Comments on the K-3 Situation

[Karaoke 0]

Gringo, thanks for your comments.

I am totally baffled at how stupid the system seems to be. I cannot believe that it takes the same amount of time whether a case is very simple and straightforward or complicated... I cannot believe it takes the same crazy-long amount of time just to be "fair to all".. I cannot believe it takes 6 months for something that in other countries takes a few days to do (and without higher levels of security posed to the system apparently!).

Once you see the marriage certificate, clear the security checks, and can prove you have enough income or savings to last a few months, what more you need????

The US is perhaps so advanced in its economy, but its bureaucracy is a joke and obviously their security checks lame and counterproductive (they do not stop those they are supposed to stop, and they hinder everyone else!). If you are looking for a 0.01 % of bad apples, it does not help to turn and grill all apples for three times longer, to weed out the 0.01 apple... If a bad apple does not want to be found, it will not be found. You NEED TO CHANGE the SCREENING system, apply randomized error control procedures, risk assesment, not simply increase the time you spend to check ALL apples... Quality not quantity. In fact as we all know it is simply counterproductive and you make more apples go bad..... Not every profile poses the same threat, I can't believe their intelligence people do not see that! And by making it harder to get in for qualified petitioners, you harm the whole nation! I think any dim-witted fool could make this mess go better than it is going now! I bet they receive hundreds of millions in fees -plus government funding- and they still cannot make it work?? hahaha Anyhow, back to the case in point and apologies for my usual ranting.

-According to the timeline section, it is taking 62 days from NOA1 to NOA2 for CR-1... I think this is a MISTAKE? How come I only hear of Sept. and Oct. filers getting approved instead of Jan. ones???

-126 days (!!!!!) at NVC

I think that the overall time may have peaked, if we assume that their uselessness is coumpounded by the Summer peitition increase... Obviously if suddenly there is a PEAK, further down the line there should be a slowdown, because people who filed BEFORE the increase, will not need to file later on, and if we assume a similar growth trend for immigration things should get better after getting worse (PEAK of related petitions and other AOS and paperworks related to the original "peak filers").

Now check the timeline statistics for the K-3. At VSC we are talking 150 days ( that is why the figure for CR-1 looks odd...) from NOA1 (which is quite prompt from what we read on the forums) to NOA2...

But the trend looks like it is fast improving since the Jan. peak... I would guess that in 3-6 months we could be nearing 100... but that should be little use for us who filed before this improve starts to show up...

What I conclude from all this is that if they do not reform the system NOW, add more resources, trained people and computers, simplify the rules, allow electronic submissions of forms, improve internal procedures, checks and productivity, it will still take TOO long for us present filers to get out of this hell although things are improving.

But, if they decide to simply K-3 and CR-1 (assuming a 25% rate of petition for the K-3 visas of I-130 filers) and centralize the USCIS and NVC procedures they could substantially reduce the processing times for all, cut costs and make life easier for those that come later at least...

I would redesign the K-3/family based CR-1 system like this (simplifying a lot): people prepare the petition and file in their original country ONLINE and pay all upfront via a bank wire (at least you can blame YOUR bank if they do not receive your money! the private banking system surely works better and faster than the USCIS check clearing!).

Consulates screen the hard documents you have to deliver in person, after a fingerprint system/name (similar to POE fingerprinting etc) and using remote US-based adjudicators as support (yeah those 17.000 people from USCIS and who knows how many from NVC !!) and for checking USC credentials. Let's say you have 1.000 of those assigned to petition checking. You can check 5 per day (40 min. per petition, say 4 h per day including some snacks!) with the support of the Consulate officers (of course some consulates would require additional qualified personnel and possibly local governments' closer cooperation). That's 5.000 per day, 1.000.000 per year! They check for what a machine cannot see: simple, plain fraud... Of course with the support of state of the art technology and intelligence.

Something fishy? You escalate to a more experienced/senior colleague, or tag the petition for further interviews at consulate, POE or US appearance.

If all good, you are invited to come back for an interview where the consulate specialists grill you at leisure. If not you are asked to submit whatever more. You pass? you are good to go. You get a Visa valid for a say 6 months, similar to K-1. You get at POE, you hand-in your documents (although consulate already submitted all digitally), same second check, and you go home to your beloved's to wait for your greencard, SSN and whatever else and to take a medical check-up at an approved doctor. You fail the check-up or to attend? You get deported/or you get your shots. If for any reason they want to grill you more, they let your USC spouse know and you appear at the local office or become illegal... They deny your application afterwards, then you have to leave the country...

Big difference? DECENTRALIZE collection and data entry (shifting the burden on applicants), centralize data mining and analysis and risk control (with more input and saying from the local embassies/consulates), closer to people that speak the language and know the local issues, but also to professional fraud investigators, decentralize benefits distribution and double checking (POE), simplify red-tape, payments.

