New York Times Story

[AKW65 0]

Hi Everyone! I'm new here but I've been looking at this site for over a week. I met my fiancee through an online introduction agency "Ilovelatins.com" over a year ago. So far, everything has been wonderful except of course for the slow K-1 processing times due to IMBRA.

In any case, I wanted to let you all know that there is supposed to be a story in the New York Times soon. I believe it will be written to highlight a number of things including the impact of IMBRA and the growing attraction for Americans to seek out foreign spouses.

The reporters name is Eduardo Porter and he has already interviewed Gary Bala (a visa attorney) and Sam Smith of I Love Latins. Sam sent out an email about this last week and I contacted Mr. Porter too. I have an appointment for a phone interview with him on Tuesday afternoon to tell him about my fiancee and our case.

Hopefully, something good will come of it. If I hear about the story being printed, I will post a topic here to let everyone know. If anyone has any suggestions for something I might tell Mr. Porter, let me know! I'll be happy to pass it along.

Take care and thanks for everything.

[Clare-n-Lisa 0]

I'd convey to Mr. Porter that petitioners from CSC need someone of prominence and power to kick some but and get them rolling. If they need more help, by all means get it for them. Mention how their approving petitions out of order. They need to start following a systematic practice of approving the older NOA1 dates first.

[rosyanne 0]

Anything that could help CIS work more effective...

[ovet16 0]

Hi Everyone! I'm new here but I've been looking at this site for over a week. I met my fiancee through an online introduction agency "Ilovelatins.com" over a year ago. So far, everything has been wonderful except of course for the slow K-1 processing times due to IMBRA.

In any case, I wanted to let you all know that there is supposed to be a story in the New York Times soon. I believe it will be written to highlight a number of things including the impact of IMBRA and the growing attraction for Americans to seek out foreign spouses.

The reporters name is Eduardo Porter and he has already interviewed Gary Bala (a visa attorney) and Sam Smith of I Love Latins. Sam sent out an email about this last week and I contacted Mr. Porter too. I have an appointment for a phone interview with him on Tuesday afternoon to tell him about my fiancee and our case.

Hopefully, something good will come of it. If I hear about the story being printed, I will post a topic here to let everyone know. If anyone has any suggestions for something I might tell Mr. Porter, let me know! I'll be happy to pass it along.

Take care and thanks for everything.

Wheres your fiance from in Colombia mine is from Cali and Im also planing to go there by the end of next month..congratulations hope you van get your noa2 soon

[Teachers 12]

I second mentioning the long delays in California, and processing applications out of sequence. We have lots of people who have waited 120-150 days, while others are processed in 14 days!

But even after CSC, things can be very random, with long delays for no apparent reason. These can occur at NVC (often a week, but sometimes more than a month), shipment to consulate (often a week, but sometimes two months), and issuing of the P3 (often a few days, sometimes more than 3 months).

The process COULD be done in:

NOA 1 - 1 week

NOA2 - 2 weeks

Ship to NVC and NVC processing - 2 weeks

Ship to consulate and issue P3 - 2 weeks

P4 and interview - 4 weeks

Total: about 60 days.

But the AVERAGE is 6 months, with many cases taking 8-10 months.

Tom

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Tell the print in big bold letters----"ICEYSPOT NEEDS HER NOA2!!!!!!

Meriem

[wanthimhere 0]

I sent this as PM, but don't think it went through ..... so I'm posting it on the thread.

Thank you so much for posting this thread!!

And if I may please beggggg of you, on behalf of everyone with a fiancé in the Dominican Republic, please help us to expose the immense backlog problem.

Although the long wait at USCIS CSC is troubling to many, the problem is 4-5 times worse once our petitions hit the Dominican Republic. The office has been SUBSTANTIALLY understaffed for nearly four years now, and currently has a backlog of 27,000 visa cases!! Nearly everyone waiting for an interview visa is moving at the pace of a mere 1000 spots per month ..... and obviously this equates to a wait times of nearly 27 MONTHS ... more than TWO YEARS!! And that's AFTER waiting nearly 6 months at CSC.

