USCIS Big Fat Liars

[Blob18 111]

Guys

After calling them after my 5 month period, I put in a request. I called them up today again saying what is happening, the call was escalated to tier 2 and ended up speaking with an Immigration Officer Morales.

He said right now Vermont is processing July 10, 2010 - this is absolute BULLSHIT. I saw someone wrote on visa journey about a month ago where he was informed the same date. They are big fat liars.

I was told my case is under review, what the hell they are doing for last 5 months now. And I got an email few days ago saying I will get something within "60 days" - what should I do? Any suggestions??

Did anyone get any NOA2 lately for July filers?

My timeline is as follows:

I129F sent - 7/23/2010

NOA1 - 7/28/2010

Touched - 10/3/2010

Just filter out the unhelpful posts which won't ever be deleted Super. You can speak to your Congressman and Senator. Let them know what is going on, tell them that the center has gone over it's processing time and you want action.

One thing you never want to do with the government is sit back and do nothing.

[baron555 934]

You all are going through the exact same process I and many others went through. Yes it can seem overwhelming, but unless your case is fraught with errors or fraud, you will be together. I understood this and didn't complain so blatantly like some do. If it is so stressful then why do you put yourself though this?

My wife and child are worth every second of the stress and I would never let her know that I had any doubts. Are you being the strong person for yor spouse go be? What would your spouse think of the type of person you are portraying?

There isn't anything any of you can do about the process, except vote. Agree?

[Al422 221]

The best way to reach a live agent is when you call customer support, choose the prompt that say you don't have the receipt number for NOA1. A live rep comes on, tell them the receipt number and they tell you your exact status. I used it twice and it worked.

Thank you. This is a very useful piece of information.

[Al422 221]

You all are going through the exact same process I and many others went through. Yes it can seem overwhelming, but unless your case is fraught with errors or fraud, you will be together. I understood this and didn't complain so blatantly like some do. If it is so stressful then why do you put yourself though this?

My wife and child are worth every second of the stress and I would never let her know that I had any doubts. Are you being the strong person for yor spouse go be? What would your spouse think of the type of person you are portraying?

There isn't anything any of you can do about the process, except vote. Agree?

I agree with most of what you wrote, except the part about how you can't do anything. We have a few tools., not many, but we can and should use the ones we have.

I have no doubts that Elena and I will EVENTUALLY be together. The eventual part is what is taxing people's emotions, is really needless, and can be easily corrected by the government if they gave a damn about us.

I know we all need to be strong, but to be thrust into a black hole and told to wait with no clear horizon and no clear end to the nonsense that is blocking the most important event of your life is enough to break the emotional strength of even the strongest person.

This thread and the title of it lend themselves to emotions raging out of control. "USCIS Big Fat Liars"? I could do a lot with that, but none of it would be productive or respectful, so I held my tongue. But in the weakened emotional state the black hole has left me in, it wasn't easy.

I think we need to give people a little latitude in a thread like this, essentially a rant thread.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Additional posts that do not provide assistance to the OP and address posters rather than the post have been removed. If people insist on posting insulting, baiting and inappropriate comments that provide no useful information, this thread will be closed for continuing TOS violations.

Acceptable parts of removed comments returned below:

Blob18: Posted Today, 12:56 PM:

To the OP: Contact a Congressman or Senator in regards to it

coconuts: Posted Today, 08:32 PM

I don't believe anyone said it wasn't worth it. I'm not the type to complain when things don't go as quickly as I like, either. I realize it's par for the course. However, I realize that everybody handles situations differently. Where some people panic and worry, others don't. Everyone on this site is here to accomplish the same goal and be able to talk to a group of people who understand what the journey is like

Edited January 10, 2011 by Kathryn41

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

you and gary are the only two people who can be very informative or incredibly rude.i still havent forgotten your comment about how if i cant take this process i should try choosing another spouse.like i run an international match making agency.

if you dont have any comments on the matter,why even bother to post.

yes yes yes we all know your friends had to wait 10 months to get their noa 1,but seriously,you have your wife there with you,youve been living with her for what,a year?sweet times can cover sadness and misery very quickly.

imagine if you had to file for k-1 again,for a petitioner form a high fraud country,and your case went over the time frame,how worried and bitchy would YOU get?

we cant all have job's patience you know

i really hope this comment doesnt count as " baiting " and even if it does,it stays up for a while before getting removed.

