Could a congressional inquiry actually slow you down?

[photomile 101]

In the January I-129F filers thread, Paul86 has raised a very interesting point.

His attorney has historically requested that people do NOT raise a congressional inquiry, even going as far as to beg some not to do it, because according to him the action causes a case to be removed from the normal processing queue in order to be escalated to a supervisor, causing it to sit in a new queue for the supervisor and then once the form is processed it could then wait to re-ender yet another queue for final processing. According to the attorney, historically this has caused further delays of a few weeks on the petitions processing time where if no inquiry has been made the petition would have processed normally.

This does not seem to fit with the general consensus of VisaJourney members, and it's certainly not something I have seen before however, it actually makes a lot of sense to me and I have a feeling that there's quite a bit of truth in this however I'm in a dilemma.

On the 18th my fiancée launched a service request with the USCIS (We actually thought it was just an inquiry since we were not at the full five months yet, however nope, it was an SR ... neat!) and last monday we contacted her congressman to try and start off a congressional inquiry. To date however, we don't think anything has been done by them.

I should point out that Paul86 said he's paid for the services of the attorney in advance so the attorney has nothing to really gain from anything he says further. In fact personally I would have thought an attorney would be very eager to take on additional work that they could charge for!

So I have a few questions for the members of VJ who have gone through the process and those who are about to go through this...

Is it likely that :

• There is any truth to what Paul86's attourney has said?
  
• A congressional can in fact slow down a petitions processing time?
  
• Petitioners that just raise a service request and not involve their congressman will be processed faster?
  

Should VJ members such as myself :

• Stop a congressional inquiry if one has been launched? (Provided no action has yet been undertaken by the congressman as is in our case)?
  
• Not insitgate a congressional inquiry at all?
  
• Not instigate a congressional inquiry until such time as a service requests processing timeframe has expired?
  

I'd be interested to see everyones thoughts on this one, past members especially and more so those that needed to raise a congressional, as I have a feeling it might the the source for a very big debate. Those of you who have raised a congressional, what were the timeframes that you encountered overall?

And the biggest burning question of them all : Do you think raising a congressional actually made the slightest bit of difference in your case?

Thanks all!

Edited June 10, 2012 by photomile

[Julie y Pat 67]

There's no way to know how long a petition would have taken to be approved if no congressional inquiry was made.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I don't think so. I asked a congressperson to look into my husband's case, and they said they just used a special email address to ask for casefile status and expedite. They even forwarded me the email with the information. However, I see no need for a full-on congressional inquiry to get a petition approved. I think it would never even get to a supervisor because it's just a petition. I think a congressional inquiry at that stage would be just a service request, coming from the congressperson. Of course they would say it was their doing, but I don't think the behind-the-scenes action would be anything close to a real congressional inquiry at, say, post-interview stage.

[Anh map 2,098]

A congressperson or Senator (has more influence) can't really do a lot other than "shake the tree" in most cases. The process takes time, and family visa petitioners are historically impatient. Too many petitioners feel that they are "entitiled as US citizens" to have their loved ones here ASAP. We all know that isn't reality. Most petitioners have no clue about the immigration world. Why would they?

If a case is far outside of normal processing protocol, that is a time when a rep or Senator can nudge things along.

Any elected official will tell you about all the efforts they have made. Because it is their job and they want your vote. Simple as that.

Visa Journey is a small slice of the immigration pie. There are thousands more petitions/applications being adjudicated each day. Patience and education about the process are most helpful.

[together4evr 360]

Since Congress controls every aspect of the State Department’s budget, State has a vested interest in keeping Congress happy, and congressional interest does often play a role.

I do not think it would ever slow a petition down

[C&Q 25]

Doesn't really make any sense to me to be honest.

If this would slow the process down, what's the point of a congressional inquiry then?

[ullnvrkno 95]

So if a Senator's office says "every inquiry we make slows down the process of USCIS working on your case" they're lying?