How to Shake Your NOA2 Loose from the CSC

[TBoneTX 47,912]

*** IGNORE POST ABOVE -- it was a pretty good draft that got posted and wouldn't allow editing in favor of this much more complete post here ***

I think the problem we're facing is a front line customer support team that's been instructed to blockade at all costs. I think TB was lucky enough to run into a pretty straight shooter, but I don't know how many of those exist. My experience has been nothing short of a complete stonewall.

Aha! Maybe this is the part that I assumed that everyone knew, but which was in truth unclear. Let's clarify:

The parties involved are:

1. Us (the callers)

2. The front-line contracted screeners

3. The Immigration Officers assigned to help USCIS

4. The floor workers who actually handle our files.

Under the usual "calling" approach, we dial the 800 number and wait 30+ minutes on hold only to reach a front-line know-nothing contracted screener who will not care, may read a script, will tell us nothing that we don't already know, and will refuse to connect us with an Immigration Officer even when we tell them that they're required to (which they ARE required to, but they will resent it and make sure that we know it).

In happy contrast, when we try my approach and are first connected to a live person, the live person IS AN IMMIGRATION OFFICER -- NOT the blockader blockheads. My first time, I was stunned that this was so, but it happened each subsequent time. (If you are dubious, ask the person whom you reach: "Are you REALLY an Immigration Officer? You ARE? Wowwwww -- thank heaven that I've reached you! I know that you can help me." Then, proceed with the recommended questions.)

The ImmigOffs are the ones -- the ONLY ones -- who actually have inside knowledge of our cases (learned by computer look-up as we talk with them), and THEY are the ones who can send the gently prompting e-mails to the workers on the floor who are actually handling our files.

The stonewalling, know-nothing front-line call-screeners are contract workers who are there to take some load off the ImmigOffs (and to unhelpfully irritate the devil out of us). In pleasant contrast, the ImmigOffs are there to take the load off the floor workers, who (according to one ImmigOff who told me) were previously taking so many direct phone calls that they couldn't process files. Under this tiered screening arrangement, the floor people KNOW that when an ImmigOff sends an e-mail to the floor, it's meaningful and substantive, and not a pestering distraction. THIS is why my application finally got the dust shaken off of it.

Mox must have reached a bummer ImmigOff, which of course would discourage anyone. The person to whom Mox spoke is the exception among ImmigOffs, not the rule. We are probably all so jaded from having dealt purely with the front-line screeners that the previous sentence is hard to believe. Read Estadia's positive testimonial of earlier in this thread -- I am 100% certain that she reached an actual ImmigOff.

My recommended approach is THE WAY to BYPASS the know-nothing screeners and to reach someone DIRECTLY who can actually help. When we speak with an ImmigOff, the difference in attitude, supportiveness, sympathy level, and amount of useful information is as different as day is from night, or heaven from hell, or Sears from Roebuck, or Haldeman from Ehrlichman. Had Mox told me of his negative experience when it happened, I would have (without hesitation) bet him $100 that he could call back and reach someone helpful. Si, man!

The Engineering Process: On the basis of the way that the USCIS screening system is set up, we must make sure that the procession is Us ---> ImmigOff ---> Floor Worker, and not Us ---> Screener ---> nowhere.

In Practice:

Usual calling system

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dial 800 number; wait on hold for 30+ minutes; 99.44% probability of reaching clueless, rude screener; receive no new information; hang up frustrated and ready to scream or throttle someone.

Recommended calling system

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dial 800 number & all prompts, almost immediate connection with Immigration Officer; 99.44% probability of helpful information, supportiveness, and (if we handle it as suggested) an e-mail sent to the floor that will cause our file to move from a pile to a station, or from one station to the next, or from a station to the Supervisor for approval signature; hang up feeling better and more hopeful.

Mox, buddy, I recommend that you try again. Eli, does this settle the doubts that you expressed in your post of just earlier?

Edited February 20, 2008 by TBoneTX

[sara..... 371]

:yes: I got a touch yesterday......... if i dont get approval in ten days i will do it again...........

[markjo 0]

*** IGNORE POST ABOVE -- it was a pretty good draft that got posted and wouldn't allow editing in favor of this much more complete post here ***

I think the problem we're facing is a front line customer support team that's been instructed to blockade at all costs. I think TB was lucky enough to run into a pretty straight shooter, but I don't know how many of those exist. My experience has been nothing short of a complete stonewall.

