California I-129F delay

[EricMN 0]

Joy, Joy.

My I-129F petition has been in pending state for 6 months and 1 day, so guess what?

I get the "opportunity" to call in and check on my case and talk to an actual human being.

Can you imagine? A human being!

Wow. What a wonderful day. The opportunity to talk to a person about an application

you mailed into a black hole 24 weeks ago. How utterly incredulous is that? What industry

or other government organization can blackhole things for such long periods of time and

it go un-noticed or un-corrected? It's incredible. Even the Army has a factorial speed advantage

to USCIS, and that's certainly not saying much.

Oh....But wait...

I get to the customer service rep, and a transfer to the Information Officer who informs me the processing times are now +26 days!

What's this? Huh. The website says 6 months, but MY case processing time is now 7 months? Oh wait, it gets even better.

I'm told to call back in 27 days and then they can send a message in the computer to "check on my case status".

Mind you, both people I spoke to on the phone were VERY, VERY professional and polite. A robot could have just as easily

said "I know nothing, I cannot help, I am ineffectual, I am powerless, I have no opportunity to make improvements to my organization" and had the same net effect.

I see lots of press releases about process improvement, but a press release is not the same as performance.

Government should not be the special olympics of the business world.

How about this?

I contact my senator, instead.

USCIS, You're a terrible organization; judging by all the numerous complaints of poor information from other posters,

I'm not alone in this belief.

"Yes we can".............. can hold you accountable for poor customer service.

"Yes we can".............. eliminate the lazy and ineffectual from government.

"Yes we can".............. as citizens, demand government run as efficiently as private industry.

"Yes we can".............. demand governmental department heads be promoted and hired on MERIT and not through political appointment, veteran status, minority status or tenure.

"Yes we can".............. demand you not lower your performance bar lower whenever you choose to do so.

"Yes we can".............. place someone else in the chair you occupy in "our" offices.

"Yes we can".............. make freedom of information requests.

I would encourage all of you who have had problems with USCIS to write your congressional members.

Simply state:

Who you are

That you are writing to make them aware of an unsatisfactory experience with USCIS

What you were trying to do with USCIS

What USCIS said the process was

What you did (Did you comply with the process, submit the right paperwork, etc)

When you did it

What deliverable did USCIS advertise? Did they give a date for a response?

What did USCIS deliver? Did it match what they said they would do?

What hardships did you endure waiting for USCIS?

What were your expenses in the process?

What hardships did your spouse or significant other endure?

Ask that they sponsor a pay for performance bill in congress specifically targeting DHS pay grades GS-10 and above.

[KimandRuss 0]

While I tend to agree that we should all at least contact our representatives with issues regarding the immigration process, it's important to understand that the USCIS is funded mostly by our petition fees and not our tax dollars.

moving from K-1 General to Progress....

Edited March 11, 2009 by KimandRuss