February 2015 filers - Texas Service Center

[dmaven 7]

More Feb action on ImmiFairy today, I think August is going to be our month for sure.

[mal73 3]

More Feb action on ImmiFairy today, I think August is going to be our month for sure.

I'm waiting with bated breadth for my turn, really. It's been a long frustrating wait. 177 days on and still waiting.

[Paul_Shannon 5]

Does immifairy show the receipt numbers being processed? I want to try to understand their work habits.

[dmaven 7]

Does immifairy show the receipt numbers being processed? I want to try to understand their work habits.

Yes, individual timelines for more than 10k receipt numbers. And gives a percentage of completed applications by NOA1 month in graph/table form. Best visual, in my opinion though, is the month-by-month pie charts that show the percentage of applications that haven't been "touched" yet, gives you a better idea of how much a month has been worked on...this includes not only approvals, but RFEs etc.

[ucijeepguy 3]

ugh! stupid congressman's assistant. just send the damn inquiry for me!!

Thank you for your email. There is no standard waiting period for review of visas. Each application/petition has a different processing time. For example, a petition for alien worker is being processed in 4 months while a petition for Alien Relative is being processed in 5 months. Currently the Texas Service Center is processing Petition for Alien Fiancé petitions that were filed on or before November 10, 2014. This data is updated once a month on the USCIS website, and updated figures should be available in the next couple of weeks. Based on previous months, I would expect the Texas Service Center to process fiancé petitions filed in February of this year in roughly 3 months. The following link contains the current processing times of USCIS: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do. If your petition is still pending once the Texas Service Center begins processing Fiancé Petitions filed in February, then our office will be able to contact USCIS to help expedite the process.

[Pennycat 880]

ugh! stupid congressman's assistant. just send the damn inquiry for me!!

Thank you for your email. There is no standard waiting period for review of visas. Each application/petition has a different processing time. For example, a petition for alien worker is being processed in 4 months while a petition for Alien Relative is being processed in 5 months. Currently the Texas Service Center is processing Petition for Alien Fiancé petitions that were filed on or before November 10, 2014. This data is updated once a month on the USCIS website, and updated figures should be available in the next couple of weeks. Based on previous months, I would expect the Texas Service Center to process fiancé petitions filed in February of this year in roughly 3 months. The following link contains the current processing times of USCIS: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do. If your petition is still pending once the Texas Service Center begins processing Fiancé Petitions filed in February, then our office will be able to contact USCIS to help expedite the process.

"I'm sorry, you appear to be mistaken, which is understandable because the chart is purposefully misleading. If you'll look again, the chart specifically indicates that that is "As of May 31, 2015" which is now 8 weeks ago. I understand that they update these once per month, and I follow it closely. I am asking for help in regards to the fact that the date is extremely out of date (and sometimes doesn't change at all). I am unable to call and inquire about my case until I am out of this date range, but again, the information is so old and unreliable that is completely unusable. This is why I contacted you--to help with trouble with a federal process. Surely you aren't bound by the same "rules" they give to us regarding the ability to call and inquire about a case? If so, what is the point?"

Not particularly nice, and not liable to get the response you want but could at least point out to him how ridiculous it is that he (a) can't read a chart (b) thinks that 8 week old information is useful (c ) has to play by the exact same rules you do....if that's the case....what IS his job, then?

[desi123 21]

My congressman's assistant still has not heard from Texas USCIS , supposedly. 2 weeks and counting... I'm so tired of this b.s ..aaaargh??

[ucijeepguy 3]

"I'm sorry, you appear to be mistaken, which is understandable because the chart is purposefully misleading. If you'll look again, the chart specifically indicates that that is "As of May 31, 2015" which is now 8 weeks ago. I understand that they update these once per month, and I follow it closely. I am asking for help in regards to the fact that the date is extremely out of date (and sometimes doesn't change at all). I am unable to call and inquire about my case until I am out of this date range, but again, the information is so old and unreliable that is completely unusable. This is why I contacted you--to help with trouble with a federal process. Surely you aren't bound by the same "rules" they give to us regarding the ability to call and inquire about a case? If so, what is the point?"

Not particularly nice, and not liable to get the response you want but could at least point out to him how ridiculous it is that he (a) can't read a chart (b) thinks that 8 week old information is useful (c ) has to play by the exact same rules you do....if that's the case....what IS his job, then?

Thanks for that, I'm basically writing a similar one with more stats from VJ and IF.com to help shine a light to for him to understand. It's ridiculous though that he will not put in a simple inquiry for me. I will certainly be voting against him.

