There should be a VIP line for K1 processing

[Moomin 292]

I have a hard time thinking K1 isn't self-sufficient. 340 dollars buys me at least 8 FTE hours. That should be more than enough time to process the petition. I bet in general it takes them much less time. Then in this process we have the visa fee, AOS and biometrics. We are looking at more than 1500 at the end of it all. What is that? Like almost a full week of an FTE. I am paying 1/4 or 1/5 of a whole employee's month. And how many of us are there? I realize that the fees go to different agencies (AOS and 129F are USCIS, visa is state I bet, and not sure who biometrics go to (FBI??)) But still...

I think I read 1500 applicants to CSC alone for K1 each month. That's half a million to CSC alone. Each month. Just for K1.

Well, here's a little sneak-peek to what might happen to some of the cash. You figure, 38.000 for an Immigration Services Assistant in annual salary - some states it's higher though. That's approx 111 I129f petitions to cover salary to one person.

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Uscis.html

Fees for background check, paper copying, the guys accepting petitions and taking the check/money order, maintainence of online system(hehe.. in all seriousnes; servers and general maintanence), sending hardcopies, Custumer service reps, free infopass-appointments, mailing petitions to from local offices/NVC/overseas.

Our petition cost 440 - before they lowered the fee - and we got just as much for the cash as people paying 340. Nothing less, nothing more.

[pachacuti 154]

Well, here's a little sneak-peek to what might happen to some of the cash. You figure, 38.000 for an Immigration Services Assistant in annual salary - some states it's higher though. That's approx 111 I129f petitions to cover salary to one person.

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Uscis.html

Fees for background check, paper copying, the guys accepting petitions and taking the check/money order, maintainence of online system(hehe.. in all seriousnes; servers and general maintanence), sending hardcopies, Custumer service reps, free infopass-appointments, mailing petitions to from local offices/NVC/overseas.

Our petition cost 440 - before they lowered the fee - and we got just as much for the cash as people paying 340. Nothing less, nothing more.

I understand that there is some overhead. But just to simplify (and hopefully not oversimplify) let's assume that the lion's share of the cost for processing is the salary of the immigration specialist. 111 apps in a year (let's call it 120) are a mere 10 apps a month. You figure 160 hours a month, then that worker would have to spend an entire 2 days working on one app. Not possible. It's much less than that. It has to be. I worked for many years determining welfare benefits, and even a complicated application for benefits would not take me 2 straight days to work on. I don't know how many apps a worker can process to be honest. But if we make a further assumption that a worker only does 129Fs (not likely I understand but I want to keep my math simple). I would suspect that, being exteeeeemely conservative, they need to do 2 a day, for about 80 a month. That is 960 apps a year. So, at 340 a pop, that one worker is bringing in over 300,000 a year, more than enough for his salary, his benefits and whatever other overhead that may be required.

This is all just opinion and supposition on my part.

Mark

[Moomin 292]

I understand that there is some overhead. But just to simplify (and hopefully not oversimplify) let's assume that the lion's share of the cost for processing is the salary of the immigration specialist. 111 apps in a year (let's call it 120) are a mere 10 apps a month. You figure 160 hours a month, then that worker would have to spend an entire 2 days working on one app. Not possible. It's much less than that. It has to be. I worked for many years determining welfare benefits, and even a complicated application for benefits would not take me 2 straight days to work on. I don't know how many apps a worker can process to be honest. But if we make a further assumption that a worker only does 129Fs (not likely I understand but I want to keep my math simple). I would suspect that, being exteeeeemely conservative, they need to do 2 a day, for about 80 a month. That is 960 apps a year. So, at 340 a pop, that one worker is bringing in over 300,000 a year, more than enough for his salary, his benefits and whatever other overhead that may be required.

This is all just opinion and supposition on my part.

Mark

No, it's not just one person. While it might only take around 45 minutes for an adjudicating officer to flip through petition, mail out NOA2 if it's a straight forward case, there are many more hands handling that case than just that one person. It's not as effecient as receiving petition and then looking through it right away. Each person is assigned a responsibility, probably(or hopefully) for a valid reason; that they specialize in looking through petitions whereas the ones receiving and sorting through the mail to be sent to the respective service centers specialize in that field. Officers visiting couples in their home to check if there's a bona fide relationship. There are numerous factors we don't really see for the money we spend.

