Unpleasant Infopass Appointment

[mercy 1]

I'm sorry to hear about how you were treated, that is completely unacceptable, I would take rebeccajo advice and contact someone about it. When I was having my biometrics done(in the Milwaukee office), I saw them treating many people rudely, I was absolutely appalled. Hopefully this is not standard practice for these offices.

[jsnearline 2]

I would contact the District Director and cc USCIS headquarters to complain how the bad customer service.

[Boiler 46,214]

I initially read the post that they had had their interview. I now think that is not the case, lack of a timeline does not help.

Assuming we are talking about timeline for an interview which would hopefully result in a GC then they are probably correct on the timeline. You can check it as others have said.

Edited January 7, 2007 by Boiler

[jsnearline 2]

It doesn't sound like they had an interview yet. The last they got from USCIS before the InforPass was a response to an RFE from the NBC which apparently was a bit misleading about the processing time. The processing times the OP should be following are the ones posted on the USCIS website for their local district office.

[Girona40 0]

I am so sorry to hear that you were treated this way. Regardless of whether or not the answer they gave was correct or incorrect, there is no excuse for them being rude to you.

Unfortunately, it happens often. They know that they have control of what it is you want. They can delay matters further, if they choose, by simply placing your file at the bottom of the stack! They know it and they use it to scare people into just sitting there and doing nothing - out of fear!

Don't let it lie - write a letter of complaint to the District Director and cc. your congressperson. This is a "service" we are paying for and I see little comprehension of that word in so many USCIS offices.

Arlington (Now Fairfax) District Office was the worst place I have ever been in my life! They take the term "rude" to a whole new level. One guy in particular loved to play to a large crowd by being as rude as he possibly could to anyone asking him a question at the desk - it was embarrassing to witness. To see someone that works for the government so out of control and having such little regard for another human being.

I truly hope that you don't have to wait too long - I know just how hard it is.

[LaL 418]

i am confused, while i understand the waiting is stressful, especially when others are flying by, i am confused. You were definately treated badly, but i am going to have to agree with jsnearline. Miami local office is processing received dated from mid-june, you filed end of june. You also had an RFE which may slow things just slightly. you just probably have a bit more wiaitng to do.

[Neonred 3,657]

Thanks for the response. When we went to this appointment I wasn't really expecting much information other than finding out where our case was and if there was some problem that was causing our case to lag so far behind others, even others from our own local office. The misleading 60 day e-mail had me kind of confused too and I was sure there must be some kind of problem. This could have been a simple visit and some honest reasonable answers would have been fine. It was quite clear they didn't know any more than me (probably less) and were sticking to their canned reponses, the 18 to 24 month speach. In other words, tell this guy anything and get him out of this office. When I challenged them on their canned response that I believe not to be true and correct things went down hill quickly. That's when the attitude started. Perhaps they deal primarily with problem cases that are taking that long and that is where their numbers are from. I don't really know.

I do have a timeline, and no, we have not had an interview or transfer yet. This infopass appointment was not at our local office of Miami, but in Tampa, one of the four choices I was given when making the infopass. There were only 3 appointments available in Miami and all were on the same day before 7:15 AM last Thursday. Not workable for us so off to Tampa andthen spend the evening with my elderly parents in St. Pete.

I have seen the processing times for the district offices but I don't have much faith in them when I see that Miami, Albany, Milwakee, Tampa, Cincinnati, Denver, Pittsburg, Ankorage, etc, etc, etc... all have the same exact date.

Really it doesn't matter much if we get the green card next week, next month, or next year. Not much really changes but I just would like to get it done and not have to think about it. The worst part is being aware of the inequities and randomness of how this process works. I'd feel much better if I didn't know that other people were completing this process in a few months. That's life!

[Miranda&James 8]

I had a similar experience except it was with the 1800 line, not infopass. We had been transferred to CSC and after over a month hadn't been notified if it arrived at CSC or not like I'd seen most people on here. I wasn't trying to rush my case or anything, just wanted to be sure it was where it was supposed to be and not lost somewhere. So, I thought I'd call the info line and try for help. It took me about 10 minutes to finally make the lady understand that I wasn't asking for my notice of transfer (she kept saying it takes 30 days to get it, I kept saying I already have it, I just want my emailed notice of receipt at CSC). Then she said they don't do that, and I kept saying YES lady they do, I'm a member of a visa site and have seen countless cases get it. She got a very rude tone and kept telling me not to compare my case to others as it doesn't matter. What else am I supposed to do, I mean, if something happens for everyone and not me obviously somethings wrong, I can't ignore it, but she didn't care and kept snipping at me about comparing my case and said any notices can take 30 days (it had been more than 30 days). I finally yelled "thanks for your lack of help" in a not so nice tone back at her and hung up as she was trying to say something back. It made me so mad so I understand how you feel. It's like they're simply robots who cannot think beyond their stupid script and use their common sense.

