I-129F Delay at the CSC: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Data

[Andreea&Kevin 38]

I'm glad to see you aren't criticizing us for being impatient now that you safely have your NOA2, like some here (and some with some very short NOA1->NOA2 times)

If anything I would criticize people for being too patient.

I have spent so much time looking at the numbers for the past 4 months, I can't just give up on everyone else who is still waiting. I won't be happy until CSC is doing their job like they supposed to.

[Punit and Dhruvi 6]

This is some great qualitative data, you have done a great service, and I am going to use this to contact my Congressman's office soon. I think this may work to our benefits, but than the elected officals are also powerless to make any changes unless they are on some high power committee that overseas the imigration side as well to make a real change. Nonetheless I will use this and hope it works. Thank you

[serioja123 2]

What will be the best way to contact them, by mail or by email?

[ckurt 23]

Nice work I don't even want to know how long it took you to get all this done.

[Mcbride260808 1]

Nice work I don't even want to know how long it took you to get all this done.

I wonder if there is a media story in this? Could it be worth getting this information and analysis to a journalist interested in DACA?

[Lex Specialis 38]

Great work and confirms what we have known. I suspect that DACA apps are being given priority because frankly there is a bigger lobby for their processing. US K-1ers are by nature temporary and our interest in them drops off (for most of us) as soon as it is processed. Not enough time to organize an interest group, which is why we get screwed. Same how 18-21 year olds can't form an advocacy group to lower the drinking age limit to combat MADD. They have maybe one election during that period to make their voices heard and as soon as they are old enough to realize how to organize, they are no longer pissed off about not being let into clubs because of age because they have turned 21.

[I & B 273]

How did you account for DACA numbers not being broken down by service center? I have not seen any exact numbers of receipts and completions by service center, only the national total.

Good question. I dealt with this very conservatively. Since they list 27% of total DACA apps to date as originating in CA, I just used that 27% as a baseline and assumed that the CSC was handling 27% of the total DACA load. In truth, they are probably handling more. Based on DACA filing instructions, it seems likely the CSC is handling at least CA and AZ apps (CA and AZ residents are instructed to mail their apps directly to the CSCS). In the end, however, I think my conservative approach was good enough to get a sense of the effect of the DACA apps, though. If anything, I am understating it.

Edited March 25, 2013 by I & B

[san diego 407]

It may be the case. However, what is the problem of giving priority to DACA? If you think about it, economically, it makes sense. You need more tax-paying legal immigrants. Legalization of current illegal immigrants will significantly increase tax collection. In addition, individuals that are already here illegally due to the fact that they brough in by their parents, did not have real choice but now suffesring because of their illegal status. I do feel for all the VJers that are waiting for their visas but I understand why they are pushing these applications..

[I & B 273]

It may be the case. However, what is the problem of giving priority to DACA? If you think about it, economically, it makes sense. You need more tax-paying legal immigrants. Legalization of current illegal immigrants will significantly increase tax collection. In addition, individuals that are already here illegally due to the fact that they brough in by their parents, did not have real choice but now suffesring because of their illegal status. I do feel for all the VJers that are waiting for their visas but I understand why they are pushing these applications..

I think there is a good argument here both ways, actually. I'm not against the DACA program itself. I think it makes a ton of sense. I also realize there have been far more DACA applicants than I-129F petitioners (at the CSC and in total) over the time period I analyzed and that DACA approvals help DACA petitioners find jobs. And I'm not actually criticizing the fact that DACA app processing, from filing to approval, takes far less on average than the I-129F processing.

What I am criticizing, however, is that fact that the USCIS has singled out I-129F petitioners to bear a delay in processing as they handle DACA apps. I could understand if there was some delay for I-129Fs, some delay for other visas types as well, and that DACA apps were getting processed with some delay as well. That would be the equitable way to deal with the flood of DACA apps. But that's not how the CSC is dealing with them. The CSC just selected the I-129Fs to bear the full force of the slowdown while maintaining other application types at fast processing pace, including the new DACA apps. You can see this in the Completions Per Receipts figures.

