Why does the procedures take so longer for some people and for others it's not

[4clife 0]

I am reading others profile and I am happy for those who are making it through the whole procedures; however, based on what i've observed on here I don't understand how is that I put in my I-129F b/f some people and they received their NOA2 and their packet3 and 4 before me. Once again my NOA2 was approved 6/17/11. He got packet3 August 4 and send it in the 8th, and my fiance and I are still waiting for packet 4 a month after sending in packet 3, and NOA2 expires 17th of next month. Also, I didn't have any problem with my paper works,which means I did not receive any RFE. Can someone please explain how is that possible?

Thank you VJ family.

[EAbbas 213]

I am reading others profile and I am happy for those who are making it through the whole procedures; however, based on what i've observed on here I don't understand how is that I put in my I-129F b/f some people and they received their NOA2 and their packet3 and 4 before me. Once again my NOA2 was approved 6/17/11. He got packet3 August 4 and send it in the 8th, and my fiance and I are still waiting for packet 4 a month after sending in packet 3, and NOA2 expires 17th of next month. Also, I didn't have any problem with my paper works,which means I did not receive any RFE. Can someone please explain how is that possible?

Thank you VJ family.

Wish there were answers... we're asking the same questions about our interview and AP! I'm not sure there are any answers ... we never received any RFE at USCIS or the NVC and was able to complete both in a good amount of time LOL but now... we just have to wait .. and its beginning to not be so patiently...its frustrating, hurtful, depressing ... so many emotions go along with this... just focus on your case and be sure your items and documents are in order and ready... keep collecting good proof of relationship and hang in there!!!

[4clife 0]

Wish there were answers... we're asking the same questions about our interview and AP! I'm not sure there are any answers ... we never received any RFE at USCIS or the NVC and was able to complete both in a good amount of time LOL but now... we just have to wait .. and its beginning to not be so patiently...its frustrating, hurtful, depressing ... so many emotions go along with this... just focus on your case and be sure your items and documents are in order and ready... keep collecting good proof of relationship and hang in there!!!

Sigh....I know what you are going through..I feel your pain and frustration b/c I am experiencing the same thing. Thanks for the advice

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I am reading others profile and I am happy for those who are making it through the whole procedures; however, based on what i've observed on here I don't understand how is that I put in my I-129F b/f some people and they received their NOA2 and their packet3 and 4 before me. Once again my NOA2 was approved 6/17/11. He got packet3 August 4 and send it in the 8th, and my fiance and I are still waiting for packet 4 a month after sending in packet 3, and NOA2 expires 17th of next month. Also, I didn't have any problem with my paper works,which means I did not receive any RFE. Can someone please explain how is that possible?

Thank you VJ family.

You think that this is like the lines at the bank where one line feeds into multiple tellers who dutifully call the next one in the queue? Most disappointment in life is caused by unrealisitc expectations. It is more like the lines at the grocery store where everyone waits a different time depending on the efficiency of both the customers and the cashier. A line with three people may take much longer than a line with 6 people.

Read the pinned topic at the top of the K-1 forum for how your petition is handled by USCIS(I have no clue how visas are handled at each consulate but each IS different)

Suffice to say your petition was scanned in and put in a box. The box then sat on a shelf until it was picked up by an adjudicator in the order it was received with all the others in the box. It was taken to the adjudicators office and put on the floor. Each adjudicaotr within guidelines, may have individual ways of handling each petition and RFEs etc. Once assigned to adjudicator, your file stays there unless the adjudicator is absent for EXTENDED periods...such as death, or possibly maternity leave. Then it is shifted to another adjudicator and goes to the back of THAT adjudicators line (think of when a cashier goes on break and puts up the "lane closed" sign after you have waited in line)

While there is no intent to process other's petitions before yours, it happens and there is NO policy to prevent another's petition from being processed before yours. It isn't like they STOP everyone else until YOURS gets done because it was received 22.534 seconds before the next one.

It is a process, you enter the process and you finish the process. You will drive yourself crazy trying to compare your case to everyone else's and it will make no difference. Why would anyone do it?

