DCF in London - January 2020

[Appy 38]

On 9/5/2020 at 9:25 AM, Stuwoolf said:

After much deliberation and yet another day passing without any letter from Visa Unit, I applied for and received approval for my ESTA today. Over the next 6-8 weeks we have a mind to plan a visit to USA and see my wifes family. My wife will remain in USA, setting up domicile etc and I will return to UK and wait. It breaks our hearts to be put in the potential position of being apart, but it is what it is. For the reason previously stated, we will clear US Immigration in Dublin. I "retire" from NHS on Nov 30 (my last day at work is Oct 22 then on AL) and with the recent sale of our home, I am expecting mucho questions from the Immi Officer at Dublin. We anticipate travelling in October after 22 and me staying for 80% of what my ESTA permits. (unless Visa Unit pulls it out the bag and I must return sooner🙂.....HA! )

 

Hopefully the Visa Unit can get itself sorted out in 6-8 weeks. Hey ho.........

 

What issues does anyone foresee with this plan? Grateful for your input.🙂

For what it’s worth, when I arrived at JFK on my CR1 on Sunday my husband mentioned something to the effect about how hard it would have been to be apart. The CBP Officer said it would have been no problem for me to visit on an ESTA. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Appy

[Stuwoolf 44]

5 minutes ago, Appy said:

For what it’s worth, when I arrived at JFK on my CR1 on Sunday my husband mentioned something to the effect about how hard it would have been to be apart. The CBP Officer said it would have been no problem for me to visit on an ESTA. 

Yes. It is no problem to visit as long as the ties to UK are strong or the CBP Officer can be assured of a return. The issue for UK to US travel is Travel Insurance. Its very expensive and, due to UK FCO saying travel to US is not recommended, any insurance purchased may be void for COVID-19 related illnesses. Of course the alternative is to just go. Once again, scumbag insurance companies run for the hills when the chips are down! Hey ho.......

 

Please you have arrived at where you want to be. Good luck🙂

Edited September 8, 2020 by Stuwoolf

[Appy 38]

2 minutes ago, Stuwoolf said:

Yes. It is no problem to visit as long as the ties to UK are strong or the CBP Officer can be assured of a return. The issue for UK to US travel is Travel Insurance. Its very expensive and, due to UK FCO saying travel to US is not recommended, any insurance purchased may be void for COVID-19 related illnesses. Of course the alternative is to just go. Once again, scumbag insurance companies run for the hills when the chips are down! Hey ho.......

If you do a search of the forums you’ll find quite a lot of other people in the same boat. Hopefully they’ll be more informative. 

[Stuwoolf 44]

15 minutes ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

I’ve got that same response a few times. It’s a complete smokescreen, in my opinion, that allows them to take what time they want.

Couldnt agree more.

 

TBH I am now thinking DCF was not the best option. Having read a post on VJ which said an applicants actually called the NVC and received an update only enforces my thought that NVC,  in retrospect, may have been the better option. Hey ho.......

Edited September 8, 2020 by Stuwoolf

[Morgan5698 58]

41 minutes ago, Stuwoolf said:

TBH I am now thinking DCF was not the best option. Having read a post on VJ which said an applicants actually called the NVC and received an update only enforces my thought that NVC,  in retrospect, may have been the better option. Hey ho.......

I think if you had gone down the NVC route when you would have applied for your i-130 you'd quite possibly be waiting up to a year for that to be approved, let alone the process of it going though NVC then forwarded onto the embassy. If you look at some of the timelines of people on the NVC route that are still waiting to be transferred to the embassy they filed for their i-130's last year and even prior.  

[Stuwoolf 44]

50 minutes ago, Morgan5698 said:

I think if you had gone down the NVC route when you would have applied for your i-130 you'd quite possibly be waiting up to a year for that to be approved, let alone the process of it going though NVC then forwarded onto the embassy. If you look at some of the timelines of people on the NVC route that are still waiting to be transferred to the embassy they filed for their i-130's last year and even prior.  

Yes probably, but at least the applicant would know what was ahead.

 

As has already been said, COVID-19 is now, it seems, being used as an excuse (just like many other companies are doing. It used to be your call is important to us but everyone is busy helping other customers. Now its because of reduced staffing due to COVID-19). As someone who works in a hospital I know all too well the impact COVID-19 is having.

 

I, and I am sure many others, just want a wee bit of openness, honesty, explanation and (dare I say it) a little assistance and help from DCF. That may go a long way. Instead they give us platitudes.

 

Sorry for the rant but the treatment from DCF is beyond a joke.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Stuwoolf

[os306 103]

1 hour ago, Stuwoolf said:

Yes probably, but at least the applicant would know what was ahead.

 

As has already been said, COVID-19 is now, it seems, being used as an excuse (just like many other companies are doing. It used to be your call is important to us but everyone is busy helping other customers. Now its because of reduced staffing due to COVID-19). As someone who works in a hospital I know all too well the impact COVID-19 is having.

 

I, and I am sure many others, just want a wee bit of openness, honesty, explanation and (dare I say it) a little assistance and help from DCF. That may go a long way. Instead they give us platitudes.

 

Sorry for the rant but the treatment from DCF is beyond a joke.

 

I can empathise with your frustration and sense of despair. I think the fact that some of us have received LND numbers whilst others are completely in the dark despite similar I-130 approval times adds to the frustration. 

[Stuwoolf 44]

Another email sent giving full explanation of the difficulties and potential hardships endured and still we get platitudes!

 

"Thank you for your email. 

 

Due to COVID-19 we are experiencing a significant backlog and we are doing everything we can to clear it as quickly as possible to clear it. As previously advised our colleagues will contact you directly with information on how to proceed with your case. Please bear with them. 

