TSC NOA2 delay, no RFE's

[dmaven 7]

You're being naive ;-)

And if you already did the math, what's the point of wasting money?

Nothing is guaranteed with USCIS! Some people get their approval within weeks, some people months, some people over a year - or denied.

Do yourself a favor and save the money.

You unfortunately seem to be the one that is naive believing VJ data is actually as comprehensive and as accurate as software program mining real data from USCIS. But ditto... thanks for the pointers despite having never having seen an ImmiFairy report you are categorically dismissive of it!

Naive? If you say so. ::girliegrin::

So.....how many total February K1 filers are there and what percentage has been looked at as of today? Approved vs RFE? You may not care to know but some of us do. And if that's how we're handling this process how exactly is thay your busniess? No one says you need to sign up, just that if you want accurate up to date info that's where to find it.

Also, I spent half my career as a database and data analysis consultant to federal agencies. I know good and accurate data when I see it, to the point I know when it is worth paying for. But thanks for the pointers all the same.

Data people get it, I don't know why those who don't automatically discard it. I'm with you, I prefer to know day to day to stop me from going crazy. I also have a timeline for things in my life... like my lease is expiring in August and I'm trying to decide whether I have to renew or not. Based on the July ImmiFairy data thus far, I'm probably going to renew month to month as February hasn't really taken off yet. It's really been a money-saver and sanity-saver.

[racheal&david 108]

You unfortunately seem to be the one that is naive believing VJ data is actually as comprehensive and as accurate as software program mining real data from USCIS. But ditto... thanks for the pointers despite having never having seen an ImmiFairy report you are categorically dismissive of it!

Data people get it, I don't know why those who don't automatically discard it. I'm with you, I prefer to know day to day to stop me from going crazy. I also have a timeline for things in my life... like my lease is expiring in August and I'm trying to decide whether I have to renew or not. Based on the July ImmiFairy data thus far, I'm probably going to renew month to month as February hasn't really taken off yet. It's really been a money-saver and sanity-saver.

I signed up to Immifairy 6 weeks ago. After looking meticulously at the data. You get a far more accurate picture of how things are really working over there and it's 100% better than relying on others to correctly input data whereas this data is from the USCIS website directly. 188 days later my fiance and I got approved. Just Tuesday gone in fact. I could see it coming due to the data from Immifairy. I anticipated another month or waiting at least. But hey presto there it is.

[Wooderz 314]

Second the opinion of the immifairy props. There is zero chance that the data here or what a person could do their own typing in receipt numbers one at a time on uscis's case status search is as accurate or complete. Unless you're doing your own data mining of uscis, but why spend the time, money, and resources to do it yourself? You can find it on immifairy for far less work and less money. And also, it's a brand new service, so the numbers of users reflect that. VJ is at least a decade old, no?

Lastly, it's kinda presumptuous to tell people how they should or shouldn't spend their money...

Edited July 16, 2015 by Wooderz

[morganbeth28 0]

My case is from October 23rd and we still haven't heard back with a NOA2. Just have to be patient. We have our congressman involved he hasn't heard back, service requests that went unanswered. I was told ours was in resolution stage back in June and in two weeks we would hear back. Two weeks go by I call and was told by a tier 2 that was confidential and I wasn't supposed to be told that. Called yesterday and the tier two person said in 13 days we will be outside of normal processing times. Waiting since March I wouldn't be considered. It's frustrating being in October seeing November, December and January cases going through

[chantuff9 21]

We were approved after 7 months........ it sucks, but you have to be patient and just wait!

EDIT: as far as possible discrimination goes.... I think they probably don't even look at cases that closely/long enough to discriminate

Edited July 16, 2015 by chantuff9

[Frewchen 8]

You unfortunately seem to be the one that is naive believing VJ data is actually as comprehensive and as accurate as software program mining real data from USCIS. But ditto... thanks for the pointers despite having never having seen an ImmiFairy report you are categorically dismissive of it!

Data people get it, I don't know why those who don't automatically discard it. I'm with you, I prefer to know day to day to stop me from going crazy. I also have a timeline for things in my life... like my lease is expiring in August and I'm trying to decide whether I have to renew or not. Based on the July ImmiFairy data thus far, I'm probably going to renew month to month as February hasn't really taken off yet. It's really been a money-saver and sanity-saver.

