My letter to the CIS Ombudsman

[carldecolorado 0]

Tigre

I agree, can you please send this email by snail mail as well. I am very anxious to hear their response.

[VSSKS 0]

Excellent work!!! Thanks for doing it for all of us!

[ppboo 0]

Thanks you so much....

[tigretigre 0]

I will prepare a snail mail version as well, just to keep everything rosy around here.

But, these were the instructions I followed, as I was not submitting a problem with an individual case:

Recommendations regarding systemic problems you have identified in the immigration benefits process should wherever possible be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word document format. Ideally, your recommendations for process changes should not only identify the problem you are experiencing, but should also contain a proposed solution that will not only benefit your individual case, but others who may be experiencing the same problem as well.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/edit...torial_0501.xml

[Ladylethal 12]

Then what you did was perfect, Tigre.

[billsgirl 0]

nicely done....good job...

[Ladylethal 12]

The e-mail I sent to NVC came back with the usual info saying my case is not there yet, and I should contact USCIS. I am guessing they don´t read the content of the e-mail at all, they just look at your case number and send back info on it. How pathetic is that?

Folks, unless we hear something from VSC director, the ombudsman Tigre sent an e-mail to or congressmen who got letters from members, there´s NOTHING more that can be done.

[rebeccajo 14]

That's one heck of a letter!

[Nik 0]

I submitted the following to the CIS Ombudsman about ten minutes ago.

Let us hope he answers his own email. And reads it.

I included my address, home, and office phone numbers. Maybe he will think I'm clever and want to talk to me.

Maybe I'll get a pony for my birthday this year.

May 25, 2006

Prakash I. Khatri, Esq

Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman

United States Department of Homeland Security

Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Mr. Khatri:

I recently filed a K1 fiance(e) visa petition (Form I-129F) with the USCIS Vermont Service Center on behalf of my husband-to-be, a citizen of the United Kingdom. According to the United States Postal Service returned receipt, my petition arrived at the Center on May 19. I have since heard some very distressing news from the Department of State concerning the processing of K1 fiance(e) visa petitions in light of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) (please see the Visa Telegram at http://travel.state.gov/visa/laws/telegram...grams_2927.html, dated May 6th, 2006).

This information included news of the recall of over 1,000 approved K1 petitions from their consular destinations, and provided the vaguest of explanations concerning the future of submissions currently awaiting processing at the USCIS Service Centers. I am writing to seek some general information on the current K1 visa processing situation at the Service Centers (particularly the Vermont Center, where the recalled petitions appear to have originated), and to offer my input on how the USCIS can best address the concerns and understandable anxiety of United States citizens and their fiancé(e)s abroad.

I write to you not only out of concern for my own case, but out of concern for other K1 petitioners who have shared their distress with me. People seeking family-based immigration benefits suffer anxiety and frustration resulting from separation from loved ones and the uncertainty of the process by which they are hoping to be reunited with their family members. It is not surprising that the World Wide Web is home to communities of family-based immigration petitioners and applicants who seek understanding and support during this difficult time. As a member of one such community, my thoughts as I write to you are as much of them as they are of my own situation.

My areas of concern include the following:

1) The relevant federal agencies (which include the USCIS under the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Department of State), have failed to keep the public informed of the IMBRA-related developments and how they affect the way K1 petitions will be processed at the USCIS Service Centers.

2) The relevant federal agencies have failed to provide effective channels through which current petitioners and applicants can obtain reliable, complete information concerning their pending cases.

3) Officials at the relevant federal agencies, having made the grave error of failing to implement the required procedural measures for IMBRA by the legislative deadline, have compounded that error by requiring that petitions received after that deadline be processed in compliance with IMBRA when petitioners and applicants were not themselves informed of the need for compliance.

4) Officials at the relevant federal agencies have now released information (see the Visa Policy Telegram from the Department of State) stating that petitioners for K1 visas submitting on or after March 6, 2006 will be subject to new requirements when completing Form I-129F, but have failed to explain what information (if any) the petitioner will be required to supply. References to a “new Form I-129F” and “additional questionnaires” have triggered panic among petitioners and applicants, who envision massive delays as the petitioners collect the IMBRA information and turn it over to Service Centers for processing.

The situation has become untenable for those of us who have submitted a K1 petition we know or think will be affected by IMBRA, and some remedies are necessary. People who have resigned from jobs, sold or purchased homes, relocated, and made wedding plans upon receipt of an approval notice (or even upon approval at the foreign consulate) are now suffering financial as well as emotional hardship as their approvals are revoked. We who have not yet received an approval notice from our Service Centers are left to wonder anxiously about the future of our petitions, and to speculate on what information will be required from us in order to proceed (as well as how long it will take to obtain it).

We are United States citizens who have acted in good faith and conformed to the laws and regulations of the United States, and the requirements of the K1 petition process as published at the time of filing. To effectively penalize our petitions for an administrative failure we could not possibly have anticipated is rapidly eroding our faith in the ability of our Government to provide transparent guidance and competent administrative service.

