I-129F November 2016 Filers

[audacieux89 256]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Correct. Albeit the case numbers are almost always from around the same exact NOA1 time, so that's something at least. There's certainly a handful of mid-nov. and even a few Dec. filers that have had their case worked on. Unfortunately, we can't see their original timeline from USCIS...only the last time the case was touched.

Oh...and here I thought the case numbers were assigned/ordered according to when they were received. :/

[geowrian 22,338]

1 minute ago, isabelleyri said:

Oh...and here I thought the case numbers were assigned/ordered according to when they were received. :/

They are (well, technically it's when they are acknowledged and put into the system, which tends to happen in batches from what I've seen in the data)...? I'm not sure of the discrepancy here. I think we are on the same page. haha

[JimJesDuma 472]

7 hours ago, CMJuilland said:

I have held off with posting my searches on the app up until now, but I figured since I have an Excel sheet where I track it anyway, why not share the day-to-day results. Now, I haven't gone the extra mile of tracking exactly where one date starts and another date stops; using trial and error though, I started tracking K1-petitions starting at WAC1790044500 and ending at WAC1790052899 (received between Oct 28 and Nov 2). 

Out of all these numbers, there are 836 K1-petitions, out of which 53 were rejected after about 2 days due to reasons such as failing to sign or sending an incorrect fee. As of Monday (Jan 23) night, there are 273 approvals, 131 RFEs, and 379 unworked cases (category is called other, and as far as I know cases that are withdrawn and a few other things go into the same category). 

While 379 may sound like a horrendous figure for only 3 days, compared to 2 weeks ago (9 business days; Jan 9), they really did make a move; on Jan 9, there were 544 unworked cases. While the amount of petitions worked on each day may seem small, at least they're touching them again - as Jim and others stated already, they didn't really do anything for almost a month a couple of weeks ago. 

 

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great day - and yet again: to more approvals this week!! 

Hi CM,

Thanks for posting this and hope you can do it every few days.

Jim

[CMJuilland 485]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Initial scan completed...off to work (darn weekdays!), but I'm going to put this out there so you guys can run the data however you want. I'm still working on the daily-update pieces. These are ONLY K1 apps.

 

Note: There's a bug with a few cases that show a future date. This is because USCIS....for some reason...doesn't have a date updated field on those cases, so my script mistakenly pulled the date from the wrong part of the status. These are are very few and far between, but that's why there's a few cases with February dates in the data.

 

This covers K1s from 1790048000 to 1790108000.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1B_oR3Imoi-Y0l3a0ZpYk81SXc

 

Woah!! Thank you so much for this! This is awesome! 

[Nowrya 59]

3 hours ago, JSWH said:

I keep tracking the cases with NOA1 date 10/18 (which is my date as well). Yesterday 2 more cases got approved. So, USCIS does the job.

I'm tracking that date too. I take screenshots and compare any new approval case numbers to old case numbers. Those two cases were once RFEs (ending in 859 and 948?). So I think they only approve old cases that they already sent RFEs out. I fear if the people who are approving cases are contractors. If so, then they'd leave the thicker packets sit and rott on the shelves seeing how the probably get paid per case instead of hourly. But that would also explain why they were working so fast before the slowdown.

 

I'm self employed, my packet was really thick with months of bank statements and 3 years of all my old tax papers from the IRS and other boring stuff proving I actually make money. I'm also a government contractor and get paid on production, not hourly. If I'm working as part of a group on a large project the easiest work will be completed first seeing how it will pay more. The tougher work (thicker packets) will sit until just before the deadline in hopes someone else will take it.

 

Maybe I'm all wrong and just being paranoid again. 

[Ybhamster 122]

4 hours ago, MrKDBrown said:

Remember that Q&A where he said the cases are in boxes. Are all the cases put in boxes in order or do they sort the I129-Fs into boxes of solely I129-F's? My NOA1 is Nov 22 and in the WAC1790075XXX range. Ugh.

