Compiling the info Re: DACA applications impacting the K1 and the I130 petitions

[Boiler 45,965]

DACA recipients came form all races, to state the obvious.

[Eastyo 100]

The thing is, Kaylara, that this is how USCIS works. They move resources from one thing to another, they focus on one thing for a while, then focus on another thing for a while. If it hadn't been DACA, then it would have been something else. While paying attention to immigration, I have seen slowdowns from an influx of many things, and every time, VJ has gotten really angry and made all kinds of racist accusations (You should have seen the threads about Haitian TPS slowing things down; I think many were removed) and mega threads trying to "compile" data. Then once they get their visas, they don't care any more.

The processing time for immediate relatives of USCs should be shorter. But turning this into a political thing, that "illegals" were above US citizens, is short-sighted, imo. It could have very well been any other thing.

People on VJ forget that USCIS is dealing with so many things, because all they see is family-based visas. USCIS already knows that they let I-130s go too long and they clearly are addressing it.

I actually think your post is a little harsh. US citizens (in the immediate relative category) should be treated differently give total priority and have certain rights like they do in the EU. With DACA this was purley focused on illegals being made legal, and at complete expense of USC and their immediate families.

You say USCIS is "clearly addressing it", how exactly? By writing a letter to us all saying so?... we clearly see manipulation of processing times by approving recent petitions even though they are "processed in the order they are received" which is a lie....

Now, I do agree with you that USCIS is dealing with so many things, however WE FUND IT!, it is our fees that pay for this service, not the tax payer. If it was government funded then fine, these things are slow, but it is not and the price they set should be a reflection on the job they can do.... if they need more resources to make the 5 months, put the price up to compensate

[Kaylara 814]

Sticking this post too: (stats in the sig so I remember) also a good post in an of itself.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/457202-is-there-any-way-to-stop-unhealthy-vj-mob-scapegoating/?p=6542889

I have no problem with the DACA FILERS my problem is with the way it was implimented.

There's a big difference between those two things.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I actually think your post is a little harsh. US citizens (in the immediate relative category) should be treated differently give total priority and have certain rights like they do in the EU. With DACA this was purley focused on illegals being made legal, and at complete expense of USC and their immediate families.

You say USCIS is "clearly addressing it", how exactly? By writing a letter to us all saying so?... we clearly see manipulation of processing times by approving recent petitions even though they are "processed in the order they are received" which is a lie....

Now, I do agree with you that USCIS is dealing with so many things, however WE FUND IT!, it is our fees that pay for this service, not the tax payer. If it was government funded then fine, these things are slow, but it is not and the price they set should be a reflection on the job they can do.... if they need more resources to make the 5 months, put the price up to compensate

DACA filers fund their own petitions too.

I am not calling you racist, Kaylara. I said these issues have led to many racist threads on VJ.

I agree that USCIS should do better, but I think this focusing on DACA is not going to help, in the long run. I think all that needs to be said is that I130s should not take 9 months. I think that making it a political issue waters down the argument. It creates a smoke screen and confuses the issue.

Of course you are free to focus your energy on whatever you like.

[Kaylara 814]

I focus on the DACA implementation because that is exactly what impacted the K1 and then I130 processing. They USCIS will not do better without pressure to do so. I focus on the political issue because they're currently discussing Immigration reforms that will most definitely impact K1's and I130's, and it only makes sense to make sure that future filers are not thrown under the proverbial bus. If we won't attempt to make sure our concerns are addressed, then there is no chance whatsoever that we will be treated properly by the system.

I have to ask, have you looked at the proposals regarding immigration that they've been speaking about? Because I have, and it's clear that they plan to massively overhaul the system in particular areas. Eliminating the backlogs in certain visa categories is going to cause massive backlogs in the cases that aren't covered by that legislation if there is not a very large increase in the workforce at the USCIS. Our categories are not covered in any way by the current proposals. Proposals which would add millions of more people to this already inefficient system. Again, I think that it makes sense to make sure that our concerns are addressed.

[Boiler 45,965]

If you think the processing times are bad now, what do you think they would be if there was amnesty?

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

The thing is, Kaylara, that this is how USCIS works. They move resources from one thing to another, they focus on one thing for a while, then focus on another thing for a while. If it hadn't been DACA, then it would have been something else. While paying attention to immigration, I have seen slowdowns from an influx of many things, and every time, VJ has gotten really angry and made all kinds of racist accusations (You should have seen the threads about Haitian TPS slowing things down; I think many were removed) and mega threads trying to "compile" data. Then once they get their visas, they don't care any more.

The processing time for immediate relatives of USCs should be shorter. But turning this into a political thing, that "illegals" were above US citizens, is short-sighted, imo. It could have very well been any other thing.

People on VJ forget that USCIS is dealing with so many things, because all they see is family-based visas. USCIS already knows that they let I-130s go too long and they clearly are addressing it.

DACA filers fund their own petitions too.

I am not calling you racist, Kaylara. I said these issues have led to many racist threads on VJ.

I agree that USCIS should do better, but I think this focusing on DACA is not going to help, in the long run. I think all that needs to be said is that I130s should not take 9 months. I think that making it a political issue waters down the argument. It creates a smoke screen and confuses the issue.

Of course you are free to focus your energy on whatever you like.

I think that you make some valid points here, and thank you for actually backing up your view with arguments as too many people jump into threads about change saying things like "it won't work" etc without thinking about it but I do disagree with you on several points. Yes it could have been things other than DACA that slowed the process down but it was DACA and making a political issue out of it is the best way to get some kind of attention. Because without it being a political issue the government won't ever care. I know there are people who use DACA as a stone to throw at illegals but we are not in that number, we just find it unfair that illegals were processed fast while the files of citizens sat in dusty boxes, occasionally being moved to other service centres. That is not how a government serves it's citizens.

