May filers 2009?

[Hopeishere 4]

APPROVED!

About time too. Looks like I got a lot of work cut out for me in NVC

Approval email was sent to me like 1am on Saturday.. I guess their email system is slow to update.

Thats great, Congrats to you Balter.

[HongKong2LA 9]

APPROVED!

About time too. Looks like I got a lot of work cut out for me in NVC

Approval email was sent to me like 1am on Saturday.. I guess their email system is slow to update.

CONGRATULATIONS

[JAN072010 0]

APPROVED!!!

I'm very excited today!!! I got my approval notice in the mail today (9/28/09). USCIS received my RFE on September 22,2009 and mailed the approval notice on September 24,2009. I checked USCIS website on 9/23/09 through 9/28/09 for status update but it only shown RFE sent date.

Now I can join you guys trail to NVC.

Have a happy trailing and good luck to us all.

Randy

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Congrats Baltar and Randy!!!

[BlackSun 0]

Congrats to Baltar and Randy and all May filers who have been approved!!!

Now I'm stumped, though. I telephoned and got an inquiry number. I then forwarded the inquiry to the CSC follow up address. Today I just got this response that says I've been delayed 90 days for a background check. Is that a form letter--or is that for real? I mean we're already above 130 days since the NOA1. Is that UP TO 90 days more? Will they send us an RFE?

Thank you for your inquiry. Our record shows that an inquiry was received on September 23 and it was responded according to our current policy. You have been advised that the processing of your application has been delayed due to required investigation into your background and you should receive a notice of action within 90 days. It has been four days since the date we responded to your inquiry. You need to wait 90 days before submission of another inquiry. Therefore, no further action will be taken at this time.

Thank you,

Officer Chito Agorrilla

People are getting approved from July and August, left and right.

When I spoke to a CSR, they said it was because cases were being let out to local service centers, but ours was still at the main CSC. Any ideas, anyone? We're freaking out, here.

[MsSheka 0]

Congrats to Baltar and Randy and all May filers who have been approved!!!

Now I'm stumped, though. I telephoned and got an inquiry number. I then forwarded the inquiry to the CSC follow up address. Today I just got this response that says I've been delayed 90 days for a background check. Is that a form letter--or is that for real? I mean we're already above 130 days since the NOA1. Is that UP TO 90 days more? Will they send us an RFE?

Thank you for your inquiry. Our record shows that an inquiry was received on September 23 and it was responded according to our current policy. You have been advised that the processing of your application has been delayed due to required investigation into your background and you should receive a notice of action within 90 days. It has been four days since the date we responded to your inquiry. You need to wait 90 days before submission of another inquiry. Therefore, no further action will be taken at this time.

Thank you,

Officer Chito Agorrilla

People are getting approved from July and August, left and right.

When I spoke to a CSR, they said it was because cases were being let out to local service centers, but ours was still at the main CSC. Any ideas, anyone? We're freaking out, here.

I am so sorry to hear that sounds like you may have had a "hit" (your matched someone elses in one of the background check systems FBI,IBIS...) which causes a delay now they have to review your case to be sure its a "false hit", this is normally what causes a delay but now they have 90 days to correct it and process your petition so i would keep a close eye on it and contact your congressman if there's any further delay.

[BunzTheMagicSnail 2]

that's great news baltar and randy!! you got your approval pretty quickly after u sent in the rfe randy!

[MsSheka 0]

Congrats to Baltar and Randy and all May filers who have been approved!!!

Now I'm stumped, though. I telephoned and got an inquiry number. I then forwarded the inquiry to the CSC follow up address. Today I just got this response that says I've been delayed 90 days for a background check. Is that a form letter--or is that for real? I mean we're already above 130 days since the NOA1. Is that UP TO 90 days more? Will they send us an RFE?

Thank you for your inquiry. Our record shows that an inquiry was received on September 23 and it was responded according to our current policy. You have been advised that the processing of your application has been delayed due to required investigation into your background and you should receive a notice of action within 90 days. It has been four days since the date we responded to your inquiry. You need to wait 90 days before submission of another inquiry. Therefore, no further action will be taken at this time.

Thank you,

Officer Chito Agorrilla

People are getting approved from July and August, left and right.

When I spoke to a CSR, they said it was because cases were being let out to local service centers, but ours was still at the main CSC. Any ideas, anyone? We're freaking out, here.

I am so sorry to hear that sounds like you may have had a "hit" (your name matched someone elses in one of the background check systems FBI,IBIS...) which causes a delay now they have to review your case to be sure its a "false hit", this is normally what causes a delay but now they have 90 days to correct it and process your petition so i would keep a close eye on it and contact your congressman if there's any further delay.

[Hopeishere 4]

APPROVED!!!

I'm very excited today!!! I got my approval notice in the mail today (9/28/09). USCIS received my RFE on September 22,2009 and mailed the approval notice on September 24,2009. I checked USCIS website on 9/23/09 through 9/28/09 for status update but it only shown RFE sent date.

Now I can join you guys trail to NVC.

Have a happy trailing and good luck to us all.

Randy

Congrats to you Randy and Balter!!!

[MsSheka 0]

APPROVED!!!

I'm very excited today!!! I got my approval notice in the mail today (9/28/09). USCIS received my RFE on September 22,2009 and mailed the approval notice on September 24,2009. I checked USCIS website on 9/23/09 through 9/28/09 for status update but it only shown RFE sent date.

Now I can join you guys trail to NVC.

Have a happy trailing and good luck to us all.

Randy

CONGRATS!!!