This is horribly unfair to the I-129F petitioners, who also are negatively affected (economically and emotionally) by their separation from their loved ones. Due to the limitations of the USCIS structure (they use low fees to guarantee access to services and then apply a portion of those fees to support their non-fee services, such as refugee applications), everyone expects some delay in working through them and most of the time petitioners here grin and bear it. But to have a processing center deal with an petitioner class in this way for the benefit of other class is far from equitable. And what makes it worse is that the CSC has been completely opaque about it; they can manipulate their processing time frame to avoid accountability and they never have to publicly disclose shenanigans like this, otherwise. Go look through the spreadsheet I posted with the OP. It shouldn't take that much work to get a straight answer at what they're up to. The reason they make it so difficult is because they know what they are doing is wrong and they are likely just doing it for the wrong reasons (political pressure).

Edited March 25, 2013 by I & B

[Zipline 23]

Thanks for your hard work I & B. I am bookmarking this thread to come back to it later again.

[glenmar 34]

I&B,

Great work, thanks for taking the time to put this analysis together! I have been monitoring CSC vj approvals since June of last year and I noticed that there was a dramatic drop off last September. I didnt know why at the time but I could see that approvals seemed to stop after July 15. I have never felt that the slow down was due to the CSC slacking off or just working slow. I always had a hunch that the slow down was planned, dierected and ordered at the highest levels of USCIS. Now I'm realizing that what we are suffering through is purely political and far beyond a USCIS customer service Tier 2 manager's pay grade to solve. Political pressure in our favor is likely the best remedy. I have contacted my senator and my gongressman.

[I & B 273]

I&B,

Great work, thanks for taking the time to put this analysis together! I have been monitoring CSC vj approvals since June of last year and I noticed that there was a dramatic drop off last September. I didnt know why at the time but I could see that approvals seemed to stop after July 15. I have never felt that the slow down was due to the CSC slacking off or just working slow. I always had a hunch that the slow down was planned, dierected and ordered at the highest levels of USCIS. Now I'm realizing that what we are suffering through is purely political and far beyond a USCIS customer service Tier 2 manager's pay grade to solve. Political pressure in our favor is likely the best remedy. I have contacted my senator and my gongressman.

You said it. That's pretty much exactly what I concluded. The slowdown in I-129Fs was deliberately planned--not just so DACA applications could be processed, but so that DACA applications could be processed a historically brisk pace. It's all there in the data. The CSC chose I-129F petitioners to suffer a delay for the benefit of another class. They then hid this fact by manipulating the processing time frames and publishing the I-821D application data separately from their dashboard system. Most likely it was all done for purely political considerations from the last election cycle. They should not be allowed to play such games with our applications and I commend you and others who have been contacting your elected representatives about this. That's the best we can do with what we know, I believe.

Edited March 25, 2013 by I & B

[Juliet and Steve 93]

I'm glad to see you aren't criticizing us for being impatient now that you safely have your NOA2, like some here (and some with some very short NOA1->NOA2 times)

I spent some time looking through very short NOA1>NOA2 times listed here and so far all but one that I see make sense. Two had someone in the military and apparently they are given priority and one involved a petitionee from Haiti and that too seems to make them eligible for being expedited.

If anyone knows of inordinately short times without some reason I'd be interested in hearing about it via IM.

[I & B 273]

I spent some time looking through very short NOA1>NOA2 times listed here and so far all but one that I see make sense. Two had someone in the military and apparently they are given priority and one involved a petitionee from Haiti and that too seems to make them eligible for being expedited.

If anyone knows of inordinately short times without some reason I'd be interested in hearing about it via IM.

One theory I have about the mysteriously fast applications processings that are not tied to military service (and I've seen a few on Igor's list) is that they allow the USCIS to game its statistics. Since the USCIS target time is based on a mean completion time and not a median completion time, they can skew it to meet their goal by processing a minority of apps on an extremely expedited schedule while, in reality, processing the bulk of the apps far slower than their stated goal.

But that problem is a whole different can of worms from what I've opened up here, so I'll save my thoughts on it for another thread...

Edited March 25, 2013 by I & B

[Dave + Loni 10]

Great job, excelant work.