VSC Comatose Once More

[Harsh_77 718]

i dont understand this part,why is it not a right?what defines it as a privilege and not a right when immigration is incredibly common?

Even if it is common it is still not your right, US govt does not have to let u in.

Common things dont automatically turn into right.

[Aztec&Taino 144]

I ignore contemptuous posts, having enough real problems to worry about without concerning myself with posters who deem themselves superior to us.

Huge !

[Al422 221]

Whether immigration is a right or a privilege, that does not change the need for a system that works.

The government says "we will allow immigration under X conditions". You satisfy X. Terrific! That is, until you start to use the system and find that it takes a minimum of 5 months for them to spend 15 minutes reading a petition you spent days preparing. And you get ZERO feedback on where you stand. You try to find out where you stand, and you get some clueless knucklehead reading excuses from a sheet. That's a system?

Make the system work! The system needs to be as transparent as glass. The USCIS website should have daily tallies of all petitions by NOA1 date and NOA2 date. Names and EAC numbers are confidential, so don't post them. But dates are public data, which USCIS has no interest in hiding (or at least they shouldn't have any). The data is there, so organize it and present it on the website. That would eliminate most of the calls and almost all of the anger and frustration.

Government in the United States is supposed to be transparent, absent a national security need like the CIA or the Army Special Forces. The USCIS, on the other hand, operates more like a holdover from the Soviet Union than an agency of the United States of America. Operating this way is deplorable and totally inexcusable.

[Andy and Kayla 45]

AI, you're clearly an intelligent person and I understand the frustrations. I believe everyone has the right to be frustrated by this process and by the way the system works. I'm sorry the last time you went through this was much smoother than now. I agree that petitions filed by the citizens should be priority on the part of the government body attending to those citizens. I agree that people going over their 5 month wait and being shooed away should utilize their state representatives. I agree that the system should be more transparent. I get all of that.

That being said, we're all waiting. The service centers have sped up and slowed down without rhyme or reason for years and so while it's great you were approved in 4 weeks the first time, that is by no means a guarantee of the same speed. You go into this process hoping for the best and expecting the worst. *shrug* It's annoying and I thought I would have my NOA2 at least a month ago, but we don't. I miss my fiance, too. I'll probably end up having a longer journey than you because I have a notoriously slow consulate to work with next; it's my understanding that the one you guys will be going through is relatively quick. I'm happy some people don't have 4-6 more months post-NOA2.

Point being, this is hard for everyone. I know not all people are naturally bubbly and positive and sunshiney and . That's fine; you don't have to be. There are people, however, that are choosing to be positive. There are a ton of Igor's List members who have not logged on for months. There are a ton of VJ members who don't log on every day and who won't update immediately. There are a BIG ton of people who aren't VJ members.

*shrug* I think it's overly pessimistic to post a thread with this title after the progress slowed (from what we can see on VJ) for 2 days. It's overly impatient and presumptuous and it breeds hopelessness and frustration among people who are trying to just get through this. Don't get me wrong; you have the right to your feelings and I don't blame ANYONE for being frustrated with this process. I don't blame ANYONE for being sad that they can't be with their loved one right now. But dwelling and stewing and losing it when the service center slows for 2 days does not help anyone, especially you. Take a step back. Take care of other things in your life that you'd like to have settled when she does come, and at the very least, if you can't do that, refrain from the excessive swooping in on posts where people are trying to find things to be happy about and be hopeful for. It isn't "false hope" - maybe it isn't as quickly as we would like, but we are going to get through this. It's silly to suggest we'll all be in NOA2 limbo forever - and it saves a lot of our sanity to look for the good things and to keep busy.

You can choose to deal with the process in whichever way you choose, but please stop trying to get as many people as you possibly can on board the negative train.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Andy and Kayla

[DiZZyLoX 114]

Really?! Wow, I just switched back to Verizon from T-Mobile a couple of months ago.......

yeah! I just put it on my account today. They aren't advertising it and it's very very new! *happy dance*

[BringMyBabyHome 14]

The word I got from them is that they are now working on July 24th- August 17th applications.

Looks like they work on date ranges and that's why the last batch of approvals were all over the place. It is also, probably the reason why they were telling everyone they were working on July 10th applications a few weeks ago. It could have been the first date in the range they were working on.

Not everyone who get approvals post the results on visajourney.com and sometimes people post days, weeks or years later. I know I have seen a few updates posted much later than when the approval is received. I miss my fiance too, but nothing is done before it's time. At first I was kinda sad about the wait, but I know that God wants me to use this time apart for good and not to obsess.

People don't you realize this website makes you nuts. When you check the dates all the time you just get upset, jealous and more impatient.

[Rwlaird 18]

I've also wondered why Al spends so much time on here and complains about the slow process when his timeline is not at the 5 month mark yet. I think USCIS makes it clear that you should plan on at least 5 months. But Al's activity level at this stage makes me no difference. The point that I have been trying to express to everyone the last several days is exactly what Al did a good job of articulating in his latest post.