Aha! Maybe this is the part that I assumed that everyone knew, but which was in truth unclear. Let's clarify:

The parties involved are:

1. Us (the callers)

2. The front-line contracted screeners

3. The Immigration Officers assigned to help USCIS

4. The floor workers who actually handle our files.

Under the usual "calling" approach, we dial the 800 number and wait 30+ minutes on hold only to reach a front-line know-nothing contracted screener who will not care, may read a script, will tell us nothing that we don't already know, and will refuse to connect us with an Immigration Officer even when we tell them that they're required to (which they ARE required to, but they will resent it and make sure that we know it).

In happy contrast, when we try my approach and are first connected to a live person, the live person IS AN IMMIGRATION OFFICER -- NOT the blockader blockheads. My first time, I was stunned that this was so, but it happened each subsequent time. (If you are dubious, ask the person whom you reach: "Are you REALLY an Immigration Officer? You ARE? Wowwwww -- thank heaven that I've reached you! I know that you can help me." Then, proceed with the recommended questions.)

The ImmigOffs are the ones -- the ONLY ones -- who actually have inside knowledge of our cases (learned by computer look-up as we talk with them), and THEY are the ones who can send the gently prompting e-mails to the workers on the floor who are actually handling our files.

The stonewalling, know-nothing front-line call-screeners are contract workers who are there to take some load off the ImmigOffs (and to unhelpfully irritate the devil out of us). In pleasant contrast, the ImmigOffs are there to take the load off the floor workers, who (according to one ImmigOff who told me) were previously taking so many direct phone calls that they couldn't process files. Under this tiered screening arrangement, the floor people KNOW that when an ImmigOff sends an e-mail to the floor, it's meaningful and substantive, and not a pestering distraction. THIS is why my application finally got the dust shaken off of it.

Mox must have reached a bummer ImmigOff, which of course would discourage anyone. The person to whom Mox spoke is the exception among ImmigOffs, not the rule. We are probably all so jaded from having dealt purely with the front-line screeners that the previous sentence is hard to believe. Read Estadia's positive testimonial of earlier in this thread -- I am 100% certain that she reached an actual ImmigOff.

My recommended approach is THE WAY to BYPASS the know-nothing screeners and to reach someone DIRECTLY who can actually help. When we speak with an ImmigOff, the difference in attitude, supportiveness, sympathy level, and amount of useful information is as different as day is from night, or heaven from hell, or Sears from Roebuck, or Haldeman from Ehrlichman. Had Mox told me of his negative experience when it happened, I would have (without hesitation) bet him $100 that he could call back and reach someone helpful. Si, man!

The Engineering Process: On the basis of the way that the USCIS screening system is set up, we must make sure that the procession is Us ---> ImmigOff ---> Floor Worker, and not Us ---> Screener ---> nowhere.

In Practice:

Usual calling system

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dial 800 number; wait on hold for 30+ minutes; 99.44% probability of reaching clueless, rude screener; receive no new information; hang up frustrated and ready to scream or throttle someone.

Recommended calling system

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dial 800 number & all prompts, almost immediate connection with Immigration Officer; 99.44% probability of helpful information, supportiveness, and (if we handle it as suggested) an e-mail sent to the floor that will cause our file to move from a pile to a station, or from one station to the next, or from a station to the Supervisor for approval signature; hang up feeling better and more hopeful.

Mox, buddy, I recommend that you try again. Eli, does this settle the doubts that you expressed in your post of just earlier?

Hi all,

We tried this method last night - there was one issue with it though in that the system wouldn't accept our receipt number, as it was saying we had not entered enough digits - our receipt number is in the format WAC-07-274-52*** (where the *'s represent the last three numbers). We tried three or four times (entering the digits without the dashes) and no luck, so she chose the option to use if you had lost your receipt number.

My SO ended up talking to someone (sounds like they were the contract screeners) - they said they couldn't send an email to the floor or find out exactly where our case was. They aslo said that they are only processing July petitions at the moment - informed them that we know people who filed after us are getting approved - they said they couldn't provide us with any further information.

My question is - has anyone had the same problem with their reciept number not working? Does the format of our receipt number match that of others?

Good luck to all and here's hoping that we all get through soon.

Cheers,

Mark

[sara..... 371]

this is going to sound really stupid to u but did u enter the alphabet letters also only in digit form?

[markjo 0]

this is going to sound really stupid to u but did u enter the alphabet letters also only in digit form?

