Is it worth having your state senator inquiring about your petition?

[rajc 0]

i contacted my state senator's office to see if they would inquire about my petition. they need me to drop off some paper work before they can do that. shall i fill out the paper work so they can inquire? is this worth it?

i am just a bit antsy.

thanks

[simple_male 1]

Yes, it is worth it. While they can not influence for a speedy approval, they can get some information that USCIS won't provide to you.

i contacted my state senator's office to see if they would inquire about my petition. they need me to drop off some paper work before they can do that. shall i fill out the paper work so they can inquire? is this worth it?

i am just a bit antsy.

thanks

[kitkat1 5]

i contacted my state senator's office to see if they would inquire about my petition. they need me to drop off some paper work before they can do that. shall i fill out the paper work so they can inquire? is this worth it?

i am just a bit antsy.

thanks

If you are within the processing time posted on the USCIS site, there is little your senator's office can do. But there is no harm in filling out the privacy form and asking them to check your status - just don't get your hopes up.

[Yodrak 7]

rajc,

A state senator? Not likely to be able to get anything for you. You'd be much better off contacting your US senator, but even they can only get info not change the course of events.

You're not overdue for a decision yet - what kind of information do you think you might be able to receive anyway?

Yodrak

i contacted my state senator's office to see if they would inquire about my petition. they need me to drop off some paper work before they can do that. shall i fill out the paper work so they can inquire? is this worth it?

i am just a bit antsy.

thanks

Edited May 8, 2007 by Yodrak

[arwensun1965 1]

If you are within the processing time posted on the USCIS site, there is little your senator's office can do. But there is no harm in filling out the privacy form and asking them to check your status - just don't get your hopes up.

I looked at your timeline, I would leave the senator route for now, you are well within the processing time, there are people on this site that have waited a lot longer than you have, a little bit of patience is what is needed here.

[Yodrak 7]

deleted

Edited May 8, 2007 by Yodrak

[ChinaDavid 0]

This is what I learned. While attending a several-day conference in Washington DC this past February, I was prepared to visit my US Congressman (US Senators and their staffers are MUCH too busy addressing upcoming legislation). While sitting at an afternoon session entitled "Effective Hill Visits", I realized my concerns were way to personal to bring out as a topic of discussion, let alone actually visit my Congressman or US Senator at his Washington DC office. Instead I waited until after the session and talked to one of the panelists.

The most effective way to get action on your petition is to contact your US Congressman at his local office in your state. Find and contact a staffer. Send in the forms that allow them to contact any government agency and ask questions and receive answers on your behalf.

There are few things they can do to speed up the process. But a few Congressional inquiries on your behalf CAN find a petition that is sitting on someone's desk, collecting dust, and get it back into the mainstream of processing. My Congressman's staffer has now called me twice in the past two months, and now that both our I-129F and i_130 petitions have been approved, will contact the NVC this Friday to ensure it is immediately sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Then, weeks before I can find out if it has arrived, she will then contact the consulate to ensure it has arrived and is in process.

Trust me, there is absolutely no downside to your actions. At worst, you remain within the USCIS, NVC, Consulate timeline guidelines.... at best, things move along a bit faster.

[kitkat1 5]

The only downside is that when you are within processing times, you are asking the elected official's staff to make an inquiry when it really isn't necessary and is likely to be a waste of everyone's time.

If you outside of processing times or need assistance with something like an expedite request (for a valid reason such as military deployment), each senator and congressman has a person on their staff to assist you. It's as simply as downloading their privacy form and faxing it over to their office. But it's obviously prudent to contact them only when it's truly necessary.

[ChinaDavid 0]

So, as you can see from the most recent response, there is no downside. These staffers enjoy helping the constituents of the elected official for whom they work. She told me she had nothing to do with being approved for both petitions in only 7 days after the USCIS received the RFE information, although my RFE receipt of information said it would take a "minumum of 14 days to process this information. If you have received no response in 60 days contact the USCIS" Okay, so they processed mine in only 7 days instead of the "minimum of 14 days". But there is no way I would have waited 60 days. This is where they can find out information that you could otherwise not find out, and they are there to serve the constituents of their boss. This is where things can perhaps be sped along, and make a staffer's day.