I hadn't even posted in this thread and usually avoid these. But thanks for thinking of me.

Use your wait time to accomplish productive things for your fiance(e), he/she is counting on you.

I happen to know that Baron went through a lot of trouble in his process, much having nothing to do with USCIS and he always kept me informed of what was happening and I can say that he never was discouraged or frustrated that I could tell from his words. He handled a very difficult situation in a very admirable manner. My Alla also had the pleasure of meeting his Alla in Moscow when she was back there for a visit and his Alla was still a lady in waiting, so to speak.

Spend your time in constructive work for those very important people in your life. The rest is just a process, it will happen.

USCIS is purposely set up to be pretty much unapproachable. That is by plan. Your congressman/Senator can contact the congressional liason at each service center but they really can't "make" them do anything if there is no "fault" on the part of USCIS...such as some error they made. If they are running behind because of some reason, then they are running behind. There are no guarantees of processing times and no obligation on USCIS part to meet any such deadline...at least none that they didn't make and can't change themselves.

Bottom line...you voluntarily entered into a process with no guarantees to get your fiancee/spouse here. There is nothing really you can do to speed things up.

I have always tried, with everything in life, not to spend much time or effort, or thought, for things that I can do nothing about. Much better to use my time productively for someone I care for. At the end of the day I felt like I accomplished something today, I did not feel like I failed again to get an answer from someone that simply is not going to answer and even if they did it would make no difference. The level of stress that would cause me would make my head explode. I can't do that.

Now we are awaiting Removal of Conditions. Alla's conditional green card expires in 4 days, but she got a 1 year extension when I filed. So what? We have a VERY legitimate marriage, I am not worried. She had her biometrics done, we got a letter in the mail. I haven't entered our receipt number and will not check the online system. Makes no difference. I WILL order a yearbook for Pasha tomorrow and call around looking for something for Alla tomorrow.

[baron555 934]

I happen to know that Baron went through a lot of trouble in his process, much having nothing to do with USCIS a

Hey, tnx for that Gary. Yes there is little that anybody except a few very close family members know about the difficulties we had getting Alla and Leonid here....and none to do with US Immigration.

Imagine folks going up against, by yourself, and as a female, the big bad Russian Government?

If my wife could do that all by herself, and prevail, then a little patience with USCIS is a minor bump. I can see if your case is like 50 months overdue, but one day past 5 months? Please!

There were many times that both of us told each other to call it quits, but we didn't, and we are stronger for it. I can only hope that these future couples will have half the fortitude to stick it out and make it work. Do you have what it takes? (Or will you crawl into a corner and cry?)

Once you get the visa and are together, this will all seem so trivial. And you will wonder at future folks on why they worry so. Trust me, we all have been there.

Be strong. They are counting on it and they need it.

[hobokenworkingman 4]

THAT is the difference. They gave you a time frame and stuck to it. They don't do that the first time around, and that is what is getting people pissed off. In this regard, the lack of people skills from an agency that deals exclusively with people is really astounding. First the tell you "about" 5 months. Then the 5 months go by, and then they tell you "Oh, the 5 months is actually the minimum. Check back in 30 days, and we will have something." Then you wait the 30 days, only to hear "Check back with us in 60 days". And then they wonder why their assertion as to time frames no longer has any credibility and people get pissed off.

It took me 5 months and 10 days to get the NOA2 for my wife. At the 5 month mark, I did 2 things. with the USCIS, I told them that there had been a processing error (since their website says that a response would be due within 5 MONTHS OF INITIAL RECEIPT OF APPLICATION; at least that's what it was when I applied in Oct 2009). This escalated the call from the drone to an officer who said that they would do a service request. Next, I scheduled an InfoPass appt w/ my local USCIS office to see if they could peer into the case and see where it was. The net effect of that mtg was also a service request. I dont know if the service requests "jarred" something loose, but I got an approval the next day after my infopass.

