Contacting Congressman For Interview Date???

[Beau & Digna 5]

Has anyone contacted their Congressman to possibly get their K-1 visa interview date moved up? Or would this be a good suggestion? We recently got our NOA2, and scheduled the interview the other day, and the earliest date available was 8-1/2 months away! This seems ridiculous compared to most interview wait times. The US Interest Section in Cuba website even says interviews are usually available in about 2 months. I had written an email to them 1-1/2 weeks ago asking if 2 months is still accurate, and their reply came back today saying "The information on our website is correct".

I'm not sure if I'd be beating a dead horse by contacting our Congressman, because 8 - 8 1/2 months seems to be the norm for Cuba right now based on other timelines on VJ I'm looking at. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Beau & Digna

[ann and aties 9]

I would be hesitant seeing how I wasn't supposed to be in Cuba in the first place. Maybe it depends on where your congressperson stands on the embarago. I know, it shouldn't matter, but I am betting it does matter to the politician.

just my opinion.

[KiwiBird 132]

To be honest, I don't have an answer for your question.

However, I can't help but think... All the people filing from Cuba were expedited. You got your NoA2 in 2 months. People were wondering why. Perhaps that USCIS knew Cuban interviews take forever to get, ... maybe this is why.

If USCIS approved Cuban petitions extremely fast to make up for the 'long wait' for the interview, I'm not sure how much your Congressman can really do for you. If there were a way to bypass the long interview wait, I don't think USCIS would have put a priority on expediting Cuban petitions.

(Not saying it's hopeless... but it seems to make more sense to me now. If you want to contact your Congressman and ask for help, please keep us posted. I'm sure there are a lot that are interested to see how it turns out. Good luck!)

[US_SL 2]

Has anyone contacted their Congressman to possibly get their K-1 visa interview date moved up? Or would this be a good suggestion? We recently got our NOA2, and scheduled the interview the other day, and the earliest date available was 8-1/2 months away! This seems ridiculous compared to most interview wait times. The US Interest Section in Cuba website even says interviews are usually available in about 2 months. I had written an email to them 1-1/2 weeks ago asking if 2 months is still accurate, and their reply came back today saying "The information on our website is correct".

I'm not sure if I'd be beating a dead horse by contacting our Congressman, because 8 - 8 1/2 months seems to be the norm for Cuba right now based on other timelines on VJ I'm looking at. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

It is ridiculous to wait 8 months. Contact your congressman and have them deal with US embassy in Cuba. If you don't ask answer is always NO.Try that route and that is your best chance.

[payxibka 10,045]

It is ridiculous to wait 8 months. Contact your congressman and have them deal with US embassy in Cuba. If you don't ask answer is always NO.Try that route and that is your best chance.

no such thing as a US Embassy in Cuba

moving thread to consulate forum

[ann and aties 9]

"All the people filing from Cuba were expedited." Definitely not true. How I wish that it was, but it's not.

[Beau & Digna 5]

To be honest, I don't have an answer for your question.

However, I can't help but think... All the people filing from Cuba were expedited. You got your NoA2 in 2 months. People were wondering why. Perhaps that USCIS knew Cuban interviews take forever to get, ... maybe this is why.

If USCIS approved Cuban petitions extremely fast to make up for the 'long wait' for the interview, I'm not sure how much your Congressman can really do for you. If there were a way to bypass the long interview wait, I don't think USCIS would have put a priority on expediting Cuban petitions.

(Not saying it's hopeless... but it seems to make more sense to me now. If you want to contact your Congressman and ask for help, please keep us posted. I'm sure there are a lot that are interested to see how it turns out. Good luck!)

I have to agree with Ann and Aties that NOT "all the people filing from Cuba were expedited." I checked the Cuba timelines again (which there isn't a huge population of Cuba members here on VJ), and 1/2 of the last 10 people with NOA2's (filing since March of 2010), waited for about 5 months for an NOA2 (including the last 4). There seems to be no reasoning to why some are quick, and others aren't. There's really no correlation that I can see to Vermont or California issuing "expedited" vs. "wait just like everyone else" I-129F petition approvals either.

