Will I EVER get to USA?

[mrsB 0]

My husband tried to call USCIS yesterday again, but we didn't really get anywhere since we apparently can't speak directly to someone "of importance". We still don't know what's going on with the I-130 like if it's still with the FBI or if anyone has actually done anything to it while they've been busy messing with the I-129F that was supposed to be terminated... The "boss" at the California Service Center should've received our letter by now... But I'm sure they won't bother calling, they'll probably just eventually respond with a generic reply letter. I wish we could afford to hire a lawyer, though I'm not sure if even that would help at this point. I just want answers and some action.

[VN10 0]

My husband tried to call USCIS yesterday again, but we didn't really get anywhere since we apparently can't speak directly to someone "of importance". We still don't know what's going on with the I-130 like if it's still with the FBI or if anyone has actually done anything to it while they've been busy messing with the I-129F that was supposed to be terminated... The "boss" at the California Service Center should've received our letter by now... But I'm sure they won't bother calling, they'll probably just eventually respond with a generic reply letter. I wish we could afford to hire a lawyer, though I'm not sure if even that would help at this point. I just want answers and some action.

Hi MRSb : my case same as you, they need time for check us. we can not call for them ,if called ,they still saying it processing......!!! too tired.

Now, we are just waiting......hope will get news soon as possible.

Ps: if we will hire lawyer , we still waiting tooo.......!

[Y's_habibitk 2]

My husband tried to call USCIS yesterday again, but we didn't really get anywhere since we apparently can't speak directly to someone "of importance". We still don't know what's going on with the I-130 like if it's still with the FBI or if anyone has actually done anything to it while they've been busy messing with the I-129F that was supposed to be terminated... The "boss" at the California Service Center should've received our letter by now... But I'm sure they won't bother calling, they'll probably just eventually respond with a generic reply letter. I wish we could afford to hire a lawyer, though I'm not sure if even that would help at this point. I just want answers and some action.

Hi MRSb : my case same as you, they need time for check us. we can not call for them ,if called ,they still saying it processing......!!! too tired.

Now, we are just waiting......hope will get news soon as possible.

Ps: if we will hire lawyer , we still waiting tooo.......!

I agree that a lawyer wont help at all. However a formal detailed inquiry from your congressman will at least give you the status of your case beyond "pending".

[mrsB 0]

Well, apparently our congressman's representatives can only "send an inquiry every 30 days".

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Thanks for the update girl.

Will add you to my good vibes list

[Married2aTico 0]

Well, apparently our congressman's representatives can only "send an inquiry every 30 days".

Maybe that is the policy of your Congressman's office, but, if they are willing, they can call for you often. That has been my experience so far. If you can't get anywhere with your Congressman, go to your Senator. If nothing there, recruit out of state relatives to contact their politicians. At this point, write to the President and/or First Lady. Nothing can hurt!

[Y's_habibitk 2]

Well, apparently our congressman's representatives can only "send an inquiry every 30 days".

God, that sucks! The more I hear of people's constituent services, the more I realize that mine were amazingly helpful!

[mrsB 0]

Len, my timeline was earlier on in this chain.

And we have gone to the senator, those are exactly the people who've said they can only send an inquiry once a month... My husband says we should now just wait and let them deal with it, but considering how well they've "dealt" with our case in the past, I don't exactly have much faith in any of it.

And by the way, it's been a week now, since the mystery papers from the USCIS... but no touches to our case, no nothing. I think we just got dismissed again.

Good news (yes there are some) are.... my parents have decided to try to help and sponsor for my husband's plane tickets to come see me, since I can't travel there risk free. So maybe in a month or two we can see each other for a couple of weeks. He has some vacation time coming.

[VN10 0]

Len, my timeline was earlier on in this chain.

And we have gone to the senator, those are exactly the people who've said they can only send an inquiry once a month... My husband says we should now just wait and let them deal with it, but considering how well they've "dealt" with our case in the past, I don't exactly have much faith in any of it.

And by the way, it's been a week now, since the mystery papers from the USCIS... but no touches to our case, no nothing. I think we just got dismissed again.

Good news (yes there are some) are.... my parents have decided to try to help and sponsor for my husband's plane tickets to come see me, since I can't travel there risk free. So maybe in a month or two we can see each other for a couple of weeks. He has some vacation time coming.

Hi MRSB : About papers, i know how your feeling, it same as me. But we should wait patient ,we dont look and depend on it too much, if we often do that, we will see it take long...just let it come. A good turn is never lost. I trust we will get good news soon. You are so lucky cause your hubby will come see you , you should happy and wait for that day. Hope you and yr hubby will have a lot fun.

[CnT4ever 1]

Good news (yes there are some) are.... my parents have decided to try to help and sponsor for my husband's plane tickets to come see me, since I can't travel there risk free. So maybe in a month or two we can see each other for a couple of weeks. He has some vacation time coming.

I hope your situation gets resolved before then and you two are reunited and your husband gets there and brings you back!!! But please, have a good time and try to forget all this mess while you're together. You've been through enough already! I wish you the very very best!

[mrsB 0]

Time's flying by... no news. We continue to push the USCIS but it seems to be doing nothing good. We're going to TRY to get the senator's people more involved, but the person who's responsible of the immigration stuff only works a couple of days a week and doesn't really seem to give a toss. We haven't done the ombudsman -thing yet, because we really thought (foolishly) that now that USCIS REALIZES they've screwed up massively, they'd fix it ASAP. I guess we were wrong. This is really frustrating.

Oh and for some reason, plane tickets from here to USA and back cost 300 dollars less than tickets from USA to here and back... Unfair much?

