Complaint letter to Senator about local Field Office

[EmilyW 1,488]

I would eliminate the word 'complain' because it automatically puts the reader on the defensive.  It's just a negative word and, so early in the letter, it could put the reader off.

 

I would suggest something along the lines of 'I am writing to express my concern at....' or 'I am writing to seek clarification from you regarding....'  Both sentences convey that action is expected but you're not coming at them as hard.  Plus, it makes you sound like a reasonable person willing to engage in discussion versus a person who wants to complain.

[EmilyW 1,488]

I also don't see the point of your wife being a Democrat.  Gillibrand was voted in to serve ALL constituents, not just those who voted for her and, if there's an expectation that she will get better help because she's a Democrat, I don't think that's appropriate.  Just my opinion.

[KeratNY 76]

1 hour ago, bad4tatt said:

 

 

Just go back to Canada!

 

Hahahahha. Always good to take on a troll. Let me put it to you this way: At what point would you personally think it is ok to complain? When the processing times reach 36 months? 60 months? 10 years? I'm guessing there IS a hypothetical point at which you would think the processing times are unreasonably long, no? Assuming you agree with that, then the only difference in our opinion is if that point has been reached already or not. If, indeed, the processing times moved from 5-7 months to 14-24 months in a short amount of time, for no real reason, I humbly submit that that is worth telling our elected representatives about. You may not. That is fine. But this is about the thousands of people affected, not me personally, as I am in a lucky position as otherwise noted. 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

11 hours ago, Loren Y said:

I wish you the best of luck also. It is amazing how long this stuff takes. I hate to say it, but the last time " We The People" we able to effect change on the government involved a little thing called the Boston Tea Party, Followed by the American Revolution, a small Invasion of Canada, and finally the Declaration of Independence signed in 1776. But, hopefully your letter becomes the " Declaration of Independence" for speeding up the immigration wait times. I'm still waiting on my NOA2 on my K1 I filed.  But that is a well written letter, and I say send it.

The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 but the end of the war was 1783, the Declaration took 7 years to take effect, hopefully this will be quicker

[Roel 7,192]

2 minutes ago, KeratNY said:

Hahahahha. Always good to take on a troll. Let me put it to you this way: At what point would you personally think it is ok to complain? When the processing times reach 36 months? 60 months? 10 years? I'm guessing there IS a hypothetical point at which you would think the processing times are unreasonably long, no? Assuming you agree with that, then the only difference in our opinion is if that point has been reached already or not. If, indeed, the processing times moved from 5-7 months to 14-24 months in a short amount of time, for no real reason, I humbly submit that that is worth telling our elected representatives about. You may not. That is fine. But this is about the thousands of people affected, not me personally, as I am in a lucky position as otherwise noted. 

 

The reason is that there is a lot of applications in process and not enough people to process them. Simple.

 

Like I said. I can't wait to see you complaining when you'll be waiting 20 months or something like that for your RoC.

[KeratNY 76]

4 hours ago, LoredanaRobert said:

I'm not sure our elected representatives can help unless control of congress or the senate changes hands. They are ripping babies away from mothers and throwing them in detention camps in Texas, so I think longer wait times may unfortunately be part of an intentional strategy to deter immigration, even legal immigration.

 

Still , that's our process of government so if you don't mind I will use parts of your letter to voice my objections. I am also a NYC office filer and 18 months into the wait.

Thanks for your thoughts. I think this is a somewhat different situation in that we are simply dealing with a increase in length of processing time, not any specific law or policy by Congress or the administration.  I think it is beyond fair to at least express those thoughts and concerns so they are aware of it. For all I know, the senators don't even know about the increase.

 

I am happy for you to use my letter!

 

Sorry to hear you are 18 months into your wait - you are EXACTLY who my letter is meant to help. Good luck! 

[KeratNY 76]

1 hour ago, EmilyW said:

I would eliminate the word 'complain' because it automatically puts the reader on the defensive.  It's just a negative word and, so early in the letter, it could put the reader off.

 

I would suggest something along the lines of 'I am writing to express my concern at....' or 'I am writing to seek clarification from you regarding....'  Both sentences convey that action is expected but you're not coming at them as hard.  Plus, it makes you sound like a reasonable person willing to engage in discussion versus a person who wants to complain.

Thank you for your good points, I will consider them. 

 

55 minutes ago, EmilyW said:

I also don't see the point of your wife being a Democrat.  Gillibrand was voted in to serve ALL constituents, not just those who voted for her and, if there's an expectation that she will get better help because she's a Democrat, I don't think that's appropriate.  Just my opinion.

Good thoughts, thank you. My feeling is that it is both true and wouldn't hurt, but of course I agree she is meant to serve ALL constituents. 

[KeratNY 76]

3 hours ago, Going through said:

It was 14 months for me back in 2005  

Rough. What if that exact same process took 26 months now, would you agree that that is worth pointing out to our elected representatives considering our fees have also gone up?  That is all I am trying to do. It would be nice for the community if 14 months was the outlier, not the norm, and the first step in any change is making people in power aware of what is happening. 

[Going through 5,671]

1 minute ago, KeratNY said:

Rough. What if that exact same process took 26 months now, would you agree that that is worth pointing out to our elected representatives considering our fees have also gone up?  That is all I am trying to do. It would be nice for the community if 14 months was the outlier, not the norm, and the first step in any change is making people in power aware of what is happening. 