As I said, the problem is due largely to the fact that the US government will not staff the office adequately to process the number of visa petitions received (even though all other Latin countries are processing within the normal 1-3 month time frames (even Mexico!!). The problem is also due to the fact that priority is not being given to the US CITIZEN applicants (K1/K3 visa applicants), but rather all of the zillion US RESIDENT applicants that are trying to import their entire blood line. As natural-born US citizens this is increasingly unfair and infuriating. Citizen visa petitions should have priority over the visa petitions of immigrants.

Anyhow, as you can see, I, and many others, are PASSIONATE about this matter and are devastated and angry about the two-year wait that we are made to suffer through at the US Consulate in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. There is an entire forum dedicated to those of who are struggling through the process of bringing a Dominican to the US, and the website is dominicanstotheusa.com. We are a substantial and distraught group that has been writing countless letters pleading for attention and solutions to the matter (more staffing and re-prioritization of visa interviews). We would love to get this story to the media any way possible, as we think that it would explode. The US government has written that a K1 visa is meant for: speedy reunification of U.S. citizens with their foreign loved ones, within a six-month timeframe .... but this is CLEARY not a promise that they are living up to.

Soooo many thanks for receiving my story, and on behalf of everyone with a fiancé or spouse in the DR, I beg of you to PLEASE discuss this matter with the reporter, send this text to him in email form, have him check out previously noted website himself, or have him contact me for more insight.

Kind regards,

Wendy Turk

sailingturk@hotmail.com

[AKW65 0]

I sent this as PM, but don't think it went through ..... so I'm posting it on the thread.

Thank you so much for posting this thread!!

And if I may please beggggg of you, on behalf of everyone with a fiancé in the Dominican Republic, please help us to expose the immense backlog problem.

Although the long wait at USCIS CSC is troubling to many, the problem is 4-5 times worse once our petitions hit the Dominican Republic. The office has been SUBSTANTIALLY understaffed for nearly four years now, and currently has a backlog of 27,000 visa cases!! Nearly everyone waiting for an interview visa is moving at the pace of a mere 1000 spots per month ..... and obviously this equates to a wait times of nearly 27 MONTHS ... more than TWO YEARS!! And that's AFTER waiting nearly 6 months at CSC.

As I said, the problem is due largely to the fact that the US government will not staff the office adequately to process the number of visa petitions received (even though all other Latin countries are processing within the normal 1-3 month time frames (even Mexico!!). The problem is also due to the fact that priority is not being given to the US CITIZEN applicants (K1/K3 visa applicants), but rather all of the zillion US RESIDENT applicants that are trying to import their entire blood line. As natural-born US citizens this is increasingly unfair and infuriating. Citizen visa petitions should have priority over the visa petitions of immigrants.

Anyhow, as you can see, I, and many others, are PASSIONATE about this matter and are devastated and angry about the two-year wait that we are made to suffer through at the US Consulate in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. There is an entire forum dedicated to those of who are struggling through the process of bringing a Dominican to the US, and the website is dominicanstotheusa.com. We are a substantial and distraught group that has been writing countless letters pleading for attention and solutions to the matter (more staffing and re-prioritization of visa interviews). We would love to get this story to the media any way possible, as we think that it would explode. The US government has written that a K1 visa is meant for: speedy reunification of U.S. citizens with their foreign loved ones, within a six-month timeframe .... but this is CLEARY not a promise that they are living up to.

Soooo many thanks for receiving my story, and on behalf of everyone with a fiancé or spouse in the DR, I beg of you to PLEASE discuss this matter with the reporter, send this text to him in email form, have him check out previously noted website himself, or have him contact me for more insight.

Kind regards,

Wendy Turk

sailingturk@hotmail.com

Hi Everyone!