 

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit
U.S. Embassy, London
CONS/CIU/RJ"

 

What is different in this case is this is probably not a Cut n Paste response. However it takes no account of what was said in the email sent. Furthermore, "......As previously advised our colleagues will contact you directly with information on how to proceed with your case....." suggests my email is not getting as far as the "colleagues" involved in the process. I wonder if the details sent in my emails even get as far as the "colleagues"?

 

Today we sent an email to my wifes former Congressman. Lets hope some progress can be made.

 

Oh, nothing again in the post or by email regardong LND. I think I will stop wasting my time sending emails. Whats the point! We are at a complete loss as to what to do now........

 

Will wait and see if any joy from Congressman.

 

I hope at least some in LND La La Land have had better luck today.🙂

 

 

[Cauldron 5]

18 minutes ago, Stuwoolf said:

Another email sent giving full explanation of the difficulties and potential hardships endured and still we get platitudes!

 

"Thank you for your email. 

 

Due to COVID-19 we are experiencing a significant backlog and we are doing everything we can to clear it as quickly as possible to clear it. As previously advised our colleagues will contact you directly with information on how to proceed with your case. Please bear with them. 

 

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit
U.S. Embassy, London
CONS/CIU/RJ"

 

What is different in this case is this is probably not a Cut n Paste response. However it takes no account of what was said in the email sent. Furthermore, "......As previously advised our colleagues will contact you directly with information on how to proceed with your case....." suggests my email is not getting as far as the "colleagues" involved in the process. I wonder if the details sent in my emails even get as far as the "colleagues"?

 

Today we sent an email to my wifes former Congressman. Lets hope some progress can be made.

 

Oh, nothing again in the post or by email regardong LND. I think I will stop wasting my time sending emails. Whats the point! We are at a complete loss as to what to do now........

 

Will wait and see if any joy from Congressman.

 

I hope at least some in LND La La Land have had better luck today.🙂

 

 

Eurgh! No luck here either. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

29 minutes ago, Stuwoolf said:

suggests my email is not getting as far as the "colleagues" involved in the process. I wonder if the details sent in my emails even get as far as the "colleagues"?

That’s exactly what I have thought about all the replies people have posted in this forum. 

 

 

15 minutes ago, Cauldron said:

our colleagues will contact you directly with information on how to proceed with your case.

Can you reply that you know how to proceed and do not need that information. You need a case number so you can proceed. 

 

[The4Sands 67]

38 minutes ago, Stuwoolf said:

I hope at least some in LND La La Land have had better luck today.🙂

No joy here either on that front. 

 

But I have booked a flight to go and see my mom.  She's really unwell and I haven't seen her in a year so I fly out next week, just for 10 days.  I tried to see if I was supposed to self isolate or quarantine when I get there, but I couldn't find anything to that effect, even on the CDC website and definitely not on my state's website about COVID.  More chance of me catching it there, I guess.  Will have to self isolate when I get back, obvs, but I work from home so that should be fine.  Don't really go anywhere anyway!  

[Stuwoolf 44]

3 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

That’s exactly what I have thought about all the replies people have posted in this forum. 

 

 

Can you reply that you know how to proceed and do not need that information. You need a case number so you can proceed. 

 

Thanks.

 

TBH I think I am wasting my time. When we applied for my wifes UK Spouse visa it was a similar situation, ask a question and get a pointless response. In that case the question had to be sent to an organisation contracted to receive the questions. That Organisation did not have any answers. Begining to think the US Visa Unit are doing the same thing.

 

Will wait for a response from Congressman (although given my wife is in UK and not in his constituency) I dont expect too much.

 

Hey ho, maybe its time to reflect and rethink the way forward.

[Stuwoolf 44]

7 minutes ago, The4Sands said:

No joy here either on that front. 

 

But I have booked a flight to go and see my mom.  She's really unwell and I haven't seen her in a year so I fly out next week, just for 10 days.  I tried to see if I was supposed to self isolate or quarantine when I get there, but I couldn't find anything to that effect, even on the CDC website and definitely not on my state's website about COVID.  More chance of me catching it there, I guess.  Will have to self isolate when I get back, obvs, but I work from home so that should be fine.  Don't really go anywhere anyway!  

Good luck. I think you going to see your mom is a good move. Go for it!

Edited September 9, 2020 by Stuwoolf

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

FYi using the congressman isn't of much use. This is the response they gave our congressman's inquiry:

 

 

 September 9, 2020   
Thank you for your email on behalf of Congressman Carter's constituent, xxx, regarding her husband's application.  As Mr. xxxx petition appears to be filed locally, we understand that our colleagues in the Immigrant Visa Unit will be entering his case onto the system in due course as the US Embassy in London continues a phased resumption of visa services from July 27.   Given the situation, there is a backlog but they aim to process cases as soon as practicable.  We’d advise the constituent to please also continue to check https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas111 for any further updates to service

[Stuwoolf 44]

17 minutes ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

FYi using the congressman isn't of much use. This is the response they gave our congressman's inquiry:

 

 

 September 9, 2020   
Thank you for your email on behalf of Congressman Carter's constituent, xxx, regarding her husband's application.  As Mr. xxxx petition appears to be filed locally, we understand that our colleagues in the Immigrant Visa Unit will be entering his case onto the system in due course as the US Embassy in London continues a phased resumption of visa services from July 27.   Given the situation, there is a backlog but they aim to process cases as soon as practicable.  We’d advise the constituent to please also continue to check https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas111 for any further updates to service

Thank you for sharing.

 

I dont think I expected anything else. Will your Congressman respond to this or just let it go?

 

We are trying to get a US based legal team involved. Will it make any difference? Who knows but we have ran out of patiance. 

 

Good luck everyone

Edited September 9, 2020 by Stuwoolf