Would you pay expedite fee?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I don't think immigration should be a "whoever can pay the most gets the better service" kind of process.

[Robb&Ann 101]

Ok, I think this topic requires a realistic examination of the truth about the fairness of the process. I think it’s time for a little thing they call math…

The following information and figures come from the processing times provided by USCIS and the DHS 2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. For simplification I am using the CSC processing timelines.

If you think money doesn’t affect how fast our visas are processed your wrong. First let’s consider the following.

In 2011 there were 110,149 P class visas processed. If you check the processing times, these take about 2 weeks to process. The P visa classes. P1, P2, P3, and P4 visas are for entertainers, artists and athletes. In the same period of time for 2011 there were a total of 48,677 K class visas for fiancé(e)s, spouses, and children. However K class visas take 5 months. Over twice as many visas processed in a tenth of the time.

If you look at the processing times for I-129 Nonimmigrant workers in general it’s about a 2 month process. If you combine all these temporary workers and their families it comes to 3,285,775 visas processed. That’s over 67 times as many visas processed in less than half the time.

Why are these so fast? These visas are mostly corporate sponsored. Simply put, money.

Is a H2A Seasonal agricultural worker more important than your children? A H2A visa processes in 1 month. In 2011 there were 188,411 H2A visas.

Here is where it gets worse!

Very soon both republicans and democrats are going to put forward legislation for immigration reform. This will put an additional 12 million people into the immigration system. Considering that visas sponsored by US citizens are already the lowest priority do you honestly believe there will be no effect on our processing times? I actually agree there needs to be reform, I am not even opposed to a Regan style amnesty like in the 80’s. But the fact that US citizens who work hard, pay taxes, vote and contribute are put at the lowest importance appalls me.

In 2009 USCIS had huge layoffs, we wrongly assume that’s why this process takes so long. The math shows how unimportant US citizen sponsored visas are in this process.

I am going to be VERY generous in giving the benefit of the doubt to the government in the next example.

We know that USCIS has a standard where each processor is supposed to process 11 applications per day. There are roughly 260 calendar business days in a year. Most government employees get 11 holidays off a year, making 249 potential business days. PTO for most government employees ranges from 12 to 32 days depending seniority and other factors. If we assume the maximum of 32 days PTO, that would make 217 actual work days a year. Let’s say all of the employees are only able to process 10 applications a day rather than the targeted 11, that would be 2170 applications processed per employee. So 48,677 applications divided by 2170 per employee. That means to keep up with the volume of applications in a year it would only require 23 employees.

If it gets you mad to know this, good. There is a shockingly simple solution. A solution that costs $0 tax dollars and can be implemented painlessly.

Consider the idea of an expedite fee equal to the full day’s pay and benefits of an employee.

Being generous again. Let’s assume the employee makes a whopping $90K a year. Add in the value of PTO, 401K, health, dental, regulatory costs, FICA matching, unemployment, workers compensation. You would be looking at a total of less than $110K a year. Divide that by 217 work days and you get a value of $507 for a single work day. So let’s say our expedite fee is $507. Only 217 people would need to pay such a fee and it would pay for the entire year of that employee. Anyone in their right mind will tell you that if expedite were available more than 217 people would gladly pay.

Consider the effect of allowing expedite.

Imagine a fictional DMV. It’s very busy thousands of people waiting in line. Currently there are 23 lines open, all of the equally very long. Now opens a new 24th line for people willing to pay $507 extra. That line starts to get full so they open a 25th line and so on. The other 23 lines start to get shorter and eventually you need less of the non-expedite lines. See the expedite fee makes it possible to hire as many employees to speed up the process as much as you wish without worry of fluctuation in the number of applicants. The question become what is a reasonable waiting time for expedite and non-expedite applications. That reasonable waiting time, and the volume of applicants is how you decide when to expand the number of employees.

Considering the processing times of other visas a non-hardship expedite of 2 months seems reasonable and a non-expedite time of 4 months also seems reasonable.

There is already a petition on the White House website suggesting the basics of this plan.

PLEASE SIGN HERE

Visit here for more information. (This site is still a work in progress)

[hikergirl 277]

There is already a petition on the White House website suggesting the basics of this plan.

PLEASE SIGN HERE

Visit here for more information. (This site is still a work in progress)

The petition looks and sounds good with the exception that they left out the CR-2s.

You brought up some interesting and valid points though.

Our adjudicator has not been in the office either day that hubby went for InfoPass appointments. Sigh...

[Dr. Obvious 49]

It would have to be some staggered fee with a decision time guarantee. eg. $1000 one month, $5000 one week. Like most countries have for their visa process. The more you pay, the faster you get it up to same day service.

