NVC Filers - February 2017

[Thesmiths2016 117]

8 hours ago, thegreatphoenix said:

Hello everyone! 

So my scan date is 12/23 and this week we have just entered 7 weeks at NVC so we should be up for supervisor review. No 3 N/A's or cc for us still. I have two questions (I am the beneficiary, husband is USC):

 

(1) I would like to ask the regular VJers here if they could possibly provide a fearless forecast as to when I might possibly have an interview scheduled if I get a March case complete. I am not entirely sure how but there seems to be a matrix you guys sometimes talk about to predict interview schedules based on date of cc (end of the month? beginning of the month?). If I get the cc in March is it possible to have an April interview at all, or will it be realistically in May? I will be having the interview at the Tokyo Embassy.

(2) Another thing I want to ask is: how receptive is the NVC when it comes to expedite appeals, and how much time does that shed off the regular waiting time? I am officially quitting my teaching job in March (end of the schoolyear here in Japan) and will not be renewing for another schoolyear for obvious reasons. However, once I quit my job in March I will only have until end of May to stay here, after which my work visa will be revoked. Will that be a sufficient reason for them to speed up our process? I can go back to the Philippines after that but I'm wondering how easily they can re-route my documents from Tokyo to Manila (I have a Tokyo case number code, TKY). 

 

Hope somebody can enlighten me on these. Thank you so much!!!

Hey, every expedite is different.  Financial hardship "can" be a reason to expedite, but if you're able to get another job then they may not see it as hardship.  We just got an expedite approved because my husband just lost his job, hasn't been able to find another as his visa is almost up and can't be renewed (outside of the criteria for another), and we have a new baby to support. In addition to this we are soon going to have to find new accommodation which is proving difficult on a temporary basis due to major housing crisis here.  We had to provide a lot of info and proof of these matters.  You are quitting your job, not being made redundant, so you may not have enough weight to your argument.  (just being realistic for you).

When it comes to changing consulates however, we were able to do so and they issued a new case number. This was before NVC though. We moved countries shortly before my i-130 was approved. 

 

I would suggest contacting NVC though to see what's up with your case taking 7 weeks so far. Perhaps do so in an email to them (use the "askNVC" contact form or they won't respond with any info. Explain your situation and state that "for this reason I am hoping to receive an update on my case, so as to be able to plan accordingly".  I was really polite when emailing them on the AskNVC contact form and they've been good at replying. 

[Thesmiths2016 117]

Oh I forgot to mention also.  Someone already mentioned this earlier in the posts, but it seems expedites lately only speed up the interview stage (e.g: move you to the front of the interview line), but don't speed up NVC.  I'm hoping that's not the case, but it seems to be the scenario we and a couple of others are in.  The exception to this rule is expedites for medical emergencies such as being scheduled for surfer in the US etc. Those get pushed through. But sadly for the rest of us it only makes a small difference. If you're already at NVC for 7 weeks I don't think it will speed things up much.

[Thesmiths2016 117]

So ... my case is at NVC. We have sent our AOS and IV package, but when I check our status it still says "AT NVC" and refers to the 6 steps on the NVC site to follow.  I assume this means that our package hasn't been received yet.  Can someone enlighten me on what I will see pop up as my status when they do receive and scan it?  I can't seem to find what "clue" to look for to confirm they've scanned our info in.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Thesmiths2016
spelling

[parsha 163]

1 hour ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

So ... my case is at NVC. We have sent our AOS and IV package, but when I check our status it still says "AT NVC" and refers to the 6 steps on the NVC site to follow.  I assume this means that our package hasn't been received yet.  Can someone enlighten me on what I will see pop up as my status when they do receive and scan it?  I can't seem to find what "clue" to look for to confirm they've scanned our info in.

 

usually we call to confirm if NVC received the package. they will give you a date if they did.

 

for "AT NVC" info, it won't change until your case completed and send to the embassy

[bcking 3,157]

5 hours ago, Gabby09 said:

The waiting is ridiculous. We need to do something if there is something we can. My scan date is Jan 5 and i am already out of patience. ]

This Quote from NVC from November 2016 - 

Q. Previously, NVC required 60 days to review the civil and financial documents. NVC now requires only 30 days to review these documents. If the review period goes beyond 30 days, at what point would it be appropriate to follow up on the status of the case?

RESPONSE: The average document review time period is still 30 days. NVC’s goal for document review is 10 work days. If you have submitted your civil and financial documents and haven’t been contacted by the NVC at the 45-day mark, you should send an e-mail to NVCattorney@state.gov. In order to prevent processing delays, we encourage you to submit all of the documents for a case in a single package.

 

 

They just send you that recently?

 

I'm sorry that is just unprofessional. There is no way the average review time is still 30 days. They are lying out of their backside.

 

Average right now seems to be around 10 weeks. Most recent case completes are still from November. Aside from electronic filers.

