K1 September 2014 Filers (TSC)

[Ethline 17]

dogsinboots2014 - Ah but I DID include my personal information in the letter I sent to my 3 federal representatives. I used pfredericksen's letter as a template and modified it a bit, to include my personal information and details about our situation. Still ... nothing.

But anyway thank you for replying. Good to hear from someone who has such direct knowledge!

Also, I was going to make this a separate post, but I'll save the bandwidth. Just this morning I have resent my letters to all 3 federal representatives. One of them had a couple of TEXAS addresses, so I just sent the same identical letter to both addresses. What the heck.

Anyway, I'm not sure what good it will do, but I did it anyway. If nothing else to make another voice heard. Maybe it's something. Funny though, I mentioned a few things explicitly in my letter:

1) This was/is the second letter I have sent to you without a response

2) The USCIS has no oversight and answers to no one really (DHS, but no oversight)

3) They are much like the IRS of old in that they can do whatever they want to

3) Therefore even you as a congressional member/senator (as appropriate) have little impact on them; I suspect they care little about your "influence".

And a few other items specific to my situation, such as the CRBA that I'll have to file (and msbau764 will likely have to do also) and how that is yet another petition, another interview, more fees and more time that we have to WAIT. Unfairly.

Anyway. It's done.

That's great, I too kept sending letters without any response from them so what I ended up doing I downloaded and signed their privacy release form. Once I did that within a week I received a post card from my federal senator saying their office would look into it also my congress woman office called me and said that they have assigned my case to caseworker at their office who would look into this matter. Although I know TSC probably will give them the whole bs of normal processing time stuff that they tell all of us but I just feel better knowing that I least did something and will continue to send letters even if to other state senators. I just feel like maybe if enough senators get involve USCIS will get their act together or some kind of overhaul.

[dogsinboots2014 3]

So sorry to hear that! It's really disappointing that they haven't taken the time to respond to you. Again, really reflects poorly on their office/staff.

I'll let everyone know when I hear back on how helpful having your Sen/Rep get involved is...

dogsinboots2014 - Ah but I DID include my personal information in the letter I sent to my 3 federal representatives. I used pfredericksen's letter as a template and modified it a bit, to include my personal information and details about our situation. Still ... nothing.

But anyway thank you for replying. Good to hear from someone who has such direct knowledge!

Also, I was going to make this a separate post, but I'll save the bandwidth. Just this morning I have resent my letters to all 3 federal representatives. One of them had a couple of TEXAS addresses, so I just sent the same identical letter to both addresses. What the heck.

Anyway, I'm not sure what good it will do, but I did it anyway. If nothing else to make another voice heard. Maybe it's something. Funny though, I mentioned a few things explicitly in my letter:

1) This was/is the second letter I have sent to you without a response

2) The USCIS has no oversight and answers to no one really (DHS, but no oversight)

3) They are much like the IRS of old in that they can do whatever they want to

3) Therefore even you as a congressional member/senator (as appropriate) have little impact on them; I suspect they care little about your "influence".

And a few other items specific to my situation, such as the CRBA that I'll have to file (and msbau764 will likely have to do also) and how that is yet another petition, another interview, more fees and more time that we have to WAIT. Unfairly.

Anyway. It's done.

[av8or1 246]

That's great, I too kept sending letters without any response from them so what I ended up doing I downloaded and signed their privacy release form. Once I did that within a week I received a post card from my federal senator saying their office would look into it also my congress woman office called me and said that they have assigned my case to caseworker at their office who would look into this matter. Although I know TSC probably will give them the whole bs of normal processing time stuff that they tell all of us but I just feel better knowing that I least did something and will continue to send letters even if to other state senators. I just feel like maybe if enough senators get involve USCIS will get their act together or some kind of overhaul.

Good idea. However even though the mail won't run today, I've already dropped the letters off. So I'll look into the privacy release thing next week. I plan to write each week until they respond with at least something, no matter how ineffective it is.

