April 2009 Filers

[Michele R 0]

WOW!!!!!! I'm really happy for you too. It all paid off at the end. And as you said....if they don't answer in 30 days someone is going to spend some vacations in the fridge.

Congratulations to you.

PEACE..............

FYI to all April Filers - I called the USCIS today and they said that the best case scenario (assuming the application has no RFEs) for reviewing and approving petitions filed in April was 3 months from now (middle of October). She reiterated, as other people have already stated here, that they are focused on December applications at the moment.

[Victor&Cory 1]

Thank you for the info.

PEACE........

[Sam and Ben 2]

WOW!!!!!! I'm really happy for you too. It all paid off at the end. And as you said....if they don't answer in 30 days someone is going to spend some vacations in the fridge.

Congratulations to you.

PEACE..............

FYI to all April Filers - I called the USCIS today and they said that the best case scenario (assuming the application has no RFEs) for reviewing and approving petitions filed in April was 3 months from now (middle of October). She reiterated, as other people have already stated here, that they are focused on December applications at the moment.

Eh.. I don't put 100% stock into that. Not saying that what you were told isn't true - I'm sure they are quite interested in getting those files out of the way as it reflects very poorly on them, but we've also seen approvals from March, April and even May without expedites. Who knows, we might see the random approval for a couple of us here.

I'm still not going to give up hope that some of us here will hear word by September.

[Victor&Cory 1]

I do hope so too. I want my angel to be here before Xmas. I don't care when as long as its before xmas. She feels very excited about the fact that she will help me decorate the house for that event. hehehe. I pray God to allow that to happen.

PEACE..........

[SvenSki 0]

WOW!!!!!! I'm really happy for you too. It all paid off at the end. And as you said....if they don't answer in 30 days someone is going to spend some vacations in the fridge.

Congratulations to you.

PEACE..............

FYI to all April Filers - I called the USCIS today and they said that the best case scenario (assuming the application has no RFEs) for reviewing and approving petitions filed in April was 3 months from now (middle of October). She reiterated, as other people have already stated here, that they are focused on December applications at the moment.

Middle of October??? Grrrrrr!!!!!!!

[Sam and Ben 2]

WOW!!!!!! I'm really happy for you too. It all paid off at the end. And as you said....if they don't answer in 30 days someone is going to spend some vacations in the fridge.

Congratulations to you.

PEACE..............

FYI to all April Filers - I called the USCIS today and they said that the best case scenario (assuming the application has no RFEs) for reviewing and approving petitions filed in April was 3 months from now (middle of October). She reiterated, as other people have already stated here, that they are focused on December applications at the moment.

Middle of October??? Grrrrrr!!!!!!!

SvenSki, if you add your timeline to VJ's database, it will not only allow you to view an estimation as to when your case will be approved, but also help in adding to the statistics used for the estimates of the rest of us.

[Comboni 0]

Middle of October? 3 more months wow! I'm dying right now I really hope this is not true.

I've read that the USCIS call center has nothing to do with USCIS itself, they are in another building and they just read the answers from a book or something like that. So I wouldn't trust USCIS call center words.

[Sam and Ben 2]

Middle of October? 3 more months wow! I'm dying right now I really hope this is not true.

I've read that the USCIS call center has nothing to do with USCIS itself, they are in another building and they just read the answers from a book or something like that. So I wouldn't trust USCIS call center words.

They see what we see. When they put our number into the system, they see the same page as when we log into the Case Status website.

Vermont's processing schedule states that they are currently working on petitions from December 2008. That doesn't mean that cases in the months following haven't been touched, it simply means that they still have cases in their system from months further back. They are behind CSC, but they aren't that behind.

[Victor&Cory 1]

Yes....and the thing with the estimated timelines is just a statistic game. If VSC were truly approving petitions in 4 months then our estimated date of approval would be somewhere in August. But since the only petitions that we see approved recently are from December and January it adds to the timeline because the time to approve those were 6-7 months instead of 4. If you average those numbers then our estimated time of approval is not 4 months but 5 or a little more. Once those from March get approved AND update their info we will see our timelines move back again.

But bear in mind. It depends on members updating their info. So the more they do it the more accurate the timelines become.

PEACE..............

[Michele R 0]

Yes....and the thing with the estimated timelines is just a statistic game. If VSC were truly approving petitions in 4 months then our estimated date of approval would be somewhere in August. But since the only petitions that we see approved recently are from December and January it adds to the timeline because the time to approve those were 6-7 months instead of 4. If you average those numbers then our estimated time of approval is not 4 months but 5 or a little more. Once those from March get approved AND update their info we will see our timelines move back again.

But bear in mind. It depends on members updating their info. So the more they do it the more accurate the timelines become.

PEACE..............

By the way - I am posting a few links from one of yesterday's hot topics for those of us here who did not read the thread.

In the thread below , a former service center agent describes how our applications are processed at the centers - it was fascinating

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry738208

and here is another one about a story a couple of years back about VJ

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2801706_pf.html

[Michele R 0]

Yes....and the thing with the estimated timelines is just a statistic game. If VSC were truly approving petitions in 4 months then our estimated date of approval would be somewhere in August. But since the only petitions that we see approved recently are from December and January it adds to the timeline because the time to approve those were 6-7 months instead of 4. If you average those numbers then our estimated time of approval is not 4 months but 5 or a little more. Once those from March get approved AND update their info we will see our timelines move back again.

But bear in mind. It depends on members updating their info. So the more they do it the more accurate the timelines become.

PEACE..............

