Letter to House Judiciary Committee on delays of I-130

[nessieness 6]

How about mentioning that K1 visas are getting approved at lightning speed? I generally don't think it's good to pit people against each other, but in this case, I think the difference in processing times is stunning.

[cdneh 3,112]

How about mentioning that K1 visas are getting approved at lightning speed? I generally don't think it's good to pit people against each other, but in this case, I think the difference in processing times is stunning.

Really. These are two totally different types of petition,. K1's undergo a heck of a lot less processing, have to do AOS AND ROC once they arrive, they don't arrive with the right to work, immediately, or the instant green card. So no.

But heck, knock yourselves out. Like Washington gives a toss, given the ####### going on there atm.

[kalloo 4]

Hi Fellow VJers,

I want to send the following letter to the the chairman house judiciary committee and others (see below). One of the responsibilities of this committee is the oversight of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security "http://judiciary.house.gov/about/welcome.html".

I want to send (email, fax, snail mail) this letter on Tuesday 11/12/2013. I want as many of you to join me in this effort - this is like the pulling of rope in "tug of war", 100 letters within 2 days will have more effect than 100 letters in 10 days.

This letter is not my original work, I took most of the verbiage from the petition "http://uscgreencardpetitionerscommittee.blogspot.com/"; so I want to give the credit to those who wrote the original petition.

{

To: Mr. Bob Goodlatte – Chairman House Judiciary Committee

From: US Citizens unfairly treated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Subject: Failure of the USCIS Executive Leadership - Separation of US citizens from their foreign spouses for almost 2 years

Date: November 12, 2013

Mr. Chairman:

Due to the failure of executive leadership at the USCIS, I and several thousands of US Citizens have been separated from our spouses for many months, and unless House Judiciary Committee takes swift action now, we will remain apart for an unbearable length of time.

The USCIS is now reporting that the average national processing time for petitions for spouses of US Citizens’ green cards, the I-130s, is 11+ months. Please note that this length of time does not include the US Department of State’s processing time for a visa. Adding that time, we are now facing separation from our spouses, for almost two years.

Misleading statements like the following, from USCIS, falsely led us to believe that applying for the K-3 would not be necessary:

The K-3 visa was intended to reunite families separated due to a backlog in I-130 adjudications. However, I-130s are no

longer backlogged and are currently being processed in under 6 months. Therefore, USCIS does not, at this time plan to

implement a new policy on the K-3 visa petition process. (pp. 8-9, “USCIS-AILA Meeting”)

This statement was made on April 11, 2013 when USCIS had already drastically slowed I-130 adjudications.

On the surface, our government appears to support family unification. We note, that upon announcing the “Provisional Waiver” program, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano said:

This final rule facilitates the legal immigration process and reduces the amount of time that US citizens

Are separated from their immediate relatives who are in the process of obtaining an immigrant

visa. (January 2, 2013).

But in fact, the policy that she announced has produced an effect opposite to the goal that Secretary Napolitano proudly cites.

We maintain that our government is maltreating our spouses and us, and is probably not meeting its legal obligations. According to federal law, adjudicating residency petitions of US citizens, for their foreign spouses who are living abroad, must be a top priority of USCIS, in the interest of unifying our families. Our government's recent actions do not accord with this requirement.

We have suspected that I-130 petitions routed to the new NBC Division 8 facility, in Overland Park, Kansas, have been stockpiling, with few exceptions. We knew that adjudications of our petitions slowed considerably since the beginning of this year.

We knew this because many hundreds of us have reported our petitions' filing and adjudication dates (NOA1s and NOA2s) to each other.

At least until our cohort of January 2013 filers, the median number of days between an NOA1 and NOA2 for adjudicated I-130s, had consistently been 90 days. Our data showed that something significant had changed after January. By June we saw that fewer and fewer of our petitions were being adjudicated within those 90 days. As of today – nine months since March – a vast majority (around 88%) of our I-130 petitions filed in March remain un-adjudicated.

We humbly request that the House Judiciary Committee looks into this matter and take swift action against those in the management of USCIS who allow these petitions to keep piling up, month after month, keeping us from our families.

Sincerely,

<first name last name of petitioner> (Citizen of the United States separated from his beloved spouse)

CC:

Director USCIS: Alejandro Mayorkas

Deputy Director USCIS: Lori Scialabba

Brandi Blackburn, Assistant Center Director for NBC Division 8 in Overland Park, KS

Office of Administration-USCIS; Director: Nancy W. Guilliams

Secretary DHS: Randy Beers

Washington Post

AILA

Fox News (Sean Hannity)

}

The VJ system did not allow me to upload the file in docx format, it has the right text format.

I request my fellow VJers to join me in sending this letter on 11/12 to all the above listed.