What is also neglected is the petitions/applications that had the fee waived. Who pays for them when USCIS is funded almost 100% by fees? The effeciency won't necessarily be optimal by paying more for the ones who pay more. Because as someone else mention, it's a system based on equality, meaning 200 pages VAWA cases doesn't get put furthest back in the box because they paid less.

You're right though. It's a personal opinion with how we each would want the whole process to work. I'm sure that the process could be improved over time. I wish it was more transparent rather than fast. However, I do believe that 5 months of sitting in a box is due to backlog, especially when thinking 5 years back and knowing it took a lot less time from NOA1 to NOA2.

[pachacuti 154]

No, it's not just one person. While it might only take around 45 minutes for an adjudicating officer to flip through petition, mail out NOA2 if it's a straight forward case, there are many more hands handling that case than just that one person. It's not as effecient as receiving petition and then looking through it right away. Each person is assigned a responsibility, probably(or hopefully) for a valid reason; that they specialize in looking through petitions whereas the ones receiving and sorting through the mail to be sent to the respective service centers specialize in that field. Officers visiting couples in their home to check if there's a bona fide relationship. There are numerous factors we don't really see for the money we spend.

What is also neglected is the petitions/applications that had the fee waived. Who pays for them when USCIS is funded almost 100% by fees? The effeciency won't necessarily be optimal by paying more for the ones who pay more. Because as someone else mention, it's a system based on equality, meaning 200 pages VAWA cases doesn't get put furthest back in the box because they paid less.

You're right though. It's a personal opinion with how we each would want the whole process to work. I'm sure that the process could be improved over time. I wish it was more transparent rather than fast. However, I do believe that 5 months of sitting in a box is due to backlog, especially when thinking 5 years back and knowing it took a lot less time from NOA1 to NOA2.

Yeah I get that I have oversimplified everything. One thing to remember on the other hands touching it... I am assuming that other hands touching it is minimal (5 mins, 15 mins, half an hour). Even with all the hands, I think 4 total hours is probably a pretty good average guess. But what do I know? I could be way off base. Just stuff I find myself thinking about...

[Kaylara 814]

The stress is part of the process. Those who can't handle it should never consider marrying a foreigner or should instead move to the country of residence of their loved ones. I don't mean it callously. IMHO people need to understand, evaluate and ponder the consequences of their decisions before they make them. Those whom the stress of the wait is enough to break up a relationship should never consider marrying a foreigner.

Been there, done that. Had a LDR with my husband for 2 years before I moved over to the Netherlands. Waited 2 years for my residency permit (verblijfsverkunning) in the Netherlands. I'm not new to immigration stress. But at least while I was waiting for my case to finish up there I could stay with my husband. We could lean on each other when we were having a hard time with it. We got through it, but it wasn't pleasant. It's a completely different animal having already been married 8 years and being separated for more than a year because of some bureaucratic garbage. When we decided to move back, we prepared for it to be difficult, and looked up all available information on the normal processing times on this and other immigration sites and it was consistently 8-9 months total. We got blind-sided by a 9 1/2 month wait for the I130 approval. I didn't start to stress until about month 6 when our case still had no movement.

This wasn't because we weren't aware of there being a waiting time. We were well aware that by not going the AOS route while he was here last year, that we would need to wait longer. We accepted it because we thought that we were doing the right and legal thing. We based our decision on our desire to do everything above the board, and the available information that we had at the time.

Honestly, I think that bringing back the K3 and processing it as quickly as they do the K1 would have appealed to a lot of people. I know I would have gone that route if it appeared that it sped up the process, despite the added cost.

The stress isn't going to break us up. We know how to deal with this because we've done it before and got through it. That doesn't mean that I think it's right or necessary for a successful relationship. This month we will miss our 10 year anniversary of being together. This is the longest that we've gone without seeing each other during that time. We miss each other like crazy. Our kids are having a really difficult time being away from their father. But I have to say, a huge amount of my stress has gone away since we've gotten to the NVC step, and there's a fairly consistent timeline to go by. We have some kind of a time frame now, and that's so much nicer than waiting and not having any clue when that other shoe is going to drop.

