Missing or lost paper work

[jake8587 0]

Well, I have gotten over the shock I got Thursday morning. I got an email from Natasha saying that the embassy in Kiev called and canceled her interview for the following Thursday.Being April 1st and all I prayed and hoped it was a joke!!! I can only wish now that is was a April fools prank, but it was not. Natasha said that she received a call for the embassy and that they had to cancel her interview because there was part of a form missing that required a signature from me. WE can only guess that it has to be Part C of the I-129F petition form. What I am at a total lose for word over this; how would it had made it all the way to the embassy with something requiring a signature in the first place? Guess the CO was busy and must have miss placed it. Well they sent the entire package back to the state for review. The person that Natasha spoke with explained that it would take three weeks to get there ( using the secret squirrel embassy mail. DHL OR UPS ????) and then time for them to review it and send me a letter explaining what it is that they will need from me AGAIN!!! This all is driving m crazy I work in a field that if I lose or misplace something, then someone could die!! How the heck do you call someone, setup a interview date and the only call again to explain that it is canceled just a week out. Well I called everyone I could think of NCC,USCIS, and the State Department trying to get someone to explain to me how this would work. The DOS was the only one that really tried to do anything for me. USCIS was a joke I got transfered twice and the lady that I spoke with sounded as if she was eating her lunch and could give a ####### about anything I told her and was asking her. The guy at NVC said he had never heard of anything like this happening in the 15 years that he had worked there, great just what I wanted to hear. Wonder how you get this kind of job, seems stress free and I betting it pays very well also. Sorry for the rant, just wondering if anyone had ever heard of anything like this before and what I should do now?

[Darnell 8,479]

lookup member 'gogo' here.

Find his posts.

He's a special telephone/contact book that you should use, immediately (if not sooner).

Good Luck !

[jake8587 0]

Thanks for the heads up Darnell, alot of info there not sure even where to begin.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Since you do not send paperwork to Kiev, like you do to other consulates, the only reason they would cancel is, as you were told, there is some part of the petition missing or incomplete. Of course this should have been cayght before. While this particular instance is unusual, it is common for fiancees to go to the interviews and for visas to be deniewd and sent back to USCIS because of some perceived error in the paperwork. many times the eptitions are re-affirmed as correct and sent back to the consulates without the petitioner ever seeing them again. USCIS is anything but infaliable, they often make mistakes. Unfortunately they have alos insulated themselves really well from phone calls, etc.

You have two options here. One is to contact your Senator, if they have a good liason for this, it can be invaluable. If they do not it is a waste of time. The other is to contact the Office of Inspector General for the Service Center you used. For VSC, that is in Boston. either of these can get your case expedited with proper phone calls. It is highly unlikely that you could.

USCIS does NOT answer to Congress or the OIG, they are NOT USCIS' "Boss", but they DO control funding and oversee government negligence. They do not like it when citizerns are jerked around by stupid errors. Calling them and whining that you have waited 6 months (or 9 months or a year) will be of little use, they do not care. Calling them and telling them the USCIS is majorly messing up people's cases does get their attention.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Congressional inquiry does get answers pretty fast - we used it. Best to actually go to the reps office if youcan, and take your completed petition copy and all the paperwork with you. If you sent a complete set, and USCIS lost a page somewhere, I have to believe that the office liason can fix the problem quickly.

[jake8587 0]

Since you do not send paperwork to Kiev, like you do to other consulates, the only reason they would cancel is, as you were told, there is some part of the petition missing or incomplete. Of course this should have been cayght before. While this particular instance is unusual, it is common for fiancees to go to the interviews and for visas to be deniewd and sent back to USCIS because of some perceived error in the paperwork. many times the eptitions are re-affirmed as correct and sent back to the consulates without the petitioner ever seeing them again. USCIS is anything but infaliable, they often make mistakes. Unfortunately they have alos insulated themselves really well from phone calls, etc.

You have two options here. One is to contact your Senator, if they have a good liason for this, it can be invaluable. If they do not it is a waste of time. The other is to contact the Office of Inspector General for the Service Center you used. For VSC, that is in Boston. either of these can get your case expedited with proper phone calls. It is highly unlikely that you could.

USCIS does NOT answer to Congress or the OIG, they are NOT USCIS' "Boss", but they DO control funding and oversee government negligence. They do not like it when citizerns are jerked around by stupid errors. Calling them and whining that you have waited 6 months (or 9 months or a year) will be of little use, they do not care. Calling them and telling them the USCIS is majorly messing up people's cases does get their attention.

Thanks for the reply but what is OIG and how do I go about getting in touch with them. My NVC was in New Hampshire.I have a local USCIS in my toen would that do any good to contact them? I am still in Afghanistan and do not leave here until April 19 - 20 and will not be at home until April 23rd. Do you think they would speak with a family member in my place?

Edited April 4, 2010 by jake8587

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks for the reply but what is OIG and how do I go about getting in touch with them. My NVC was in New Hampshire.I have a local USCIS in my toen would that do any good to contact them? I am still in Afghanistan and do not leave here until April 19 - 20 and will not be at home until April 23rd. Do you think they would speak with a family member in my place?

I know this wasn't directed to me - but I think calling USCIS at this point wouldn't help. The problem seems to be somewhere between USCIS and consular at the embassy. Didn't know you were out of the country. The aide to the Congressman in your home district would probably make an inquiry based on contact with a family member - but they would still need the missing page, or information. I understand that that option may not appeal to you though, given your situation. The aide I spoke to was able to get an answer in 48 hours after she had all the information she needed.