[Boiler 46,214]

Mine took 14 months, but then the average here for Denver seems to be about 4 months.

But I did get the card the following week.

When it comes down to it all you are really interested in is your own timeline and as you note that is in the hand of the Gods.

[jsnearline 2]

I do have a timeline, and no, we have not had an interview or transfer yet. This infopass appointment was not at our local office of Miami, but in Tampa, one of the four choices I was given when making the infopass.

Seems odd that InfoPass would even give you a choice of offices. Next time you go for an InfoPass, I would suggest you go to the Miami office since they're the one that has jurisdiction over your case and as such would be most likely to have the best information on processing times for it.

[-cK- 0]

Sorry to hear about what happened to you and your wife. Unfortunately it's not only in Miami that the USCIS Employees would give out wrong informations. Same thing with Seattle...they don't know what they're talking about. It caused me my EAD just because of that certain employee who doesn't seem to understand that it has been 6 months and I still haven't gotten any decision and was insisting that I am not eligible to have an EAD card since I was married to a US Citizen - I came to the US on a K3 Visa. Anyways, for greencards...for some reason there are District Offices that are experiencing backlog when it comes to processing petitions. Again, take Seattle for an example...they scheduled those with May 2006 Receipt Dates for January Interview. So, just wait for it...it really is frustrating because at the back of your head you'd think how the hell did they get their job if they don't even know what they're talking about. Are they there to just stand and look pretty then get their paycheck every two weeks??? Makes you think huh...

-cK-

Edited January 8, 2007 by -cK-

[John & Annie 0]

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do until the case is outside the posted normal processing times for your local office. Here's the link for Miami's processing dates.

https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/offi...lectedOffice=46

They are currently processing cases from June 2006. USCIS only accepts a complaint if your case is over 30 days past the posted processing dates. I've give it another month or two and then make another InfoPass. Take a printout of the latest processing dates with you and challenge them on it. If they still claim it takes 34 months then respectfully ask them why they are not reporting accurate processing dates.

My wife and I had to wait a year for her green card after we filed. It was frustrating reading posts from other people who had gotten their green cards before us, even though they had filed after us. The thing was that they didn't have the same local office that we had, and our office was either exceptionally busy or exceptionally slow. It sucks, but that's the way the system is.

One more bit of ammunition, in the CSC there is no way to check the status of the I-485 family based application , They only have employment based. These are two separate categories. I have to bring this up everytime when they site the "processing times" and they always agree that they are to separate processes.

In short, make sure you are looking at the "family based" I-485

John

[pink_cloud 0]

The people at my USCIS office were also really unpleasant to me - questioning why I wanted to work if my husband was in the military and I'd be moving around a lot - as if it's their freakin' business!!!!

I was told to expect a 2-3 year wait for my greencard. It's totally unacceptable. I filed in March 06 and finally got an interview notice in December but that interview was subsequently cancelled by email. I've not heard anything further. This process sucks because there is no consistency and it seems completely random. My maiden name is so unusual there is no way that could be holding up my application, so I think incompetence is probably more the cause.

[Captain Oates 911]

We married november 2005 and green card interview was scheduled for 27 may 2006 - i reckon this is about average...

Now we are starting again with cr1 there is NO WAY we are entering without an unconditional green card stamp on entry - ie we enter 2 years plus 1 day after our marriage. K3 ? nein danke !

having had all the running around and wrong name on my entry documents etc etc etc - I want to keep this thing to it's minumum !

How do they let someone in on K1 , I stood at POE with a huge pile of paperwork and xray etc etc, and then enter the wrong name on the file !!!!

Without VJ assistance I would have been without SS number hence without driving license, bank account etc etc - as it was VJ helpers got me back on my feet tout suite if not sooner...

So yes make a big hoo-har over this incident and they just might put the wax on the tracks...pull out all the stops - I know you wont sit back 18 months so go for it !

alan

[Neonred 3,657]

An update:

Yesterday the letter arrived with her interview date. It was printed one week following our terrible infopass appointment. I'll never know for sure how much that infopass had to do with finally getting an interview. Perhaps our file was pushed aside and forgotten until the infopass, our perhaps it was always in the works and on schedule. Online it still says last touch in October. Now it just doesn't matter.

Lesson here, don't pay too much attention to "touches" on your case.

And a note to the "officer" at the infopass that asked me if I think I know something about immigration and if I knew his job better than he when I argued about the "average 18 to 24 months to get a green card" my answer is now YES, unfortunately it appears I do know a little more than him on some aspects of immigration.