February 2014 TSC Filers

[nitsirk7562 82]

My fiancé just received notice from his senator in Connecticut that they are working on the issue and our case. He said they have a system with USCIS and we should hear back within 1-2 weeks.

It seems many are also doing the same, whether we get our cases pushed through and approved, or transferred to CSC, I honestly believe things will start moving in the next 1-2 months with a group effort.

Fingers, toes, legs and arms crossed! :-)

How long did it take you to hear back from the senator? I just emailed my congresswoman yesterday. I figure if I don't hear anything, I'll contact my senator.

[JessicaUK 10]

How long did it take you to hear back from the senator? I just emailed my congresswoman yesterday. I figure if I don't hear anything, I'll contact my senator.

Hey! My fiancé wrote to two senators, the first (Blumenthal) took a week to hear a response, but that might have been because we emailed him the July 4th week. The second (Murphy) we emailed him two days ago and heard back within 24hrs.

They'll need you to sign a privacy release form in order to work on your case, so it's handy to have a scanner, or fax machine and also keep a copy of your NOA1 (Senator Murphy requested that from us).

Hope this helps! :-) Good luck!!

[hakobrena 11]

Hey! My fiancé wrote to two senators, the first (Blumenthal) took a week to hear a response, but that might have been because we emailed him the July 4th week. The second (Murphy) we emailed him two days ago and heard back within 24hrs.

They'll need you to sign a privacy release form in order to work on your case, so it's handy to have a scanner, or fax machine and also keep a copy of your NOA1 (Senator Murphy requested that from us).

Hope this helps! :-) Good luck!!

Hey JESSIKAUK, did you put in a service request due to case outside of processing time???

[JessicaUK 10]

Hey JESSIKAUK, did you put in a service request due to case outside of processing time???

Hey! No, we haven't put in any service requests, and considering their processing time is now 5.5 months they'll probably turn us away (we're just over 5 months). It seems that there's a higher chance of you getting information through your senator than going directly to USCIS.

Provided you're over the 5.5 months I would try doing everything, put in an e-request, call USCIS for information, and get in contact with your senator.

Hope you receive some news soon! :-)

[ducsacrossamerica 15]

I've started drafting a letter to my congressman tonight, highlighting the disparity between the two service centers, and wondering whether the delays are at all due to DACA. I jumped into the numbers on the USCIS site, and found that while California is on top of their I-129F and Texas has a backlog, California has a backlog of I-130s and Texas is keeping up. I was wondering if CSC is prioritizing the DACA petitions because of the White House push, along with their regular I-129Fs, and if TSC and the other service centers are picking up their slack on the I-130s because of the NY Times article in February. This would cause TSC to fall behind on I-129Fs because there's nobody pushing those. Any way you slice it, nobody following the lawful, legal process should be shunted in favor of illegal immigrants. The January 2014 thread is talking about trying to get media exposure. I think that's a good idea, and maybe we should team up with the I-130s as well to say they (USCIS) still are not doing a good enough job. They could at least find out what's really going on; we can only guess from the statistics which are published (and which are a couple of months behind anyhow).

I wish I had been recording the stats since I began the process because you can't see history on the dashboard. I can't find it, anyway.

This past month has had even more media exposure about "fixing immigration", but it's only spotlighting illegal immigration, and not focusing on what a bad job they're doing with the processes they have in place for all of us legal residents. I am so scared that we're just going to keep getting pushed farther and farther out in processing time.

[YashRadz 15]

I've started drafting a letter to my congressman tonight, highlighting the disparity between the two service centers, and wondering whether the delays are at all due to DACA. I jumped into the numbers on the USCIS site, and found that while California is on top of their I-129F and Texas has a backlog, California has a backlog of I-130s and Texas is keeping up. I was wondering if CSC is prioritizing the DACA petitions because of the White House push, along with their regular I-129Fs, and if TSC and the other service centers are picking up their slack on the I-130s because of the NY Times article in February. This would cause TSC to fall behind on I-129Fs because there's nobody pushing those. Any way you slice it, nobody following the lawful, legal process should be shunted in favor of illegal immigrants. The January 2014 thread is talking about trying to get media exposure. I think that's a good idea, and maybe we should team up with the I-130s as well to say they (USCIS) still are not doing a good enough job. They could at least find out what's really going on; we can only guess from the statistics which are published (and which are a couple of months behind anyhow).

