly as fast as I can hit control V. E-mail that off to Walgreens, and next trip by, pick up that photo for 19 cents. Typical high quality film only had 150 dpi resolution, get very crystal clear pictures, no rejects yet. Can do the above ten times quicker that it took me to type this.

[drawbridgep 8]

Maybe someone can explain to me why they call it a permanent card when it comes with either a two or a ten year expiration date.

I always assumed that the permanent means us as people and not the card itself since we actually live here. We are permanent in as much that we don't have any plans on leaving the country (for more than a vacation at least). Even with a 2 year green card we are permanent residents. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[NickD 202]

"WORD HISTORY of the word permanent: In this world of impermanence it seems that we have tried to hold on to a few things at least by using the word permanent. Coming ultimately from the present participle perman¶ns of Latin perman¶re, “to endure,” Middle English permanent (first recorded around 1425) also had to do with the enduring and the stable. When we consider some of the applications of this adjective, as in permanent press, permanent tooth, we are struck by the relative evanescence of the so-called permanent. But perhaps never more so than in the case of the permanent wave. When asked what this phenomenon was, one journalist wrote in 1932, “(so far as my experience goes): a wave that is anything but permanent.”

a wave that is anything but permanent

In like manner, a card that is anything but permanent

Another word I feel is grossly misused is the word freedom, from the time I was born, forced day care, 13 years of mandatory schooling, and 6 years of military service. I was already 24 years age before I had the first choice of what I could do with my life, and not even trained how to make a choice. But certainly not free to drive 26 mph in a 25 mph zone, and not free to spend the money I earned the way I wanted, the government already took a huge hunk out of it. And have to walk a very narrow line, deviate just a little and will end up in a prison.

And while we came to have a democracy in our government, we certainly do not have a democracy in our dictatorship corporate structure, had to be where I was told to go, when to go, when to come back, when I could use the restroom, eat, how to conduct myself, how to dress, and even when I could lay down and rest. In the military was more afraid of my superiors than the enemy, they could have me shot if I didn't fight. No choice there, either kill or be killed.

Should call the permanent resident card a Survival Card, without a valid one, can't work, that is, if you can find a job since our government is exporting all of our jobs to a country that is planning on taking over us.

[iansig40 1]

kearinne, you mentioned sending your passport in for that stamp, can you mail these in for that? Thought you had to make a trip to your assigned field office. Not that I would trust them with any important documents, especially through the mails.

Not sure what's going on now between the USA and Canada, been driving up there all of my life, just like driving to the next town. Except for having a plant in the vehicle, they are real touchy about that, with the winds, why aren't they stopping nature from blowing seeds back and forth across that man made line?

No, what I mean is I need to mail in my passport to renew the passport. The passport expires this year and If I mail it in, I dont know how long it'll sit in Canada til they send me my new one. So, do I get the stamp now, hope I dont need it and mail in my passport to renew or do I send in the passport and hope to god I get it back in less than a month?

Oh and I can't drive to where I travel... My daughter is in Ottawa, Canada and I'm across country in Oregon, US... over 3k miles. Need to fly. Without passport it makes things a bit difficult. Also I'm wanting to change jobs soon... without extention stamp in a passport (or new greencard) dont think I can do that.

Renew your Passport ,they are very quick if you mention that you need to travel .I had mine in 15 days-regular fee $97CND .My application to renew my passport was transfered from Quebec to Windsow ,Ontario.That's what I call service .