My proposed solutions are as follows:

1) The Department of State and the USCIS must as soon as possible publish a notice describing any new requirements for the submission of K1 petitions due to IMBRA. The notice should include information on any new version of Form I-129F that may be forthcoming, and instructions for submitting K1 petitions pending new regulations or forms. In addition to any other forms of publication, the notice should be displayed prominently on the homepage of the USCIS website, and should also be available on the Department of State web page concerning visas.

2) As soon as possible, the web pages displaying the visa processing dates at the individual USCIS Service Centers should provide a notice updating the user on the status of Form I-129F processing at the Center (i.e., whether all processing has been suspended, some processing is taking place, normal processing has resumed, etc.).

3) As soon as possible, the Departments of State and Homeland Security, as well as USCIS itself, should issue a notice providing the public with a single information resource for questions concerning the IMBRA situation as it affects pending K1 petitions. This resource should be able to provide individuals with, among other things, a) the current location and status of the individual's petition; B) any information that is still needed from the petitioner before the petition can be approved; c) an estimated timeline for approval of any petition recalled from a foreign consulate by the Department of Homeland Security.

4) Given that petitioners with cases currently pending at a Service Center, the National Visa Center, or a foreign consulate received no notice concerning any additional procedures or requirements for approval of their petitions or applications for visas, and that there is no guidance on the IMBRA requirements available for U.S. citizens contemplating a K1 petition, it may be argued that fundamental fairness requires that all K1 submissions be processed under the pre-IMBRA regulations until notice of new procedures and requirements can be widely disseminated by the relevant federal agencies. It is one thing to require that all petitions submitted after a specific date conform to a specific set of regulations made available prior to that date; it is quite another to subject all pending and future petitions to a set of regulations that do not yet appear to exist and therefore cannot be followed by petitioners, researched by attorneys, or explained to users by USCIS officials.

I recognize that USCIS and other Department of Homeland Security personnel work hard on a daily basis to provide the most efficient and thorough service possible, for the benefit of visa-seekers and for the protection of American citizens. It is disturbing, however, to witness at this critical point in the development of our country's immigration policies and procedures, such confusion and absence of transparency. I urge you to consider the issues I have identified here, and their accompanying proposals, and to recommend that USCIS take action as soon as possible. I very much appreciate your time and attention to this matter, and would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Very truly yours,

[my name], J.D.

Nice Job! Please post as soon as you hear something. I am thinking the rest of us should write letters to the relevant people in our service centers, just flood their e-mail system. Maybe if enough of usk ask for clarification we will get a response.

Nik.

[saruno1958 0]

Tigre,

Great thought out e-mail. Perhaps you should e-mail a copy to your congressman as well. If nothing else to maybe provided some oversight by the other arm of the government. Of course the only time they want to know about the other parts is when election years happen. God help us all!!!!

Scott

[Girona40 0]

Just curious - have you had any kind of response yet?

I submitted the following to the CIS Ombudsman about ten minutes ago.

Let us hope he answers his own email. And reads it.

I included my address, home, and office phone numbers. Maybe he will think I'm clever and want to talk to me.

Maybe I'll get a pony for my birthday this year.

May 25, 2006

Prakash I. Khatri, Esq

Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman

United States Department of Homeland Security

Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Mr. Khatri:

I recently filed a K1 fiance(e) visa petition (Form I-129F) with the USCIS Vermont Service Center on behalf of my husband-to-be, a citizen of the United Kingdom. According to the United States Postal Service returned receipt, my petition arrived at the Center on May 19. I have since heard some very distressing news from the Department of State concerning the processing of K1 fiance(e) visa petitions in light of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) (please see the Visa Telegram at http://travel.state.gov/visa/laws/telegram...grams_2927.html, dated May 6th, 2006).

This information included news of the recall of over 1,000 approved K1 petitions from their consular destinations, and provided the vaguest of explanations concerning the future of submissions currently awaiting processing at the USCIS Service Centers. I am writing to seek some general information on the current K1 visa processing situation at the Service Centers (particularly the Vermont Center, where the recalled petitions appear to have originated), and to offer my input on how the USCIS can best address the concerns and understandable anxiety of United States citizens and their fiancé(e)s abroad.

I write to you not only out of concern for my own case, but out of concern for other K1 petitioners who have shared their distress with me. People seeking family-based immigration benefits suffer anxiety and frustration resulting from separation from loved ones and the uncertainty of the process by which they are hoping to be reunited with their family members. It is not surprising that the World Wide Web is home to communities of family-based immigration petitioners and applicants who seek understanding and support during this difficult time. As a member of one such community, my thoughts as I write to you are as much of them as they are of my own situation.

My areas of concern include the following:

1) The relevant federal agencies (which include the USCIS under the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Department of State), have failed to keep the public informed of the IMBRA-related developments and how they affect the way K1 petitions will be processed at the USCIS Service Centers.

2) The relevant federal agencies have failed to provide effective channels through which current petitioners and applicants can obtain reliable, complete information concerning their pending cases.