[CMCorbett 4]

Just got our email. Scan date is 2/7.  Time to start this journey!

Edited February 8, 2017 by CMCorbett
Added

[H & H 12]

Can someone please help me. I filed I-864 and there is  the section of household size and  I added 2 which is me and my hubby and I submitted the documents but recently I checked to see and I over looked to many time and I supposed to have 3 household beacause on my taxs paper I claim a dependent. My question is my hubby interview is on march 22 should he tell the co that he made a mistake and give the co a new I-864 with all New supporting documents so co can correct it? Thanks

[bcking 3,157]

1 hour ago, Haleemahisham said:

Can someone please help me. I filed I-864 and there is  the section of household size and  I added 2 which is me and my hubby and I submitted the documents but recently I checked to see and I over looked to many time and I supposed to have 3 household beacause on my taxs paper I claim a dependent. My question is my hubby interview is on march 22 should he tell the co that he made a mistake and give the co a new I-864 with all New supporting documents so co can correct it? Thanks

Since you have an interview scheduled clearly the NVC didn't notice your mistake. Other people can give advice, but I would say don't plan to correcting the error at the interview. Make sure your husband has all the paperwork REQUIRED to correct the error if they bring it up, but if they don't bring it up I wouldn't mention it.

 

Not sure if everyone will agree with that, but that is what I would do. Have a new copy correctly filled out, and evidence of your dependent etc... with your husband at the interview, but keep it in a folder unless they mention it. That way you are prepared, but don't create a problem for yourselves if they haven't noticed it.

[bcking 3,157]

Scan Date: 11/28

Supervisor Review: 01/10

 

Today's update:

 

Spoke to a supervisor this morning. Yesterday I in the morning and by the end of the conversation the phone person said she would "send an email" to the department requesting they look at my file. When I called in the evening for an update the person basically said they had nothing.

 

I called this morning to speak with a supervisor since both times yesterday they were "unavailable" (though the lady at  night didn't even check, she just automatically said "Oh they aren't available"...). I was able to talk to one. We got into several arguments but in the end finished the conversation politely I think. We discussed several things:

 

1. The NVC is continuing to tell people that it can take "up to 6 weeks" and then at 6 weeks, tells them for the first time that it can take an additional 6 weeks. I told her they need to start telling people from the beginning that the process can take up to 12 weeks

2. I mentioned the Q/A posted here from November where the NVC quoted an "average" of 30 days, and I said that is incredibly unprofessional to continue to tell people that when clearly the average is longer right now. Since I didn't receive the email myself she basically said that it is heresay that the NVC said that

3. We talked about the presence of this forum (not specifically this one, but forums in general) because I brought up that people in this situation get together to help support one another and share information. They clearly know these places exist, and it sounds like they don't have a very good opinion of it. She essentially said "You shouldn't take what you read on a website other than the NVC seriously". Her example was that we may be comparing different visa types, to which I replied "Actually we are organized enough that we are all IR-1 people talking together" to which she said "Oh well, other things can be different as well" without going into specifics. I don't think she liked that we talk.

4. I learned that there are "Supervisors" for the telephone people, and then "Supervisors" for the reviewing people. They are different. Whenever you speak to a supervisor on the phone that is a Phone Supervisor, and they have nothing to do with the review department and actually have little to no contact with them.

5. We argued about birth certificates, which is only specific to my case. The NVC's website says to "submit an original birth certificate", and then tells you to look up your specific country. I argued that "original' birth certificate is inaccurate and should be changed, since they are requesting a specific type of birth certificate which may not be the original one received. In our case my wife sent them a copy of the actual original birth certificate received at the birth hospital 30 years ago, which wasn't correct because it was the wrong type. I argued that we fullfilled the requirement of "original" birth certificate. There was some back and forth and we both dropped it.

6. This supervisor confirmed that there is no way to know when documents are "transferred" to the review department. So if anyone is given a specific date, the person giving them that date is making it up. THe only way you can know is if you call every day, and one day it's not there but the next day it is. Then you can figure it out based on your calls but no one on the phone can look up and see "It was transferred on the 15th" or something. They just see where it is. I explained to her that some of her staff are not properly conveying that information. She apologised, but also argued that maybe they "misunderstood the question".

7. She completely denied any "glitches" or "errors" in December that may have caused part of the delay. I told her that multiple people have told me, and other people, that there was an "error" or some sort in December. She said that isn't true. I told her she needs to retrain her employees then so they provide accurate information.

 

That's all I can remember. In the end she said she would send an email herself to the review department supervisors requesting they pull my file for review. We'll see what happens. I always worry when I get angry with them that they will just say they are doing something but then not do it. However, I have her name and so next time I call I can confirm that the email was sent I guess. In the past even when I argue them, they still do what they say they are going to do.

