FBI name check and lenght of stay in the US

[supercaleroman 0]

My VERY dear VJers,

After looking at different VJ timelines, I have arrived to the conclusion that your time of LEGAL entrance into the U.S. has a great influence in the FBI namecheck process and your subsequent approval for AOS.

From many posts that I have read (notice NOT the vast majority) it seems to me that people entering the United States before the tragic events of 9/11/01 have a better chance of having their FBI name check completed and cleared after their interview than those who arrived into this country afterwards.

My theory is COMPLETELY based on empirical observations, so if you are a quick responder, please refrain from the very-commonly-used bashing post and please DO provide an alternative view.

What are your thoughts? Do you think your time of legal entry into the U.S. aide your chances of getting approved 'on the spot' as so many of our fellow VJers do?

[Otto 83]

I don't believe so (one way or the other) - I think it has more to do with a persons name (of course), age, places they've lived etc - and a lot to do with the FBI's workload (and a host of other things too). Unless a person lived here their entire life that is (but no guarantees).

Source

Edited April 14, 2007 by Karin und Otto

[SC & TF 1]

I don't believe so (one way or the other) - I think it has more to do with a persons name (of course), age, places they've lived etc - and a lot to do with the FBI's workload (and a host of other things too). Unless a person lived here their entire life that is (but no guarantees).

Source

I also don't believe your time of legal entry has any impact. I entered the US in the first week of August 2001 on an F1 visa. Granted, it was a month before 9/11, but I still don't think it makes any difference.

Edited April 14, 2007 by SC & TF

[Killer_Clown_2009 0]

You need to give up this "empirical" data that you have collected.

[rebeccajo 14]

*scratches head*

supercaleroman - Not sure what kind of empirical data you could be using here. For one thing, MOST of the folks on VJ arrived in the country after 9/11. Unless you are referring to having been in the states before for visits.

If so, that theory doesn't hold for my husband. He was in the US for 3 months in 1990 on a J visa.

Karin und Otto - age and places you've lived? I don't understand the age correlation at all. As for places one has lived, are you subscribing to the theory that individuals from certain nations get a tougher 'once over' than those from other countries? Personally I think that occurs during the visa process. If you are referring to people who have moved around frequently - well that doesn't hold for my husband either. He lived in one town his entire life at a total of two different addresses.

If the FBI were searching just your name as you know it, it might be easier to figure all this out. But they don't. The way names are jumbled, dropped off, and phonetically spun causes the 'hits'. Lack of manpower causes the delay in searching the hits.

[Dr_LHA 3]

Yeah, I personally think supercaleroman's theory is a load of old bollocks, but I should probably shut up because in my own case does agree with his theory. I wonder if I'm part of his empirical dataset?

[Caladan 19]

I think it's a little strange to demand that people who disagree with you give a full dataset when you're referring to your own without presenting it.

But let's assume you're right, and there is a correlation between visiting the U.S. pre-9/11 and getting through the green card process faster.

What's your theory on why that might be? From what we know of the FBI procedure, there's a number of steps, and a 'false positive' on any one step requires a manual check, which explains the delay. What about entering the country before 9/11 would change that?

My guess is that if you're seeing faster approval times for those with a pre-9/11 visit, it's because the majority of those couples with lots of pre-9/11 visits didn't wait until 2006 to file for AOS. Over four years variations in processing times are pretty common.

[Killer_Clown_2009 0]

The oldest AOS timeline entered on VJ is in 04/2001. There are 2480 VJ AOS timelines.

Lets say an average of 750,000 adjust status in the US yearly and become LPR's (I think that's close to the average).

So the entire population from 2001-2007 is an estimated 4,500.000. The population you are looking

at (VJ AOS timelines) of 2480 (many of which are incomplete) is way too small to gather any meaningful data from.

How many people out of the 2480 with timelines actually entered before 2001? I'm sure it has to be pretty tiny, making the sample you are basing your theory on miniscule in comparison to the actual numbers of people who adjust status in the US.

Edited April 14, 2007 by jane2005

[homesick_american 1]

*scratches head*

supercaleroman - Not sure what kind of empirical data you could be using here. For one thing, MOST of the folks on VJ arrived in the country after 9/11. Unless you are referring to having been in the states before for visits.

If so, that theory doesn't hold for my husband. He was in the US for 3 months in 1990 on a J visa.

Karin und Otto - age and places you've lived? I don't understand the age correlation at all. As for places one has lived, are you subscribing to the theory that individuals from certain nations get a tougher 'once over' than those from other countries? Personally I think that occurs during the visa process. If you are referring to people who have moved around frequently - well that doesn't hold for my husband either. He lived in one town his entire life at a total of two different addresses.

If the FBI were searching just your name as you know it, it might be easier to figure all this out. But they don't. The way names are jumbled, dropped off, and phonetically spun causes the 'hits'. Lack of manpower causes the delay in searching the hits.

Your husband's name check has been going on for what...over a year now? That's messed up; how can they possibly justify that?

[rebeccajo 14]

*scratches head*

supercaleroman - Not sure what kind of empirical data you could be using here. For one thing, MOST of the folks on VJ arrived in the country after 9/11. Unless you are referring to having been in the states before for visits.

If so, that theory doesn't hold for my husband. He was in the US for 3 months in 1990 on a J visa.

Karin und Otto - age and places you've lived? I don't understand the age correlation at all. As for places one has lived, are you subscribing to the theory that individuals from certain nations get a tougher 'once over' than those from other countries? Personally I think that occurs during the visa process. If you are referring to people who have moved around frequently - well that doesn't hold for my husband either. He lived in one town his entire life at a total of two different addresses.

If the FBI were searching just your name as you know it, it might be easier to figure all this out. But they don't. The way names are jumbled, dropped off, and phonetically spun causes the 'hits'. Lack of manpower causes the delay in searching the hits.

Your husband's name check has been going on for what...over a year now? That's messed up; how can they possibly justify that?

National Security.

He was reprinted Thursday and we have word the namecheck is cleared. Hopefully he will have card in hand soon.

[mybackpages 0]

The only impact 11 Sept has on FBI checks is the reorgainzation of the federal government and new regulations that were put in place will change proceedure. me thinks this argument doesnt hold water.

Edited April 14, 2007 by mybackpages

[homesick_american 1]

National Security.

He was reprinted Thursday and we have word the namecheck is cleared. Hopefully he will have card in hand soon.

That's good to hear!