I am not guessing. One of our good friends is an adjudicator at VSC. She was sitting at our dining room table this afternoon. She is a US citizen now but was a K-1 from Russia.

[Misha & Ira 113]

I am not guessing. One of our good friends is an adjudicator at VSC. She was sitting at our dining room table this afternoon. She is a US citizen now but was a K-1 from Russia.

How many adjudicators do they have working there?

[cubaqueen 0]

I am reading others profile and I am happy for those who are making it through the whole procedures; however, based on what i've observed on here I don't understand how is that I put in my I-129F b/f some people and they received their NOA2 and their packet3 and 4 before me. Once again my NOA2 was approved 6/17/11. He got packet3 August 4 and send it in the 8th, and my fiance and I are still waiting for packet 4 a month after sending in packet 3, and NOA2 expires 17th of next month. Also, I didn't have any problem with my paper works,which means I did not receive any RFE. Can someone please explain how is that possible?

Thank you VJ family.

Maybe telling u what I did will help, since I am sure I am 1 of the people whose cases moved quickly that u refer to. I made sure my fiance emailed his ds230. I don't know if u sent urs by mail or email. They didn't respond to it & then I realized it was b/c he didn't include our names and dates of birth. I resent it with that info and the 2nd Inquiry and nvc case # header & we got it right away. They always responded to me by email within a week, so keep trying to do it that way. I hope I was helpful.

Good luck!

[sitamari 3]

Sigh....I know what you are going through..I feel your pain and frustration b/c I am experiencing the same thing. Thanks for the advice

4clife, I agree with the previous post that you should email the consulate if you haven't received your interview date yet. You can email consularkingst@state.gov. If you received packet 3 and you sent the DS230 form to the consulate a month ago then there's no reason why you shouldn't have your interview set yet.

I emailed the consulate as soon as I knew that NVC had sent them the ppwk and then they emailed me back saying we could email them the DS230. My fiance signed it and emailed it to them the next day and then I sent an additional email the next day requesting they email me with packet 4 and the interview date. I got a response the very next day.

In your email just include your case #, your name and dob, fiance's name and dob, and put "2nd inquiry" somewhere in the subject line. I just got the email scheduling the interview on Thursday and my fiance's interview is scheduled for 10/13. Maybe if you mention that your I-129 approval expires next month they may be able to get you in even sooner. If you have a scanned copy of the DS-230 as well I don't think it would hurt to include it in the interview, just in case they didn't receive the one you sent in mail.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

How many adjudicators do they have working there?

There are some 400 people working there, they are a large employer in this area (hence the reason Senator Leahy worked so hard to get the VSC to BE the VSC and not the NYSC or NHSC, if you are going to be a small state, best to have a BIG Senator)

I do not know how many are adjudicators, there are a lot of them and they work in several departments. I will ask Lena when I see her next Saturday, if she knows. VSC handles far more than spouse and fiance(e) visas which are actually a small portion of their work.

Another thing that makes a difference is that in the past the VSC and maybe other SCs have used contracted adjudicators. People who work from their homes to process cases. When they get backed up they bring in these people and assign them boxes of files. They do NOT go to adjudicators who may have had your file in a box in their office for 2 months (probably an exaggeration, they do not have that many in their office, they are little 8x8 cubes) they give them boxes off the shelf.

FYI the VSC no longer has any functioning personnel at the St Albans site. They have moved to Essex Junction, VT. It is closer to Burlington, not that it makes much difference. The St Albans sites has nothing left but a mailroom and soon it will not have that. The lockbox system made that obsolete. Lena moved to Essex with the first bunch in late 2008, and they have been moving in stages since then. The local USCIS office and ASC are still in St Albans, but also at a new building made just for them.

[Misha & Ira 113]

Thanks for your reply Gary, very informative. Please give a big привет to Lena when you see her. Interesting...many of Ira's friends are named Lena...

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Thanks for your reply Gary, very informative. Please give a big привет to Lena when you see her. Interesting...many of Ira's friends are named Lena...