Yeah we treied both with only enetring the numbers and entering the letters as digits and the numbers. What worked for you - just the digits or the letters and digits?

Regards,

Mark

[sara..... 371]

this is going to sound really stupid to u but did u enter the alphabet letters also only in digit form?

Yeah we treied both with only enetring the numbers and entering the letters as digits and the numbers. What worked for you - just the digits or the letters and digits?

Regards,

Mark

i just put in the complete numbers including the letters in digits form it went thru right away the nice lady that i talked to gave me her name and she was immigration officer she stated that they are working on aug

[TracyTN 237]

Thanks to Tbone for posting this thread. I wish I had known this when our case was at the CSC (and I was watching those who filed after us get approved in droves). It's SO frustrating to have absolutely no recourse - and while we don't yet have the figures to say this will work with 100% certainty, it's at least worth a shot. And the numbers might start showing us that it actually does work.

We'll have to be careful, though, that we have not opened Pandora's box. Meaning those who filed a month ago don't start using this method - personally I think everyone should have to wait the standard time that everyone else is waiting. It should be used when you fall outside that 'norm, and not just to skip line. Know what I mean?

[rebeccajo 14]

I really don't see any proof that your case was 'speeded up' by this method.

[TBoneTX 47,912]

Thanks to Tbone for posting this thread. I wish I had known this when our case was at the CSC (and I was watching those who filed after us get approved in droves). It's SO frustrating to have absolutely no recourse - and while we don't yet have the figures to say this will work with 100% certainty, it's at least worth a shot. And the numbers might start showing us that it actually does work.

We'll have to be careful, though, that we have not opened Pandora's box. Meaning those who filed a month ago don't start using this method - personally I think everyone should have to wait the standard time that everyone else is waiting. It should be used when you fall outside that 'norm, and not just to skip line. Know what I mean?

Tracy is right -- this approach is best used when you are approaching the posted USCIS "processing date" OR if you have determined -- from the lists of approved applications produced/posted here by VJ-ers -- that more than a handful of applications submitted AFTER YOURS have been approved. (My cue would be 8 or 10 such.)

However, someone who has filed "lately" (say, within 4 months) can use the FIRST question ("Can you tell me where in the Division my file is?"), and then say, "I'm not intending to jump the line, but if you [the Immigration Officer to whom you're speaking] can tell whether my file is about due to be moved to the next station, I'd sure appreciate your sending an e-mail to the floor to ask them to carry it that way." Then, WITHOUT putting the ImmigOff on the spot by insisting on an ANSWER about whether your file is due to be moved, immediately say, "Many thanks for your information and your help! You've made me feel better just talking to someone as knowledgeable and understanding as you. Have a good day!"

This kind of final statement from you will almost CERTAINLY cause the ImmigOff to send such an e-mail, simply because you've been so nice. You will feel better from having handled things this way, too!

[TBoneTX 47,912]

I really don't see any proof that your case was 'speeded up' by this method.

My file had been sitting "between stations" for some time. Then, it was sitting in "Identity Check" (or whatever) -- that's where some files are randomly sent as an extra step. In what proved to be my final call, the Immigration Officer said something like "It [your file] can probably go on now," and by the next morning I had my NOA2.

[TBoneTX 47,912]

Following up on my call to my congressman: I was told that my congressman's office will not involve themselves until the USCIS processing date has surpassed my received date. I was advised to contact them again in about 2 months. Unfortunately this was relayed to me through a volunteer lackey, so I was unable to speak with my "case worker" directly. I have asked for my case worker to call me back today so I can kindly ask him to actually read the letter I sent, where it plainly says that I am asking that the claim of "petitions are processed in the order they are received" be investigated. I guess they only have the clueful lady I spoke with yesterday answer phones. The morons are the ones doing the actual work of the people.

True, Mox, which is why I observed before that such things as calling one's Congressman, writing the USCIS Ombudsman, etc. will add delay and frustration. I absolutely URGE you to avoid being gun-shy as a result of your first try of my approach, and to try it again. Keep the faith, Pardner, si man.

[TBoneTX 47,912]

this is going to sound really stupid to u but did u enter the alphabet letters also only in digit form?

Yeah we treied both with only enetring the numbers and entering the letters as digits and the numbers. What worked for you - just the digits or the letters and digits?

Mark -- Estadia is right. Enter everything as though it's a digit. If your receipt number is WAC 123 456 7890, enter this: 922 123 456 7890.

