IMBRA for all??

[biribiri 0]

Hi there.

I am a newbie to VJ but thought I'd just give my 2 cents' worth regarding the IMBRA.

I read the IMBRA and to say the least, I am shocked by it. At the same time, I believe that this is the US govt's drastic equivalent of a "police certificate of good conduct" although I think the way they have legislated it leaves very much to be desired.

Having said that, my reading of IMBRA reveals the following:

1. The 2 years of the "study" and gathering of Information under the Act have not passed yet so I am VERY curious to see how the US govt is going to really implement the Act - no wonder there are so many "teething" problems!

2. Some if not most of us here on VJ probably should not even need to worry about IMBRA because the Act's definition of an "international marriage broker" has some EXCEPTIONS so we should certainly challenge any blanket attempt to lump everyone as being caught by IMBRA just because we filed our I-129Fs after March 2006!

P/S: Can someone who has gone through this mess and filed an I 129F after March 2006 which got transferred to CSC tell me if the CSC will set the clock back to zero when they receive the papers from the original service centre???

Cheers!

[bradentejas 0]

2. Some if not most of us here on VJ probably should not even need to worry about IMBRA because the Act's definition of an "international marriage broker" has some EXCEPTIONS ...

Can you please link to, or copy the words from, the information that causes you to say this? I would be interested in reading it after reviewing the new I-129F. I would like to know what those "exceptions" are and where they are listed?!?!?!

Thanks!

[kitkat1 5]

1. The 2 years of the "study" and gathering of Information under the Act have not passed yet so I am VERY curious to see how the US govt is going to really implement the Act - no wonder there are so many "teething" problems!

P/S: Can someone who has gone through this mess and filed an I 129F after March 2006 which got transferred to CSC tell me if the CSC will set the clock back to zero when they receive the papers from the original service centre???

Cheers!

I'm not sure that your first point matters since it was already signed into law. But I agre that there will be problems with implementation.

I filed March 23 and was transferred to CSC. I sent an email today to ask about the order of processing but haven't heard back yet. But there is NO way they can set the clock back to zero upon receipt of the transfer because the original NOA1 dates and receipt numbers did not change. The real question becomes how will they process the returned RFEs in terms of order and I think they probably have no idea of how they'll address that.

[William33 110]

As I understand the transfer process. based upon a telecon with the national office, your priority date remains the same.

The objective was to consolidate all I-129F petitons to Vermont or CSC, in an effort to expedite the overall waiting time.

Unfortunately, the IMBRA piece happened in the middle of this consolidation.

With that said, you need not worry that you will fall back to the end of the line. I was told that we would be processed in due order.

Well, I hope that is accurate!

[kitkat1 5]

As I understand the transfer process. based upon a telecon with the national office, your priority date remains the same.

The objective was to consolidate all I-129F petitons to Vermont or CSC, in an effort to expedite the overall waiting time.

Unfortunately, the IMBRA piece happened in the middle of this consolidation.

With that said, you need not worry that you will fall back to the end of the line. I was told that we would be processed in due order.

Well, I hope that is accurate!

What kind of teleconference? What other secret information do you have? TELL US MORE PLEASE!!!

I'm sure the priority date remains the same but how on earth are they going to process in order when everyone is going to receive and return their RFEs at different times? Are they sending out RFEs based on priority date as well? That would probably make some sense.

[rlt 0]

As I understand the transfer process. based upon a telecon with the national office, your priority date remains the same.

The objective was to consolidate all I-129F petitons to Vermont or CSC, in an effort to expedite the overall waiting time.

Unfortunately, the IMBRA piece happened in the middle of this consolidation.

With that said, you need not worry that you will fall back to the end of the line. I was told that we would be processed in due order.

Well, I hope that is accurate!

That means the recalled petitions should be first in line, but I find this hard to happen.

There are people with their satus being updated due to a RFE being sent and I didn´t get any touch yet.

[William33 110]

As I understand the transfer process. based upon a telecon with the national office, your priority date remains the same.

The objective was to consolidate all I-129F petitons to Vermont or CSC, in an effort to expedite the overall waiting time.

Unfortunately, the IMBRA piece happened in the middle of this consolidation.

With that said, you need not worry that you will fall back to the end of the line. I was told that we would be processed in due order.

Well, I hope that is accurate!

That means the recalled petitions should be first in line, but I find this hard to happen.

There are people with their satus being updated due to a RFE being sent and I didn´t get any touch yet.

With due respect, you all take my comments too literally.

The word "telecon" can actually mean a call involving two people. The caller and the recipient. I actually got a knowledgeable individual on the phone, fully cognizant of the current process.

