NOA2 approval - How to speed up the process

[bgreen19 2]

congrats!

[Stevephoto 230]

Congratulations! We are at just over 6 months and the contacts with Congress have begun! I also sent a printout from Igor's list!

[Matt/Jocelyn 1]

Congratulations. Funny thing is that I sent my i129f in on 8-29-2012. I didn't call anyone or rattle any cages and my approval came within the same time as yours.

[M and C 32]

Congratulations. Funny thing is that I sent my i129f in on 8-29-2012. I didn't call anyone or rattle any cages and my approval came within the same time as yours.

Good for you.

[glenmar 34]

Congrats!!! :thumbs:

[jkelly07 120]

congratulations,

[StephAnn2012 50]

<br /><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="3"><font color="#4b0082"><b>Good for you.</b></font></font></font> <img src="http://static-forums.visajourney.com/public/style_emoticons/default/good.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><br />

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If I hadn't done what I did, I would still be waiting because they put our case into storage... Congratulations to you !!

[dd215 9]

We received our NOA2 at 2:15am today! I waited until we received the confirmation to share with all of you how we did it. I didn't want to offer up anything until I knew for sure. We filed on August 20, 2012 and waited patiently for 5 months and then began to get involved. Here is what we did and my opinion about each, now that I can look back on each step I took.

1. Calls to USCIS: At 5 months, like many others, I called USCIS customer support and was amazed at the low quality of their call center personnel. I learned later that the people at the call center are required to read from a script. The script they read from is what you will find at the USCIS website when you enter your WAC number. Verbatim, they read from the screen, the last correspondence they sent to you. Interrupt them at your own peril. Having any discussion with Tier 1 (frontline) people is a waste of time.

2. Call to USCIS (Tier 2): I read on VJ that it is best to insist on speaking with a Tier 2 support person and so I did that. The first time I did this, they told me that they agreed that the Tier 1 people can't do much for me as they are required to read from a script. Then they proceeded to tell me that they were within their stated timelines and couldn't do much for me and it was too early to ask for an expedite, so all I could do is wait for our case to go past the stated timeline. When I told them they had left their timeline at July 18th since December, they told me that they had no control over that at the Tier 2 level and that they could not deal with my specific case as it was within the stated timeline. In other words, more articulate, yet just as useless.

3. I went to USCIS website and filled out an INFOPASS for an appointment with the local USCIS office. I highly recommend this step as it was the first time I received any real help from them. The case officer I met, found out that my fiance's application had been somehow connected to another application from another country for someone else seeking employment and that case had been closed and put in storage. She was able to get it out of storage by making a phone call and filling out some online form. If I hadn't gone in to see her through INFOPASS, we would be waiting still, because our case was dead in the water and never to be seen again. She told me to come back to her in 2 weeks to see what progress had been made and the result of her inquiry was a letter from USCIS telling me that they are working on our case and not to contact them again for 4 more months.

4. I contacted a Senator from my home state by email and received a letter telling me who to call at his office to get help with a government agency. I called and spoke with a nice lady and she told me that I needed to fill out a form which she provided to me via email, giving them written permission to act on my behalf with USCIS to make an official inquiry.

5. After filling out the form, I made it a point to be pleasant, friendly, accommodating yet persistent until I got an answer I liked. I became the nicest person in the world but would call every other day if I hadn't gotten in touch with my contact at the Senator's office.

(The Senator assigns someone in his/her office to handle USCIS inquiries. This person is not a highly paid specialist, in my case, she makes $18,000 a year working for the Senator. I realized that she works for him because she believes in him, she is very sharp and ambitious, yet I needed to remember that she is working for very little money and that I needed to treat her with more respect and kindness, because I needed desperately for her to help me. What I found from USCIS is that the only way to get an application looked at is to have the request come from a Senator or a Congressman. USCIS assigns a Liaison from their office to the Senator/Congressman's office and the two become quite familiar with each other.)

In spite of the fact that I now had a "new friend" helping, I learned here at VJ that it is better to provide the Senator's office with ammunition to overcome the excuses that are so readily made by USCIS when inquiries are made.

The ACE up my sleeve came from the research done by another VJ member who put some amazing charts and graphs together. I copied them, put them together as a PDF file and sent them to my contact.

She had been working on our case for about 3 weeks up to that point and was probably sick of hearing from me, but I was so darn nice, she couldn't get mad at me.

When I sent the pdf file to her, she forwarded it to her contact and amazingly, she was told that our case was now being reviewed by a case officer and we would have our decision within 30 days.

My advice is to wait patiently for 5 months from the date of your application, then make an INFOPASS appointment to make sure your files are where they are supposed to be and then contact either your Senator or your Congressman to get their help.

Thanks to everyone at VJ for all the input you have provided which helps the rest of us on this journey.

Thank you God for helping us to get through the past 8 months of agony and anticipation.

Nice! Congrats and thanks for sharing! I must say the Senator thing really helped us!!

[JBForever 12]

congrats. good job

[mp&mp 12]

Congrats!!

I think that given the fact that you are a csc filer from August i think, you couldve skipped all those steps you were gonna get approved during these days anyway lol

[Bayareaguy 156]

Congrats!!

I think that given the fact that you are a csc filer from August i think, you couldve skipped all those steps you were gonna get approved during these days anyway lol

I agree. But no one knew if or when they would be approving at any decent rate. They could have easily kept the same slow pace they had been for all we knew.

[StephAnn2012 50]

<br />I agree. But no one knew if or when they would be approving at any decent rate. They could have easily kept the same slow pace they had been for all we knew.<br />

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Bay - Give it a rest --- I'm glad I handled it the way I did - especially given the fact that nobody using CSC - was making any progress just one week ago - 8 months was too long --- and maybe, just maybe - MY diligence got everyone else approved - So in my world, the one I live in inside my head, I'm kind of a hero!

You should be thanking me!

<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bay - Give it a rest --- I'm glad I handled it the way I did - especially given the fact that nobody using CSC - was making any progress just one week ago - 8 months was too long --- and maybe, just maybe - MY diligence got everyone else approved - So in my world, the one I live in inside my head, I'm kind of a hero!<br /><br />You should be thanking me!<br />

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Oh Wait -- that was MP&P - You were defending me -- Bay - You are my new hero -- right after me.

[EmberEmpress 8]

I think I put non specific - as I had no case already filed number -

My -hopefully- last question is.. You did have a case number with your NOA1; am I wrong? I have no problem stating that I have no case number but when I go to the office with my NOA1 I don't want to be penalized.

[hodao22 0]

Thank you! This was very useful information. Can you please tell me what you had to do since receiving your NOA2? BTW, Congratulations!

[Markie & Mark 0]

Hi there, would you mind sharing the PDF with us as well?

I will message you my email address.

Also, do you or anyone else on here have tips for things to include in our letter to the senator?

We filed in September, 2012 and we cautiously set a wedding date that we were hoping to be able to meet, so any bit of advice helps.

Thanks for sharing,

Markie and Mark