I'm (and all of us in the TSC of course) getting enough of a BS type of runaround from the USCIS. The least I can do is get some type of answer from those who were elected to represent me.

A couple of other things that I included in my letters that I forgot to mention:

5) the situation has gotten worse since my first letter and it is likely to continue to get worse in the foreseeable future.

6) something NEEDS to change.

Edited January 19, 2015 by av8or1

[msbau764 245]

Way cool, glad you got to spend some time together. Our "first possible" due date is April 23, so you and I have much in common. I called the embassy while I was there and had them answer a few questions regarding CRBA. I'm planning on taking off for a couple of months if possible around the time of the birth and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, we'll all get our NOA2s by then and I can do both the CRBA and Fiance visa thing during that time. Then we all come back together as a family. Because of the horrible time difference between CSC and TSC it looks like this is the way I'll have to go. You too probably.

Hey, April and I were talking about a late January or early February Houston VJer get-together. Will your schedule have freed up by then?

ps-I can empathize with the harder-to-leave thing...I'll add y'all to my prayer list.

You are lucky that you can take off 2 months. That'll really get rid of a lot of stress. Late January or anytime in February is fine. Wednesday's are a no go for me because of work and school and I typically get off work at 6pm. What do you and April have in mind?

[dogsinboots2014 3]

Update-

I talked to my Senator's office today. The immigration caseworker (who I know and trust that she gave me an honest answer) basically said that Senators and Representatives can't do much to help your case unless there is a SEVERE problem with it. For normal applicants without any major road blocks, there is little that they can do beyond inquiring about the case status AFTER five months have passed. She said the USCIS is pretty strict on inquiring before the five month timeline is up.

She said that the only time that having a Senator or Representative help is beneficial is basically when there is a humanitarian type of issue going on. Otherwise, for normal applicants, USCIS is like "yeah, whatever Senator's office, we don't have to answer to you" especially if the five month wait isn't up.

Disappointing. But she said that as soon as the five months hit, it doesn't hurt to have your Senator's office start asking USCIS about it.

av8or1-

I used to work in the mail room in the Senate. It's shitty that your Rep/Senator hasn't responded yet. Typically, if someone writes a letter that is not about a personal issue (i.e. how you didn't include personal info/your case #, just mentioned the CSC and TSC timeline differences), you get a "form letter" reply from some intern or lower staffer. Either way, if they are a good office they should have sent you letter at least saying something generic like "Thank you for contacting me about your concerns on immigration...". Some offices have a threshold of how many letters/emails they need on a topic before they create a response letter. Real sorry to hear that you haven't received anything from them, that reflects poorly on the offices.

pfredericksen included his case number, so that gets sent to "casework" and gets a little more attention from a Senate caseworker instead. Emails and letters get read more carefully here. Even if you didn't want to include your case number, stating the dates you applied would likely get it sorted to casework and probably get a response. I'm impressed that you got both a letter and meeting.

Having worked in a Senate office, I am pretty unsure how helpful the help of a Senator or Rep is. I don't remember people being able to make a call over to USCIS and then things jumped into motion. I just sent an email to my Senator and will let you know what they tell me. Hoping I can get a little more info on what they can do and how effective it is since I used to work there.

Sorry to ruin the illusion of emails/letters to Senators/Reps!

[Anxious1 0]

We received our letter from the NVC that our approved petition was sent to Manila on Nov 20., but until now we havent heard from the embassy. How can I contact them to send the fiancee package? Everything moved fast up to that point. Is there an email, website to followup on this hokd up? They say on the letter they will contact her but time is running out and we'd prefer avoiding an extention request on the petition. Any thoughts?

[av8or1 246]

Update-

I talked to my Senator's office today. The immigration caseworker (who I know and trust that she gave me an honest answer) basically said that Senators and Representatives can't do much to help your case unless there is a SEVERE problem with it. For normal applicants without any major road blocks, there is little that they can do beyond inquiring about the case status AFTER five months have passed. She said the USCIS is pretty strict on inquiring before the five month timeline is up.