That is because "Elena" is and has been the most popular name for women in Russia and Ukraine for many years, "Lena" is just the short version. I make the joke that it is a land of 100 million women ...and 5 names. That is just a bit of an exaggeration. But I name Alla's friends with numbers

Svetlana 1, 2 and 3, Olga 1 & 2, Anya 1 & 2, Lena 1 & 2 (Lena 2 works at VSC) there is even another Alla, when they are together I say "Oh no! Alla squared!"

I got in trouble with Anya 1 and 2 because, little did I know, but Anya 2 is married to Anya 1's ex-husband! Yikes! I name them based on "order of appearance", the order I met them and nothing else. I promise! Olga was a bit miffed to be number 2 until she found this out.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Gary and Alla

[Misha & Ira 113]

Well....this will be the 2nd marriage for me to a RUB (it is true, once you go RUB you never go back) My previous spouse was named Anya....she was surrounded by Natashas....

I am very familiar with that joke, as I have made the same observation. I usually name them with locations Lena (clinic) Lena (Volshkii) Lena (Pinsk)...etc

[jarta 24]

You think that this is like the lines at the bank where one line feeds into multiple tellers who dutifully call the next one in the queue? Most disappointment in life is caused by unrealisitc expectations. It is more like the lines at the grocery store where everyone waits a different time depending on the efficiency of both the customers and the cashier. A line with three people may take much longer than a line with 6 people.

Read the pinned topic at the top of the K-1 forum for how your petition is handled by USCIS(I have no clue how visas are handled at each consulate but each IS different)

Suffice to say your petition was scanned in and put in a box. The box then sat on a shelf until it was picked up by an adjudicator in the order it was received with all the others in the box. It was taken to the adjudicators office and put on the floor. Each adjudicaotr within guidelines, may have individual ways of handling each petition and RFEs etc. Once assigned to adjudicator, your file stays there unless the adjudicator is absent for EXTENDED periods...such as death, or possibly maternity leave. Then it is shifted to another adjudicator and goes to the back of THAT adjudicators line (think of when a cashier goes on break and puts up the "lane closed" sign after you have waited in line)

While there is no intent to process other's petitions before yours, it happens and there is NO policy to prevent another's petition from being processed before yours. It isn't like they STOP everyone else until YOURS gets done because it was received 22.534 seconds before the next one.

It is a process, you enter the process and you finish the process. You will drive yourself crazy trying to compare your case to everyone else's and it will make no difference. Why would anyone do it?

I am not guessing. One of our good friends is an adjudicator at VSC. She was sitting at our dining room table this afternoon. She is a US citizen now but was a K-1 from Russia.

why cant they set it up like the lines at the bank where one line feeds into multiple tellers? i think that would be more efficient and fair. thanks for the insight though

[Rufus2012 175]

why cant they set it up like the lines at the bank where one line feeds into multiple tellers? i think that would be more efficient and fair. thanks for the insight though

It's probably easier to batch them up, especially if adjudicators can work at home (I shudder to think my diligently organized documents are being shuttled around in someone's trunk, but alas, what can I do).

I think if the process were faster (like it should be), you wouldn't notice the differences as much as you do. If everyone got them in the one week it *should* take, nobody would care about an extra day or so.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

why cant they set it up like the lines at the bank where one line feeds into multiple tellers? i think that would be more efficient and fair. thanks for the insight though

They did. Thats why you send your petition to a lockbox and it gets sent to the SC that will handle it most quickly...at least that was the plan, As for why they do not do that at the SC itself, probably the same reason they don't at the grocery store...it doesn't work for them.

[jarta 24]

They did. Thats why you send your petition to a lockbox and it gets sent to the SC that will handle it most quickly...at least that was the plan, As for why they do not do that at the SC itself, probably the same reason they don't at the grocery store...it doesn't work for them.

sigh...i wish they have a self check out too like the grocery stores..hahahaaha. i would definitely use that. hahaha...either way i think they can still speed up the process.