Thought some of you might find this intersting

[marcuskelli 0]

If you are receiving this email it is because you are presently waiting for a filed K-1 Fiancee Visa, K-3 "Follow to Join" visa or an Immigrant Petition to be Consular Processed at a post abroad. If you are in any of these three categories, chances are that you are presently enduring a very long delay in receiving your immigration benefit.

As some of you may know, I was recently selected to serve on the Family Law Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association. Pursuant to my role on that committee, I was able to meet this week with representatives of the Dep't of Homeland Security and Dep't of State regarding the concerns of many AILA members and their clients about the lengthy waits many families have to suffer through before they are united.

As many AILA members suspected, the delays are indeed associated with staffing issues related to the upcoming November election. Employees from various "service centers" in the USCIS have been shifted to citizenship roles to help ease the tremendous backlog. Similarly, employees from the DHS National Visa Center in New Hampshire (which reviews the second portion of many of your applications and forwards to the consular post) have been assisting their Homeland Security counterparts in Vermont in processing citizenship and other applications.

We were told that diverted staff will begin to return to their standard tasks over the next four to six weeks, with a full transition back by November 1. That being said, they did believe that no further lengthening of the processing times was imminent and that the current length (generally now eight months across the board for Fiancee visa or spouse permanent residence filings) would not increase and would begin to decrease around November 1. As many of you have also experienced, many cases are being transferred to the California Service Center, where staffing is at a higher level for these cases and the citizenship backlog has been reduced more quickly.

While this is neither a complete answer nor particularly helpful for those of you who filed in the late winter and spring expecting to have cases abroad well ahead of the autumn, at least now we can trust that the wait does have an end in sight. As always, whether pursuant to committee appointments or simply in my role as counselor, I will do my best to keep abreast of any timing changes and communicate them to you as quickly and effectively as possible.

[sara..... 371]

If you are receiving this email it is because you are presently waiting for a filed K-1 Fiancee Visa, K-3 "Follow to Join" visa or an Immigrant Petition to be Consular Processed at a post abroad. If you are in any of these three categories, chances are that you are presently enduring a very long delay in receiving your immigration benefit.

As some of you may know, I was recently selected to serve on the Family Law Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association. Pursuant to my role on that committee, I was able to meet this week with representatives of the Dep't of Homeland Security and Dep't of State regarding the concerns of many AILA members and their clients about the lengthy waits many families have to suffer through before they are united.

As many AILA members suspected, the delays are indeed associated with staffing issues related to the upcoming November election. Employees from various "service centers" in the USCIS have been shifted to citizenship roles to help ease the tremendous backlog. Similarly, employees from the DHS National Visa Center in New Hampshire (which reviews the second portion of many of your applications and forwards to the consular post) have been assisting their Homeland Security counterparts in Vermont in processing citizenship and other applications.

We were told that diverted staff will begin to return to their standard tasks over the next four to six weeks, with a full transition back by November 1. That being said, they did believe that no further lengthening of the processing times was imminent and that the current length (generally now eight months across the board for Fiancee visa or spouse permanent residence filings) would not increase and would begin to decrease around November 1. As many of you have also experienced, many cases are being transferred to the California Service Center, where staffing is at a higher level for these cases and the citizenship backlog has been reduced more quickly.

While this is neither a complete answer nor particularly helpful for those of you who filed in the late winter and spring expecting to have cases abroad well ahead of the autumn, at least now we can trust that the wait does have an end in sight. As always, whether pursuant to committee appointments or simply in my role as counselor, I will do my best to keep abreast of any timing changes and communicate them to you as quickly and effectively as possible.

omgosh this means i dont have a chance at all prolly and i already been at this a year........................ :angry:

[cdneh 3,112]

Good Grief. There goes Christmas right out the window for us..

[IAMX 3,055]

Good Grief. There goes Christmas right out the window for us..

I think that might have put Christmas out the window for us too.

[cdneh 3,112]

It's so totally unacceptable.

[ErinMeetsJohny 0]

Heck I wasn't even hoping for christmas i was thinking more on the lines of valentines day but my hopes the past two weeks have dwindled of that too....ahhh this sucks!!! I miss my love!

[Coaster 0]

There is also this... We've seen something about this before on these forums, but today's article begins to show the magnitude of the program. Definitely some pressure on the system. For a good cause, certainly, but I hope they have increased their staffing to handle it.

"The United States expects to admit a minimum of 17,000 Iraqi refugees in fiscal 2009, which begins October 1, the department's senior coordinator for refugees said. Thousands more Iraqis and their family members could arrive through a special visa program for people who worked for the United States or its contractors.

"I think you'll see the U.S. government admitting over the course of fiscal 2009 tens of thousands of Iraqis into the United States," coordinator James Foley told reporters.

Up to 3,000 could come from Baghdad, where the United States began interviews this year, he said."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080912/us_nm/...stu2vQnzxus0NUE

[Coaster 0]

Don't get too frustrated with that info though... Things appear to be picking back up the last couple of days.

[Hannah+Vito 0]

hmmm maybe thats what happened to ours? perhaps we've been shifted to new adjudicators? was hoping to have the visa by novemebr, and be able to marry in feb, i think this has thrown my dreams of having our nvc number by the 24th of this month out the window completely, i doubt even if we were approved now, that it would be sent to the nvc and processed in time.

[cdneh 3,112]

Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between October 28, 2008 and November 5, 2008.

The trouble with this is, it will be well into December here before the consulate here gets anything back. And it will be Christmas, and summer here, and the government practically shuts shop over the holiday. It will be also nearly impossible to book a flight around that time, spaces are already getting snapped up. I can't book with no date. I'm stuck until well into the new year. AND I'm madder than hell.

[Chris & Mara 0]

I think that whilst this is concerning for us that have filled more recently the effects of this occuring would have already been seen across the board, with the most part they are already processing people who started their application in the first week of May.

USCIS always bases their times a bit out there and if you check the board it has always said that August filers shouldnt be expecting to be processed till January 2nd, whilst VJ has prediced us to be the end of this year.

Remember the consulate is an american run organisation, they only get off american holidays, they might be closed for a week or 2 over xmas but I would doubt much longer then that.

And if your looking for cheap fares at the last minute try Air pacific from Aus or NZ, it means you get a lay over in Fiji for a few hours and have to use LAX as POE But I have found that you can get one way flights over for about $900 - $1100, which isnt to bad in the grand scheme of things.

But I think that we could read into this as negative as possible, and lets face it, its only going to make us all depressed, I am still hoping that I will be their at the start of next year (Jan or Feb) but that of course is dependant on the NOA2. But seeing as though Chris has promised to come and visit me for Xmas and meet all my family that is what I am going to count down too, hopefully somewhere along the long our notice will turn up and everything will be great.

Lets stay postive guys, its going to make the wait shorter (even though we all know its going to feel like the longest 6 - 12 months of our lives whilst its all happening)

[Marmite Lovers! 0]

I'm with Chris and Mara on this one. Lets not get down over it. This is a positive thing that we acually have some news as to what the **** is going on these days. And they do say "they did believe that no further lengthening of the processing times was imminent and that the current length "