She said that the only time that having a Senator or Representative help is beneficial is basically when there is a humanitarian type of issue going on. Otherwise, for normal applicants, USCIS is like "yeah, whatever Senator's office, we don't have to answer to you" especially if the five month wait isn't up.

Disappointing. But she said that as soon as the five months hit, it doesn't hurt to have your Senator's office start asking USCIS about it.

Yeah that's about what all VJers know to be accurate. That's why my letters have been clearly focused on the processing times difference between TSC and CSC.

Thanks for looking into it just the same.

[av8or1 246]

You are lucky that you can take off 2 months. That'll really get rid of a lot of stress. Late January or anytime in February is fine. Wednesday's are a no go for me because of work and school and I typically get off work at 6pm. What do you and April have in mind?

Well I'm not 100% certain that I will be able to take that much time off of work, but I hope to. We'll see.

In the end our son being born in Moscow isn't all bad I suppose. At least her family, and her mother in particular, will be able to be present. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to see him for quite a while after birth. So I'm trying to find the good in all of our respective horrible TSC situations.

We were just thinking of a meetup for local VJers and anyone who lives close enough that they'd be willing to drive a little ways to join us. Grabbing a bite to eat and yakking, that kind of thing seems best. I need to pick up a car in Houston, so I was planning on being down there anyway.

Edited January 21, 2015 by av8or1

[av8or1 246]

Ok so at least something came of the letters that I sent earlier this week. A lady from Congressman John Carter's office called me today. He is the representative for the central TEXAS area and thus my rep. I'll review the conversation kinda as it happened, thus it might meander a bit.

At first she spoke about how she was/is an immigrant and so she can empathize with my situation. She then proceeded to tell me that she is familiar with the I-129F petitions and has spoken with the USCIS in the past about these petitions in particular, adding that there have also been a couple of other complaints that she has currently active on her plate at the moment. She then gave me all of the usual ditribe such as how there are so many more petitions of all types being submitted these days, it's not like it used to be in the olden days, etc. She stated that there is a backlog for all petitions in all service centers. I let her give me her formal schpiel, saying nothing, giving her a turn to speak.

When she was done I tore into my version of events (not emotionally or vocally, just commitment-wise). I told her that her claims that the CSC is taking 5 months to complete I-129Fs is not correct, that the CSC is averaging much less than that, around a month currently. I also told her about KristinD's phone conversation with the TSC and my data that shows that the TSC is taking about 8 months to do the same thing, expedites not included. I added that the TSC did transfer a whole slew of I-129F petitions to the CSC in early August. And that it has had little effect on the processing times difference. I conveyed that the CSC only slowed down a bit at first but that they mowed through those petitions rather quickly. Meanwhile the TSC has continued to regress time-wise, despite the offload. Anyway, blah blah blah ... everyone here knows about that stuff, so I won't repeat it.

She replied to all of that with complete surprise and - to MY surprise - with a touch of disbelief. I asked her, practically begged her to go to the VJ historical page, the link was in my letter, and look at the data. She then said "oh, you mean it's not an official website so anyone can say anything, right?" I replied that this was correct but that there was no incentive to lie on VJ because it doesn't help you any to claim that your petition was processed earlier than it actually was. Her response was "like on Facebook you mean?" implying that folk aren't truthful on VJ, much like they aren't on FB. I was a bit put off by that and reminded her again that we have no incentive to lie about any of this stuff. The CSC filers have no incentive to fib about their one-month adjudication times just as we don't have the motivation to lie about how long we're having to wait. I asked her to go to VJ and just take a quick look in the K1 progress subforum and she could see the frustration of us TSC filers very quickly. And she could see how the CSC filers are being processed so quickly by contrast.