Ultimately what we want is some kind of accountability at USCIS, so that future filers do not suffer the same kind of problems we did. Of course people have suffered in the past, but that doesn't mean everyone should have to put up with incompetence forever. You say that USCIS are aware of the problem, of course they are but I would disagree that they are addressing it with any dispatch. There are people who have been waiting ten months and over for NOA2 who are getting different answers with every query that they raise. The very least that USCIS could do is provide accurate information for their staff to provide to petitioners, but this seems beyond them. I've seen K1's (non expedited) processing times of around 20 days and this shows how they still have the allocation of resources all wrong.

Finally, you are right that people lose interest once the backlogs no longer affect them, but Kaylara and I have recently got our NOA2's and we still want the process to be improved for future filers. We have to hope that some people will remember the pain their wait caused them and will care enough to take interest in change, after all some of those who tell us there's no point are always on VJ so clearly they have the time (not a dig at you btw, just those who come into our threads and say "we waited so you should too" etc), why not use it towards something constructive

[Kaylara 814]

If you think the processing times are bad now, what do you think they would be if there was amnesty?

So you do see my point, then?

[I & B 273]

The data I compiled re K-1 delays is still available here.

It would probably take a few hours for someone to go through and understand the method to my madness, but it may well prove worth the time as there is a lot of data and work already done. (It took me several days to get the spreadsheets as robust as they are, though a lot of their functionality is very K-1-centric and only really applicable to late 2012/early 2013, unfortunately.)

I also compiled them in such a way as to ensure they they would be easy to update with newer data.

For further reference, here is the original thread where I described how to use the calculator functions I built into those spreadsheets.

Note, however, that the spreadsheets themselves are not terribly good for statistical analysis. To run regressions and such, I highly recommend using GRETL. If you browse the sheets in the file linked above, you'll notice that there are already some pages of export data prepared for use in GRETL.

Good luck and god speed!

Edited February 6, 2014 by I & B

[Kaylara 814]

Thank you I & B! I've been reading and rereading through your older posts. I think that the K1 data is important to include, because it shows that they specifically shifted the resources to process those cases from the Immigrant classes who have no numerical limits or time restrictions when they implemented DACA. This is important, as the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. We can pretty safely assume that any improvements in other immigrant classes would come at the expense of the K1 and IR/CR/K3 filers without significant increases in their workforce. I believe that we need to bring this fact to the attention to our representatives, and try to move to ensure that it doesn't impact the US Citizen's immediate relatives' petitions in that way. Showing that they've done so in the past, and doing some comprehensively (as you have done) will greatly improve our chances of success.

[Boiler 45,965]

So you do see my point, then?

Well yes, but you have to understand how it works in the US.

What have you got to offer, cash donations and /or votes?

There are not enough effected where it counts for votes so it has to be cash.

[rade2rising 205]

Its good information but it will be ignored by the higher ups.

Kaylara you remind me of a member named Nola who complained about USCIS screwing her up big time...get with her I think she will have alot of info for you. Though I never heard back any complaints after her SO got his visa.....maybe in time you too will forget?

[Kaylara 814]

Doubtful. I have an extremely long memory. I certainly will have better things to do with my time than trying to discourage people trying to help fix a broken system.

I do love the people who claim that I will forget and should stop attempting to fix things, who have also admonished people who came back after their visa and were attempting to make a difference still and told them to go and forget. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I honestly don't know what motivation you have for continuing to try to ensure that nothing is done to try to improve the system, but that's neither here nor there. As I said before, if you don't want to help, then don't help. We're going to compile this information and get this done. If it doesn't work, the at least we can honestly say that we did everything in our power to try to fix things for the better. That we didn't just sit back and accept what we were given.

We don't need apathy, or encouragement of apathy. We need action. If we do nothing, then we are certain that nothing will change for the better.

[Tosh Love 77]

Doubtful. I have an extremely long memory. I certainly will have better things to do with my time than trying to discourage people trying to help fix a broken system.

I do love the people who claim that I will forget and should stop attempting to fix things, who have also admonished people who came back after their visa and were attempting to make a difference still and told them to go and forget. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I honestly don't know what motivation you have for continuing to try to ensure that nothing is done to try to improve the system, but that's neither here nor there. As I said before, if you don't want to help, then don't help. We're going to compile this information and get this done. If it doesn't work, the at least we can honestly say that we did everything in our power to try to fix things for the better. That we didn't just sit back and accept what we were given.

We don't need apathy, or encouragement of apathy. We need action. If we do nothing, then we are certain that nothing will change for the better.

Agree!

[Salo&Romashka 83]

A lot of people burn out here on these forums rather than fade away. I know my loved one gets worked up after seeing so many others frustrated. Others are afraid to speak out with these agencies still holding their family's future in their hands. Using this forum should allow all of us to share the best of our talents but it's difficult to organize strangers. I'm happy to do research and write letters for everyone but have seen too many efforts lose their way.

This is a complicated issue that many will sympathize with if they could quickly understand the background. I really wish I was better with graphic design to complete an infographic that is based off of numbers we have. In another thread I presented what it could look like using an existing graphic for Veteran benefit backlog.

Complaints to the Ombudsman and USCIS staff have fallen on deaf ears so we need to direct our efforts elsewhere. Contact with staffers at the House and Senate Judiciary committee should be constant and so should a report of our findings to the CBO. The ACA was just in the news after a CBO report showed some of its failings. If USCIS was investigated or audited as existing laws require, more people would be paying attention.