[mrsB 0]

Well, I guess I could update, that there's not really much to update. After days of playing cat & mouse, my husband finally really managed to talk with the senator's representative and explain the recent events (as in the whole 129F issue...). Turns out she had only worked there a little while and didn't honestly know much of what she COULD do. Considering how messed up our case is these days, she finally realized she should do a bit more than just ask the USCIS how they're doing once a month. She suspected that since our I-130 hasn't even received a touch (for a month now!) they're still figuring out the 129F. She's now working on getting the USCIS to just drop that, since they apparently won't take the info from us. We still have no idea where our I-130 is or what has been done to it, if anything, but it's unlikely that we're receiving any sort of expedites. We're also trying to find out if the senator could write up a letter for me, in which he'd sort of "back me up" in case I fly over to USA to visit my husband (3 months there with my husband and animals and my belongings would beat 2 weeks of my husband being here hands down). The letter would basically just say that I am indeed intending on returning to Finland at the end of my visa waiver time period. Here's hoping. It's just that evvvverything moves soooo slowly... Like just getting 1 thing through to 1 person takes a week. It's ridiculous.

[mrsB 0]

So the senator's immigration specialist advice against even trying to go to USA and being honest with the airport personnel. She said that any letters and words about a marriage to an American citizen would guarantee me to be sent back to Finland. My husband cannot get a holiday until after July 4th and we still know nothing about our I-130. The immigration specialist said that the USCIS was supposed to have new info for us by the end of this week, but they only have about a day longer until the "deadline"... And somehow I don't have a feeling that these are good news... Maybe it's just because I'm so used to having no luck at all.

We've been discussing a lot lately, me and my husband and I've also talked with my parents about all this. My parents were not prepared to have me sleep on their couch for years and they're pretty eager to get me out of here now that this visa thing doesn't seem to be moving anywhere. It seems that I'm most likely going to have to leave town, or possibly the country, in hopes of getting a job and a place to live. USCIS has put my life on hold for too long already, messed up my parents' life in the process and generally caused trouble beyond imagination. I can't just sit and wait for years, doing nothing, I need to start moving on with my life. Too bad that since I cannot travel to USA I can only see my husband for 2 weeks in a year. Some marriage this is.

[Afrilaskan Queen 0]

Dear Finland Frustrated - I read your post and I feel encouraged because I could have written your post and that means you're not paranoid and suspicious and neither am I! That's good, lol. What I feel most sad about is it doesn't appear you have even had a chance to go to an interview. My husband and I are married over 2 years now and have spent about 2 weeks before and after our marriage together and that is it, neither of us have been able to afford to do more after that.

I also feel depressed at important days - especially our anniversary - This shows that you really value those things and are in a real relationship. I know it is so disheartening, no one should have to go through this.

I also am staying at my parents house now to save money to hopefully help us and I gave up our home thinking that it couldn't take long to be together, everyone looks at me after this wait and says "but aren't you marred?" - if any random person is puzzled and asking what's the point that's pretty validating.

I also contacted our Senator and for some reason their extensive help did only allowed for a msg. to be sent that we had to wait an additional year.

I loved your questions, like why it takes long to check your background and are you suspicious, and it made me chuckle because even though you wrote it in sadness I chuckled because I too have questioned my paranoidness and me before thinking - gee there is something not right with them - not us. I too wonder if we're having a background check and I can't help but think how boring that would be.

I'm hoping by sharing my similar feelings that you know with no uncertainty that you are not alone and this is not fair. From everything I've read the length of all of this seems to be a multitude of factors. The uscis claims that their petitions for visas doubled in 2007 literally, they don't have enough people to work and so everything is way behind. There are others who seem to think there are many deeper complications.

But it's not ok, it's not right. I do believe everyone here says hang in there and you will find the rainbow at the end of the tunnel - I believe this is true, as you said there is nothing negative in your background to find. I am sorry you're suffering through this, I too feel my life is on hold. I wish I was qualified to give you some real helpful advice. If I hear anything Truly helpful in my experience I will send you a msg.

Take Care.

[mrsB 0]

Yeah, possibly the hardest part to all this is the fact that everyone is "rubbing it in"... Every time I see someone I haven't seen in a while they wonder how come I'm still here and it makes me feel guilty somehow when they keep going about how I should be with my husband. Trust me, I would be, if it was up to me. The most frustrating thing to all this is that we already got a chance to start our life together in USA. We have a home there, we have our pets and I haven't seen my cat since he was a KITTEN. All my stuff is in USA, my clothes are there, my personal things and my husband. And I'm here. I could travel to USA without a problem. Tomorrow, if I should so choose. I could afford it and my husband would love to have me there, but for some reason I'm so suspicious that I'm apparently guaranteed to be sent home at the airport. None of this makes any sense to me, my parents can't understand why I couldn't go see my husband and everyone's confused, which doesn't help me at all. I don't have the answers to their questions.

Right now, I just want SOME kind of an update from the USCIS. Even if they choose to just ditch my visa without giving me any reason, fine, I still want the info so I CAN START OVER. I'm sick and tired of being kept in the dark. I've never really been sick in my life but the stress this wait has caused me has made me quite sick. I suddenly had an asthma attack last fall for no apparent reason and was later diagnosed with asthma - though it only ever manifests if I'm stressed out of my mind. Lately I've also been on this stomach medicine, because the stress has caused my stomach to constantly be upset and hurt and I'm constantly so tired that I can just fall asleep at any given time of the day. I'm a shadow of what I was 1,5 years ago and everyone is kind of holding their breath to see when I'll fall into pieces...

And so am I.

I keep asking myself what I've done to deserve all this. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Edited May 15, 2009 by mrsB