As a K1 applicant stuck at TSC, I turn to you all for help and hope

[Ontarkie 14,229]

~~One post removed for advocating fraud. Condone or instruct, either directly or indirectly, others on how to commit fraudulent or illegal immigration activities in any way, shape, manner or method.~~

[baron555 934]

Also, you are making some huge assumptions and leaps of logic about the number of adjudicators at each service center, and how much they work.

Didn't think so... I left that up to the reader to assume some number of adjucators...and their efficiency also can be left up to others.....

So if you assume 10 or 50 adjucators at each service center and say they are only 70% efficient.....then do the math.....

It takes 15....OK say 30 minutes each and 5 - 10 months to get to your petition.....How many case are in front of yours?

A LOT !

Edited March 2, 2015 by baron555

[strifescenario 6]

Hello everyone,

I really appreciate all of your responses and I love reading about your experiences because it definitely makes the process seem much more bearable.

I just wanted to clarify however - that under no circumstances will we get married until I get my K1 visa approved - regardless of whether this means we will experience financial loss. In essence, if we have to delay our wedding then we will - because from the start, we decided that the K1 route was right for us and we will stick it out to the end. The immigration process is a difficult one, but one that must be endured because it ultimately provides you with the most benefits in the long term.

Having said that, getting clarification on the fact that I can in fact visit the United States in the meantime has been highly comforting for us.
Please keep me updated on all of your cases and stories, particularly those of you who applied at the same/or around the same time as us and all of you fellow Canadians.

Best of luck to all of you!

Warm regards.

One more thing! I'm sorry!

I am not as technically savvy with the site yet - so I can't find the 'Canada' forum! Could someone be kind enough to post a link to it?

Thanks!

[LiliBurd 85]

Eh!

Here is the link to the Canadian forum http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/93-canada/ One thing you might want to check out is the EI thread. Not sure you are aware of this, but after you get married and have your permission to work, you can collect Employment Insurance. So it's worth working as much as you can right now. I was super excited about this.. It's good to be Canadian

The wedding planning and all that is complicated, and stressful, but we don't really have a choice... it's life when you fall for an American. I'm sure things will work out.

Good luck, be strong... it will all be worth it!

Edited March 3, 2015 by LiliBurd

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

It apparently takes just under a half hour per petition (2.16 per hour) "by hand"---but their new system rolled out last summer brought that down to .86 per hour (see article below). I'm starting to wonder if Texas and Nebraska (that's the big backlog for I-130s, I believe) were the centers this system were introduced to first. Would explain a LOT. http://rt.com/usa/173588-dhs-immigration-paperwork-government/

The I-129F and I-130 are not filed electronically online through the ELIS system. http://www.uscis.gov/uscis-elis

[Pennycat 880]

The I-129F and I-130 are not filed electronically online through the ELIS system. http://www.uscis.gov/uscis-elis

I'm wondering if they eventually go into it....don't they scan in the petitions when they arrive? As in just because we don't file electronically, they could still be processed electronically? All guesses of course (hooray for government transparency) but there has to be some actual reason for the tenfold difference.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I'm wondering if they eventually go into it....don't they scan in the petitions when they arrive? As in just because we don't file electronically, they could still be processed electronically? All guesses of course (hooray for government transparency) but there has to be some actual reason for the tenfold difference.

They are scanned in because everything is transferred and stored digitally nowadays, but the petitions are still adjudicated by humans at the service centers. Chapter 10 of the AFM deals with the adjudication process > http://www.uscis.gov/iframe/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1.html

This is also the Ombudsman's report for 2014 mentioning the problems with backlog the service centers are having, if you are interested in reading it > http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/cisomb-annual-report-2014-508compliant.pdf

Edited March 6, 2015 by KayDeeCee

[MissPearls 38]

Hi Strifescenario,

Just so you know, I have traveled back and forth from western Canada 3 times (4th tomorrow!) since filling back in October. I have had zero issues so far. I keep a copy of my I129-F that we filed in my carry on just in case they ask anything. But I fly out of YVR enough to know that you can certainly visit.

Good luck with the wait. It's hard, but you will get there.

