Drop off i-129f packet at local office?

[Scandi 4,167]

Thank you both. Yes we're not sending a new as we don't even know if there's an issue at all at this point, could be something else that delays it, doesn't have to be a USCIS error.

We were thinking about an infopass as the next step, but maybe it's better with the senator instead then.

[Scandi 4,167]

I'm following 21 cases on the case tracker app and all of them says "received" between December 17 to December 28. There are no more updates on these, does it mean that all of these are in the same boat as us, or can it just be that USCIS haven't updated their online case status for RFE or NOA2?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

We had a USCIS error and our second petition was instead sent to the London field office for a less than 24 hours later approval and then directly forwarded to Stockholm. Our processing time ended up being about the same in total as other people who filed petitions at the same time as our I-130 and whose petitions were handled correctly.

Our case was an absolute mess that I hope that you do not have to deal with, so cross your fingers that it isn't an error.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I'm following 21 cases on the case tracker app and all of them says "received" between December 17 to December 28. There are no more updates on these, does it mean that all of these are in the same boat as us, or can it just be that USCIS haven't updated their online case status for RFE or NOA2?

Yep, that usually means you don't have an issue yet. I knew ours was a problem when of the 100s of cases I was following (yes 100s), almost all of them were approved and ours was not. Turns out they did something like follows Lockbox - NBC - CT local office - embassy in CPH - back to CT local office - up to VSC - back to CT local office. It ended up being approved a while after we already had POEed on a CR1 visa. LOL.

Edited June 15, 2016 by N-o-l-a

[Ryan H 3,812]

​Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to USCIS Service Centers forum; topic is about USCIS operations in of themselves and not about the K1 process specifically.

[Scandi 4,167]

Oh no, N-o-l-a! That doesn't sound fun at all, I'm sorry you had to go through that. But good thing things worked out so fast with the second one. <3

[Pennycat 880]

I'm following 21 cases on the case tracker app and all of them says "received" between December 17 to December 28. There are no more updates on these, does it mean that all of these are in the same boat as us, or can it just be that USCIS haven't updated their online case status for RFE or NOA2?

Do you know for sure that those 21 cases are I-129fs? Only asking because I vaguely remember when someone was trying to get a more "live" update app going (for timelines) a bit of a hurdle was that the case numbers are in sequential order but can be for a whole bunch of different applications, with varying timelines.

Other than that, you could try a Congressional inquiry. You're in a weird little gray area (that USCIS built for itself) for being eligible-- I'll get to that in a second. Just first, know that calling your Congressman about something like this isn't as drastic as it sounds. All Members of Congress and Senators have two offices-- one in DC, in the Capitol complex and that's where all the bills, committee hearings and politics happen. Their second offices are back in their home districts/home states. There, they usually have a devoted economic development staff member and several people devoted to constituent services.

When people have a problem with a federal agency, their congressman's staff can intervene on their behalf and try to see what's happening/ solve the problem. Congress is the legislative branch, and the agencies (State Department, Social Security, IRS, USCIS, TSA, all of it) is the executive branch. As a professional courtesy (and also because Congress controls the funding for most agencies-- not USCIS unfortunately, but most), the agencies all have dedicated staff people whose only job it is to reply to these sorts of congressional inquiries. There are different phone numbers and contact people etc. This is what they do for a living. This is, by far, the quickest route to see what's happening with your file and not nearly as dramatic as "I'm going to call Congress" sounds.

The ONE problem with this is that USCIS doesn't exactly play nice (imagine that). They, for the most part, will not look into a case, even if contacted by Congressional staff, until that case is beyond the posted processing times on their website. That's what their processing times website is for. Not to give you a guess at your timeline (that's visajourney's timeline feature) but to give a cutoff of who may and may not get an inquiry into their case. They play games with that table to buy themselves more time-- note, it was just updated on June 14th with an "as of" date of April 30. 6 weeks ago. So they're saying "6 weeks ago we were within normal processing time and that processing time was 5 months. No one who has been waiting less than 5 months may open an inquiry). Now you have been waiting 5 months at this point. But 6 weeks ago you'd only been waiting 3.5 months. Now, they may play that card with you, or they may not. Maybe they're too stupid to understand what their own purposefully misleading chart says (here's hoping) and let you open an inquiry. Maybe they'll do that math and tell you to wait. Who knows. But it's worth a shot.