I wish I had been recording the stats since I began the process because you can't see history on the dashboard. I can't find it, anyway.

This past month has had even more media exposure about "fixing immigration", but it's only spotlighting illegal immigration, and not focusing on what a bad job they're doing with the processes they have in place for all of us legal residents. I am so scared that we're just going to keep getting pushed farther and farther out in processing time.

Yes, involving congresspersons and senators after your due waiting time is right way to go. But also remember, with TSC officially listing I-129Fs as backlogged per May 31, 2014 (that of Dec 17, 2013), governmental officials may face roadblocks (and this truly might be intentional to limit their congressional powers on this subject). So, media outlets may be important here. The more people who contact, the more this backlogged story can catch steam (much like the NY Times article back in Feb), especially since I-129Fs make only a minority of total applicants.

[FamilyGuyT 9]

Okay guys... I know a Senator personally here in Arkansas that might jump in and help. Can someone that has done the research and sent the stats please paste their info here and make it easier and expedite things for others that want to get their Congressmen/Senators involved?

It would be much appreciated!!

[YashRadz 15]

Okay guys... I know a Senator personally here in Arkansas that might jump in and help. Can someone that has done the research and sent the stats please paste their info here and make it easier and expedite things for others that want to get their Congressmen/Senators involved?

It would be much appreciated!!

Data from USCIS (dashboard.uscis.gov)

Last 4 Months of Posted Data:

CSC:

January 2014: Total Pending 2,635; Total Completed 2,195

February 2014: Total Pending 2,648; Total Completed 1,901

March 2014: Total Pending 4,037; Total Completed 1,400

April 2014: Total Pending 2,897; Total Completed 2,732

Posted Wait Time (as of May 31, 2014): <5 Months

TSC:

January 2014: Total Pending 5,646; Total Completed 1,465

February 2014: Total Pending 6,716; Total Completed 1,509

March 2014: Total Pending 8,203; Total Completed 1,051

April 2014: Total Pending 9,629; Total Completed 971

Posted Wait Time (as of May 31, 2014): >5 Months (adjudicating December 17, 2013)

Likely there are more than 10,000 cases pending at TSC. If I'm missing anything else key, anyone else please add to this post.

[YashRadz 15]

So as per the USCIS response to the backup and delay of I-130s, they vowed to bring the processing time down to 5 months. And it is listed on the website in which TSC is processing I-130s in 5 months or less! So basically, those who are married are getting processed faster the I129Fs. K1s are there for a reason, one being the historic FASTER approval times. But seems not to be so true at TSC anymore. Sad, just sad... So please make a point to contact the media about this!

[ducsacrossamerica 15]

So as per the USCIS response to the backup and delay of I-130s, they vowed to bring the processing time down to 5 months. And it is listed on the website in which TSC is processing I-130s in 5 months or less! So basically, those who are married are getting processed faster the I129Fs. K1s are there for a reason, one being the historic FASTER approval times. But seems not to be so true at TSC anymore. Sad, just sad... So please make a point to contact the media about this!

In February 2014 the NY Times posted that article which drew attention to I-130s. California then seems to have transferred many of their applications to multiple service centers, Texas included, so they could continue processing DACA applications. I am only guessing here, but I've kept a close eye on the activity from all the media coverage, but didn't think to write down stats as time marched on.

California still has a backlog of I-130s (probably new applications received), and the volume stats make it appear that they are working mostly on DACA and I-129F since they transferred out the backlogged I-130s. Texas and the other service centers are now under that 5 month high water mark for I-130s. We can only surmise that at Texas, they've prioritized the I-130s. As there has been no media coverage for I-129F, they don't feel any pressure to do anything there.