She said that she would take a look. Also said that she would call both service centers to try to find out about the 8-to-1 processing time difference. "They're telling me 5 months at the CSC for a I-129F, so I've been going by that with my active complaints about the TSC times." I told her that OF COURSE they're gonna tell you that because it's their official number. But it doesn't take much looking to see that they're processing much quicker than that.

I concluded by telling her that I didn't want their office to make an official inquiry on my behalf because I'm still within the "normal processing times" window. We discussed that concept and fortunately she knew what I was referring to. I told her to look closely however because that is effective as of November 30, 2014. Therefore it's almost 2 months out of date already! Again we know all of this on VJ. But she didn't seem to realize it. Therefore I encouraged her to dig further, to not accept the "answers" from the USCIS because they don't give real answers. I encouraged her to probe, to ask, to insist and to push for change. I told her that if it is gonna require 6-9 months to process an I-129F, then so be it, but it should be that same number at BOTH centers. The imbalance was unacceptable. She agreed and told me that she'd get back to me as soon as she knew something.

So there you go. FWIW. I have her number and if I don't hear something in a couple of weeks, I'm gonna call her to see what she discovered, if anything.

Ok that's my report.

[SincerelyMeike 52]

Ok so at least something came of the letters that I sent earlier this week. A lady from Congressman John Carter's office called me today. He is the representative for the central TEXAS area and thus my rep. I'll review the conversation kinda as it happened, thus it might meander a bit.

At first she spoke about how she was/is an immigrant and so she can empathize with my situation. She then proceeded to tell me that she is familiar with the I-129F petitions and has spoken with the USCIS in the past about these petitions in particular, adding that there have also been a couple of other complaints that she has currently active on her plate at the moment. She then gave me all of the usual ditribe such as how there are so many more petitions of all types being submitted these days, it's not like it used to be in the olden days, etc. She stated that there is a backlog for all petitions in all service centers. I let her give me her formal schpiel, saying nothing, giving her a turn to speak.

When she was done I tore into my version of events (not emotionally or vocally, just commitment-wise). I told her that her claims that the CSC is taking 5 months to complete I-129Fs is not correct, that the CSC is averaging much less than that, around a month currently. I also told her about KristinD's phone conversation with the TSC and my data that shows that the TSC is taking about 8 months to do the same thing, expedites not included. I added that the TSC did transfer a whole slew of I-129F petitions to the CSC in early August. And that it has had little effect on the processing times difference. I conveyed that the CSC only slowed down a bit at first but that they mowed through those petitions rather quickly. Meanwhile the TSC has continued to regress time-wise, despite the offload. Anyway, blah blah blah ... everyone here knows about that stuff, so I won't repeat it.

She replied to all of that with complete surprise and - to MY surprise - with a touch of disbelief. I asked her, practically begged her to go to the VJ historical page, the link was in my letter, and look at the data. She then said "oh, you mean it's not an official website so anyone can say anything, right?" I replied that this was correct but that there was no incentive to lie on VJ because it doesn't help you any to claim that your petition was processed earlier than it actually was. Her response was "like on Facebook you mean?" implying that folk aren't truthful on VJ, much like they aren't on FB. I was a bit put off by that and reminded her again that we have no incentive to lie about any of this stuff. The CSC filers have no incentive to fib about their one-month adjudication times just as we don't have the motivation to lie about how long we're having to wait. I asked her to go to VJ and just take a quick look in the K1 progress subforum and she could see the frustration of us TSC filers very quickly. And she could see how the CSC filers are being processed so quickly by contrast.

She said that she would take a look. Also said that she would call both service centers to try to find out about the 8-to-1 processing time difference. "They're telling me 5 months at the CSC for a I-129F, so I've been going by that with my active complaints about the TSC times." I told her that OF COURSE they're gonna tell you that because it's their official number. But it doesn't take much looking to see that they're processing much quicker than that.