[Pennycat 880]

They are scanned in because everything is transferred and stored digitally nowadays, but the petitions are still adjudicated by humans at the service centers. Chapter 10 of the FAM deals with the adjudication process > http://www.uscis.gov/iframe/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1.html

This is also the Ombudsman's report for 2014 mentioning the problems with backlog the service centers are having, if you are interested in reading it > http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/cisomb-annual-report-2014-508compliant.pdf

Thanks. I've seen the annual report but not the FAM before---maybe it's not the ELIS system but the other thing (sounds like the scanned items thing) that adjudicators admitted to avoiding cases that required it for months....This whole thing simply does not make any sense to me, and I've just about seen it all.

[baron555 934]

Most likely need to have the human intervention since each petition package is so different from each other.....many other documents and evidences are sent with each....some folks send 400 photos, some send 4, some front end load the petition with relationship evidence and some do not (some Embassies actually "require" front loading). So I can not see, at any time in the near future, where the process could be all electronic.

[LoveMyTico 999]

I don't think they scan your whole file. Most likely just the cover page it gets when it goes through the lockbox. They deal with the physical files. That's how they keep track of where it is. If the files were electronically scanned, they wouldn't have to transfer physical files. They are most definitely working back in the stone age with physical files.

Edited March 3, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[Pennycat 880]

Most likely need to have the human intervention since each petition package is so different from each other.....many other documents and evidences are sent with each....some folks send 400 photos, some send 4, some front end load the petition with relationship evidence and some do not (some Embassies actually "require" front loading). So I can not see, at any time in the near future, where the process could be all electronic.

They are scanned in because everything is transferred and stored digitally nowadays, but the petitions are still adjudicated by humans at the service centers. Chapter 10 of the FAM deals with the adjudication process > http://www.uscis.gov/iframe/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1.html

This is also the Ombudsman's report for 2014 mentioning the problems with backlog the service centers are having, if you are interested in reading it > http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/cisomb-annual-report-2014-508compliant.pdf

Well....yes. But, I was under the impression reading the article I linked that they are still done by humans....there isn't any kind of automatic reader. This thing sounds like a workflow management system (and a really bad one at that). That is, instead of leafing through our applications with paper spread out on their desks, everything is scanned and put into a system requires them to click through certain questions about an application. They don't just read an application and get to decide say yes or no, they have a specific framework that they have to go through and document (I believe, this is what that sounds like to me. There is no way of knowing for sure). That's the 160 clicks? Just because we don't submit through ELIS doesn't mean that the applications don't wind up in there eventually.

They maybe used to do it with an actual checklist and now it is in this system that has slowed them down. And on TOP of it, it sounds like they can only have one document open at a time, that you can't search documents, that document names aren't helpful to identify what it is etc etc. And I wonder if California doesn't use this system because it launched in Texas as a test run. Maybe? I don't know. I do know that every time I've worked on a database/workflow management program for the federal government, we rolled out in stages. All speculation, obviously, but it seems likely from my vantage point.

[baron555 934]

Maybe when AI technology upgrades can we expect to remove the human evaluation of each case. Skynet will solve all that !!

[Pennycat 880]

Maybe when AI technology upgrades can we expect to remove the human evaluation of each case. Skynet will solve all that !!

That sounds like a plan bound to end well!

[yuna628 9,677]

Well....yes. But, I was under the impression reading the article I linked that they are still done by humans....there isn't any kind of automatic reader. This thing sounds like a workflow management system (and a really bad one at that). That is, instead of leafing through our applications with paper spread out on their desks, everything is scanned and put into a system requires them to click through certain questions about an application. They don't just read an application and get to decide say yes or no, they have a specific framework that they have to go through and document (I believe, this is what that sounds like to me. There is no way of knowing for sure). That's the 160 clicks? Just because we don't submit through ELIS doesn't mean that the applications don't wind up in there eventually.

They maybe used to do it with an actual checklist and now it is in this system that has slowed them down. And on TOP of it, it sounds like they can only have one document open at a time, that you can't search documents, that document names aren't helpful to identify what it is etc etc. And I wonder if California doesn't use this system because it launched in Texas as a test run. Maybe? I don't know. I do know that every time I've worked on a database/workflow management program for the federal government, we rolled out in stages. All speculation, obviously, but it seems likely from my vantage point.

If that's how they process it, then that is the worst way I've ever heard to go about it. I guess I look at this process with the mind of a file clerk that's worked in doctor's offices (ones that don't yet use electronic medical records). Some people's files can be so thick they are falling apart from the weight and require new folders. I can't imagine them going through every sheet someone sends and scanning them... and then to never even be bothered to look through the application but only to rely on a computer system (and a badly sounding programmed one at that)?