I received 3 private messages since posting this yesterday. I promise I will do my best to get the point across to Mr. Porter and most likely will just direct him to this thread so he can see the responses to it. My Fiancee is from Barranquilla on the coast. I can't wait to see her!

If anyone has anything they would like Mr. Porter to read to consider for his story, go ahead and post here. After I talk to him tomorrow, I will log back in tomorrow night and post an update as to how it went.

Take care,

Adam

[William33 110]

Hi Everyone!

I received 3 private messages since posting this yesterday. I promise I will do my best to get the point across to Mr. Porter and most likely will just direct him to this thread so he can see the responses to it. My Fiancee is from Barranquilla on the coast. I can't wait to see her!

If anyone has anything they would like Mr. Porter to read to consider for his story, go ahead and post here. After I talk to him tomorrow, I will log back in tomorrow night and post an update as to how it went.

Take care,

Adam

Better yet, why not get GaryC's timetable to them? That shows the very clear disparity across the board with this process.

[no name 1]

Better yet, why not get GaryC's timetable to them? That shows the very clear disparity across the board with this process.

http://garyandluz.com/timeline.html

[SirLancelot 1]

I sent this as PM, but don't think it went through ..... so I'm posting it on the thread.

Thank you so much for posting this thread!!

And if I may please beggggg of you, on behalf of everyone with a fiancé in the Dominican Republic, please help us to expose the immense backlog problem.

Although the long wait at USCIS CSC is troubling to many, the problem is 4-5 times worse once our petitions hit the Dominican Republic. The office has been SUBSTANTIALLY understaffed for nearly four years now, and currently has a backlog of 27,000 visa cases!! Nearly everyone waiting for an interview visa is moving at the pace of a mere 1000 spots per month ..... and obviously this equates to a wait times of nearly 27 MONTHS ... more than TWO YEARS!! And that's AFTER waiting nearly 6 months at CSC.

As I said, the problem is due largely to the fact that the US government will not staff the office adequately to process the number of visa petitions received (even though all other Latin countries are processing within the normal 1-3 month time frames (even Mexico!!). The problem is also due to the fact that priority is not being given to the US CITIZEN applicants (K1/K3 visa applicants), but rather all of the zillion US RESIDENT applicants that are trying to import their entire blood line. As natural-born US citizens this is increasingly unfair and infuriating. Citizen visa petitions should have priority over the visa petitions of immigrants.

Anyhow, as you can see, I, and many others, are PASSIONATE about this matter and are devastated and angry about the two-year wait that we are made to suffer through at the US Consulate in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. There is an entire forum dedicated to those of who are struggling through the process of bringing a Dominican to the US, and the website is dominicanstotheusa.com. We are a substantial and distraught group that has been writing countless letters pleading for attention and solutions to the matter (more staffing and re-prioritization of visa interviews). We would love to get this story to the media any way possible, as we think that it would explode. The US government has written that a K1 visa is meant for: speedy reunification of U.S. citizens with their foreign loved ones, within a six-month timeframe .... but this is CLEARY not a promise that they are living up to.

Soooo many thanks for receiving my story, and on behalf of everyone with a fiancé or spouse in the DR, I beg of you to PLEASE discuss this matter with the reporter, send this text to him in email form, have him check out previously noted website himself, or have him contact me for more insight.

Kind regards,

Wendy Turk

sailingturk@hotmail.com

This is a good example of why our fight will not be won. We will fracture internally. Wendy's specific concern is for the Dominican Republic. Mine concern would be for the US Consulate in my SO's country. Wendy also makes a distinction--a very discriminatory distinction I might add--between a "natural-born USC" vs non-natural born USC. I wonder how her SO will interpret this tone. Are people born outside of the US not natural? Are they artificial? Mechanical?

To enlighten your ignornace Wendy, petitions from USC--be their US born or not--ARE INDEED given prority over permanent resident petitions. I repeat again, US Citizen petitions--be they US born or naturalized US citizen--ARE given priority over petitions filed by permanent residents.