1. The website claims to be mining data - How do you know it's real USCIS data? There is no description about how this works.

2. How do you know I've never seen a report?

3. I am not telling anyone what to do with their money.

4. Approvals and timelines are case-dependent. Even if your case is clear, you will have no influence of on how quick a case will be approved. And a paid report will be as good as free information from the USCIS website.

5. I am just saying that majority of the people DO NOT pay for a report, as it is not necessary and more or less waste of money (IMO).

Good luck to everyone on your journey

[Pennycat 880]

Newbie here,

Our NOA1 is dated March 11, 2015. It has been just over 120 days and we have heard nothing. It took USCIS 3 months to put it on their site that we have a case. Have called many times to find out status. Just found out they are pretty useless and can only tell me what i can see(at least that is what they said). TSC says it is working on I-129F petitions from October 2014, yet here it is listed as December 25, 2014. This is confusing. I am wondering if our case is being held back because it is same sex. I live in Massachusetts and my partner lives in the Philippines. I have seen several petitions filed after ours get their NOA2 and another case filed just under a month from ours and they already received NOA2 as well. I called USCIS yesterday and voiced my concern about the possibility of being discriminated against...they replied absolutely not.

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Thanks

Oh, yes, also----take a look at where the people who filed after you who are approved---what service center are they at? Look under their user pictures--it's there. If it's California (and I can 99% guarantee you that it is because there are almost 0 aprovals from March out of TSC, and everyone who applied in April and after went to California)---that's your answer.

You're stuck in the black hole of Texas which is taking 7+ months for NOA2. California is taking 40ish days. Which is nearly double what its average was just a few months ago. Look here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1historical

There's nothing you can do about getting transferred to California. After a LOT of hard work and pot-banging by lots of petitioners (many here from Visajourney), USCIS finally admitted that there is a difference in the processing times between the centers. And they "fixed" it by stopping sending new petitions to Texas on March 27. That, of course, was not a fix at all---not for those who were already "in line" at Texas. But it's what they did and it's their last word on the topic. You applied in March, and so unless anything changes pretty dramatically between now and then, you'll likely be waiting September or October for NOA2.

If there is any discrimination, it's because of what state you live in. Until March 27, petitions were routed to TSC or CSC based on the state of the petitioner. But I don't think that it's discrimination (of half the country), I think it is apathy and incompetence plain and simple.

Edited July 16, 2015 by CatherineA

[Pennycat 880]

You're being naive ;-)

And if you already did the math, what's the point of wasting money?

Nothing is guaranteed with USCIS! Some people get their approval within weeks, some people months, some people over a year - or denied.

Do yourself a favor and save the money.

1. The website claims to be mining data - How do you know it's real USCIS data? There is no description about how this works.

2. How do you know I've never seen a report?

3. I am not telling anyone what to do with their money.

4. Approvals and timelines are case-dependent. Even if your case is clear, you will have no influence of on how quick a case will be approved. And a paid report will be as good as free information from the USCIS website.

5. I am just saying that majority of the people DO NOT pay for a report, as it is not necessary and more or less waste of money (IMO).

Good luck to everyone on your journey

Nope, not telling anyone what do to with their money at all.

1. Good question.

2. You can tell that you've never seen a report because if you had seen a report you'd know the answer to #1*

3. Oh really? I suppose I hallucinated being man-splained how I'm being naive and wasting my money. Or being told to "do [myself] a favor and save the money". From someone who very clearly has zero idea what he's talking about (see #1 and #2).

4. Not really. That's the official USCIS line. If you want to buy it, go right ahead. The reality of the situation is that they spend about 20 minutes looking at each file. Before then, they sit on a shelf, or in a box or whererver TSC stores these things once they're sent from the Lockbox. Delays can happen *once someone starts working the file* if there's complicating factors such as criminal backgrounds, multiple times filing etc. But most people know if they are or are not in those categories and know to expect a delay. RFEs can happen due to mistakes on the petitioner's part. But to get an RFE, your file needs to be looked at. Your file isn't being looked at while it's in line. Timelines, or more specifically *accurate* timelines can give you a picture when it is likely that it's your turn to be taken "off the shelf" and dealt with.