Ok I spoke my nonsense, but still better than checking all posts and the stupid USCIS one million times per day and all the time!

Good luck to us all!

charisma, It looks like they are currently goin

g by the Priority Date(Received Date) for the I-130 to determine processing order. The NOA1 dates for either petition seem to be immaterial at this point. If you look at the data for most recent I-129F approvals, you'll see that the only correlation appears to be those I-130 Priority Dates. For example, I sent my petitions together and my NOA1 for the I-129F is only two days later than that of the I-130. In the end, it didn't hurt, but it didn't help either since I got processed at the same time as other who sent their I-130 around the same time regardless of when they sent their I-129F.

You can see this trend in the data at this link

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list...ll&dfile=No

This is fair I suppose, but it negates the benefit of the K-3 at least where USCIS is concerned. However, the process through NVC and on to the consulate is significantly faster for the K-3. In some countries such as Canada, the difference can add up to several months.

[ColombianoGringo 0]

charisma, The NOA1 to NOA2 time estimates are pretty useless right now. They are horribly skewed recently because of the massive receipting delays last year. It was taking some people up to three months to get their NOA1. Consequently, when you add up the two to three months delay for the NOA1 and then the additional time between NOA1 and NOA2, you would get closer to a total of six to eight months from sending the I-130 to receiving NOA2. This is a more realistic timeframe for petitions filed in the latter half of 2007.

As I mentioned, the only date that can reasonably be used to estimate processing order is the "Receive Date" on your NOA1. In my case, the receive date was July 30 although the NOA1 for both petitions was in late August.

The complexity of the case has less bearing on the processing times than you would think. In most cases, the petitions just sit there for months and are then adjudicated in as little as a day. So it really doesn't matter whether your case is simple or complex. It will sit there waiting to be looked at like the rest. Of course, once the processing on the case actually begins, certain issues can cause background check delays and RFEs. These will slow the case down at that point.

Take heart in that the logjam seems to be letting up a bit. Good luck to you.

Edited March 25, 2008 by ColombianoGringo

[Nita&Assaad 0]

Charisma1 - I like your ranting!! I agree with it!!

Nita

[Karaoke 0]

Gringo, if it is really like you say (1 day to approve and 179 to get on their desk), the system is EVEN MORE #$%% up than I thought!!

But there is a silver linining : that being the case, even a simple increase of resources (personnel and overwork, which in my opinion is NOT enough to fix the structural deficiencies of the process) should speed up the process a lot! Let's see the next two months. If the processing remains linear (6 months window) in the next couple of months, then they simply wasted these resources, if it gets up to gear (I'd assume a 3month training is necessary to become decently productive for an average temp. contractor...), then it means they did do something right for once!

I wonder if the present director's resignations will have a big impacts (positive or negative that it might be...)

I see your point about Receive Date and NOA1. But now things are slightly different.. My receive date and NOA1 date are just a coupld of weeks or so apart, and for most other people filing this month it's even shorter...

The real issue is how many backlogged NOA1 to NOA2 left, and how long to approve them, since for sure the amount of petitions must have slowed down, not only from this Summer but also from last year's pre-summer trend (as I said, if more people file all together, fewer should file in the following few months after the "burst"...). Also the other issue is, WHAT is going on with the K-3 approval?

Never planned to live in the US: if I had known, I would have married there with a K-1 instead of abroad, and filed a petition at once!

charisma, The NOA1 to NOA2 time estimates are pretty useless right now. They are horribly skewed recently because of the massive receipting delays last year. It was taking some people up to three months to get their NOA1. Consequently, when you add up the two to three months delay for the NOA1 and then the additional time between NOA1 and NOA2, you would get closer to a total of six to eight months from sending the I-130 to receiving NOA2. This is a more realistic timeframe for petitions filed in the latter half of 2007.

As I mentioned, the only date that can reasonably be used to estimate processing order is the "Receive Date" on your NOA1. In my case, the receive date was July 30 although the NOA1 for both petitions was in late August.

The complexity of the case has less bearing on the processing times than you would think. In most cases, the petitions just sit there for months and are then adjudicated in as little as a day. So it really doesn't matter whether your case is simple or complex. It will sit there waiting to be looked at like the rest. Of course, once the processing on the case actually begins, certain issues can cause background check delays and RFEs. These will slow the case down at that point.

Take heart in that the logjam seems to be letting up a bit. Good luck to you.

[Karaoke 0]

Nita, you should go ask Apple to advertise for them! "So much to touch!" I hope you get soon some good news!

If your marriage is real, you should already be reunited a long time ago, if it's a phoney, they should have busted you long time ago as well... Either way, you are right, they are wrong, because this is unhumane and harmful.

It is NOT RIGHT to take so much time to figure that simple thing out and leave two people lingering in the void for so long!