Letters like yours to politicians are what I'm afraid of the most. It's an outright lie at worst and plain ignorance at best. I hope to god this reporter will NOT be contacting you for your lies--err, "insights"--for his story.

[wanthimhere 0]

Wow .... thanks for setting me straight!!!

On average, in the DR, over the last four months ......

- K1/K3 interviews granted: 10-15%

- F and all other visa interviews granted: 85-90%

The simple fact is that there are literally tens of thousands of Dominican US Residents that are trying to petition to get any and every family member possible into the US. And not that-that's a bad thing. They have the every right, and more power to them!! And for this reason, the shear volume of visa petitions for family members suffocates and displaces the K1/K3, and even C visas. And if the K visas were being given priority as you say, we would not be slowly chugging along at the pace of 1000 spots per month .... we would be moved to the front of the line much more quickly.

All we want is more staffing to make it feasible for the Consulate to keep up with the volume of visas, and for the K1/K3 visas to move at a pace faster than TWO YEARS!! These visas-types are suppose to be completed within 6 months.

Edited September 5, 2006 by wanthimhere

[SirLancelot 1]

Wow .... thanks for setting me straight!!!

On average, in the DR, over the last four months ......

- K1/K3 interviews granted: 10-15%

- F and all other visa interviews granted: 85-90%

The simple fact is that there are literally tens of thousands of Dominican US Residents that are trying to petition to get any and every family member possible into the US. And not that-that's a bad thing. They have the every right, and more power to them!! And for this reason, the shear volume of visa petitions for family members suffocates and displaces the K1/K3, and even C visas. And if the K visas were being given priority as you say, we would not be slowly chugging along at the pace of 1000 spots per month .... we would be moved to the front of the line much more quickly.

All we want is more staffing to make it feasible for the Consulate to keep up with the volume of visas, and for the K1/K3 visas to move at a pace faster than TWO YEARS!! These visas-types are suppose to be completed within 6 months.

Wendy, take a look at this link:

https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/Proc...nter=California

Note the priority date for 129F: 2/23/06.

The note the priority dates for 130F for permanent residents: 1/1/05 and 2/7/05

What that means is all those permanent residents (PRs) who are being approved now had sent in their petitions back in the beginning of 2005.

Again, you, as a USC, get priority treatment already. As much as this process sucks for ALL of us--I'm a USC BTW--it sucks EVEN WORSE for the permanent residents who apply for their spouses. They hurt as much as we do when their loved ones are not by their side. But the system is already rigged to benefit the USC. For better or worse, we're processed before they are. Remember, these are LEGAL permanent residents--just like what your SO will be one day. NOT illegals!

Also, you're confusing USCIS with the US Consulate in DR. One is part of the DHS and the other is part of the State Department. What the US Consulate in DR does falls under the jurisdiction of the State Department. But nevertheless, the US Consulate in DR cannot give interview dates to applicants without an approval of a petition by the USCIS. So once again, you have priority treatment because PRs who applied back in Jan and Feb of 2005 are ONLY NOW being adjudicated, while K-1 filers who applied back in 2/23/06 are being adjudicated.

Do you see the difference now? I hope so!

[Dean iWait 0]

Hate to be the devil's advocate here. But, I will anyway. My advice would be to not assume the reporter is "on your side" or even sympathetic to your case. Many people go in to an interview thinking that telling their story will be so great then are dismayed when they are portrayed in a negative light. I certainly hope this is not the case and that something positive can come from this. Just watch your back.

[AKW65 0]

Ok, the reporter called me today and we spoke for about 20 minutes. He is now saying that he wants to fly down to Florida to interview me in person...

Apparently, his story is rooted in statistics that show the overall national marriage rate has seen a major decline. He went on to say that more professional or upper income level men get married rather than the other way around. It was in researching these statistics that he stumbled upon people seeking foreign spouses and IMBRA. I agree that he has not proven to be friend or foe yet and may not end up being either.

In any case, I will post an update if I hear from him with a schedule for him to come down here.

Thanks,

Adam