I-129F Filers, March 2015 NOA1 date! TSC only!

[dsldesch 27]

Thank you all for the positive remarks--I hope to be able to say the same to each of you soon enough!

Maybe share some of your phrases or guidance with the group as the right approach may assist others in developing a better framework of communication with their government officials.

This is actually a great idea, thank you for recommending it!

I've gone back through the letters I've sent and collected all the email correspondences into a single file. I removed all identifying information (of both myself and the staff members; I'm not sure if it's respectful/wise/against VJ ToC to share their names) and saved them in a PDF. Because I removed names, I also removed salutations, but I began all of my emails with "Hi ---" and signed them at the end; I feel it's disrespectful not to do so.

I do want to point out that while I feel my best (that is, most provocative) responses were sent to Representative Ellmer's office, it was actually Senator Tillis's office that informed me of our application being approved (only fifty minutes after I had sent my last email to Ellmer's office; I'm really not sure if I should just leave it be or if I should send them another message since we've been approved....).

I'm not sure how much help you all will find this, but hopefully you can gain something from reading it.

Correspondences.pdf

[hampguy 9]

So a few days ago I mentioned following up with Senator Tillis's office. I had spoken with them previously, and she had told me they would check in monthly and keep me updated. She missed the first checkup after a month had passed, and now that another month had passed, I emailed her last week and she said she'd reply wtih more information on Friday. Friday came and went with nothing, so earlier this week I wrote another follow-up email, and also sent a letter to Representative Ellmer's office. Her office was of no help, but I've said a few good phrases (by which, I mean, I hope they were impactful, though still polite) that'll hopefully make them realize how hard this delay is on us, and how unfair/unethical TSC is being, but anyways, that's sort of tangential at the moment.

Then this evening I got a reponse from Tillis's office, a forwarded response from TSC saying our petition was approved.

I was excited yet uncertain, but shortly after nine this evening, USCIS updated the website with our official approval notice.

Personally, I think my fiance and I are in shock. I had resigned myself to waiting much longer and had not anticipated this happening today.

In any case, I share this news as an example of what being on top of our representatives may do for us. I honestly have no idea if it was the work of my senator's office that got our petition approved today or if it was just coincidental timing, but if their pressure did mean anything to the folks at TSC, then it's a message that we all need to actively communicate with our members of Congress to make sure we each receive the attention we deserve.

Congratulations to the both of you!!

[Toley 5]

Hello all,

Been following this thread for 6 months from the UK.

We finally received approval on Thursday evening. I echo the statements made recently about persistence. In the past month we must have contacted the USCIS 15 times, spoken to 5 tier 2 officers, submitted 2 congressional inqueries and 1 senate inquiry.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the reason we are moving on to the next stage.

Truly hope everyone can join the NOA2 thread very soon. No one deserves a 6 month + wait whilst CSC bangs out approvals in 3 weeks.

Best of luck.

[Lee 23 5]

At 5 months I mailed a letter to my congressman (attached). I included a form from his website that I signed to give his office permission to contact USCIS on my behalf and a copy of my NOA 1. After two weeks, I received a letter from his office. He said that someone from his office will contact USCIS. About 2 1/2 weeks later; on day 189 we received NOA2 !

I hope this helps someone.

Good luck.

congress.pdf

Edited September 26, 2015 by Lee 23

[hampguy 9]

At 5 months I mailed a letter to my congressman (attached). I included a form from his website that I signed to give his office permission to contact USCIS on my behalf and a copy of my NOA 1. After two weeks, I received a letter from his office. He said that someone from his office will contact USCIS. About 2 1/2 weeks later; on day 189 we received NOA2 !

I hope this helps someone.

Good luck.

congress.pdf

Congratulations. TSC responded to my congressional inquiry September 3rd and said petition is with officer and when officer reviews petition a decision will be rendered. An inquiry i did said that as of Sept 1 petition is with officer and they say another 60 days.....then said that it never takes the whole 60 days. Today is day 201.

[rms171 20]

March TSC Friends:

I realized that by recommending that dsldesch provide his correspondence with his elected officials, that I should be doing the same. I've attached my ongoing dialogue with the senator's office here.

If any of this helps even one of you, it will have been worth it for me to publish it. I started the emails very early in the process, and did not wait for any magical five month period to expire. I was never shy about being direct and pushing on my senator's office to keep the dialogue going. While the emails later in the thread begin to show the stress of the process on me financially, you will see the pattern of regular correspondence that never let the senator's congressional liaison off the hook for advocating on my behalf.

I have stripped out the names and other identifying information, but the content and discussion is all intact. There are a couple of letters I have omitted, one being my veiled threat to take my story to the media. After I sent that one I apologized to the senator as I realized nothing constructive could have come out of doing that.

Never stop fighting, as your fiance(e) is depending on you.

RMS

Correspondence with Senator's Office.pdf

[Amhara 460]

Congrats on the recent approvals that came in. Hopefully they increase next week!

[KASH2011 382]

Hello all,

Been following this thread for 6 months from the UK.

We finally received approval on Thursday evening. I echo the statements made recently about persistence. In the past month we must have contacted the USCIS 15 times, spoken to 5 tier 2 officers, submitted 2 congressional inqueries and 1 senate inquiry.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the reason we are moving on to the next stage.

Truly hope everyone can join the NOA2 thread very soon. No one deserves a 6 month + wait whilst CSC bangs out approvals in 3 weeks.

Best of luck.

Congrats!

[ant330ci 8]

Another day without any report. What is going on at TSC . Hope to get some insight at the conference call later.

[hampguy 9]

Another day without any report. What is going on at TSC . Hope to get some insight at the conference call later.

What conference call?

[ant330ci 8]

What conference call?

Dear Stakeholder,

Thank you for registering. Call-in information is listed below:

Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman USCUS Forms Teleconference

September 29, 2015

2:00 – 3:00 pm Eastern Time

Dial-In: 888-469-0648

Conference Pin: 7659660

If you need further assistance, please email cisombudsman.publicaffairs@dhs.gov.

Sincerely,

Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

[Amhara 460]

Another day without any report. What is going on at TSC . Hope to get some insight at the conference call later.

Post notes here, please!

[Steve and Ash 0]

So I just joined..... but its only listen only mode... Looks like we get no actual interaction..

[ant330ci 8]

They mention that they will have question and answer at the end.

[Steve and Ash 0]

Yes I just heard... but it sounds like they are only going to talk about forms... I feel like they are going to stiff arm anyone that ask about what is going on at TSC....