I am very happy that mine got approved today after nearly 6 months of waiting. If I had known about 3 weeks ago that it could be expected to come in the time frame that it did then I, am my fiancee, would not have had to go through the stress of not knowing what to expect the last couple of weeks and especially the last several days. I also am not sure exactly what made them finally get it done but I have been making a lot of noise the last couple weeks through my congressional representatives and directly in emails to the VSC, with increasing frequency each day. I shouldn't have had to do that if the agency was better managed. That was a waste of time and resources for everyone involved. Even if it would have taken another week or two for approval, I wouldn't have been happy, but I could have planned around it and known what to expect.

Al is right for sure on at least one point. Better communication and transparency from the agency is sorely needed. The management of the agency is unlikely to improve unless enough people communicate their dissatisfaction to their congressional representatives.

[Afrikan Queen 11]

The word I got from them is that they are now working on July 24th- August 17th applications.

Looks like they work on date ranges and that's why the last batch of approvals were all over the place. It is also, probably the reason why they were telling everyone they were working on July 10th applications a few weeks ago. It could have been the first date in the range they were working on.

Not everyone who get approvals post the results on visajourney.com and sometimes people post days, weeks or years later. I know I have seen a few updates posted much later than when the approval is received. I miss my fiance too, but nothing is done before it's time. At first I was kinda sad about the wait, but I know that God wants me to use this time apart for good and not to obsess.

People don't you realize this website makes you nuts. When you check the dates all the time you just get upset, jealous and more impatient.

Where did you hear about these dates?

[Al422 221]

Maybe I was a bit presumptuous to assume another failure from VSC, but I meant what I said about them being a holdover from the Soviet Union.

Accountability to the citizens is the hallmark of good government. The worst governments in the world are the least accountable, Iran and North Korea among them.

Here in the United States, almost all branches of the government are accountable. Congress is accountable, and last November, the voters sent half of them to the unemployment lines. But USCIS seems to have carved out an exception for itself, and look at the results!

I am sorry if I am not more positive, but I do not believe in false hope, and a positive attitude without a solid factual foundation to back it up is, to me, false hope. And I have yet to see that solid factual foundation to build my hope on. I would rather assume the worst and get pleasantly surprised when things go better than to assume the best and get cut down, once more, when things go wrong.

While I am certainly not an optimist, I am not a pessimist either. I am a realist. I build my expectations on the evidence that I see, not on the hopes that I want to see.

Maybe that doesn't work for some of you, and if that is the case, then certainly don't listen to a realist like me.

[Afrikan Queen 11]

I've also wondered why Al spends so much time on here and complains about the slow process when his timeline is not at the 5 month mark yet. I think USCIS makes it clear that you should plan on at least 5 months. But Al's activity level at this stage makes me no difference. The point that I have been trying to express to everyone the last several days is exactly what Al did a good job of articulating in his latest post.

I am very happy that mine got approved today after nearly 6 months of waiting. If I had known about 3 weeks ago that it could be expected to come in the time frame that it did then I, am my fiancee, would not have had to go through the stress of not knowing what to expect the last couple of weeks and especially the last several days. I also am not sure exactly what made them finally get it done but I have been making a lot of noise the last couple weeks through my congressional representatives and directly in emails to the VSC, with increasing frequency each day. I shouldn't have had to do that if the agency was better managed. That was a waste of time and resources for everyone involved. Even if it would have taken another week or two for approval, I wouldn't have been happy, but I could have planned around it and known what to expect.

Al is right for sure on at least one point. Better communication and transparency from the agency is sorely needed. The management of the agency is unlikely to improve unless enough people communicate their dissatisfaction to their congressional representatives.

I don't agree with everything Al422 posted but I do agree that communication is the key or the lack of it.

[PurpleSky 19]

Whenever someone isn't in control of something, it breeds feelings of hopelessness and even a little fear. I have not seen my fiance since May 13 and I miss him more than anything. He can not come and visit me (it's pretty impossible for him to get a visitor's visa) and I can't afford to go and see him regularly (each trip is at least $3000). I miss him terribly. (Oh I said that already ) But when we started this process, we knew that it would be an uphill battle from start to finish, plus the cultural differences once he does get here. We made the decision to trust that God knows what He's doing in our lives and that things would progress at the rate/time they are supposed to.

Am I upset that it's taking this long just to get the petition approved? Of course!

Do I get frustrated with people continuously asking me when he's coming? Absolutely!