[jake8587 0]

I know this wasn't directed to me - but I think calling USCIS at this point wouldn't help. The problem seems to be somewhere between USCIS and consular at the embassy. Didn't know you were out of the country. The aide to the Congressman in your home district would probably make an inquiry based on contact with a family member - but they would still need the missing page, or information. I understand that that option may not appeal to you though, given your situation. The aide I spoke to was able to get an answer in 48 hours after she had all the information she needed.

That is OK !!! Thanks for the help !!! I have reprinted the the complete I-129F petition form and signed it and I was going to mail it to my mother, just in case they ( not sure who will get the package ) get the package and letter out before I get home. I wrote my senator when it was takening the USCIS so long to get anything done with the Nov 2009 petition and his office replied by mail and a phone call. I was shocked !!!! Maybe I can have my mother mail them the missing paper work to get them started? I made three copies and signed all three copies just in case!

[tom&tanya 48]

One last thought: Did you take a look at the copy of the package you sent to USCIS? Take a look at the whole package again and see if you missed anything. Good luck!

[Brad and Vika 129]

That is OK !!! Thanks for the help !!! I have reprinted the the complete I-129F petition form and signed it and I was going to mail it to my mother, just in case they ( not sure who will get the package ) get the package and letter out before I get home. I wrote my senator when it was takening the USCIS so long to get anything done with the Nov 2009 petition and his office replied by mail and a phone call. I was shocked !!!! Maybe I can have my mother mail them the missing paper work to get them started? I made three copies and signed all three copies just in case!

Good luck! What I meant before was that if you have a copy of the first petition you sent, you would have evidence of the original signature that was missing. With that page in hand, the congressional aide assigned to handle immigration issues in the office you call might be able to send it on immediately to complete your file at consular. Signing and resending may still set you back.

Edited April 4, 2010 by Brad and Vika

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I know this wasn't directed to me - but I think calling USCIS at this point wouldn't help. The problem seems to be somewhere between USCIS and consular at the embassy. Didn't know you were out of the country. The aide to the Congressman in your home district would probably make an inquiry based on contact with a family member - but they would still need the missing page, or information. I understand that that option may not appeal to you though, given your situation. The aide I spoke to was able to get an answer in 48 hours after she had all the information she needed.

For an individula to call USCS is always a waste of time.

There is an inspector General assigned to every government branch, agency, etc. They are politically independent and are specifically supposed to look for fraud, corruption, or incompetence. The OIG which oversees USCIS operations in the North east (VSC) is in Boston. Google OIG. I have friends and acquaitances inside the VSC, they agree, they OIG rattles their cage like no one else. BUT they will ONLY rattle the cage if they feel there has been a case of incompetence. Call the OIG.

[jake8587 0]

Just wanted to tell everyone that has offered us help and suggestion as what to do about our case, THANK YOU very much. I am going crazy sitting here in Afghanistan waiting to hear something back about the status of our case. My time is winding down here and I can hardy wait to get home and then fly to Kiev to be with my soon to be family. I was going to stay in the states until I heard something from the USCIS then leave but from what I have been reading on here about others that have had or are in the same boat this could be just like the first time we sent our paper work in. I personnaly would have thought they would have given a little more attention to cases sent back for some reason. Been trying to find the phone number to the OIG that overseas the USCIS with no luck at all. Got family members writing our local Representatives and asking for their help also. I am still hopeful that or local Representative will be able to come up with the phone number to the OIG and can maybe explain the situation that we are in. Once again THANK YOU very much for all the help. Just praying that this will not go into the next school year as this could really through a wrench in the works for us.

[jake8587 0]

Well just a update about our case, I have been calling the DOS and NVC for the last few weeks to see if our package had made it back from the embassy yet. Well no such luck so far. But while talking with Sara at the DOS, she informed me that the embassy has asked to expedite our case.I am not sure if this will do any good but it sounded like good news to me. She also told me that is was the USCIS that messed up and did not do one of the checks of our package before sending it forward to the NVC and then the Kiev embassy. So she thought that being the messed up they would want to correct their mistake ASAP, boy do I hope so !!! It has been 7 months sense I last saw Natasha and Matvei and I am dieing to just hold her in arms and kiss her. Well I hope to hear that they have our package next week!

[mox 298]

Sounds like you're in good hands. It does suck that they screwed up, but on the other hand at least they've acknowledged the mistake and are trying to fix it. That doesn't happen all the time, so count your blessings. Seriously though, best of luck to you. Your patience will pay off.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Well just a update about our case, I have been calling the DOS and NVC for the last few weeks to see if our package had made it back from the embassy yet. Well no such luck so far. But while talking with Sara at the DOS, she informed me that the embassy has asked to expedite our case.I am not sure if this will do any good but it sounded like good news to me. She also told me that is was the USCIS that messed up and did not do one of the checks of our package before sending it forward to the NVC and then the Kiev embassy. So she thought that being the messed up they would want to correct their mistake ASAP, boy do I hope so !!! It has been 7 months sense I last saw Natasha and Matvei and I am dieing to just hold her in arms and kiss her. Well I hope to hear that they have our package next week!

Thanks for the update! It looks like things are headed the right direction again, at least in a procedural sense. Hang in there.