With that said, I agree that the recalled petitions should be first.

However, if they do not yet have these packages on their desk, the next one in line prevails.

With respect to RFE submissions, it is now a race to the finish line. How fast can you return the RFE? These will be processed first. Do you think that they should wait for the ones that come in late? Thoughts?

Edited June 16, 2006 by William33

[YnaYeBa0808 0]

it's MAIL WATCH time... sigh

[kitkat1 5]

With due respect, you all take my comments too literally.

The word "telecon" can actually mean a call involving two people. The caller and the recipient. I actually got a knowledgeable individual on the phone, fully cognizant of the current process.

With that said, I agree that the recalled petitions should be first.

However, if they do not yet have these packages on their desk, the next one in line prevails.

With respect to RFE submissions, it is now a race to the finish line. How fast can you return the RFE? These will be processed first. Do you think that they should wait for the ones that come in late? Thoughts?

Darn it - I much prefer the idea that you have a secret hotline to USCIS!

I think it's pretty clear that they will process as they receive returned RFEs. If they receive a RFE returned from someone who filed April 29 they can't put it aside until they receive the RFE returned from someone who filed March 29. But there is no question that the correct thing to do is send RFEs (fed ex RFEs) to people whose petitions were recalled immediately. They are first - there is no room to argue on that. The other issue is that is sure appears that Vermont is ready to send since they have posted on some online case status udpates that a RFE was sent. Now I suppose that could be a regular old RFE and not IMBRA, but seems unlikely. Since no one from CSC has received this online message yet as far as we know, it looks like Vermont is ahead of California as usual. And that part doesn't seem right but there's nothing we can do about that now.

[rlt 0]

With due respect, you all take my comments too literally.

The word "telecon" can actually mean a call involving two people. The caller and the recipient. I actually got a knowledgeable individual on the phone, fully cognizant of the current process.

With that said, I agree that the recalled petitions should be first.

However, if they do not yet have these packages on their desk, the next one in line prevails.

With respect to RFE submissions, it is now a race to the finish line. How fast can you return the RFE? These will be processed first. Do you think that they should wait for the ones that come in late? Thoughts?

Darn it - I much prefer the idea that you have a secret hotline to USCIS!

I think it's pretty clear that they will process as they receive returned RFEs. If they receive a RFE returned from someone who filed April 29 they can't put it aside until they receive the RFE returned from someone who filed March 29. But there is no question that the correct thing to do is send RFEs (fed ex RFEs) to people whose petitions were recalled immediately. They are first - there is no room to argue on that. The other issue is that is sure appears that Vermont is ready to send since they have posted on some online case status udpates that a RFE was sent. Now I suppose that could be a regular old RFE and not IMBRA, but seems unlikely. Since no one from CSC has received this online message yet as far as we know, it looks like Vermont is ahead of California as usual. And that part doesn't seem right but there's nothing we can do about that now.

I know. Even if they send the RFEs to the recalled petitions first, it doesn´t mean they should wait until they get all back to start sending to other petitioners.

But as we all agree here, they should at least start with the recalled, but none of us with petitions recalled got an update yet..

It´s really frustrating. I had even got packet 4 and now it seems I´m going to the end of the line, with people filing out the new form and being compliant with the new law while I don´t even have a chance to do so.

[William33 110]

With due respect, you all take my comments too literally.

The word "telecon" can actually mean a call involving two people. The caller and the recipient. I actually got a knowledgeable individual on the phone, fully cognizant of the current process.

With that said, I agree that the recalled petitions should be first.

However, if they do not yet have these packages on their desk, the next one in line prevails.

With respect to RFE submissions, it is now a race to the finish line. How fast can you return the RFE? These will be processed first. Do you think that they should wait for the ones that come in late? Thoughts?

Darn it - I much prefer the idea that you have a secret hotline to USCIS!

I think it's pretty clear that they will process as they receive returned RFEs. If they receive a RFE returned from someone who filed April 29 they can't put it aside until they receive the RFE returned from someone who filed March 29. But there is no question that the correct thing to do is send RFEs (fed ex Rfs) to people whose petitions were recalled immediately. They are first - there is no room to argue on that. The other issue is that is sure appears that Vermont is ready to send since they have posted on some online case status udpates that a RFE was sent. Now I suppose that could be a regular old RFE and not IMBRA, but seems unlikely. Since no one from CSC has received this online message yet as far as we know, it looks like Vermont is ahead of California as usual. And that part doesn't seem right but there's nothing we can do about that now.

I wish I had the inside track! That would be nice!