The teams at the Service Centers are made up of 20 people each and about 8-10 of them work family based immigration requests that include I-129F cases. Each box pulled by a worker contains 20-40 cases that include all the types of petitions that the team works meaning I-129F cases are sprinkled in throughout each box. When a worker gets a box they are supposed to sort the cases by how much research is needed per case with longer research times going to "special" teams that are made up of more seasoned workers that work exclusively with the supervisor of the team as they cases can require supervisor and manager approval to approve. Longer research times can be indicated as a petitioner with a criminal history, lack of perceived evidence for one of the petition requirements, a waiver requested by the petitioner, multiple foreign marriages, etc. I got this information from an interview of a Service Center director from 2012 and from a friend of mine at USCIS. 

 

In addition, I heard on the podcast, "This American Life", that the number of DACA applicants quadrupled after the election this year. According to my friend at immigration, they are in the family based immigration category. 

 

Fiance visas are usually considered "fun" work by workers at the Service Centers as they are fairly straightforward cases and allow them to get their stats up. That being said they are usually set aside for the end of the day as they as quick and more intensive cases such as I-130's are worked earlier in the day. 

 

I hope this helps. 

 

By the way friends, a congressional inquiry at anytime in the process, before or after 6 months is just that an inquiry. A case worker at your representatives office will contact their congressional liaison at USCIS who will contact the supervisor of the congressional liaison of the family based immigration teams who will check on your case. This process takes at least a week and can in no way expedite your case unless it is accompanied with expedite paperwork that meets USCIS expedited case request guidelines. Congressional staff are prohibited from asking for expedited without the proper USCIS paperwork filled out by the petitioner. Plus USCIS receives no funding from Congress so they have no urgency other than to maintain good relations with Congress as all other federal agencies are required to do. 

 

Although it sucks to be in this waiting game and painful to hear, the workers at USCIS don't feel like there is any slowdown in their processing. They are working cases as normal and have 6 months to do so. Literally nothing happens if they don't meet that "deadline" as it is one that they set internally for themselves. They move the goal based on the workload that they have. 

 

Also remember that immigration, although I-129F's are processed by workers paid for exclusively using the fees we paid for this process, is a highly political process. Any bureaucrat, political perception, or anything perceived to be within the interest of USCIS can affect the process. 

 

If you want to know that perception of the process from the public and not someone going through it, then just look at shows such as "90 day fiance" and Syed Farook, the San Bernardino bomber. It is either something that shouldn't be allowed as it is seen as the "easy" way into the United States or a laugh stock as it lets in couple who have "questionable love" for their significant others. 

 

In reality as we all know and statistic bear out, that it is a trying and expensive process which only about 54% of couple actually make it through with 34% actually getting married due to alien fiances usually getting cold feet about immigrating. 

 

Good luck to all. Hopefully we will all hear good news soon and the processing of the petitions will speed up dramatically. 

[CMJuilland 485]

11 minutes ago, Ybhamster said:

The teams at the Service Centers are made up of 20 people each and about 8-10 of them work family based immigration requests that include I-129F cases. Each box pulled by a worker contains 20-40 cases that include all the types of petitions that the team works meaning I-129F cases are sprinkled in throughout each box. When a worker gets a box they are supposed to sort the cases by how much research is needed per case with longer research times going to "special" teams that are made up of more seasoned workers that work exclusively with the supervisor of the team as they cases can require supervisor and manager approval to approve. Longer research times can be indicated as a petitioner with a criminal history, lack of perceived evidence for one of the petition requirements, a waiver requested by the petitioner, multiple foreign marriages, etc. I got this information from an interview of a Service Center director from 2012 and from a friend of mine at USCIS. 

 

In addition, I heard on the podcast, "This American Life", that the number of DACA applicants quadrupled after the election this year. According to my friend at immigration, they are in the family based immigration category. 

 

Fiance visas are usually considered "fun" work by workers at the Service Centers as they are fairly straightforward cases and allow them to get their stats up. That being said they are usually set aside for the end of the day as they as quick and more intensive cases such as I-130's are worked earlier in the day. 