Someone had posted the SOW for how applications are initially screened and "triaged". That is pretty accurate and I doubt things have changed since then. Applications can get moved from one service center to another, which is what happened to ours. It started initially at CSC and then went somewhere else and then back to CSC or something else. In any case, when you go to the Infopass, they can peer into the path that your application took, and where in the workstream it is. At least they can tell you if something is drastically wrong.

I did contact my 2 state senators (NY; Schumer and Gillibrand) AND my congressman at the 2-3 month mark itself. Presumably Schumer's office rec'd things, but they never notified me of it and then a few weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from USCIS denying my request for an expedite, since my applciation was within normal processing times (to be expected I guess, since it hadnt been 5 months yet). Gillibrand's office folks were actually really nice and took a lot of info, but wanted some add'l proof of my wife's illness (she was going thru some severe sinusitis). Joe Crowley, my congressman's office were total a--holes and the lady who handled immigration issues said that basically she had a lot of people to go through and I had to wait my turn. I did get a letter fwd'd from the congressman's office of the response of an inquiry by them from my behalf - "The application is within normal processing times and so no action can be taken at this time". So net effect of asking politicians to help - zero!

As someone and his wife who agonized and went thru much torture during this waiting period, I can safely say that I understand how y'all feel. Other folks who applied at the same time were getting their approvals in 2-3 months; we were in constant fear and doubt as to if something was wrong with ours and if I had screwed up the paperwork or not. I didnt. It just took that long. No other explanations. What did make up for things a little I guess, was that our NVC stage was MUCH quicker. I got thru NVC in 22 days, the consequence of being thoroughly ####### and meticulous with the forms and applications and all the other info that they needed. If you have all in place, you should get thru to your case complete in 3 weeks or quicker.

So try out the above suggestions and see if you can "jar" something loose via the service requests. Other than that, I know its torture, but do hang in there. Try to focus on other things and keep your mind occupied at all times so that you dont sit and ponder about the application. the NOA2 WILL come.

Best of luck to all and hope this helps! :thumbs:

[Kathryn41 3,205]

As was pointed out to me, this thread actually would be better in the K-1 Case Filing and Progress Reports forum so I am moving it there from the K-1 Process and Procedures Forum.

[Mike and Minchian 3]

I got a congressman to make an inquiry about a month ago (well before the 5 month period) and it didn't really do anything. They offered to help with an expedite but by that time we were within less than a month of the 5 months so I figured we'd just wait it out. I think they don't have too much effect until the 5 month period is over at least. He forwarded me an e-mail from USCIS and they did say the period was from the date they received the application, although everything I've been told by USCIS and what has been posted here makes it seem like 5 months from NOA1. Only makes 2 days of difference in my case so not a big deal. I've got his e-mail and will definitely ask him to make another inquiry when 5 months is up.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hey, tnx for that Gary. Yes there is little that anybody except a few very close family members know about the difficulties we had getting Alla and Leonid here....and none to do with US Immigration.

Imagine folks going up against, by yourself, and as a female, the big bad Russian Government?

If my wife could do that all by herself, and prevail, then a little patience with USCIS is a minor bump. I can see if your case is like 50 months overdue, but one day past 5 months? Please!

There were many times that both of us told each other to call it quits, but we didn't, and we are stronger for it. I can only hope that these future couples will have half the fortitude to stick it out and make it work. Do you have what it takes? (Or will you crawl into a corner and cry?)

Once you get the visa and are together, this will all seem so trivial. And you will wonder at future folks on why they worry so. Trust me, we all have been there.

Be strong. They are counting on it and they need it.

Baron, any time anyone wants to lump me in with you...I would be honored. Sometimes the plain basic truth can come across as "rude" (not sure how we got to THAT point) when all it is...is what it is.

The government has no competition, I have to deal with the government on a daily basis. It can take 6-9 months to get a wastewater permit FROM the STATE to build a school FOR the STATE! Actually I am pretty astounded you can get a visa through TWO departments of government in the time that you can.

[Al422 221]

Thank you all for these tricks on what worked for you. I will certainly try them when the 5 month mark has come.

But what a sad commentary on the state of governmental affairs, that we have to trick our government into serving the people who voted them into power!