I totally agree with you on your assessment. I was puzzled by the NSC to CSC. We all know that CSC is really sloooooowwwww.

I am attempting to have a little faith here. Maybe, just maybe, they have gotten their act together.

With all that in mind, I am looking forward to an RFE in the coming days (2 or 3) days that is!

My case is really simple, as I surmise most are. In my case, we lived together for over 3 years in two different countries.

Hopefully we are all going to celebrate a NOA2 very soon. Good luck to you all!

[no name 1]

I think it's pretty clear that they will process as they receive returned RFEs. If they receive a RFE returned from someone who filed April 29 they can't put it aside until they receive the RFE returned from someone who filed March 29. But there is no question that the correct thing to do is send RFEs (fed ex RFEs) to people whose petitions were recalled immediately. They are first - there is no room to argue on that. The other issue is that is sure appears that Vermont is ready to send since they have posted on some online case status udpates that a RFE was sent. Now I suppose that could be a regular old RFE and not IMBRA, but seems unlikely. Since no one from CSC has received this online message yet as far as we know, it looks like Vermont is ahead of California as usual. And that part doesn't seem right but there's nothing we can do about that now.

Some CSC peeps got touched today tho, so maybe that means RFEs were sent?

PS: You know there's NO WAY the gov't will FedEx anything to us.

Only time will tell on all this...

[kitkat1 5]

Some CSC peeps got touched today tho, so maybe that means RFEs were sent?

PS: You know there's NO WAY the gov't will FedEx anything to us.

Only time will tell on all this...

Could be but since the Vermont people got actual online case status updates indicating their RFEs were sent, it seems the CSC touches are related to the multiple emails they sent out yesterday indicating they now have received the transfers sent to them on June 1. Hate to be negative but it seems the touches today are "we are opening our mail" touches rather than we are sending RFEs. I hope I'm wrong and it's just that CSC hasn't posted the same message on the online case status update.

I know they would never use Fed Ex but don't you think if any situation warrents sending express mail, it's the people whose petitions were returned from the foreign consulate solely due to USCIS's major error?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - if they were a private company, they would have been out of business a long time ago.

[Yodrak 7]

biribiri,

If you've read the Act then you know that it covers more than the use of an 'international marriage broker' and that everyone who submits an I-129f petition is somehow affected by the Act.

Yodrak

Hi there.

I am a newbie to VJ but thought I'd just give my 2 cents' worth regarding the IMBRA.

I read the IMBRA and to say the least, I am shocked by it. At the same time, I believe that this is the US govt's drastic equivalent of a "police certificate of good conduct" although I think the way they have legislated it leaves very much to be desired.

Having said that, my reading of IMBRA reveals the following:

...

2. Some if not most of us here on VJ probably should not even need to worry about IMBRA because the Act's definition of an "international marriage broker" has some EXCEPTIONS so we should certainly challenge any blanket attempt to lump everyone as being caught by IMBRA just because we filed our I-129Fs after March 2006!

...

[aussiewench 9]

As I understand the transfer process. based upon a telecon with the national office, your priority date remains the same.

The objective was to consolidate all I-129F petitons to Vermont or CSC, in an effort to expedite the overall waiting time.

Unfortunately, the IMBRA piece happened in the middle of this consolidation.

With that said, you need not worry that you will fall back to the end of the line. I was told that we would be processed in due order.

Well, I hope that is accurate!

What kind of teleconference? What other secret information do you have? TELL US MORE PLEASE!!!

I'm sure the priority date remains the same but how on earth are they going to process in order when everyone is going to receive and return their RFEs at different times? Are they sending out RFEs based on priority date as well? That would probably make some sense.

Processing of petitions IMHO will not change from the service centers regular system of processing.

Any petitions submitted on or after March 6 will receive an RFE in order for the originally submitted petitions to be compliant with the IMBRA. Thats it. The normal processing of each petition will not then occur until they are up to processing petitions with the date of receipt on each petition.

Presently

CSC is showing as processing petitions with a receipt date of Feb 3

VSC is showing as processing petitions with a receipt date of March 6

So therefore eg a petition with a receipt date of say April 29 will be sent an RFE so that the petition is compliant with the IMBRA but that petition will not continue with processing until they are processing petitions with a receipt date of April 29. All will be as usual.

As the recalled petitions (primarily from VSC) have already been approved they will be sent an RFE to bring the originally submitted petition up to compliance but they will not IMO have to wait for the processing date to reach their original receipt date as in all other aspects they have already been processed. Except those that will need further processing due to criminal history and/or filing of multiple petitions. Petitions will then be forwarded again to Consulates via NVC.

Edited June 16, 2006 by aussiewench