I already have the contact information of some of those, and will post it later in this thread.

Please provide feedback ASAP so any changes necessary will take place by noon (CT) on 11/11.

Thank you.

Mr. Naam,

why this letter is only concerned about US Citizens? why not for permanent residents too? PRs are not humans? please add both to your letter and add PRs with Citizens in your subject line then you will get more support. otherwise I will send same letter to oppose you for the fairness for all and I am sure I will get more support from all.

Thanks

Kallooo

[nessieness 6]

Really. These are two totally different types of petition,. K1's undergo a heck of a lot less processing, have to do AOS AND ROC once they arrive, they don't arrive with the right to work, immediately, or the instant green card. So no.

But heck, knock yourselves out. Like Washington gives a toss, given the ####### going on there atm.

Ok, then let's compare red apples and green apples. K3s have to do what K1s have to do. So then why is the K3 is dead?

[cdneh 3,112]

Ok, then let's compare red apples and green apples. K3s have to do what K1s have to do. So then why is the K3 is dead?

I've no idea. You'd have to ask USCIS. They are the ones that stopped it, question them.

[nessieness 6]

I've no idea. You'd have to ask USCIS. They are the ones that stopped it, question them.

We have. They're not saying. So maybe the House Judiciary Committe should ask them.

[naam_2013 72]

You can count me in as well. Can we each send two? One from us and one from our spouse at the same address?

Sure, you can send two.

[cdneh 3,112]

We have. They're not saying. So maybe the House Judiciary Committe should ask them.

Good luck with that.

[calvm 10]

How about mentioning that K1 visas are getting approved at lightning speed? I generally don't think it's good to pit people against each other, but in this case, I think the difference in processing times is stunning.

We should try to add numbers to solve a common problem which is USCIS inefficiency - when it comes to priortizing and approving applications. To make matters worse they are not even approved or priortized based on priority dates - based on the latest approvals.

To increase the chances we should unify instead of creating more divide. As I have seen frequently on VJ some of the things which divide people are:

USC IR1/ CR1 Vs USC K1s

Earlier priority date pending Vs. Later Priority Date & Approved

USC vs LPRs

Cheers!

Edited November 8, 2013 by calvm

[naam_2013 72]

Really. These are two totally different types of petition,. K1's undergo a heck of a lot less processing, have to do AOS AND ROC once they arrive, they don't arrive with the right to work, immediately, or the instant green card. So no.

But heck, knock yourselves out. Like Washington gives a toss, given the ####### going on there atm.

How about mentioning that K1 visas are getting approved at lightning speed? I generally don't think it's good to pit people against each other, but in this case, I think the difference in processing times is stunning.

Hi nessieness,

My intent is not to complain about why other processing timeline is faster than the other; the only intent is to bring attention to how the USCIS mismanagement is impacting the I-130 application of the spouses of US Citizens. Just like you said, I do not want to get into the K1 vs K3 debate in a letter, the letter needs to be precise and focused on only 1 issue; then I am hoping (big hope) that they know what is the real problem.

We should try to add numbers to solve a common problem which is USCIS inefficiency - when it comes to priortizing and approving applications. To make matters worse they are not even approved or priortized based on priority dates - based on the latest approvals.

To increase the chances we should unify instead of creating more divide. As I have seen frequently on VJ some of the things which divide people are:

USC IR1/ CR1 Vs USC K1s

Earlier priority date pending Vs. Later Priority Date & Approved

USC vs LPRs

Cheers!

Well said

[En-oh-eh-to now 147]

You can change it from 11+ months to 13 months, and maybe refer to our year-and-a-half separation rather than two years.

I am also in, but I suggest push the date back a bit to see if we can get a more coordinated effort on sending it. Also, can you provide a fax number and email address to make it really convenient? I'm abroad, so I will fax it as many times as I can using an online tool that can send five free faxes per day. It's called faxzero.

[madtownguy 164]

If it's a warm and fuzzy feeling you are after then writing the letter can't hurt, if you want an actual change well hopefully you are let down easy. It's ironical to me that you are posting and have Pakistan as the country of immigration. They are one of our biggest enemies, I would bet there are more letters going to congress to try to ban anyone from Pakistan than letters trying to speed up the immigration process... so letters to the government may not be your best friend. We have a large country and everyone wants something a different way. Now having a friend on a committee or a US ambassador couldn't hurt, but changing it for everyone is just not the most likely scenario.

[thedude6752000 360]

In

[SoCalMark 49]

This will take just as long to get to the floor as your petition will to get approved .... this isn't the first time there has been a major back-up in paperwork.

Edited November 8, 2013 by SoCalMark

[GreenMetro 5]

F it Im in too