Letter to Congressman or USCIS Case Inquiry

[llaz 232]

Has anyone had any experience with writing to their congressman or doing a USCIS case inquiry? We are thinking of writing right at about 6 months of waiting or once the USCIS changes their processing cases date to after our received date. 

How long does each one take for a response (I thought I saw someone say that they opened a case inquiry and USCIS said give them 30 days and they never heard from them even after the 30 days)? Which is faster? Which one is more effective? 

[mallafri76 1,012]

We involved our Senator after being stuck at NVC for about seven months. 45 days later, we got case complete so it definitely worked in our favor.

 

If you're pass the usual processing times and you're not getting any answers then I definitely recommend involving a Senator or Congressman.

[USC1961 251]

58 minutes ago, llaz said:

Has anyone had any experience with writing to their congressman or doing a USCIS case inquiry? We are thinking of writing right at about 6 months of waiting or once the USCIS changes their processing cases date to after our received date. 

How long does each one take for a response (I thought I saw someone say that they opened a case inquiry and USCIS said give them 30 days and they never heard from them even after the 30 days)? Which is faster? Which one is more effective? 

I'm not sure I understand completely.  Are you saying once you hit the 6 month mark after submitting your K-1, that you are automatically going to write your congressmen?  Just to get your case "expedited" so to say?   If so I disagree with this tactic.  Hold off for if/when you really need their help.  And just opening a case inquiry for no reason other than trying to game the system hurts the rest of us in the long run.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Cruise77

[geowrian 22,337]

1 hour ago, Cruise77 said:

I'm not sure I understand completely.  Are you saying once you hit the 6 month mark after submitting your K-1, that you are automatically going to write your congressmen?  Just to get your case "expedited" so to say?   If so I disagree with this tactic.  Hold off for if/when you really need their help.  And just opening a case inquiry for no reason other than trying to game the system hurts the rest of us in the long run.

There's no "expedite" here. You are permitted to request an inquiry at any time, and once you are out of normal processing times (~6 months for the I-129F), you are more likely to get a response for a reason for the delay. Most I-129Fs are taking 3-4 months to be adjudicated, not 6 months. There's no gaming the system here.

[USC1961 251]

5 hours ago, geowrian said:

There's no "expedite" here. You are permitted to request an inquiry at any time, and once you are out of normal processing times (~6 months for the I-129F), you are more likely to get a response for a reason for the delay. Most I-129Fs are taking 3-4 months to be adjudicated, not 6 months. There's no gaming the system here.

I'll agree with your point on the inquiry (I got a bit carried away with my post.)  But I still would not write my congressman right off the bat.  What I meant by expedite was being a bit too hasty with that pen.  Nice to know you have an ace up your sleeve.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Cruise77

[llaz 232]

@mallafri76 and @Dee elle Thanks for sharing your experiences, seems that the congress person/senator may be the way to go. We want to choose the right way to get answers and not waste anymore time. 

 

4 hours ago, Cruise77 said:

I'll agree with your point on the inquiry (I got a bit carried away with my post.)  But I still would not write my congressman right off the bat.  What I meant by expedite was being a bit too hasty with that pen.  Nice to know you have an ace up your sleeve.

If you've been following Geo's updates in the Nov 2017 post, I do not believe that after 6 months of waiting for an NOA2 response we will be too hasty by any means or causing delay for other I-129f's as they are working on mid-December cases and we are a Nov 3rd case. There are 19 cases left out of 219 for Nov 3rd and they have been approving 1 - 3 cases over the past ~6 weeks, with the last two weeks resulting in just 1 case approved per week. The USCIS officially claims (per their website) they are working on Oct 15 cases right now with an update to their "processing cases" date coming within 2 weeks which at that time will more than likely automatically put our case out of automatic processing times (this happens when the date they say they are working on passes your received date), but we are going to wait until just about 6 months to send a letter/open a case inquiry, so we aren't writing right off the bat as you are stating. 

[cdneh 3,112]

USCIS are not answerable to senators or congressmen.