I concluded by telling her that I didn't want their office to make an official inquiry on my behalf because I'm still within the "normal processing times" window. We discussed that concept and fortunately she knew what I was referring to. I told her to look closely however because that is effective as of November 30, 2014. Therefore it's almost 2 months out of date already! Again we know all of this on VJ. But she didn't seem to realize it. Therefore I encouraged her to dig further, to not accept the "answers" from the USCIS because they don't give real answers. I encouraged her to probe, to ask, to insist and to push for change. I told her that if it is gonna require 6-9 months to process an I-129F, then so be it, but it should be that same number at BOTH centers. The imbalance was unacceptable. She agreed and told me that she'd get back to me as soon as she knew something.

So there you go. FWIW. I have her number and if I don't hear something in a couple of weeks, I'm gonna call her to see what she discovered, if anything.

Ok that's my report.

Lol thank you for raising awareness in the operator, I think we should all try to raise awareness when we are talking to our operators!

In other news, I've official hit my 130 day mark! My guess is we have another 2-3 months to wait! A lotttt of people are starting to get their acceptances from July and there are a few Augusts as well the most recent July acceptance waited about 201 days! That's about 70 more days, or about 2 months

[KristinD 77]

Lol thank you for raising awareness in the operator, I think we should all try to raise awareness when we are talking to our operators!

In other news, I've official hit my 130 day mark! My guess is we have another 2-3 months to wait! A lotttt of people are starting to get their acceptances from July and there are a few Augusts as well the most recent July acceptance waited about 201 days! That's about 70 more days, or about 2 months

You are amazing!!!!!!!!! Thank you for doing that!!!!!! I posted a note I responded to in one of the Nov. forums. I asked the Fl rep to help out with our petition on change.org

Let us know if anything comes out of it, I'd love to have the chance to speak with mine on the phone. I'll post the letter here so you can read :) Go you!!!!!!

Senator Nelson,

I appreciate the timely correspondence from your office on my file. Thank you for including the letter back from CSC. Unfortunately my case is at TSC. The included response stated,

"If the petition had been receipted into the California Service Center on that date, (Nov. 28) the processing time would be five months from the receipt date of the petition into CSC. It appears that there is a one month difference between the TSC and CSC processing times.”

Unfortunately this is not true. TSC as of now is running 7 months behind. They have a processing date of June 6., this means they may get to my file around 7 months. Once they have the file on someone’s desk, it could be an extra month till approval. Once approved, it takes another month or two to send to the NCS then a month to receive at the US Embassy in Dublin. Once it’s there you have to wait to obtain a medical appointment then an appointment with the embassy.

People that have submitted on the same date at CSC are already receiving their embassy packets. (www.visajourney.com)

So realistically this process can take about a year.

This is not something that is only for K1 visas, it is the entire processing center. I work at a college and because we are in the State of Florida, even our students are frustrated. They are stuck waiting on visas also so they will be able to go home and see their families on school breaks. Many of them have to stay during the holidays because TSC is so slow at responding.

This effects everyone that has applied for a visa from your state.

I am not asking you to advocate for my case, as I understand things take time and there are processes to follow. What I am asking is that you question the processing times of the service centers.

Unfortunately, to the people of Florida, there is zero transparency and the only available avenue to find out why this issue hasn’t been addressed is our amazing people in office that are there because we believe in them.

In the end, I’m asking to find a way to help TSC, they either need more people or a transfer of files to the other service centers so they are able to go back to processing files in the allotted timeframe.

I have started a petition to do just that and am hoping that I can get enough signatures so USCIS can understand that instead of leaving the system broken, we, people all over the United States are asking them to find a way to make a change, thus making a difference in US Citizens lives.

I would be honored if you joined in our fight to make things equal for all visa seekers. Please sign the petition below and I look forward to working together to make a difference.

https://www.change.org/p/uscis-distribute-the-current-caseload-between-tsc-csc-vsc-and-nsc

You are amazing!!!!!!!!! Thank you for doing that!!!!!! I posted a note I responded to in one of the Nov. forums. I asked the Fl rep to help out with our petition on change.org

Let us know if anything comes out of it, I'd love to have the chance to speak with mine on the phone. I'll post the letter here so you can read :) Go you!!!!!!