For me, personally, I expected the longer AOS and ROC wait times since being a NY filer I was aware NY field offices are notoriously backlogged anyhow (compared to some other States) because of the sheer number of applicants.   Thankfully later on my N400 went super-fast so I was pleasantly surprised by that---figured it would have been close to a year.

[KeratNY 76]

7 hours ago, Roel said:

So not only you're complaining even though you're within processing times, you're also complaining even though USCIS gave you privilege to adjust from torusit visa.. 

 

Oh boy. If you're too impatient to survive AOS I can't wait to see what you're going to do during Removal of Conditions.

 

good thing you didn't arrive to the U.S. based on the spouse visa because you'd also be waiting long time. It is what it is and you're not special for waiting. It's not Uscis fault that there are other people in line in front of you. Do you know some people wait decades for their green cards? 

 

Anyway. Good luck but I highly doubt your letter will have any impact. 

I feel like I've addressed all this ad nauseum but I have a feeling you are seeing what you want to see. Like I have said 6 times (literally), I am not complaining about MY case. I am not special, I am NOT impatient with regards to MY case, and I am HAPPY with my case as I am relatively early on and I am not disadvantaged given I have EAD/AP. I am simply using my standing as an applicant in line to write on behalf of ALL constituents to voice concern about the timeline tripling from 5-7 months to 14-24 months.  Maybe you think it has to get 10x as slow before it is worth complaining rather than 3x but I respectfully disagree. I think the time is now, as it is a current issue for an entire community.  I also am not convinced we have triple the amount of people in line as before, I think they have just got demonstrably slower. A lot like NYC's MTA/subway, they tried to blame delays on increasing ridership and that wasn't really true.

 

The fact that some people wait decades for their green card is both true AND irrelevant to this letter. Some kids get orphaned at a young age, too, a sad fact that is also true and irrelevant. Not everything in the world that is worse than a wait for a green card can be used as a reason to not send that letter. 

 

I also said I was grateful for my situation and that immigration is indeed a privilege not a right and that spousal visa people are in a much tougher position as they have to be apart. Again, I've literally said all this and addressed all those points already, you are choosing to ignore it.  You'd be a really bad debater if you keep bringing up points that haven been adequately addressed at length already.  

 

My point - my ONLY point - is to bring attention to our elected representatives that a federal agency in their jurisdiction has processing timelines that have tripled from 5-7 months to 14-24 months. Making them aware is the first step, and I am doing my part to make sure that is the case. What they can do about it is up in the air, but I can't even get to that step without making them aware. 

 

Would love any thoughts you have but I'm not sure you ignoring everything I say is really helping make your case. Clearly, we are going to have to agree to disagree and I'm fine with that. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by KeratNY

[Loren Y 2,756]

31 minutes ago, Randyandyuni said:

The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 but the end of the war was 1783, the Declaration took 7 years to take effect, hopefully this will be quicker

True, I was just kinda generalizing. There were more conflicts after the signing. Lucky for me I don't have to pass the citizenship test. LOL

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

"

Dear Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,

 

My name is [ ]. I am a US Citizen, a lifelong NY State resident, your constituent, and a registered Democrat. I"    

 

...Not to sound off topic but it was mentioned already, what does a democrat or republican matter here, but it is NY so, maybe gets some favoritism I suppose.

[KeratNY 76]

31 minutes ago, Roel said:

 

The reason is that there is a lot of applications in process and not enough people to process them. Simple.

 

Like I said. I can't wait to see you complaining when you'll be waiting 20 months or something like that for your RoC.

That is PROBABLY the reason, although processing times have more than tripled and I doubt the number of applicants have more than tripled. But again, the first step to effecting any real change is just making people aware of what is going on. Who knows if our elected congressmen even know?

 

Sure, I'll patiently wait 20 months for ROC no problem. But what if they actually fix the issues they have at the Field Office and it only takes 14 months, or 8 months? Isn't that a good thing for an entire community for processing timelines to move in the right direction, assuming they are still doing a good job of reviewing the applications? What if I need to wait 30 months, is that now too long?

 

All these times are arbitrary. All I can say is that I am going through THIS process NOW, and I have the standing to let our senators know about a current issue that affects thousands in their community. 

[Roel 7,192]

But they aren't going to change anything. They won't throw away half of the applications to speed up the others. They have no power to hire more USCIS workers.

 

All is going to happen you're going to receive a nice letter from them, saying that they appreciate your opinion. Sad but truth.

 

I don't mean that it's pointless to complain - its just in this situation it really nothing can be done, but wait.

And personally I think US representatives or senators have more important things on their minds than some immigrants waiting few months longer for their green cards.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

It's great that you're writing on behalf of all applicants, but keep in mind, not all applicants mind the wait. MOST people go in the mindset that they have their EAD and AP, they can work they can leave and come back. MOST people don't feel that they even want anything more to do with immigration than they already have. MOST people don't see the point of expressing concerns because it's not worth the time or energy. MOST applicants honestly don't care about the wait time that much, which is why you're getting so much push back. MOST applicants are just happy to be here.

Either way,  average wait times are guesstimates.
My local office was at like 18 months to 24 months when my husband went for his GC. He was approved in 66 days without interview.


Also in your note you might as well include everything else that is taking longer, such as ROC. People are getting 18 month extensions now instead of 12 month because it's expected to take around 2 years to get your 10 year green card.


Again though, it's nice to feel that you need to be the voice for so many people, but at least here on VJ, you may not find that much support.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Ash.1101