Calling your Congressman?

[stefan y karen 23]

I've seen a few posts mention contacting their Congressman. Is there any evidence that this really helps? What do you ask them to do?

[Inky 1,111]

They have an immigration liaison. You ask them to look into your case when it is over the processing times listed. You send them forms that you sign saying you allow them to look into it for you. Then you sit and wait for a response. Its really helpful sometimes if your petition is stuck for a long time or if the liaison is a good and active one. If not sometimes it can really be no help at all.

[Oksana & Max 94]

I've seen a few posts mention contacting their Congressman. Is there any evidence that this really helps? What do you ask them to do?

You are still too far away from contacting Congressman. You just submitted your's in August and according to the USCIS site for VSC they are currently processing March 15th. So hang in there.

[GringoD 33]

You are still too far away from contacting Congressman. You just submitted your's in August and according to the USCIS site for VSC they are currently processing March 15th. So hang in there.

But, on the bright side, we also KNOW that VSC is or has processed (some) people who filed in June, maybe I even saw one July filer here this morning!

And, to stay on topic,.. I think congressman can also help EXPEDITE Special Situations.

(uh-Hum!) I'm sure have of the folks on VJ think they have special situations. not so.

Edited November 1, 2011 by GringoD

[cmoore25 4]

I've contacted my congresswoman several times.

1st time: About 3 months into the process. I wrote her to tell her that I had started the process, I gave her some background about myself and my fiance, and told her that I was not expecting to need her help, but if so, I wanted her to know who I was and what was going on in my life. I also signed and sent the release form for her to contact other people on my behalf, with my letter. Within 3 days of mailing this to her she called me and we chatted quickly. She thanked me for my letter, explained the process a bit, and told me she would be happy to help if we needed her.

2nd time: The embassy had our packet 3 for 4+ weeks and had not logged it. I was concerned it was lost. She emailed the London embassy (they have congressional email) and magically the next day my packet was logged.

3rd time: We had been marked interview ready for 4 weeks with no interview being assigned. DOS kept telling me that London had everything - come to find out - while we were marked ready, they had misplaced our medical report (they said they didn't receive it, but again, magically, it was found 2 days after the inquiry...which was 3 weeks after it was sent).

So, my congresswoman was very helpful - and as soon as my fiance is here and we are married - we will be sending her a thank you card for all of her help.

[GringoD 33]

Hey CMoore25... that's a really great twist to this issue.

I've never heard of someone doing that, although probably others have.

AND, I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT STANDARD POLICY, DO BE DONE BY EVERY PETITIONER... just like you did it.

Very classy, I must say.

I believe I will write to mine this week, even though I'm about 100 days out from the NOA1.

Did you send to a Senator? or, Representative?

Your short story of how that helped is GREAT.

This is the kind of thing that VJ needs more of!

THANKS FOR SHARING.

[stefan y karen 23]

I've contacted my congresswoman several times.

1st time: About 3 months into the process. I wrote her to tell her that I had started the process, I gave her some background about myself and my fiance, and told her that I was not expecting to need her help, but if so, I wanted her to know who I was and what was going on in my life. I also signed and sent the release form for her to contact other people on my behalf, with my letter. Within 3 days of mailing this to her she called me and we chatted quickly. She thanked me for my letter, explained the process a bit, and told me she would be happy to help if we needed her.

2nd time: The embassy had our packet 3 for 4+ weeks and had not logged it. I was concerned it was lost. She emailed the London embassy (they have congressional email) and magically the next day my packet was logged.

3rd time: We had been marked interview ready for 4 weeks with no interview being assigned. DOS kept telling me that London had everything - come to find out - while we were marked ready, they had misplaced our medical report (they said they didn't receive it, but again, magically, it was found 2 days after the inquiry...which was 3 weeks after it was sent).

So, my congresswoman was very helpful - and as soon as my fiance is here and we are married - we will be sending her a thank you card for all of her help.

AWESOME ADVICE AND DETAILS! One question: Where did you find the release forms?

[cmoore25 4]

GringoD - Your welcome! I'm glad you liked it - I was a bit nervous to post my experience as it is out of the norm - and I know some people might have found my first contact unnecessary. The reason I did it was b/c it had been 3 months and I just needed to do something other than wait that felt proactive. I forgot to mention, she called me to congratulate me on my NOA2 before I even got the text!! Lol I got the text from USCIS about 10 minutes after her call. This is who I contacted: U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D) for Maine's 1st Congressional District. When I was looking for somebody to contact I googled: Congressman + my city + Maine. I've heard of others using senators - but she was able to do the trick, and was always quick to respond. Eventually we used email for communicating. I never went more than 12 hours of waiting for her to reply to my contact.

Stefan y Karen: The release forms were on my congresswoman's website. I had to search a little bit for them, but finally found a section on her page dealing with immigration. In that section, there was a link saying something like, "If you need my help assisting you with immigration related issues, please click"

Good luck!