However I choose to look at the bright side of things for one, this wait has strengthened our relationship and commitment to each other. This wait has given me the opportunity to exercise patience. Why is that important for me? Well simply because I was a pretty impatient person as I was used to getting everything I wanted even as an adult (hey I'm the only girl...what can I say ). I heard it said that when you ask God for something (like patience) He doesn't just give it to you, He presents you with opportunities to exercise it...and boy can I tell ya...I'm patient-ly fit! This wait has also allowed us the time to get things together in terms of things we'll need for the interview. For instance, I'll be at my job that much longer. I'll be able to file my taxes in a couple weeks which will show more income than last year's return. I now have life insurance at a pretty good amount. He has time to get another passport, travel home to Nigeria to say goodbye to his family there that he hadn't seen in the 4 years he's lived in The Gambia He's taking on more responsibility in preparation of getting here and taking care of my son and I along with any children we have together. I mean the list goes on.

Yes, I feel I'm long overdue for my NOA2 but in the meantime I'm excited that when my fiance gets here, things will be set up for him, especially since he won't be able to work right away. I'm excited that I've started buying clothes for him and hanging them up in our closet. I'm excited that I have him all set to be enrolled in school so he can earn a GED and go on to college which is one of his dreams. I'm excited that I get to plan a big wedding ceremony WITH him (after we have our "within 90days" ceremony). I'm excited that this wait has made me see how much we've grown individually AND as a couple. I'm not saying everything is rosy and peachy keen, but I personally, would rather spend my time on something that I have control over rather than lament on things I don't. I understand this is not everyone else's POV or prerogative, but it is much more constructive for ME to do things this way. As my honey always says "God is in control" and I have to admit, He (God) has not failed me yet!

[Rwlaird 18]

Maybe Al was presumptious to think us peasants deserve better than being told "you waited 5 months, Ok, go away and wait 30 more days and then call back!" Reminds me of the guy named Peggy with USA Prime Credit in the TV commercial!

My NOA1 was July 23. I look at Igor's list and see several who applied before me still waiting in line (or just haven't updated...). I'm not sure if the noise that I made the with congressional representatives and with emails to VSC made the difference and if the others waiting chose not to make any noise - and I think I'll shut up now before someone from VSC sees this and revokes it or pours maple syrup on it before they send it forward to NVC. OK - signing off to go have a drink - or several! Good luck to all the other poor peasants!

[ptgarner1 8]

Yep...I check it too many times a day as well....but the simple LONG TERM fact is. Basically we have approx. 100 VJ users register each month. If VSC is to not continue to fall farther behind they must now work 100 each month. At basically the halfway point of the month..they have about 27...at this rate they will fall 15 days farther behind each month.

For those of you who wait for you Aos and other milestones in this process, at least you are together so now your wife can listen to you whine in person.

[Jade & Earl 2]

Point being, this is hard for everyone. I know not all people are naturally bubbly and positive and sunshiney and . That's fine; you don't have to be. There are people, however, that are choosing to be positive. There are a ton of Igor's List members who have not logged on for months. There are a ton of VJ members who don't log on every day and who won't update immediately. There are a BIG ton of people who aren't VJ members.

*shrug* I think it's overly pessimistic to post a thread with this title after the progress slowed (from what we can see on VJ) for 2 days. It's overly impatient and presumptuous and it breeds hopelessness and frustration among people who are trying to just get through this. Don't get me wrong; you have the right to your feelings and I don't blame ANYONE for being frustrated with this process. I don't blame ANYONE for being sad that they can't be with their loved one right now. But dwelling and stewing and losing it when the service center slows for 2 days does not help anyone, especially you. Take a step back. Take care of other things in your life that you'd like to have settled when she does come, and at the very least, if you can't do that, refrain from the excessive swooping in on posts where people are trying to find things to be happy about and be hopeful for. It isn't "false hope" - maybe it isn't as quickly as we would like, but we are going to get through this. It's silly to suggest we'll all be in NOA2 limbo forever - and it saves a lot of our sanity to look for the good things and to keep busy.

You can choose to deal with the process in whichever way you choose, but please stop trying to get as many people as you possibly can on board the negative train.

VERY well said!

[Al422 221]

Maybe Al was presumptious to think us peasants deserve better than being told "you waited 5 months, Ok, go away and wait 30 more days and then call back!" Reminds me of the guy named Peggy with USA Prime Credit in the TV commercial!

My NOA1 was July 23. I look at Igor's list and see several who applied before me still waiting in line (or just haven't updated...). I'm not sure if the noise that I made the with congressional representatives and with emails to VSC made the difference and if the others waiting chose not to make any noise - and I think I'll shut up now before someone from VSC sees this and revokes it or pours maple syrup on it before they send it forward to NVC. OK - signing off to go have a drink - or several! Good luck to all the other poor peasants!

I am not trying to get people to hop on the negative train. Instead I am trying to get people to use the tools that you used to get results for yourself and your fiance. Those tools are noise, persistence, and Congressional contact (what USICS calls a "congressional"). Only through extensive and aggressive use of these tools by a large number of petitioners will USCIS get the message that ignoring us is not acceptable and that it is in their interests to organize their workload in such a way as to get all of us in under the 5 month mark.