[JAN072010 0]

Thank you my dear May filers for your moral support! And now...let regroup and trailing together for NVC shall we?

[christeen 966]

APPROVED!!!

I'm very excited today!!! I got my approval notice in the mail today (9/28/09). USCIS received my RFE on September 22,2009 and mailed the approval notice on September 24,2009. I checked USCIS website on 9/23/09 through 9/28/09 for status update but it only shown RFE sent date.

Now I can join you guys trail to NVC.

Have a happy trailing and good luck to us all.

Randy

ALRIGHT!!!! Contratulations... see you over in the NVC thread!!!

[BlackSun 0]

Well thanks, MsSheka. Not what I wanted to hear about the background check. I don't have anything more than a speeding ticket. No record at all. And my name is really uncommon. Hmmph.

So are you saying I should wait 90 days to contact my congressman?

Thanks "heaps" for your help, as they say in Australia.

[MsSheka 0]

Well thanks, MsSheka. Not what I wanted to hear about the background check. I don't have anything more than a speeding ticket. No record at all. And my name is really uncommon. Hmmph.

So are you saying I should wait 90 days to contact my congressman?

Thanks "heaps" for your help, as they say in Australia.

No, i would try to do it now...BTW that background check thing is just what i heard from a former USCIS adjudicator which also said that there can be plenty of other reasons for a delay but thats the most common.

[MsSheka 0]

BlackSun here's a qoute from the post..

Well lets see how much I remember...

Maybe it might be easier if I just described what I would do to approve a petition - my process.

First, I would select a case file/folder. All petitions/files are kept in folders that a have a scanable bar code identifier. This folder has everything that a person submits on the left side of the folder and all the agency generated documents on the right side. They should be in date order, Petition and then most recent from top to bottom. The left side has the pictures on top.

You begin by looking at the petition for correctness by checking the information via several databases depending upon what type of petition you are adjudicating. Also if the form was complete and everything was in order. Descrepancies in peoples names from what the database had vs. what the petition said, birth dates, things like that all had to be resolved and could generate a RFE if the adjudicator couldn't figure it out with the tools he had.

There were some standard criminal and background type databases that were required for all petitions. A "hit" in any of these databases would flag the petition and it would be sent to a special group who worked to resolve why the "hit" occurred. Sometimes it could be something simple as a similar name of a bad guy, but every hit had to be resolved.

I remember that certain surnames would invariably cause a hit, but they could be resolved rather quickly by comparing the applicants background information with those of the "hit" name. There were various ways to do this of course, and it took time. Thats why some applications take longer to process because there are stumbling blocks along the way that must be worked through before approval. Consequently, all the other petitions that the officer was working get set to the side. or, the adjudicator/officer might set the difficult one to the side and work on less complicated ones. Remember it was a production environment where you had to be accurate but fast. Getting a petition kicked back for mistakes to be re-worked hurt your overall stats, so, you tried to be a thorough as you could, but also as quick as you could.

After clearing a applicant through the various mandatory database searches, then you could begin to review the various information on the petition. Sometimes there would be stupid mistakes like forgetting to sign it, or using a copy when an original signature was required etc... Kinda careless mistakes or from not really understanding the instructions type of thing. Anyway, these would generate an RFE, and the file's staus would be update in the computer as awaiting repsonse to RFE or something like that, I don't recall the exact terminology.

Anyway, instead of sending the newly RFE'd file back to the large file storage area, it would be kept at the officers desk in a holding cue. Then when an RFE reply would come in, I wpuld pull it (the file) off the shelf and rework it. I tried to clear all my answered RFE's out first thing every morning because it was "old" work as compared to the dates I was working at the time. If the RFE had the required information, it would continue to be processed and/or approved and sent on its way. If the RFE did not address the item, then another RFE would be generated and back on the shelf it would go.

A word about RFE's. It was my experience that no two officers would always see eye to eye on if an RFE was required. Some officers could or would spend some more time digging around the file or a database to find the information (if they thought it could be found) and others would just as soon rip off an RFE. So it varied. Then there were some times that an RFE was required because of the situation. Again, it depends a lot on who was looking at your case and what the question was / what information was needed. No hard and fast rule.

Also, each adjudicator/officer had a master list of RFE "phrases that they could pull off thier computer and plug into a standard RFE form depending upon the situation. Each of these "phrases" could be further "wordsmithed" to suit a particular situation. Again depends on the officer. Thats why you may see some RFE's that are similar but not exact. We would borrow each others RFE phrases to add to our list as we came across one that fit a particular situation.

It would be like "Hey, cube mate. I've got this situation, do you have anything in your RFE library that might fit?" answer "Sure, try this one. I'll email it to you". And thats how that worked.

You asked about country of birth etc.. Yes and no. There were "watch lists" of certain countries that meant that certain procedures had to be followed when processing petitions from these countries, but it was just a couple more things to check/verify along the approval process. It didn't slow things down dramatically. So, I wouldn't worry about that being a big factor.

Additional review. Mainly if you came up as a "hit" for a surname of a bad guy (or gal) that would have to be resolved. Marriage Fraud. Overstaying your visit. Lying. Criminal activity/organized crime, police reports, things that would be outside of a "normal" person's life you might say.

So back to the approval process. So if no RFE was needed then i would "approve' the petition, affix my stamp with my identifier # , sign and date it. I would then scan the file, update the status and send it on its wayto the next stop wherever that was. Actually, all the approved petitions/files were placed in a separate box and those were collected as you went along and taken for final disposition/processing.

Then you start all over again with the next case...

Edited September 29, 2009 by MsSheka