It sounds as though your SO indeed reached a contract screener rather than an ImmigOff.

Edited February 20, 2008 by TBoneTX

[rebeccajo 14]

I really don't see any proof that your case was 'speeded up' by this method.

My file had been sitting "between stations" for some time. Then, it was sitting in "Identity Check" (or whatever) -- that's where some files are randomly sent as an extra step. In what proved to be my final call, the Immigration Officer said something like "It [your file] can probably go on now," and by the next morning I had my NOA2.

I'm not certain I follow your theory of stations. My recollection of the process is your file remains on a shelf until an adjudicator pulls the entire box over to his desk. The file remains there until he/she has approved it. After approval the file may move over to a clerk who will key for a I797 to be issued - research of the postings of the member huskerkiev might clear up that question.

Random security processing is just that - random - and if your check had not truly been complete the file could not have moved.

Likewise if a case has not moved from the shelf nobody is going to go dig for it in the storage facility. And it's also not going to be pulled and worked ahead of someone elses.

If everybody in the box is outside of processing times - then yes, if there is somehow a way to truly reach the 'floor' as you call it, they might pull your case out of the box and work it. Otherwise I don't see any advantage to this 'method' other than it might make you feel pro-active.

Edited February 20, 2008 by rebeccajo

[TBoneTX 47,912]

I'm not certain I follow your theory of stations. My recollection of the process is your file remains on a shelf until an adjudicator pulls the entire box over to his desk. The file remains there until he/she has approved it. After approval the file may move over to a clerk who will key for a I797 to be issued - research of the postings of the member huskerkiev might clear up that question.

Random security processing is just that - random - and if your check had not truly been complete the file could not have moved.

Likewise if a case has not moved from the shelf nobody is going to go dig for it in the storage facility. And it's also not going to be pulled and worked ahead of someone elses.

If everybody in the box is outside of processing times - then yes, if there is somehow a way to truly reach the 'floor' as you call it, they might pull your case out of the box and work it. Otherwise I don't see any advantage to this 'method' other than it might make you feel pro-active.

Fair points on the surface, but since you filed in 2005 and and certainly since Huskerkiev worked as an adjudicator, things have changed, including procedures, the sheer number of files to be processed, almost certainly the volume and complexity of the paperwork required from the petitioner, and the routing of files on the floor between stations and Divisions. In fact, simply on the basis of the few insights that I gleaned from querying and listening to the several Immigration Officers to whom I spoke (during November & December 2007 rather than in 2005 when you filed or in 2004 when Huskerkiev worked at USCIS), I recommend that the Huskerkiev thread be completely removed from VJ. He himself wrote, more than once, that "things may have changed since I worked there" -- and, by now, his own thread is ancient in itself.

Neither you nor I can say with certainty that "if your check had not truly been complete the file could not have moved." It is equally valid to speculate that "my file was routed to Background Check but didn't really need to be there, so the floor people exercised their discretion either independently or at the recommendation of the ImmigOff and took the file back out of Division 9 and up to the supervisor for approval."

Also, unless you have true insider's knowledge of current practices and procedures, you cannot say with true authority that "if a case has not moved from the shelf nobody is going to go dig for it in the storage facility. And it's also not going to be pulled and worked ahead of someone elses." These speculative statements are POSSIBLE but not verifiable.

Finally: "I don't see any advantage to this 'method' other than it might make you feel pro-active." Any number of readers of this thread could smack you down hard for this. Even if the "method" has no other advantage than making otherwise-desperate and stymied petitioners feel proactive, it's worth it to try it, si man? And people could very strongly question why you're throwing cold water here at all when you filed in 2005 under cheaper fees, almost certainly a simpler system, four processing centers instead of two handling petitions, no extra layer of know-nothing screeners to bang your head against, and approval of your I-129f in 15 (FIFTEEN!) days with not an iota of the suffering that so many of the rest of us here are going through. Do other posters agree with me here? Pipe up.

[TBoneTX 47,912]

At this point my case is still within the 180 day processing window (t-minus 19 days), so I don't feel it's fair for me to try to push my petition through any faster. Damn my sense of fair play, but I feel that just because USCIS isn't playing fair doesn't mean I shouldn't.

[banging a Moxhead against wall] Mox, count the number of petitions filed after yours that have been approved before yours. We all know that the posted "processing window" is a phony CYA hedge when you yourself admit that the reality of processing is different, and UNfair. The gloves come off weeks ago, man.