Senator Nelson,

I appreciate the timely correspondence from your office on my file. Thank you for including the letter back from CSC. Unfortunately my case is at TSC. The included response stated,

"If the petition had been receipted into the California Service Center on that date, (Nov. 28) the processing time would be five months from the receipt date of the petition into CSC. It appears that there is a one month difference between the TSC and CSC processing times.”

Unfortunately this is not true. TSC as of now is running 7 months behind. They have a processing date of June 6., this means they may get to my file around 7 months. Once they have the file on someone’s desk, it could be an extra month till approval. Once approved, it takes another month or two to send to the NCS then a month to receive at the US Embassy in Dublin. Once it’s there you have to wait to obtain a medical appointment then an appointment with the embassy.

People that have submitted on the same date at CSC are already receiving their embassy packets. (www.visajourney.com)

So realistically this process can take about a year.

This is not something that is only for K1 visas, it is the entire processing center. I work at a college and because we are in the State of Florida, even our students are frustrated. They are stuck waiting on visas also so they will be able to go home and see their families on school breaks. Many of them have to stay during the holidays because TSC is so slow at responding.

This effects everyone that has applied for a visa from your state.

I am not asking you to advocate for my case, as I understand things take time and there are processes to follow. What I am asking is that you question the processing times of the service centers.

Unfortunately, to the people of Florida, there is zero transparency and the only available avenue to find out why this issue hasn’t been addressed is our amazing people in office that are there because we believe in them.

In the end, I’m asking to find a way to help TSC, they either need more people or a transfer of files to the other service centers so they are able to go back to processing files in the allotted timeframe.

I have started a petition to do just that and am hoping that I can get enough signatures so USCIS can understand that instead of leaving the system broken, we, people all over the United States are asking them to find a way to make a change, thus making a difference in US Citizens lives.

I would be honored if you joined in our fight to make things equal for all visa seekers. Please sign the petition below and I look forward to working together to make a difference.

https://www.change.org/p/uscis-distribute-the-current-caseload-between-tsc-csc-vsc-and-nsc

Forgot to say it's interesting that they responded since you're in Fl.

[SincerelyMeike 52]

I'm actually going to give a call tomorrow to the senators office since my petitions from Florida as well

[KristinD 77]

I'm actually going to give a call tomorrow to the senators office since my petitions from Florida as well

I did both, Nelson is better at responding, but it's by letter. Rubio will email back but get nothing done.

[Ethline 17]

I also sent a letter to Senator Nelson Office both is Orlando and Washington Office I also sent one to my Congress Woman from my District as well. Looking at the forum I believe it was one of the late July filer from Miami was able to get his file pulled and sent to a Supervisor for review and got approve soon after that. Tomorrow will mark the 4 month mark although my letter was not to get any thing done with my case specifically I will give USCIS one month before I start inquiring about my case. I wanted to visit my love next month but Haiti right now is very unstable with protest and civil dis accord. The State Department has issue a travel warning and right now I really don't know If I can go and visit. This is making me even more furious because right now it just so unclear to when this process will end.

[msbau764 245]

I also sent a letter to Senator Nelson Office both is Orlando and Washington Office I also sent one to my Congress Woman from my District as well. Looking at the forum I believe it was one of the late July filer from Miami was able to get his file pulled and sent to a Supervisor for review and got approve soon after that. Tomorrow will mark the 4 month mark although my letter was not to get any thing done with my case specifically I will give USCIS one month before I start inquiring about my case. I wanted to visit my love next month but Haiti right now is very unstable with protest and civil dis accord. The State Department has issue a travel warning and right now I really don't know If I can go and visit. This is making me even more furious because right now it just so unclear to when this process will end.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the State Department's travel warnings. Would you be afraid to go to Chicago or New Orleans? You are more likely to be mugged/killed there than overseas.