3) Officials at the relevant federal agencies, having made the grave error of failing to implement the required procedural measures for IMBRA by the legislative deadline, have compounded that error by requiring that petitions received after that deadline be processed in compliance with IMBRA when petitioners and applicants were not themselves informed of the need for compliance.

4) Officials at the relevant federal agencies have now released information (see the Visa Policy Telegram from the Department of State) stating that petitioners for K1 visas submitting on or after March 6, 2006 will be subject to new requirements when completing Form I-129F, but have failed to explain what information (if any) the petitioner will be required to supply. References to a “new Form I-129F” and “additional questionnaires” have triggered panic among petitioners and applicants, who envision massive delays as the petitioners collect the IMBRA information and turn it over to Service Centers for processing.

The situation has become untenable for those of us who have submitted a K1 petition we know or think will be affected by IMBRA, and some remedies are necessary. People who have resigned from jobs, sold or purchased homes, relocated, and made wedding plans upon receipt of an approval notice (or even upon approval at the foreign consulate) are now suffering financial as well as emotional hardship as their approvals are revoked. We who have not yet received an approval notice from our Service Centers are left to wonder anxiously about the future of our petitions, and to speculate on what information will be required from us in order to proceed (as well as how long it will take to obtain it).

We are United States citizens who have acted in good faith and conformed to the laws and regulations of the United States, and the requirements of the K1 petition process as published at the time of filing. To effectively penalize our petitions for an administrative failure we could not possibly have anticipated is rapidly eroding our faith in the ability of our Government to provide transparent guidance and competent administrative service.

My proposed solutions are as follows:

1) The Department of State and the USCIS must as soon as possible publish a notice describing any new requirements for the submission of K1 petitions due to IMBRA. The notice should include information on any new version of Form I-129F that may be forthcoming, and instructions for submitting K1 petitions pending new regulations or forms. In addition to any other forms of publication, the notice should be displayed prominently on the homepage of the USCIS website, and should also be available on the Department of State web page concerning visas.

2) As soon as possible, the web pages displaying the visa processing dates at the individual USCIS Service Centers should provide a notice updating the user on the status of Form I-129F processing at the Center (i.e., whether all processing has been suspended, some processing is taking place, normal processing has resumed, etc.).

3) As soon as possible, the Departments of State and Homeland Security, as well as USCIS itself, should issue a notice providing the public with a single information resource for questions concerning the IMBRA situation as it affects pending K1 petitions. This resource should be able to provide individuals with, among other things, a) the current location and status of the individual's petition; B) any information that is still needed from the petitioner before the petition can be approved; c) an estimated timeline for approval of any petition recalled from a foreign consulate by the Department of Homeland Security.

4) Given that petitioners with cases currently pending at a Service Center, the National Visa Center, or a foreign consulate received no notice concerning any additional procedures or requirements for approval of their petitions or applications for visas, and that there is no guidance on the IMBRA requirements available for U.S. citizens contemplating a K1 petition, it may be argued that fundamental fairness requires that all K1 submissions be processed under the pre-IMBRA regulations until notice of new procedures and requirements can be widely disseminated by the relevant federal agencies. It is one thing to require that all petitions submitted after a specific date conform to a specific set of regulations made available prior to that date; it is quite another to subject all pending and future petitions to a set of regulations that do not yet appear to exist and therefore cannot be followed by petitioners, researched by attorneys, or explained to users by USCIS officials.

I recognize that USCIS and other Department of Homeland Security personnel work hard on a daily basis to provide the most efficient and thorough service possible, for the benefit of visa-seekers and for the protection of American citizens. It is disturbing, however, to witness at this critical point in the development of our country's immigration policies and procedures, such confusion and absence of transparency. I urge you to consider the issues I have identified here, and their accompanying proposals, and to recommend that USCIS take action as soon as possible. I very much appreciate your time and attention to this matter, and would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Very truly yours,

[my name], J.D.

[Miranda&James 8]

Wow, excellent letter. I really hope you get a real response rather than a canned "thanks for writing".

[Ladylethal 12]

It's been a while with no responses. We wrote as well and got nothing back.

[tigretigre 0]

They sent me a standard response saying that my suggestions had been reviewed by their office and would be shared with USCIS. They did send it within 10 days though, so that was nice.

USCIS did end up doing some of the stuff I suggested...several weeks later.

I also wrote my Congressman, and submitted his special "authorization to investigate" form with my case number and stuff as well. Never heard back from him.

Perhaps it's a subtle hint that I should just shut up and be patient.

[amwo 0]

They sent me a standard response saying that my suggestions had been reviewed by their office and would be shared with USCIS. They did send it within 10 days though, so that was nice.

USCIS did end up doing some of the stuff I suggested...several weeks later.

I also wrote my Congressman, and submitted his special "authorization to investigate" form with my case number and stuff as well. Never heard back from him.

Perhaps it's a subtle hint that I should just shut up and be patient.

hi tigre,

question - is there a thread with compiled info on noa1's receiving rfe's?

thanks!

(love the sign!)