I have only drafted a letter to my congressman and will wait until late in the month when beyond "normal" processing times to take any action there, as I don't want to be part of the problem. I've tried to generalize the letter to highlight the discrepancy between the two centers. I did take the time to write a letter to the NY Times editor of that article last night (see the January 2014 TSC thread for links) to point out that while her article benefited the I-130 filers, it did not reduce processing of the DACA applications and affected the TSC I-129F filers. I figure she is probably better positioned to get to the bottom of the story. I ended with "Perhaps the government agencies and the administration should be reminded again of who should be receiving priority." By this, I was referring US Citizens legal applications vs illegal immigrant applications!

[YashRadz 15]

In February 2014 the NY Times posted that article which drew attention to I-130s. California then seems to have transferred many of their applications to multiple service centers, Texas included, so they could continue processing DACA applications. I am only guessing here, but I've kept a close eye on the activity from all the media coverage, but didn't think to write down stats as time marched on.

California still has a backlog of I-130s (probably new applications received), and the volume stats make it appear that they are working mostly on DACA and I-129F since they transferred out the backlogged I-130s. Texas and the other service centers are now under that 5 month high water mark for I-130s. We can only surmise that at Texas, they've prioritized the I-130s. As there has been no media coverage for I-129F, they don't feel any pressure to do anything there.

I have only drafted a letter to my congressman and will wait until late in the month when beyond "normal" processing times to take any action there, as I don't want to be part of the problem. I've tried to generalize the letter to highlight the discrepancy between the two centers. I did take the time to write a letter to the NY Times editor of that article last night (see the January 2014 TSC thread for links) to point out that while her article benefited the I-130 filers, it did not reduce processing of the DACA applications and affected the TSC I-129F filers. I figure she is probably better positioned to get to the bottom of the story. I ended with "Perhaps the government agencies and the administration should be reminded again of who should be receiving priority." By this, I was referring US Citizens legal applications vs illegal immigrant applications!

Yes, I agree. All of the media attention of the backlogged I-130s (in addition to the sheer volume of total I-130s) put TSC into this predicament. As I-129Fs probably only account for a small fraction of total cases, it may be easy for them to overlook (and even if we complain to them via Tier representatives, it is nothing to how many complaints they get via I-130 filers). And thanks for doing your part, ducsacrossamerica!

[hakobrena 11]

Any news anybody??? Any approvals? This wait is ridiculous!!!!!! I called uscis today to get an update on my case, they said that TSC is working on December 15 cases. And the 5 months bench is moving to 7,5 months. And that I wouldn't be able to file a Service request due to case outside of processing time on July 25, since they are so far behind... Im speechless and helpless

[ldt0423 9]

Wow! That's crazy. They have officially changed the bench to a date of December 17 (this date was as of May 31st as stated on the webpage) on the USCIS site but to move it to 7.5 months is just ridiculous. I really hope that doesn't happen. Anyway, there have been a lot of January approvals lately. You should check out the January TSC thread. Must be nice to be a CSC filer. TSC is getting a backlog on so many different types of petitions.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/481749-january-2014-tsc-filers/page-85#entry7134008

[FamilyGuyT 9]

This subject needs to get to the media in a big way and go viral on the internet somehow. Totally unacceptable that illegal immigrants can walk across the US border and instead of taking them back across they bus them to a holding center where our Gov. is comtemplating letting them ALL stay....tens of THOUSANDS! But yet it takes law abiding citizens over 7 months to bring a loved one legally into the country.

Also unacceptable that one service center can do their job in a timely manner and others take 5 times as long to do the exact same job. Back log is no excuse. Shouldn't have ever got to that point.

[Julie+Matt 84]

7.5 months JUST for the noa2? Sh*t. I should've just married Matt & filed for the marriage visa if I'd've known it would take this long. It's like they don't take us seriously because we aren't married yet. I want to be his wife, more than anything...this was just the faster route for us to be together. But 7.5 months??? It'll be next year before noa2 for us, & nearly a year since we filed once he gets his visa. Meaning another 8 months or so without him? I can't handle that...I hate long distance & have no idea how couples can put up with it for years. I hope they get off their butts & just start working. Ill contact media outlets like others have too...