I do wonder what this congressman's assistant does since supposedly this is all he deals with.

[Pennycat 880]

My congressman's assistant still has not heard from Texas USCIS , supposedly. 2 weeks and counting... I'm so tired of this b.s ..aaaargh??

Yeah, I mean there really isn't much that they can do, I gotta say. Not until you're out of sync with that date but USCIS manipulates that date so that basically no one can get a congressional inquiry. There are *some* congressional staffers who really know the game, but even they really are held to that date. It's there not as a "ok, we've waited long enough, hurry up now please" it's there because "um, so guys...you said you finished through Nov, and I'm Nov 1....did my file get lost on someone's desk"?

It's there to indicate if you've fallen through the cracks and to solve that problem. Not to just make it faster. However, there is never harm in trying. Maybe your own personal situation will move the staffer to really advocate for you (I know that this was the case for someone here whose fiance was pregnant, was going to have the baby in her country thanks to the slow USCIS processing, the petitioner wanted to see if they could push for NOA2 so that they could all return to the US together after his paternity leave ran out). He, though was already at Day 220 or something like that.

The thing that gets me is that USCIS is accountable to *no one*, it seems. Their answer to everything is "this is just how it is, take it because you have to".

I can't get over the fact that I'm now taking tips for next steps after NOA2 from people who applied in June. JUNE.

[Pennycat 880]

Thanks for that, I'm basically writing a similar one with more stats from VJ and IF.com to help shine a light to for him to understand. It's ridiculous though that he will not put in a simple inquiry for me. I will certainly be voting against him.

I do wonder what this congressman's assistant does since supposedly this is all he deals with.

Yeah---if past experience is any indication, they'll claim that the VJ statistics are wrong (and thanks to CSC filers thinking they're at TSC, they actually are). He won't do it because technically, the line they're giving him is the same one that they give us--he can't. Not until you're out of that date. Some of the staffers understand the game they're playing and try to push, some don't.

Remember--there's tons of other types of visas and cases that they may actually have an impact on. But truth of the matter? Aside from people who literally have fallen through the cracks somehow (I remember hearing once that some USCIS person left their job, and months later, only after a congressional inquiry from someone who had been waiting until they were beyond that stupid date, did they realize that that person still had several petitions just sitting on their desk)---they're largely there for...I don't know how to put it. You know how if you write to them about a political issue and you get a form letter back? It's to "stay in touch" with constituents, and to be involved and active etc but it's not overly helpful?

The assistants also deal with *all* of the other federal agencies, all of which are WAY more responsive than USCIS. Why is that? USCIS does not rely on congressional funding, where as most of the rest do. USCIS is completely run by our fees, whereas most agencies are run with taxpayer money, appropriated by Congress. So the other agencies at least have some kind of reason to play nice with Congress. Not USCIS. They really do make their own rules, and don't have to be accountable to anyone.

Except the President (and bigwig bosses at USCIS), but the service centers/USCIS appear to have successfully manipulated their numbers in such a way that despite a year or more of us screaming about the processing time imbalance between CSC and TSC, they kept denying the problem. Because it doesn't *look* all that imbalanced because of how they report their numbers. CSC (or any service center within goal time) reports on their monthly reports that they are "within goal time" of 5 months. And TSC is reporting 6.5 months (November 10 to May 31). So it looks like a 6 week discrepancy, which I think we could all accept, instead of 6 *month* discrepancy. Now, I do think that someone finally listed to us and that's why the Lockbox is routing all to CSC---either CSC will be the only place for K1s or they Lockbox is supposed to be routing to the shortest "line". But no one thought to balance it out for those of us still IN line at TSC. Such is life.

[dmaven 7]

Looks like some Feb NOA1 dates are halfway complete on ImmiFairy... I wonder if that means that half of us are lucky to be early and the other half will have to wait another month for any action :S

[Giselota92 1]

Hey guys February filer new to the group... nao1 date february 13... Good luck to all hopefully we will get our approvals soon!

[dmaven 7]

So... If we're approved in August (based on ImmiFairy stats), when do you think the earliest one's POE can be?

[ch3john 308]

So... If we're approved in August (based on ImmiFairy stats), when do you think the earliest one's POE can be?

I've been looking at timelines of other people from my Fiances country it looks to be about 3 months after NOA2. Each country is going to be different so you might look for other people from Montenegro.

[Kyle and Linh 64]

FYI ImmiFairy showed a bunch of transfers of March NOA1 to a different office today. Anyone here see that on theirs?