 

I hope this helps. 

 

By the way friends, a congressional inquiry at anytime in the process, before or after 6 months is just that an inquiry. A case worker at your representatives office will contact their congressional liaison at USCIS who will contact the supervisor of the congressional liaison of the family based immigration teams who will check on your case. This process takes at least a week and can in no way expedite your case unless it is accompanied with expedite paperwork that meets USCIS expedited case request guidelines. Congressional staff are prohibited from asking for expedited without the proper USCIS paperwork filled out by the petitioner. Plus USCIS receives no funding from Congress so they have no urgency other than to maintain good relations with Congress as all other federal agencies are required to do. 

 

Although it sucks to be in this waiting game and painful to hear, the workers at USCIS don't feel like there is any slowdown in their processing. They are working cases as normal and have 6 months to do so. Literally nothing happens if they don't meet that "deadline" as it is one that they set internally for themselves. They move the goal based on the workload that they have. 

 

Also remember that immigration, although I-129F's are processed by workers paid for exclusively using the fees we paid for this process, is a highly political process. Any bureaucrat, political perception, or anything perceived to be within the interest of USCIS can affect the process. 

 

If you want to know that perception of the process from the public and not someone going through it, then just look at shows such as "90 day fiance" and Syed Farook, the San Bernardino bomber. It is either something that shouldn't be allowed as it is seen as the "easy" way into the United States or a laugh stock as it lets in couple who have "questionable love" for their significant others. 

 

In reality as we all know and statistic bear out, that it is a trying and expensive process which only about 54% of couple actually make it through with 34% actually getting married due to alien fiances usually getting cold feet about immigrating. 

 

Good luck to all. Hopefully we will all hear good news soon and the processing of the petitions will speed up dramatically. 

Great info. Thank you very much for sharing. 

[Ybhamster 122]

The statistics show that couples who make it through the process have statistically stronger marriages per happiness, compatibility, and success rates (number of years married) than do other kinds of marriages. We will all get there. We know that our relationships can whether the storm or we wouldn't have embarked on this long and expensive process with our mates as it requires strong communication, high confidence in the relationship from both people, and a hopefully strong support system for both people for the relationship. 

 

I can break out the links for these statistics if you want. 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Ybhamster

[KimchiLumpia 315]

16 minutes ago, Ybhamster said:

The teams at the Service Centers are made up of 20 people each and about 8-10 of them work family based immigration requests that include I-129F cases. Each box pulled by a worker contains 20-40 cases that include all the types of petitions that the team works meaning I-129F cases are sprinkled in throughout each box. When a worker gets a box they are supposed to sort the cases by how much research is needed per case with longer research times going to "special" teams that are made up of more seasoned workers that work exclusively with the supervisor of the team as they cases can require supervisor and manager approval to approve. Longer research times can be indicated as a petitioner with a criminal history, lack of perceived evidence for one of the petition requirements, a waiver requested by the petitioner, multiple foreign marriages, etc. I got this information from an interview of a Service Center director from 2012 and from a friend of mine at USCIS. 

 

In addition, I heard on the podcast, "This American Life", that the number of DACA applicants quadrupled after the election this year. According to my friend at immigration, they are in the family based immigration category. 

 

Fiance visas are usually considered "fun" work by workers at the Service Centers as they are fairly straightforward cases and allow them to get their stats up. That being said they are usually set aside for the end of the day as they as quick and more intensive cases such as I-130's are worked earlier in the day. 

 

I hope this helps. 

 

By the way friends, a congressional inquiry at anytime in the process, before or after 6 months is just that an inquiry. A case worker at your representatives office will contact their congressional liaison at USCIS who will contact the supervisor of the congressional liaison of the family based immigration teams who will check on your case. This process takes at least a week and can in no way expedite your case unless it is accompanied with expedite paperwork that meets USCIS expedited case request guidelines. Congressional staff are prohibited from asking for expedited without the proper USCIS paperwork filled out by the petitioner. Plus USCIS receives no funding from Congress so they have no urgency other than to maintain good relations with Congress as all other federal agencies are required to do. 

