Getting a bit hopeless

[kikip 12]

So I was in contact with my local USCIS center for many months before I filed my i 129f, and they assured me that I would be safe filing in late September, 8 months before my wedding. However, now VSC is taking forever to approve, and all of the timelines for the UK suggest that it will take 2-3 months to get an interview... which would probably put us at or past our wedding date, where 200+ guests will be expecting the groom to actually be there.... I guess I'm just hoping someone will tell me that the London embassy is quicker than that...

Also, I have a family friend who is a Senator in my state, but i would feel HORRIBLE asking her to call for me, and i would also feel horrible skipping all the other people who are in the same boat as I am. When do I get desperate enough to have her make that call? Will it even make a difference? (My NOA1 is Sept. 28)

HELP!

[Inky 1,111]

Most petitions seem to be taking 6 months to just get approved. After that they go to NVC process there and then to the embassy.

Wait till the 5 month mark then see if anything can be done. Sadly one of the main things is to never guess or go by USCIS phone lines because they usually have no idea whats going on with the papers and just say what they are told to say.

[Rwlaird 18]

Please tell your Senator friend to push for general improvement in the management of UCSIC for all of our sakes! However, if she is a state Senator her call will really do nothing since it is a federal agency. You need to contact US Senators and Representatives.

[ameribrit 37]

So I was in contact with my local USCIS center for many months before I filed my i 129f, and they assured me that I would be safe filing in late September, 8 months before my wedding. However, now VSC is taking forever to approve, and all of the timelines for the UK suggest that it will take 2-3 months to get an interview... which would probably put us at or past our wedding date, where 200+ guests will be expecting the groom to actually be there.... I guess I'm just hoping someone will tell me that the London embassy is quicker than that...

Also, I have a family friend who is a Senator in my state, but i would feel HORRIBLE asking her to call for me, and i would also feel horrible skipping all the other people who are in the same boat as I am. When do I get desperate enough to have her make that call? Will it even make a difference? (My NOA1 is Sept. 28)

HELP!

London is taking about 2 months, or just over, from the petition leaving NVC to interview date.

And don't feel horrible getting your Senator involved, many here do. The likelyhood is that she would not be able to speed things along, but would be a good friend to have if you go beyond the 5 month processing time.

When is your wedding date?

[villaspurs 65]

Your Senator can also contact the London officials. When we went through the process, we had our Congressional rep involved with the petition (USCIS) but really saw an impact with London--in fact, we didn't even receive a letter about our appointment until after we had it! Our approved petition was sent from NVC, our rep contacted them with our case number, and we had an interview date set about a week later. I am not sure this would still be the case, but it worked quite effectively two years ago!

Good luck

[kikip 12]

Thank you all for your replies! She is a US Senator, not a state senator. I will keep in mind about her contacting London! Our wedding is set for May 21, 2011.

[Blob18 111]

Thank you all for your replies! She is a US Senator, not a state senator. I will keep in mind about her contacting London! Our wedding is set for May 21, 2011.

Hell, go for it now. Tell her how cluster****** USCIS is right now and that something should be done to fix it. Find out if she knows anyone on the Budget & Finance committee and try to persuade them to cut USCIS's $$$, when they do the budget, until they start being productive.

[rodceasar 34]

Use you resources and contact your Senator friend asap!

[Al422 221]

Go for it. Do understand that the Senator has to worry about possible backlash from playing favorites with a friend, but let the Senator use his/her judgment on that. Just keep that in mind in case the Senator does not go as far as he/she could go. Whatever the Senator can do for you without causing himself/herself trouble will be great, and it might even help the rest of us too.

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

Hell, go for it now. Tell her how cluster****** USCIS is right now and that something should be done to fix it. Find out if she knows anyone on the Budget & Finance committee and try to persuade them to cut USCIS's $$, when they do the budget, until they start being productive.

Think about what you are asking. You feel USCIS is not working properly, which I take to mean they work too slowly for you, and you want to improve things by cutting their budget? If you cut their budget things will only get worse not better. Cutting their budget would probably mean cutting back on the service level which you already say is bad. Unbelievable!

[Blob18 111]

Think about what you are asking. You feel USCIS is not working properly, which I take to mean they work too slowly for you, and you want to improve things by cutting their budget? If you cut their budget things will only get worse not better. Cutting their budget would probably mean cutting back on the service level which you already say is bad. Unbelievable!

It's called an Idle threat. Congress does it all the time to agencies that perform on the sub-par level or have major problems. This is just one of the "tricks" that they can pull to make an inept government agency (like USCIS) get their act together.

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

It's called an Idle threat. Congress does it all the time to agencies that perform on the sub-par level or have major problems. This is just one of the "tricks" that they can pull to make an inept government agency (like USCIS) get their act together.

I am sure the management of USCIS would also recognize it as an Idle threat. Why even bother doing something so stupid.?

[Blob18 111]

I am sure the management of USCIS would also recognize it as an Idle threat. Why even bother doing something so stupid.?

Clearly you do not know how politics and government works. I've been in the "business" of politics for 7+ years. Worked with both parties etc. I know what it takes to get things moving in government.

You want USCIS moving? Have Congress inquire, have them keep sending inquiries to USCIS, force change via committee, cut budgets in certain areas until they decide to move. Make the Dept. of Homeland Security Admin. get involved and require change in certain areas. Numerous ways for change to happen. Most of it will only happen however if the current leadership care, which they don't.

Money means everything in government.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Blob18

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

Clearly you do not know how politics and government works. I've been in the "business" of politics for 7+ years. Worked with both parties etc. I know what it takes to get things moving in government.

You want USCIS moving? Have Congress inquire, have them keep sending inquiries to USCIS, force change via committee, cut budgets in certain areas until they decide to move. Make the Dept. of Homeland Security Admin. get involved and require change in certain areas. Numerous ways for change to happen. Most of it will only happen however if the current leadership care, which they don't.

Money means everything in government.

I am in my 37th year of working for the IRS so I think I have a pretty good idea of how government works. I know how the IRS handles Congressional inquiries and I know that they divert resources from other work. So to take care of the squeaky wheel other taxpayers suffer. In the IRS this may not be bad for other taxpayers since I work for the audit function but for USCIS it means that those that don't complain get worse service.

Edited January 14, 2011 by CarlosAndSveta

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Mmmhhh... I have a question for you. You said that you were in contact with your local USCIS MANY months before filing. If you wanted to make sure to have your fiance here for a particular day, why didn't you file earlier then? Nobody can make any guarantees about this process, the time it would take, or whether the fiance(e) will be approved. Only one thing is for sure, the process is uncertain. It has been discussed many times before, K1 filers should not make any wedding plans before having the visa (or before having the fiance(e) in the US). Unless you don't mind risking having to cancel or postponing the wedding for a later date.