CSC - Five-Month Hold???

[En&Em 1]

Today I called the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) for a question about my i-129F application, unrelated to timelines.

Before I could ask my question, the staff member said, your application is on a "five-month hold." Although this could change, she said currently, CSC is not scheduled to start processing the application until February 2011.

She added other applications with receipts (NOA1s) from September 2010 are also on hold until February 2011. She said that the hold was necessary because of a significant backlog.

I continued to ask some questions:

- Was this unique to my application or to those of us with receipts (NOA1s) from September 2010?

- More specifically, was the hold applicable to applications from July, August, October, and November?

- How does the hold affect CSC's official goal of five months for these applications?

She said the five-month hold applied to all I-129Fs (and perhaps some others, but I did not absorb what she said about other types of applications). She explained that July 2010 applications were on hold until December 2010; August 2010 were on hold until January 2011; etc. She again stressed that this was the current information, and it could change.

With regard to the official goal of five months, she really did not say much, other than repeating that the September applications would be processed in February 2011.

I am somewhat hopeful that her information is out-of-date, for example, the transfer of marriage applications to Texas might be an indication that this supposed backlog is already well on the way to being cleared. While I am trying to remain optimistic, I was disappointed with this potential news.

Has anybody received similar information about a supposed "five-month hold" at CSC? Does anybody have some perspective about this?

[Inky 1,110]

I would call a couple times and get different operators and see if they all tell you the same thing or not... very often they all say something different.

[thelastpetitioner 218]

holy......

[En&Em 1]

I would call a couple times and get different operators and see if they all tell you the same thing or not... very often they all say something different.

I don't really want to call back because I assume they keep records of the calls. Moreover, one of the first questions I was asked was, "Have you called about this issue before?"

That is part of the reason I asked whether others had received any similar descriptions.

Edited November 8, 2010 by En&Em

[Geode 3]

I want to write a response to this information, but I am finding it difficult to think of words longer than four letters. How can this be the result of anything other than gross incompetence on the part of the management people running CSC and USCIS? The data that USCIS publishes on their processing and trends charts amounts to absolute lies. It has been obvious from the start that the five month time frame was nothing more than a number chosen so that phone calls could be turned away for months. Now this #######.

I know I am just venting. Hopefully someone will discover that the person spoken to at CSC was insane and has been removed from the organization. Please, someone tell me that this is not true.

[Geode 3]

I will call, but I have no idea what to ask about that might seem reasonable. Point me to the phone number. Oh, wait, I need a while to be calm first.

I don't really want to call back because I assume they keep records of the calls. Moreover, one of the first questions I was asked was, "Have you called about this issue before?"

That is part of the reason I asked whether others had received any similar descriptions.

[thelastpetitioner 218]

while im happy we dodged a close one ( july 1st filer ),i just dont understand how the hell ( if this is true ) they think its acceptable.

[En&Em 1]

I will call, but I have no idea what to ask about that might seem reasonable. Point me to the phone number. Oh, wait, I need a while to be calm first.

I want to share information, but not cause too much stress, especially until we have more information. I have read posts about the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) giving out conflicting information in the past. Part of the reason I asked so many questions is to be sure the person was not trying to talk about the five-month goal. She clearly continued to talk about a hold, but who knows. And I think some have said that the NCSC staff does not get cutting-edge and in-depth information from the service centers.

To try to figure this out, I thought it best to compare notes with others, to see if anyone else received similar information.

To answer your question, NCSC can be reached at 1-800-375-5283. But we can just wait to see if someone else has had recent contact with or without any info about a hold. I certainly am not suggesting that someone call the NCSC just for this issue.

[Geode 3]

I will wait until tomorrow and then call if we do not have any other confirmation or denial.

[tomae 1]

I suspect they are just covering themselves by allowing a month to process each application month. Hopefully they can beat that.

[lmslovesdjr 2]

I am kind of at a loss for words. So supposedly, potentially, the files are just sitting there, not being actively worked on for 5 months. So we get an extra 5 months of waiting for them to RESUME the process? I don't know what to say if this is in fact true.

[missicy 87]

That means that petitions filed in September won't be processed until February which will be 5 months from filing. They have to process the rest of June, July and August filers first so until they process those, September ones are of course on hold.

[En&Em 1]

I am kind of at a loss for words. So supposedly, potentially, the files are just sitting there, not being actively worked on for 5 months. So we get an extra 5 months of waiting for them to RESUME the process? I don't know what to say if this is in fact true.

If true, I sympathize with your concern. At the same time, some describe that the reason the process takes so long is, not because the applications are difficult, but because there are so many--a couple thousand or so each month. So files sitting seems to be part of the process, almost by definition. Theoretically, if true, they could process a complete application and issue the NOA2 the same day.

[lmslovesdjr 2]

Oh I know, waiting is 99% of this process, I'm just hoping it isn't even longer than anticipated. I'm an August filer, and received my NoA1 in August, so we'll see how it goes

[gap1 21]

I wouldn't worry too much. It makes sense that they're told to say that given the standard 5 month wait (same as a 5 month hold). From what I understand, everyone that calls is told something ridiculous because they want to cover themselves. Technically, June filers being processed in November makes sense on paper given the 5 month processing time.

As long as they keep churning out approvals I'm not going to worry. If they stop again, then we can sweat.