 

Although it sucks to be in this waiting game and painful to hear, the workers at USCIS don't feel like there is any slowdown in their processing. They are working cases as normal and have 6 months to do so. Literally nothing happens if they don't meet that "deadline" as it is one that they set internally for themselves. They move the goal based on the workload that they have. 

 

Also remember that immigration, although I-129F's are processed by workers paid for exclusively using the fees we paid for this process, is a highly political process. Any bureaucrat, political perception, or anything perceived to be within the interest of USCIS can affect the process. 

 

If you want to know that perception of the process from the public and not someone going through it, then just look at shows such as "90 day fiance" and Syed Farook, the San Bernardino bomber. It is either something that shouldn't be allowed as it is seen as the "easy" way into the United States or a laugh stock as it lets in couple who have "questionable love" for their significant others. 

 

In reality as we all know and statistic bear out, that it is a trying and expensive process which only about 54% of couple actually make it through with 34% actually getting married due to alien fiances usually getting cold feet about immigrating. 

 

Good luck to all. Hopefully we will all hear good news soon and the processing of the petitions will speed up dramatically. 

 

This may have been answered already through all the replies.  But do you, or anyone know how many I129-F forms are processed daily on average?  

Edited January 24, 2017 by KimchiLumpia

[goodlulck52 69]

19 minutes ago, Ybhamster said:

The teams at the Service Centers are made up of 20 people each and about 8-10 of them work family based immigration requests that include I-129F cases. Each box pulled by a worker contains 20-40 cases that include all the types of petitions that the team works meaning I-129F cases are sprinkled in throughout each box. When a worker gets a box they are supposed to sort the cases by how much research is needed per case with longer research times going to "special" teams that are made up of more seasoned workers that work exclusively with the supervisor of the team as they cases can require supervisor and manager approval to approve. Longer research times can be indicated as a petitioner with a criminal history, lack of perceived evidence for one of the petition requirements, a waiver requested by the petitioner, multiple foreign marriages, etc. I got this information from an interview of a Service Center director from 2012 and from a friend of mine at USCIS. 

 

In addition, I heard on the podcast, "This American Life", that the number of DACA applicants quadrupled after the election this year. According to my friend at immigration, they are in the family based immigration category. 

 

Fiance visas are usually considered "fun" work by workers at the Service Centers as they are fairly straightforward cases and allow them to get their stats up. That being said they are usually set aside for the end of the day as they as quick and more intensive cases such as I-130's are worked earlier in the day. 

 

I hope this helps. 

 

By the way friends, a congressional inquiry at anytime in the process, before or after 6 months is just that an inquiry. A case worker at your representatives office will contact their congressional liaison at USCIS who will contact the supervisor of the congressional liaison of the family based immigration teams who will check on your case. This process takes at least a week and can in no way expedite your case unless it is accompanied with expedite paperwork that meets USCIS expedited case request guidelines. Congressional staff are prohibited from asking for expedited without the proper USCIS paperwork filled out by the petitioner. Plus USCIS receives no funding from Congress so they have no urgency other than to maintain good relations with Congress as all other federal agencies are required to do. 

 

Although it sucks to be in this waiting game and painful to hear, the workers at USCIS don't feel like there is any slowdown in their processing. They are working cases as normal and have 6 months to do so. Literally nothing happens if they don't meet that "deadline" as it is one that they set internally for themselves. They move the goal based on the workload that they have. 

 

Also remember that immigration, although I-129F's are processed by workers paid for exclusively using the fees we paid for this process, is a highly political process. Any bureaucrat, political perception, or anything perceived to be within the interest of USCIS can affect the process. 