I understand that the US Interest Section in Cuba only reviews ONE K-1 visa application per day, and I'd read somewhere before that something close to 250-260 cases were reviewed last year, which seems to support this. That being said, it would make sense that there's an 8-1/2 month wait for an interview now. The wait time for an interview has steadily increased over the past few years. At the very least, they should update their website, and say it takes 8-1/2 months now, and not 2 months, because everybody truly is waiting 8-1/2 months or even longer for an interview if you aren't all over them to move your paperwork so you can even get an interview scheduled.

Sorry for venting a little, as I know there are many people much worse off than us in the process. We feel truly blessed/lucky so far. I just want to do all I can do to move it along. Good point about how my Congressman would feel about me being in Cuba before, but I hadn't been concerned about it since reading so much about how it is not a problem for the immigration process in general...but I'm not sure about how things might take a twist if involving my Congressman. Oregon is very much liberal though...and I understand the Treasury Dept. has no enforcement for violations either.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to have to sleep on it for a while anyway. I want all our paperwork for the interview to be in perfect order, before even making the request to my Congressman.

Any more thoughts/suggestions/experiences would be appreciated!

Beau

[Beau & Digna 5]

no such thing as a US Embassy in Cuba

moving thread to consulate forum

There's no US consulate in Cuba either, It's the US Interest Section.

Edited February 11, 2011 by Beau & Digna

[payxibka 10,045]

There's no US consulate in Cuba either, It's the US Interest Section.

never said there was

[g+y 0]

"All the people filing from Cuba were expedited." Definitely not true. How I wish that it was, but it's not.

I'll second the "how I wish that it was". I'm just hoping our interview will be in 2011. A bit off-topic, but about how long usually is the wait after the interview (assuming all goes well) until they are actually able to get on a plane?

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Has anyone contacted their Congressman to possibly get their K-1 visa interview date moved up? Or would this be a good suggestion? We recently got our NOA2, and scheduled the interview the other day, and the earliest date available was 8-1/2 months away! This seems ridiculous compared to most interview wait times. The US Interest Section in Cuba website even says interviews are usually available in about 2 months. I had written an email to them 1-1/2 weeks ago asking if 2 months is still accurate, and their reply came back today saying "The information on our website is correct".

I'm not sure if I'd be beating a dead horse by contacting our Congressman, because 8 - 8 1/2 months seems to be the norm for Cuba right now based on other timelines on VJ I'm looking at. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I guess you can always try and see if it would work. Waiting 8 1/2 months is really too much! Yet, as other members have said, I am not sure that they would be very helpful since there is no consulate in Cuba and is even a wonder (to me) that they let US citizens petition Cuban citizens as fiance(e)s or spouses (since the US-Cuba relations have been non-existent for so many years now)... If you do try to contact your member of Congress let us know if you were successful, it would be interesting to know if it helped.

Best wishes!

[Beau & Digna 5]

never said there was

I never said you did say there was a consulate in Cuba, but we were moved to the consulate forum. Whatever is best, but perhaps Cuba can at least be listed under the "embassy info" tab?

The "embassy info" tab has embassy, and consulate information for most countries, but omits Cuba. It was very hard to find, and as far as I can see, one can only find information on the US Interest Section in Cuba through the Cuba Portal under the "consulate info" link. Maybe there would be a better showing of Cuba members on VJ if Cuba was added under the "embassy info" tab too. Thanks, I'm not knocking you. It's just a suggestion, and I assume you're an administrator on VJ. Please forward, or let me know who to forward this suggestion to. I think it would help.

[ann and aties 9]

definitely agree with this. When I first came to VJ I had a hard time figuring it out also. It's a good suggestion. Cuba is definitely special!

Edited February 12, 2011 by ann and aties

[Claudia2010 1]

I understand beau all your frustration but believe me by the time you start gathering all the paperwork and makings sure wedding plans are in place and all that the months will have past so fast..mine is in june which seems so close and so far off but I got it approve in september..Let me know if you contact the congressman and you are successful which I doubt it but you can try...good luck..be patience..