But imagine a place where what you pay is a joke and you have your ability to stay in a few days anyway? Germany somehow does it. Makes me cynical about the whole marriage based immigration process in the US and other countries.

[Robb&Ann 101]

The petition looks and sounds good with the exception that they left out the CR-2s.

You brought up some interesting and valid points though.

Our adjudicator has not been in the office either day that hubby went for InfoPass appointments. Sigh...

That was simply an oversight and I apologize. The intent isfor all classes of US citizen sponsored visas.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

But imagine a place where what you pay is a joke and you have your ability to stay in a few days anyway? Germany somehow does it. Makes me cynical about the whole marriage based immigration process in the US and other countries.

I can't remember what it is here, 60 or 90 days? The application is pretty self-limiting though - you don't dare apply if your apartment isn't big enough or your salary not high enough.

We literally rented this apartment in mind that we might have another child and we'd need the required space per child to remain in the country.

[Robb&Ann 101]

You want to know why the system is like it is?

Very simple non-participation.

A perfect example is this petition. It's a simple, logical, non-partisan solution. I have posted it several times here on VJ and many other places. It's been seen by thousands of people like us.

But it only has 29 signatures so far. We all complain about how process is so slow and unfair, but we do nothing. We don't even take a few seconds to sign a silly petition.

Companies lobby and spend money in their interest.

Even racist nut cases have insane petitions with more signatures.

"Show the video "STOP WHITE GENOCIDE" in all Federally funded Diversity Training!" 721 signatures

"Teach public school children the truth: ANTI-RACIST IS A CODE WORD FOR ANTI-WHITE!" 826 signatures

"STOP WHITE GENOCIDE: Halt MASSIVE third world immigration and FORCED assimilation in White countries!" 966 signatures

We b*tch about the system but take no action. How can we expect to be taken seriously when even the crazies are more organized and motivated than us?

Don't be surprised when there are another 12 million people in the system if it takes a year or two to process a visa. After all why should they care when we don't even care enough to speak up.

You really want it faster? Sign the petition, put it on your facebook, and tell others. Even people who are against immigration reform can agree that US citizens who sponsor visas should be given equal consideration.

If you do nothing to change the system then stop complaining.

First get mad, now do something about it.

THE PETITION

THE SITE

Edited February 6, 2013 by Robb&Ann

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I can't remember what it is here, 60 or 90 days? The application is pretty self-limiting though - you don't dare apply if your apartment isn't big enough or your salary not high enough.

We literally rented this apartment in mind that we might have another child and we'd need the required space per child to remain in the country.

We would have been screwed if they asked any of that from us. We lived in a 19sqm dorm room for the first year, a whole 190 euro a month. So many people bet on our divorce. We've been nuts since day one, I think.

The only questions at the Auslaenderamt were if I spoke German, they 'tested' that, and I passed. They asked my husband how he supported himself. He gave them some pay stubs and bank statements, but my husband never had a 'real' full-time job being a full-time student and he certainly wasn't loaded with secret Swiss accounts. I think they looked again at a copy of the support letter I had provided to the Standesamt. Filled out some paperwork and that was it.

Bizarre how different things can be just a few km to the north/south.

[sara..... 371]

You want to know why the system is like it is?

Very simple non-participation.

A perfect example is this petition. It's a simple, logical, non-partisan solution. I have posted it several times here on VJ and many other places. It's been seen by thousands of people like us.

But it only has 29 signatures so far. We all complain about how process is so slow and unfair, but we do nothing. We don't even take a few seconds to sign a silly petition.

Companies lobby and spend money in their interest.

Even racist nut cases have insane petitions with more signatures.

"Show the video "STOP WHITE GENOCIDE" in all Federally funded Diversity Training!" 721 signatures

"Teach public school children the truth: ANTI-RACIST IS A CODE WORD FOR ANTI-WHITE!" 826 signatures

"STOP WHITE GENOCIDE: Halt MASSIVE third world immigration and FORCED assimilation in White countries!" 966 signatures

We b*tch about the system but take no action. How can we expect to be taken seriously when even the crazies are more organized and motivated than us?

Don't be surprised when there are another 12 million people in the system if it takes a year or two to process a visa. After all why should they care when we don't even care enough to speak up.

You really want it faster? Sign the petition, put it on your facebook, and tell others. Even people who are against immigration reform can agree that US citizens who sponsor visas should be given equal consideration.

If you do nothing to change the system then stop complaining.

First get mad, now do something about it.