You can look up your Congressman/Senators here. Personally, I'd start with my Congressman. They represent fewer people (unless you're in Wyoming or something) and therefore get a lower case load. At the very least, you'll have someone call someone other than the USCIS "misinformation line"-- the congressional liaisons are actually fairly high ranking-- certainly much much higher than whoever answers the main phone. Bonus points: if your file IS lost (I hope not), you're already on the radar of the exact people who will be able to help fix that problem as quickly as possible.

Good luck!

Edited to add: find your Congressman, and get the number for their "District office" not DC. Which yes, DC is "District of Columbia", but in this case "District office" is "Congressional District". And I'd call. They'll more than likely tell you to email or fill out an online form, but getting someone on the phone first never hurts.

Edited June 16, 2016 by CatherineA

[Scandi 4,167]

Thank you so much for your reply, Catherine.

Yes, all the cases I follow says "On December xx, 2015, we received your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E)", so I assume that's what they are.

We've been in contact with USCIS Tier 2 more than once and they opened a "service request" for us and we were supposed to get a reply by the 15th, which obviously never happened. They haven't yet played the "as of" date with us but I guess it's possible they might, which means we'd have to wait another 4-6 weeks if so.

I've looked up all the info and the form and letter we need to send to the senator to ask for help, I really hope it'll make a difference. But who knows at this point. I haven't looked for the congressman though.

Thank you for the links!

[Pennycat 880]

Thank you so much for your reply, Catherine.

Yes, all the cases I follow says "On December xx, 2015, we received your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E)", so I assume that's what they are.

We've been in contact with USCIS Tier 2 more than once and they opened a "service request" for us and we were supposed to get a reply by the 15th, which obviously never happened. They haven't yet played the "as of" date with us but I guess it's possible they might, which means we'd have to wait another 4-6 weeks if so.

I've looked up all the info and the form and letter we need to send to the senator to ask for help, I really hope it'll make a difference. But who knows at this point. I haven't looked for the congressman though.

Thank you for the links!

No problem-- and yes for sure try the Congressman. It's not that the Senators are a bad idea-- just that they represent your entire state whereas Congress is just your district of 400,000 people or so. Again, I'd definitely *call* the district office and go from there. The issue is that there are a lot of misinformed/crazy/bored people in this world and they contact Congress about *everything*. I can't even come up with a good example off the top of my head (I used to work in a constituent service office, I personally handled these kinds of requests. This was in the days before there was a form on the internet though. I cannot *imagine* how many more frivolous requests they get through that). Sometimes it's a local issue that belongs with City Hall, sometimes it's a state issues that belongs with the state capitol, sometimes it's problems with their property management company that belongs in a small claims court. I got calls once from a guy in the mental ward of a VA hospital asking us to make them stop masking up his medicine in his apple sauce (on a weekly basis I got these calls, I felt for the guy and was always nice to him but obviously we can't intervene in medical issues). Hundreds weekly. I'd say maybe a quarter are actually federal issues that Congress can help with.

If you use the form, you'll have to wait for someone to sift through that day's/week's pile and read yours and realize that they've got one that actually belongs with this office and then they'll get to you. If you call.... chances are good they'll give you their email address or still make you go through the form but have your name and pluck it out of the inbox. Just get right to the point. Say you've applied for immigration benefits for your fiance, that your file is with USCIS, you are are beyond the posted timeframe, that you've spoken with them and it seems like it could be misplaced, would it be possible for you to contact someone who is more able to look into this situation, to either locate the file or to help expedite a new application. They will probably have you send some sort of email or something as a privacy release but honestly this is by far your best bet.

[Scandi 4,167]

I have news, not very big ones, but they're huge to us as this is the first time ANYTHING has happened since NOA1. Our receipt number started working today, for the first time ever.

[Anitafeliz 1,133]

Congratulations finally