Stand up for your rights! Call your senators, write to the DHS secratary to the presidential candidates...

Instead of wasting our time with those silly color threat advisories, they'd better go get some work done!

Charisma1 - I like your ranting!! I agree with it!!

Nita

[pushbrk 12,882]

Gringo, if it is really like you say (1 day to approve and 179 to get on their desk), the system is EVEN MORE #$%% up than I thought!!

If your hot water heater is far from your shower, you don't get hot water right away because the pipe is long and has a limited flow capacity. More staff equals a bigger pipe, so more water can flow and empty the backlog faster. Once the backlog is clear and the bigger pipe is flowing in real time, the system will speed up.

Once cases get their turn at passing through the first nozzle, they get to the next nozzle pretty fast. The next nozzle is the outbound end of the mailroom.

We've gone from a big backlog to a pretty even flow, with long delays getting out of the mailroom and on to NVC. Now the mailroom seems to have cleared its backlog on both ends, so I expect the whole process will start moving along with 30 to 75 day NOA1 to NOA2 times for most fiance and spouse petitions.

I would not look forward to having two horses in the race. That policy stopped in November, 2006. It's only going to happen now if it's a mistake or somebody figures out how to "clearly state they want Consular processing for their I-130" in some way that doesn't get ignored. At this point I'm thinking they need more than a "just do it" kind of clarity; something more like, "We have plans to visit in 8 months, so would prefer Consular processing rather than to adjust status." You know, something that tells them you aren't just asking for a horse race.

[Enlighten one :) 5]

'cisombudsman.publicaffairs@dhs.gov'

Lurking, which email did you send this to? Let us know if you get any replies.

I think it used to take 2-3 months to get a K-3 approved in 2006 at VSC. Now it is not clear what they are doing.

I-130 NOA2 seem to take 6 months as of now, but with an improvement trend...

I am now wondering if filing the K-3 petitions was a mistake... We filed the I-130 and the I-129F this month hoping that it's better to have two horses in the race... I do not mind if they cancel my I-129F AND approve my CR1 in 3 months, but if -like it seems at the moment- the NOA2 for either of those petitions is around 6 months (if you are lucky), then I hope that at least I can get the K-3, so that the NVC process (and perhaps the embassy too) are faster...

I am not an expert in statistics, but I think that the peak of Jul, Aug and Sep. should be out of the system by now!!!

WHEN is VSC going to go back to 2006 levels?

Too late sent with typos and all. I never reread what I write. You should right a letter regarding the K1 approvals going so quickly while we wait. send it to there email as I did.

Lurking,

If you are sending a letter or email to Ombudsman, I would also suggest that you ask that why VSC is moving so fast on K1 that they're approving

K1 petitions from Jan and Feb of 2008 which means K1 approved in 30-60 days and not moving on K3.

Hello Skyke,

Thank you for the link. I utilized it to send a link to the CIS Ombusman. Can I recemend that when you creat the list hid the Country and keep the Embassy. This way the list will not be as long. I tried to upload the htm as an attachement but i could not get it to work. what am i doing wrong?

Copy of letter to Ombusdman:

Attention CIS Ombudman:

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The confusion on USCIS new self-created policy on administratively closing I129f petition is causing much hardship on petitioners. We has United State Citizens have a right to be informed on this new policy. Through timelines posted in a forum VIsajourney.com it appears that the California Service Center is back on track with approving the I129f petitions, But the Vermont Service Center is still Ignoring (administratively closing) without any notification to the petitioner.

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This new policy has petitioners waiting for the I129f approval without any notification that it will be ignored at the Vermont Service Center. We the petitioner deserve a notice of action on these petitions. One center(California) can not approve the I130 and the I129f, while Vermont ignores the petitioners request for a notice of action on their I129f.

The visajourney website is a cohesive forum that keeps better track of the USCIS timelines. Please visit the link below that expresses my concerns around the Vermont Service Center. This timeline is created when VisaJourney Users put in their petitioning information, It is comprehensive and accurate to the person entering the information.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=6543

I was told by an USCIS office that my case of was administratively closed. Then when I called back I was told that the USCIS will not close your case that they are working on September 20^th, 2008 and yours will come up soon. HE also stated that if I do not receive a NOA in a month to call back. No who should I listen to? I have been waiting since September for this I129f petition, while I have an approved I130 petition. The waiting period at my husband’s embassy is 7-9 months for a CR1 interview and for a K3 it is 1-2 months.

Under the LIFE act I have a right to utilize my pending I129f petition for a K3 Visa.

The petitioners need to be informed.

Sincerely,

Melissa V Ayotte

Here is the list of K3 as of March 24. There are approval from CSC for K3, but VSC is still approving K3 only with I-130. So, no K3 from VSC.

K3_AsOf_March24.htm