 

 

[JeppeS 1]

22 minutes ago, bcking said:

6. This supervisor confirmed that there is no way to know when documents are "transferred" to the review department. So if anyone is given a specific date, the person giving them that date is making it up. THe only way you can know is if you call every day, and one day it's not there but the next day it is. Then you can figure it out based on your calls but no one on the phone can look up and see "It was transferred on the 15th" or something. They just see where it is. I explained to her that some of her staff are not properly conveying that information. She apologised, but also argued that maybe they "misunderstood the question".

 

 

I've been told multiple times (+5 times) that my case was sent to the review department on January 12. The operator usually gives me a rundown of my case where they list when they received my documents, when my case was "upgraded" for supervisor review and when it was sent to the review department. I have never inquired about the dates and said something like "was my case sent to the review department January 12?".

 

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, JeppeS said:

I've been told multiple times (+5 times) that my case was sent to the review department on January 12. The operator usually gives me a rundown of my case where they list when they received my documents, when my case was "upgraded" for supervisor review and when it was sent to the review department. I have never inquired about the dates and said something like "was my case sent to the review department January 12?".

 

Ya someone else told me essentially that just yesterday which is why I repeated my question to this supervisor. They clearly have people giving out dates for when it was "moved". Her argument was "maybe they misunderstood your question, or you misunderstand them"...basically trying to push the blame on something else.

 

My "Supervisor review" date was 1/10 and then yesterday I was told it was moved to the "review department" on the 12th. This woman denies having the ability to see that date, and she is a supervisor for the telephone department. So I don't really know how/why the person yesterday gave me that day.

[TokyoHNL 25]

14 minutes ago, bcking said:

Ya someone else told me essentially that just yesterday which is why I repeated my question to this supervisor. They clearly have people giving out dates for when it was "moved". Her argument was "maybe they misunderstood your question, or you misunderstand them"...basically trying to push the blame on something else.

 

My "Supervisor review" date was 1/10 and then yesterday I was told it was moved to the "review department" on the 12th. This woman denies having the ability to see that date, and she is a supervisor for the telephone department. So I don't really know how/why the person yesterday gave me that day.

It could be that the "script" says not to tell people the internal dates but the phone staff feel for us so are breaking from script.  I don't see why they arent transparent other than potentially opening themselves up to lawsuits later 

[Fost04mach 21]

15 minutes ago, bcking said:

Ya someone else told me essentially that just yesterday which is why I repeated my question to this supervisor. They clearly have people giving out dates for when it was "moved". Her argument was "maybe they misunderstood your question, or you misunderstand them"...basically trying to push the blame on something else.

 

My "Supervisor review" date was 1/10 and then yesterday I was told it was moved to the "review department" on the 12th. This woman denies having the ability to see that date, and she is a supervisor for the telephone department. So I don't really know how/why the person yesterday gave me that day.

Yesterday I got 2 dates for that, first time I called in the morning they told me january 18th and second time I called they told me jan 12th.  I am inclined to believe your supervisor and the fact that they pull those dates out of their behinds.  No worries, I'm recording my calls...

[bcking 3,157]

4 minutes ago, Fost04mach said:

Yesterday I got 2 dates for that, first time I called in the morning they told me january 18th and second time I called they told me jan 12th.  I am inclined to believe your supervisor and the fact that they pull those dates out of their behinds.  No worries, I'm recording my calls...

The woman I talked to (Named Marie) was, all things considered, quite polite and seemed quite honest with me. She definitely put up with my complaining in a very respectful and professional way. I could tell she was limited in some of the things she could say (I also asked, again, what happens after 12 weeks to which she couldn't provide an answer), but I do feel like the answers she provided were honest.

 

Is January 12th your "supervisor review" date? The only thing I could see them confusing is the date a supervisor was notified, and the date the documents were moved. But if they are separate dates, then I don't know where they are making up the number from.

 

The worst "lie" I've ever heard from one of the phone people was one lady trying to explain to me that sometimes they finish cases, but will not upload to the system to "avoid logging into the computers so frequently", and will wait until they have a lot of cases completed before updating things. She made it sound like that can happen over the course of DAYS. I've brought that up with supervisors in the past and they have said that is crazy talk.

[phillamb168 19]

7 hours ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

Oh I forgot to mention also.  Someone already mentioned this earlier in the posts, but it seems expedites lately only speed up the interview stage (e.g: move you to the front of the interview line), but don't speed up NVC.  I'm hoping that's not the case, but it seems to be the scenario we and a couple of others are in.  The exception to this rule is expedites for medical emergencies such as being scheduled for surfer in the US etc. Those get pushed through. But sadly for the rest of us it only makes a small difference. If you're already at NVC for 7 weeks I don't think it will speed things up much.

That's my experience with this. Although I've now brought both my Senator and Congressman to bear, and they're contacting them about twice a week. I am hoping that pressure will push things through.