THE PETITION

THE SITE

i got mad when i had to wait two years to get approval for the petition and then again when they waited after interview for it to expire so they could send it back as expired petition that way they didnt have to give us an answer........i wore out every governmental official.....yup both presidents and their wife's too.........signed every petition there was for immigration to be reformed and made better for those of us that were and are going thru the process.........now years later its still where it was......it has not changed.....why should it they are accountable to only themselves and they are out side of any area of governmental control that governs the rest of the political arena i sent more emails, faxes,snail mail even wrote to several news papers than i will ever send in my life time if it was just normal daily living.......i dont see the system changing anytime in any of our futures they are not answerable to anything that the rest of the government is answerable to....all they have to do is say we are doing back ground checks for homeland security and thats the end of any inquires for another six months..........

sara

[liberty23456 15]

You want to know why the system is like it is?

Very simple non-participation.

A perfect example is this petition. It's a simple, logical, non-partisan solution. I have posted it several times here on VJ and many other places. It's been seen by thousands of people like us.

But it only has 29 signatures so far. We all complain about how process is so slow and unfair, but we do nothing. We don't even take a few seconds to sign a silly petition.

Companies lobby and spend money in their interest.

Even racist nut cases have insane petitions with more signatures.

"Show the video "STOP WHITE GENOCIDE" in all Federally funded Diversity Training!" 721 signatures

"Teach public school children the truth: ANTI-RACIST IS A CODE WORD FOR ANTI-WHITE!" 826 signatures

"STOP WHITE GENOCIDE: Halt MASSIVE third world immigration and FORCED assimilation in White countries!" 966 signatures

We b*tch about the system but take no action. How can we expect to be taken seriously when even the crazies are more organized and motivated than us?

Don't be surprised when there are another 12 million people in the system if it takes a year or two to process a visa. After all why should they care when we don't even care enough to speak up.

You really want it faster? Sign the petition, put it on your facebook, and tell others. Even people who are against immigration reform can agree that US citizens who sponsor visas should be given equal consideration.

If you do nothing to change the system then stop complaining.

First get mad, now do something about it.

THE PETITION

THE SITE

Yes, you are right. I was shocked too about the low number of signed petitions while there are thousands of VJ members while the petition is very well prepared and formulated. Some petitions with broken English get tens of thousands of signatures.

[hikergirl 277]

Hubby went on and signed the petition.

I hope it does much better than the racists!

[liberty23456 15]

i got mad when i had to wait two years to get approval for the petition and then again when they waited after interview for it to expire so they could send it back as expired petition that way they didnt have to give us an answer........i wore out every governmental official.....yup both presidents and their wife's too.........signed every petition there was for immigration to be reformed and made better for those of us that were and are going thru the process.........now years later its still where it was......it has not changed.....why should it they are accountable to only themselves and they are out side of any area of governmental control that governs the rest of the political arena i sent more emails, faxes,snail mail even wrote to several news papers than i will ever send in my life time if it was just normal daily living.......i dont see the system changing anytime in any of our futures they are not answerable to anything that the rest of the government is answerable to....all they have to do is say we are doing back ground checks for homeland security and thats the end of any inquires for another six months..........

sara

As an individual you have very little chances and if you try hard alone you may make it even worse for yourself. Only as a mass you can move something. And I do think that someone in the background of USCIS is pulling the strings to make sure the system is as inefficient as it is.

[Robb&Ann 101]

Yes, you are right. I was shocked too about the low number of signed petitions while there are thousands of VJ members while the petition is very well prepared and formulated. Some petitions with broken English get tens of thousands of signatures.

32 vote so far.

Corporations can pay $1,225 for “premium processing” and getprocessed in 15 days!!

We wait months and years!

If we are content with just waiting and complaining nothingwill change. We need to join forces and speak up.

[Robb&Ann 101]

As an individual you have very little chances and if you try hard alone you may make it even worse for yourself. Only as a mass you can move something. And I do think that someone in the background of USCIS is pulling the strings to make sure the system is as inefficient as it is.

I have been spending my time and money trying to bring some attention to the problem.

I work for one of the oldest and most respected lobby groups.

Yes, as an individual change is nearly impossible. I only hope that others will join me in trying to make a change. As long as we sit idle it will only get worse.

[William2011 1]

I don't think immigration should be a "whoever can pay the most gets the better service" kind of process.

If I had the choice, I would pay more for faster service than what we have gotten so far with USCIS. I do however agree with this statement. Many people here have expressed that this whole process on ALL applications should be first come first serve. However has long has 90% of the american public does not know what USCIS stands for and will never file an application, I feel that nothing will be done with the legal immigration issues such has long wait times at USCIS service centers. Thats my opinion.