[kitkat1 5]

So, as you can see from the most recent response, there is no downside. These staffers enjoy helping the constituents of the elected official for whom they work.

Perhaps you had an unusually good experience. Generally speaking, these staffers are overworked and do not appreciate being bothered with inquiries about cases that are well within processing times. And they are not shy about saying so.

Again, the downside is that when you are within processing times you are wasting everyone's time.

Edited May 8, 2007 by kitkat1

[BelwinMills 0]

I filled out all my forms and had my sentors office double check my I-130 form.

I believe I had a fast NOA2 because they sent it off and stamped it on the CR1 Visa

I did not do the same with the K-3 and that NOA2 took 5 months. I recommend it

Wow I had no problem with Denise Hastarts office here in IL and at the time he was speaker of the house. They should be very glad to help you. They schedule me right in the week I called.

[rajc 0]

well seems like i will contact them tomorrow. Bob Corker is US senator from TN. I will also contact the congressman's office

[kitkat1 5]

I filled out all my forms and had my sentors office double check my I-130 form.

I believe I had a fast NOA2 because they sent it off and stamped it on the CR1 Visa

I did not do the same with the K-3 and that NOA2 took 5 months. I recommend it

Wow I had no problem with Denise Hastarts office here in IL and at the time he was speaker of the house. They should be very glad to help you. They schedule me right in the week I called.

It's rather unusual for a senator's staff member to take the time to review a constituent's paperwork. It was kind of them to do so, but imagine what would happen if every petitioner asked their senator's office to check their paperwork? It's just not their job and they are not obligated to do act as a proofreader.

In the same vein, they are not obligated to check into case status when a case is within processing times. Had you had the bad luck to contact Senator Durbin's Chicago office and had you spoken to his immigration caseworker, she would have told you "please don't bother me again with your petty requests and wait your turn like everyone else".

It all depends on who you reach and how willing they are to help you. And they're generally more willing to help if you are outside of processing time.

[pushbrk 13,050]

This is what I learned. While attending a several-day conference in Washington DC this past February, I was prepared to visit my US Congressman (US Senators and their staffers are MUCH too busy addressing upcoming legislation). While sitting at an afternoon session entitled "Effective Hill Visits", I realized my concerns were way to personal to bring out as a topic of discussion, let alone actually visit my Congressman or US Senator at his Washington DC office. Instead I waited until after the session and talked to one of the panelists.

The most effective way to get action on your petition is to contact your US Congressman at his local office in your state. Find and contact a staffer. Send in the forms that allow them to contact any government agency and ask questions and receive answers on your behalf.

There are few things they can do to speed up the process. But a few Congressional inquiries on your behalf CAN find a petition that is sitting on someone's desk, collecting dust, and get it back into the mainstream of processing. My Congressman's staffer has now called me twice in the past two months, and now that both our I-129F and i_130 petitions have been approved, will contact the NVC this Friday to ensure it is immediately sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Then, weeks before I can find out if it has arrived, she will then contact the consulate to ensure it has arrived and is in process.

Trust me, there is absolutely no downside to your actions. At worst, you remain within the USCIS, NVC, Consulate timeline guidelines.... at best, things move along a bit faster.

That's all good information except your expectation that the staffer can find out any sooner than you can about the petition's physical arrival inside the Consulate in Guangzhou. It's just the nature of how things are done in GUZ. You can call DOS stateside. They will have the most up to date information on the status of your case once it leaves NVC. When it leaves NVC, the status will show as "loaded". When GUZ decided to take delivery of and work the petitions in the box yours came in (usually on a Saturday) the case status will change to "open". That's the day the P3 is authorized to be sent. It will actually leave a few days later and arrive within two days of shipment via courier. No tracking information for packages between NVC and Consulates is logged relative to specific case files. You can track all the packages you want but you'll never know which tracking number matches the package containing your file.

[Yodrak 7]

ChinaDavid,

There is a potential downside if the case file is about to be given to a case officer or is already on a case officer's desk, and it gets pulled away because someone else needs to look at it to address an enquiring representative's questions.

Yodrak

.....

Trust me, there is absolutely no downside to your actions. At worst, you remain within the USCIS, NVC, Consulate timeline guidelines.... at best, things move along a bit faster.