5. The majority of people don't pay for a report because this service has been in existence for all of, what? 6 weeks? And is currently limited to September-March TSC K1 filers. And also because some people (ahem) like to make judgments on things they don't understand and/or just plain old will never understand data analytics. It's ok. We can't all be numbers people.

It STILL may not be worth it to you. And if not, that's absolutely your choice. No one is telling you that you need it, or even want it. But don't slam something that you haven't seen and don't understand. Or, more accurately, don't belittle people for choosing to participate in something that you haven't seen and don't understand but that they do understand, and consider adds value to their situation.

[kamw 93]

You guys totally just hijacked this person's thread to argue over some random website that may or maynot be useful. That's really disrespectful.

OP you are still within the processing time given by USCIS. The time frame provided here is based on what users submitted which isn't all the petitions being processed by USCIS. From what I've seen it's a pretty good estimator but not 100%. The time frames given by USCIS on there website is based on their estimate so in theory should be more reliable. Honestly tho, you never know. I've seen people approved in weeks, some in months so it's pretty much just a sit down and wait thing. I call USCIS every few weeks to make sure everything is ok and if there's any news- there normally isn't

Once you go past the time frame you can start seeking answers and making noise. It has nothing to do with it being a same sex relationship- they honestly don't care either way.

[Pennycat 880]

You guys totally just hijacked this person's thread to argue over some random website that may or maynot be useful. That's really disrespectful.

OP you are still within the processing time given by USCIS. The time frame provided here is based on what users submitted which isn't all the petitions being processed by USCIS. From what I've seen it's a pretty good estimator but not 100%. The time frames given by USCIS on there website is based on their estimate so in theory should be more reliable. Honestly tho, you never know. I've seen people approved in weeks, some in months so it's pretty much just a sit down and wait thing. I call USCIS every few weeks to make sure everything is ok and if there's any news- there normally isn't

Once you go past the time frame you can start seeking answers and making noise. It has nothing to do with it being a same sex relationship- they honestly don't care either way.

You must be new here.....

And in terms of USCIS's timeframes----Sorry, though, not at all. Absloutely not at all. The dates on the USCIS site (here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcBFfW1-iSlb6mZcCx6u),if you read in the gray box above the table is "as of April 30". They are reporting, in mid-July, what they claim they were doing 6 weeks ago. Worse, you can tell from both the VJ data, the Immifairy data, and just anecdotaly from looking at people's timelines here, that that date is false.

What's more: that chart is not intended for you to figure out if your turn is coming up soon or not. It is intended to control who can and cannot open an official inquiry--"seeking answers and making noise" into their case. They will only accept inquiries, like you said, if you are outside their posted "normal processing time". So what do they do? They post "normal processing time" as of 6 weeks ago AND fudge date, to minimize the number of people who are eligible for anything beyond calling the hotline and being fed stock lines. If that's cool with you, that's cool. It's not cool with most of us.

[Pennycat 880]

You must be new here.....

And in terms of USCIS's timeframes----Sorry, though, not at all. Absloutely not at all. The dates on the USCIS site (here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcBFfW1-iSlb6mZcCx6u),if you read in the gray box above the table is "as of April 30". They are reporting, in mid-July, what they claim they were doing 6 weeks ago. Worse, you can tell from both the VJ data, the Immifairy data, and just anecdotaly from looking at people's timelines here, that that date is false.

What's more: that chart is not intended for you to figure out if your turn is coming up soon or not. It is intended to control who can and cannot open an official inquiry--"seeking answers and making noise" into their case. They will only accept inquiries, like you said, if you are outside their posted "normal processing time". So what do they do? They post "normal processing time" as of 6 weeks ago AND fudge date, to minimize the number of people who are eligible for anything beyond calling the hotline and being fed stock lines. If that's cool with you, that's cool. It's not cool with most of us.

Actually, I take that back. Normally they post things with 6 weeks lag time. This month, I guess they're giving themselves 11 weeks of wiggle room.

[kamw 93]

You must be new here.....