By the way - I am posting a few links from one of yesterday's hot topics for those of us here who did not read the thread.

In the thread below , a former service center agent describes how our applications are processed at the centers - it was fascinating

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry738208

and here is another one about a story a couple of years back about VJ

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2801706_pf.html

For those of you who want to try and take some action about the inequity between the VSC and CSC I am posting the letter I submitted to the USCIS Ombudsman today. Please feel free to cut and paste if you like. I used to work for the fed gov. and we had an ombudsman - she could often shake things loose if there was enough public interest.

For those of you who are not interested, please understand that I am not trying to offend anyone or be a line-jumper. The conversation in the "I'm Outraged" thread got a little tense yesterday and I certainly don't want to disturb the peace of our April VSC group. I also posted this on all the VSC threads that precede us.

Good Night!

The Letter I Sumitted to the USCIS Ombudsman today:

To Whom It May Concern:

In April of this year I applied for a K1 visa for my finance. Because I am a resident of Virginia I was required to submit my application to the USCIS center in Vermont. Since I have applied for this visa, the processing times at the VSC have slowed dramatically (to over 180 days).

When I contacted the USCIS today, they said that the VSC was processing applications from December 30, 2008 and that my application would not be reviewed until October 22 of this year in the best-case scenario (more than 180 days after I submitted my application). Meanwhile, residents of states that feed into the USCIS servicing center in California are being processed within 66 to 100 days.

I find this inequity unacceptable, given that all applicants pay the same application fee. After having researched this issue, I do not think that it is caused by a difference in the efficiency of VSC employees versus CSC employees, but more likely by a misallocation of workloads vis a vis resources by either the USCIS or its subcontractor Northrop Grumman. Furthermore, I do not understand why processing times are increasing while the volume of applications is decreasing (as your office itself noted in its June 2009 report to Congress).

Unless steps are taken to remedy this inequity immediately, which is unlikely given my conversation with USCIS today, I will be forced to cancel my wedding in November of this year. My parents will incur significant financial losses, as well as my family and friends who have already purchased tickets to attend the ceremony and reception. As I am sure you are aware, these misfortunes pale in comparison to some other people standing in line at the VSC under far worse circumstances, while May and June filers begin to be approved at the CSC.

I realize that my application is currently within the USCIS' “normal” processing time. Nonetheless, today when I called for the first time I was told that my application will be adjudicated around October 22, more than 180 days after my submission. Further, it is not "normal" for residents of one state, like Virginia, to arbitrarily receive such significantly inferior service from the USCIS than residents of California or Oregon. Why isn't the I-129F workload distributed more evenly among these centers and why can't files be sent from one center to another when one center falls significantly behind another?

It is infuriating to see large numbers of people who filed their petitions in May and June being approved by the CSC before all of us who filed our applications in January, February, March, and April at the VSC. While I know that the memebership of the primary tracking site for I129F petitions (VisaJourney) does not comprise the entire pool of I129F applicants, its membership pool does represent a statistically valid number of applicants and it is therefore possible to ascertain broad trends in visa processing extracted from its data. On top of this, USCIS' own bulletins display the existing inequity, albeit on a more publicly digestible magnitude.

Ironically, my fiancé is more peaceful about this issue, noting that the USCIS seems to me no more equitable or effective than its counterpart agency in his largely corrupt country of the former Soviet Union. In fact he advised me to not to send this letter, for fear of the type of retribution one would encounter in his country for voicing concerns about a what seems to be a systemic problem that no one has an interest in or incentive to correct.

As a patriot and former federal government employee, however, I assured my fiancé that things were different in America. I sincerely hope that your office will propose and implement a long term solution to this problem, rather than simply add my letter as a tally mark on a count of "Top Ten Complaints in the Ombudsman E-Mail Box" for inclusion in an annual propaganda piece, like they would in the former Soviet Union. It is hard enough to wait six months plus for adjudication. Adding the knowledge that people in different states are waiting half the time you are for no apparent good reason is like adding salt to an open wound. I hope that future customers do not have to suffer from an inequality that does not seem too complex to solve.

[Victor&Cory 1]

That is a good letter. I might use it. I read it first at the March thread though. Thanks for posting it here. And hey.....you are not a line jumper. This monthly threads are not private groups. hehehe.... everybody should be free to post in the rest.

PEACE.................

Edited July 23, 2009 by Victor&Cory

[endoftheroad 1]

It is infuriating to see large numbers of people who filed their petitions in May and June being approved by the CSC

If you don't mind me asking, who are these "large numbers of people who filed their petitions in May and June being approved by the CSC"?

I think I counted only a few from May and none from June (leaving out military expedites).

[Victor&Cory 1]

Good morning my friends. Just another day in this loooong trip. So lets see if Vermont can get some approvals. Lets keep the faith.

PEACE...............

Edited July 23, 2009 by Victor&Cory

[cjblack 0]

Hey everyone.. thought I'd start hitting up this thread as my frustration level with VSC continues to grow!

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones because my fiancee is with me right now.. visiting from Canada. She can't work here of course, which is really tough for us to deal with because she just graduated with an advanced design degree in May (she's so eager to get started with her career). But.. such is the journey called K1! At least we can be together more frequently since she is just a 7 hour drive away..

I am marketing director for a large mixed martial arts training organization based in NJ (we have schools in 5 states). I started that job in December. The bummer is, I moved from Las Vegas to NJ for this job.. if only I was going through this process this time last year, I would have been living in Vegas and flown through CSC!

*shaking VSC tree.. come onnnn.. if we shake hard enough maybe one will fall out today!!*