Some people just can't handle the pain of that separation. It becomes overwhelming even for those who are good at dealing with stress. I can't fault people for that. Most people don't fall in love with someone thinking that they're going to have to go through a grueling immigration process just to be with their loved one.

[noncompute 9]

No.

Immigration should NEVER be a system where the people who can afford to pay more get better service.

Really? You can petition to have your I-129F/I-485 fees paid by others if you can't afford it. How about a plane ticket for my fianceé to come to America? Can the government help me with that, too?

Last I checked, all of these immigration benefits require financial guarantees (in one form or another) from the petitioner(s). If you believe that a poor person gets the same quality of service now, you're kidding yourself.

I firmly stand by a system where prices are in line with quality of service. My time is worth a lot to me, and I'm willing to pay to make things faster. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that this should LOWER the quality of service of others. Think of the months that people spend dreaming of being with their mate and how much more productive they would have been (i.e., contributing to society) if they could just get it done with faster.

[NikLR 13,227]

Really? You can petition to have your I-129F/I-485 fees paid by others if you can't afford it. How about a plane ticket for my fianceé to come to America? Can the government help me with that, too?

Last I checked, all of these immigration benefits require financial guarantees (in one form or another) from the petitioner(s). If you believe that a poor person gets the same quality of service now, you're kidding yourself.

I firmly stand by a system where prices are in line with quality of service. My time is worth a lot to me, and I'm willing to pay to make things faster. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that this should LOWER the quality of service of others. Think of the months that people spend dreaming of being with their mate and how much more productive they would have been (i.e., contributing to society) if they could just get it done with faster.

I think K1 should be processed slower than CR1 and that even slower than IR1.

If you've been married for more than 2 years and have children together, those should be the priority petitions.

I don't think you should be run through faster because you make more money. Sounds entirely like the US system for healthcare.

[noncompute 9]

I think K1 should be processed slower than CR1 and that even slower than IR1.

If you've been married for more than 2 years and have children together, those should be the priority petitions.

I don't think you should be run through faster because you make more money. Sounds entirely like the US system for healthcare.

It is the US system. Capitalism. Charge a premium for faster processing, leave everything else the same. Hire more people to handle specific premium processing. Create jobs and a faster immigration system while extracting money from the more well-off petitioners. Sounds like a win-win.

[aussie_jason 195]

A win win for scammers that is.

[Kaylara 814]

Aside from the fact that I would benefit from that stance NLR, I can actually understand doing it that was from a logistical standpoint. IR's, I believe, are much less likely to be fraudulent. I'm sure that they do happen. I just think that it is a much lower percentage than those coming in on a K1 or CR1. Having children together, being married for several years, or living overseas with your spouse for a considerable amount of time all indicate a bonafide relationship. Those cases should practically fly through. That would speed things up for people behind them, because they wouldn't be stuck in the same queue. I worry though, that in practice doing it that way would increase the time for those further down the queue an unacceptable amount of time.

At this point, I would be happy if they processed the cases in a first in-first out manner

Edited February 6, 2014 by Kaylara

[Kaylara 814]

It is the US system. Capitalism. Charge a premium for faster processing, leave everything else the same. Hire more people to handle specific premium processing. Create jobs and a faster immigration system while extracting money from the more well-off petitioners. Sounds like a win-win.

Well, they've increased the fees to improve our processing already. I'm not seeing the improved service part.

[noncompute 9]

A win win for scammers that is.

Who would be scamming who? I don't understand.

[aussie_jason 195]

Who would be scamming who? I don't understand.

The foreign spouse to be and their handlers of those looking to come here fraudulently would be scamming both the system and the USC spouse to be.

[noncompute 9]

The foreign spouse to be and their handlers of those looking to come here fraudulently would be scamming both the system and the USC spouse to be.

So if the immigration system were faster, there would be more fraud? I don't think the depth of investigation should decrease with a faster immigration system, and doesn't seem like there is anything that intrinsically lowers fraud just by making people wait longer.

[Kaylara 814]

I totally agree!