[kris&me 572]

To do this you need to sign a document with Senator's office giving him/her permission to get information on your case

the response most get from Senator to an inquiry is the same you get (the last you received like NOA1 or NOA2)

really they are not suppose to get involved although some do as immigration does not work from Federal budget and suppose to be totally out of control of Congress except for the laws and rules they pass through the Homeland Security 

i wrote to both Senators and Congressman, Obama and Secretary of State of State

i got polite responses saying all were concerned with immigration

some Senators do seem to get action (or take credit for something that was already going to happen) but depends on party of the Senator and who is currently in office 

i know many will disagree with me but i got no help and Senator office told me they could not really do anything 

[EandH0904 1,184]

When we contacted our congresswoman about where in AP our case was, we were told it could be 30 days for a response. After about two weeks we found out it was still in his country "awaiting processing to confirm his eligibility " and that we could continue to inquire every 30 days. If you're still waiting after 6 months I think you've been very patient. I would be worried they lost my packet!!!!

[mrtravel 40]

If there is a delay, in your mind, why not contact USCIS first, BEFORE contacting a Senator, etc?

[mallafri76 1,012]

2 hours ago, cdneh said:

USCIS are not answerable to senators or congressmen.

Of course they are. USCIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget is decided by Congress. The Secretary of Homeland Security is nominated by the President but must go through Senate approval and the Senate can question and have hearings into decisions and actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security and its various sub-departments. It's all politics. 

 

Powerful, influential people such as Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, Congressman Ryan and Congresswoman Pelosi will most certainly get USCIS to move.

[cdneh 3,112]

The Senator or Congressman can make an inquiry and that is about it. The senators and congressmen who send out canned responses can't do anything else. USCIS does not work for them, are not  funded by congress,  nor are they answerable to them. All they can do is make an inquiry on your behalf, and you can do that yourself. It hasn't any more 'clout' because it comes from their office.

Edited March 27, 2017 by cdneh

[llaz 232]

@kris&me thank you for sharing your experience, I think its important to know all the experiences good, bad and otherwise. 

 

1 hour ago, EandH0904 said:

When we contacted our congresswoman about where in AP our case was, we were told it could be 30 days for a response. After about two weeks we found out it was still in his country "awaiting processing to confirm his eligibility " and that we could continue to inquire every 30 days. If you're still waiting after 6 months I think you've been very patient. I would be worried they lost my packet!!!!

Yes, its starting to be a bit worry-some but I still see them working on Nov 3rd cases which makes me happy. I've seen some things about AP and omgoodness I hope we do not have to go through that! How long did you wait in AP? 
 

 

1 hour ago, mrtravel said:

If there is a delay, in your mind, why not contact USCIS first, BEFORE contacting a Senator, etc?

Hello mrtravel, some people open up a case inquiry with the USCIS and others contact senators. Some people believe that contacting senators makes things go by faster and that a case inquiry with the USCIS just buys them more time. 

[geowrian 22,337]

55 minutes ago, mallafri76 said:

Of course they are. USCIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget is decided by Congress. The Secretary of Homeland Security is nominated by the President but must go through Senate approval and the Senate can question and have hearings into decisions and actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security and its various sub-departments. It's all politics. 

 

Powerful, influential people such as Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, Congressman Ryan and Congresswoman Pelosi will most certainly get USCIS to move.

They can try to exert influence, but they have no official say over USCIS. USCIS is funded entirely through its own fees...they get exactly $0 from DHS (or anywhere else via Congress).

[kris&me 572]

USCIS buget is not part of congress

we pay the fees and support immigration

https://openborders.info/blog/us-immigrant-processing-funded-by-user-fees-since-1882/

the President has a budget for Homeland Security but there are 7 departments to Homeland Security and we are not part of this budget

we have supported immigration part since 1882

only problem we have with federal buget issues are when the government (for whatever reason) does not pass a new budget as many immigration offices are housed in federal buildings which go closed till Congress passes a budget

but it is our fees that pay our immigration process

my senator says totally paid for by our fees