And in terms of USCIS's timeframes----Sorry, though, not at all. Absloutely not at all. The dates on the USCIS site (here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcBFfW1-iSlb6mZcCx6u),if you read in the gray box above the table is "as of April 30". They are reporting, in mid-July, what they claim they were doing 6 weeks ago. Worse, you can tell from both the VJ data, the Immifairy data, and just anecdotaly from looking at people's timelines here, that that date is false.

What's more: that chart is not intended for you to figure out if your turn is coming up soon or not. It is intended to control who can and cannot open an official inquiry--"seeking answers and making noise" into their case. They will only accept inquiries, like you said, if you are outside their posted "normal processing time". So what do they do? They post "normal processing time" as of 6 weeks ago AND fudge date, to minimize the number of people who are eligible for anything beyond calling the hotline and being fed stock lines. If that's cool with you, that's cool. It's not cool with most of us.

I may be "new" but at least I have manners. Maybe next time you choose to correct someone you will do some research

I'm full aware that the date is wrong. Everyone knows the date is wrong. It's always wrong but you can't really get any further information or assistance unless the date on their website has passed. It doesn't matter what all the data, charts or anything else says, if it's still within processing time frame all you'll hear is "it's within processing time". NO one is content with the stock lines but no matter what your graphs and data show, USCIS operates on USCIS's time frame.

[Pennycat 880]

I may be "new" but at least I have manners. Maybe next time you choose to correct someone you will do some research

I'm full aware that the date is wrong. Everyone knows the date is wrong. It's always wrong but you can't really get any further information or assistance unless the date on their website has passed. It doesn't matter what all the data, charts or anything else says, if it's still within processing time frame all you'll hear is "it's within processing time". NO one is content with the stock lines but no matter what your graphs and data show, USCIS operates on USCIS's time frame.

Thanks, I've done my research, Miss Manners. I just hadn't checked that USCIS link for months because it is completely, 100% useless to give yourself a timeline, so I didn't know that they lapsed to an 11 week delay. 6 week lag is their norm. I clicked on it today because I was curious to see just how off your advice to this poor guy really was.

This thread is about processing times and estimates on when you may receive your NOA2, because people were explaining to OP that he's not being discriminated against, that's what what the timelines are like. Then it morphed into a discussion on how to estimate your timeline. You have suggested using USCIS's published timelines. That is both incorrect (those timelines aren't meant to help you figure out when you'll get NOA2, they're to tell you if you're allowed to get help from USCIS) and really bad advice. I don't think it is kind or fair of you to give such bad advice to someone who is an actual newbie and who is clearly very confused and stressed out. You're talking about congressional inquiry to get stuff done, we're talking about projecting your approval date so that you have some sense of a timeline. Those are two different things.

For K-1s, NOA2 is particularly important because everything for us moves really fast after that, and it's almost uniform at 2 months from NOA2 to visa. That makes a really big difference in a lot of people's lives in terms of jobs, schools for their kids (K1s can bring their children), wedding planning etc etc.

So if you can't get further information about your place in line from USCIS, some people (not all but SOME) like to use data and charts to try to figure it out. Visajourney has done this for years (see "Immigration Timelines" linked above), but that data is limited and can be thrown off pretty easily by CSC filers who don't realize what service center they're in. Another service has managed to get a much more accurate picture of what's going on, and some people like it. People were telling this person about it, because if they ARE the type of person who wants a daily look at where they are in line, then they can have it. Or not. Up to each individual. You seem perfectly fine just waiting, and that is great. That's your choice, and if that's what makes you happy in this process, cool. Not everyone is the same. So that's why there's options.

Edited July 16, 2015 by CatherineA

[Amhara 460]

Everyone, can we please cool it? If you are disagreeing with someone else's position, they will reply back with their supporting view. Attacking someone by calling them niave, rude, or presumptuous is only going to make that person defensive and reply more.

Some people want more data because it helps them cope with the wait. Some people are more 'do it yourself' -ers and don't want to pay more than we already will for this whole process.

No one is winning, but we are ALL in this together!!

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

****** Mod note: enough with the bickering; start a new thread or take it to PM if you want to continue that. Unless you can provide answers to the OP's questions, do not post in this thread. *******