 

If you want to know that perception of the process from the public and not someone going through it, then just look at shows such as "90 day fiance" and Syed Farook, the San Bernardino bomber. It is either something that shouldn't be allowed as it is seen as the "easy" way into the United States or a laugh stock as it lets in couple who have "questionable love" for their significant others. 

 

In reality as we all know and statistic bear out, that it is a trying and expensive process which only about 54% of couple actually make it through with 34% actually getting married due to alien fiances usually getting cold feet about immigrating. 

 

Good luck to all. Hopefully we will all hear good news soon and the processing of the petitions will speed up dramatically. 

That is great to know!!! Thanks!

 

Though I have a question: I thought our documents are scanned in Texas and are electronically sent to CSC. So why would USCIS staff in CSC pull out cases from a box as if they work with paper version of our petitions?

 

[butterfly789 20]

Hi everyone, 

i have maybe a stupid question but I am feeling like the research can't be really "sure" cause for example, my case, they didn't have update the statut when I am searching my number, it's still the same information but I have solved the problem. Sorry I don't know if I am clear but it seems like they don't update frequently the statut... or maybe mine is just a mistake. I am new in the process and totally lost, just trying to understand 

[Ybhamster 122]

29 minutes ago, KimchiLumpia said:

 

This may have been answered already through all the replies.  But do you, or anyone know how many I129-F forms are processed daily on average?  

Since the worker processes all types of family based cases on a daily basis it is not possible to know how many I-129F cases are processed daily on average. Each worker is expected to complete a minimum of 10 cases per day. 

[Ybhamster 122]

25 minutes ago, goodlulck52 said:

That is great to know!!! Thanks!

 

Though I have a question: I thought our documents are scanned in Texas and are electronically sent to CSC. So why would USCIS staff in CSC pull out cases from a box as if they work with paper version of our petitions?

 

You are correct, the lockbox facility scans and transmit the documents received to the CSC for storage for up to one year if approved and six years if rejected. After they scan the documentation, the Lockbox places all documents in a file folder and forwards the entire file to the appropriate Service Center for processing. There are certain parts of the verification process that the worker needs a paper file for such as verifying original signatures and photo evidence verification (making sure photo shop wasn't used.) 

 

The scans used by the lockbox are sent through a computer to verify all essential requirements are met by the petitioner's packets such as signatures and required forms are attached. 

[Anthony and Bobby 170]

10 hours ago, CMJuilland said:

I have held off with posting my searches on the app up until now, but I figured since I have an Excel sheet where I track it anyway, why not share the day-to-day results. Now, I haven't gone the extra mile of tracking exactly where one date starts and another date stops; using trial and error though, I started tracking K1-petitions starting at WAC1790044500 and ending at WAC1790052899 (received between Oct 28 and Nov 2). 

Out of all these numbers, there are 836 K1-petitions, out of which 53 were rejected after about 2 days due to reasons such as failing to sign or sending an incorrect fee. As of Monday (Jan 23) night, there are 273 approvals, 131 RFEs, and 379 unworked cases (category is called other, and as far as I know cases that are withdrawn and a few other things go into the same category). 

While 379 may sound like a horrendous figure for only 3 days, compared to 2 weeks ago (9 business days; Jan 9), they really did make a move; on Jan 9, there were 544 unworked cases. While the amount of petitions worked on each day may seem small, at least they're touching them again - as Jim and others stated already, they didn't really do anything for almost a month a couple of weeks ago. 

 

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great day - and yet again: to more approvals this week!! 

Thanks a lot man. This is really good info. Appreciate taking all the time and effort to give us this information

[Ybhamster 122]

19 minutes ago, butterfly789 said:

Hi everyone, 

i have maybe a stupid question but I am feeling like the research can't be really "sure" cause for example, my case, they didn't have update the statut when I am searching my number, it's still the same information but I have solved the problem. Sorry I don't know if I am clear but it seems like they don't update frequently the statut... or maybe mine is just a mistake. I am new in the process and totally lost, just trying to understand 

Case statuses are updated in real time, but notifications and emails are sent out 3 to 5 business days later.