A short rant

[US_VJ 59]

2 minutes ago, Moe428 said:

They are not going to get rid of it, given it's probably one of their most profitable sources of revenue.  They were running out of money not long ago and they won't let this cash cow go.

 

It's also codified in the INA act, although I am not sure if that act mandates it or only suggests it.

 

In any case, it seems this is true for most services centers except WAC and SRC.  Those are still processing a bulk of their applications within a year.

I don't think they can get rid of it, unless they change INA, which is unlikely to happen in this political environment. 

[Moe428 129]

43 minutes ago, yoda one for me said:

Yep, but I can kind of see why. We have status, we're not in the same 'authorized stay' limbo anymore as AOS folks are.

 

It seems like once people start putting in their citizenship applications things start moving, so I'm pretty much assuming that's going to be the case for most of us unless they really do, across each processing center, start approving without interviews at volume.

While we are in better position than someone that field for AOS, we still have other problems.  Lot of businesses and even some government employees are clueless about I-751 and if they want to see proof of your status they become suspicious and/or give you trouble.

[Moe428 129]

2 minutes ago, SS_SS said:

I don't think they can get rid of it, unless they change INA, which is unlikely to happen in this political environment. 

That will never be changed for the better probably for the next 10-20 years.  With that being said, I don't know if INA mandates it or only recommends it.

[JeanneAdil 6,498]

Maybe its time we all got more involved in the public webinar like the one held on October 7,  2020  to dicuss this very issue

 

https://www.dhs.gov/publication/uscis-processing-concurrently-pending-forms-n-400-and-forms-i-751

 

out of the 450 stakeholders in attendance ,  only 6.5% were petitioners/applicants

 

the one interesting read is the following:

 

. For example, the speakers confirmed that I-751 receipt numbers with the prefix MSC are routed for interview scheduling; receipt numbers that do not contain the MSC prefix (e.g., EAC, VSC, LIN, etc.) are routed to the appropriate service center for an interview waiver determination. The speakers also clarified that, if the jointly filed I-751 petition is pending at the time of the N-400 interview, an applicant should bring his or her petitioning spouse to the naturalization interview.

[yoda one for me 322]

How does one find out about these webinar sessions beforehand? Do they announce them somewhere? I had no idea that was even a thing.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

2 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

Maybe its time we all got more involved in the public webinar like the one held on October 7,  2020  to dicuss this very issue

 

https://www.dhs.gov/publication/uscis-processing-concurrently-pending-forms-n-400-and-forms-i-751

 

out of the 450 stakeholders in attendance ,  only 6.5% were petitioners/applicants

 

the one interesting read is the following:

 

. For example, the speakers confirmed that I-751 receipt numbers with the prefix MSC are routed for interview scheduling; receipt numbers that do not contain the MSC prefix (e.g., EAC, VSC, LIN, etc.) are routed to the appropriate service center for an interview waiver determination. The speakers also clarified that, if the jointly filed I-751 petition is pending at the time of the N-400 interview, an applicant should bring his or her petitioning spouse to the naturalization interview.

Is there any way to know when they're having the next one?

Just now, yoda one for me said:

How does one find out about these webinar sessions beforehand? Do they announce them somewhere? I had no idea that was even a thing.

Exactly on the same boat!

[JeanneAdil 6,498]

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/all-events

 

there was one today (in Spanish) in Miami for naturaliztion from 11:30 to 1 eastern time

i didn't attend this one as my spanish is not that good

 

plus a few other topics 

Edited June 15, 2022 by JeanneAdil

[Verrou 1,962]

1 hour ago, Rocio0010 said:

Yeah, I get that. It's just that I think I-751s are completely unnecessary given that the bar for approval is really low. So why even bother with a form that is not high priority for them?

It’s money. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

2 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/all-events

 

there was one today (in Spanish) in Miami for naturaliztion from 11:30 to 1 eastern time

i didn't attend this one as my spanish is not that good

Thank you so much for the link. This is very valuable. I will try to attend the one tomorro.

[GYoonit 1]

1 hour ago, Rocio0010 said:

I am a little bit frustrated, tbh...

I have been reading here and it seems that, for family- based applications, USCIS seems to be focusing ONLY on AOS... And while I am happy that people are approved, I have already seen two or three cases where they were approved in a very short time (as in, four months...); meanwhile, it seems they've completely stopped working on I-751s! It should be fair for everyone...

I agree whole heartedly for fairness sake. Because after all, we do pay just like eeeeeverybody else an expensive fee to submit this along with additional biometrics fee (when they are reusing biometrics) which help USCIS operate and keep the lights on. And by the time they decide to look into the 751 applications or others that have been boxed away they find themselves always over budget and in a potential shutdown/furlough situation meanwhile our processing times only increase...

 

That being said, we do have status and we can go go the dmv, hold jobs, travel. Something many others only wish they can do. So yes, I agree, but I'm also grateful! 

[mindthegap 2,590]

1 hour ago, yoda one for me said:

Yep, but I can kind of see why. We have status, we're not in the same 'authorized stay' limbo anymore as AOS folks are.

Anyone who has had a denial or issue with their I-751, or who has reached the point where they have to practically beg for an appointment every single year for a stamp to continue to do the perfectly normal and legal things such as travelling or working would disagree. 
Limbo it most definitely is. 

[JeanneAdil 6,498]

i am just glad i didn't have to go thru this process

i guess getting a K 1 denial 

and then the spouse visa turning into a IR1 was a blessing

 

but i found the site and have attended 3 public webinars 

sometimes we must just voice an opinion where it (hopefully ) will be heard 

 

but with no one in real  control ,   maybe its a waste

 

 

 

[dnyal 32]

Filing an N-400 did nothing for my I-751. It’s been seven and a half months since I submitted my naturalization application online and nothing. I’m seeing people getting approved in six months, and my USCIS online account says there’s a “5-month wait” for naturalization. My removal of conditions is gonna turn 20 months old in two weeks. It had a bump a month after I filed the N-400: it got transferred to the NBC. That’s been it since then.

[Mike E 11,739]

11 hours ago, SS_SS said:

I know it's so frustrating. I was chatting to an immigration lawyer and he said just a couple years ago, people from EAC were getting their I-751 approved in 8-10 months. Now it says 14.5 months. He was saying that I-751 is no longer a priority for USCIS. It's not one of those forms where they have agreed to a new processing target time. So given these new timelines, it makes sense for them to crank out as many 485s as they can, while not touching I-751s. 

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/reducing-processing-backlogs

 

 

Focusing on I-485 processing will just increase the number of I-751s they have to process later. 
 

By focusing on I-485s there will be fewer 10 year green cards issued. 
 

There will be fewer 10 year green cards issued because USCIS will schedule more interviews (or issue positive decisions with interviews waived) before the couple has been married 2 years.
 

Historically  some couples file I-485 with fewer than 2 years of marriage but due to USCIS inefficiency, they get 10 year green cards because USCIS approved the case 2 or more years after the marriage anniversary.  
 

USCIS should use machine learning to automatically approve I-751 cases.  It isn’t hard to feed a software program hundreds of thousands of cases and from that the program learns which ones were approved and which were denied. Using this, most pending cases can be simply approved.  

[Mike E 11,739]

11 hours ago, SS_SS said:

I don't think they can get rid of it, unless they change INA, which is unlikely to happen in this

olitical environment. 

They don’t need to change INA to make  this better:

 

Idea 1: They can certainly produce an I-751EZ for couples who since the date  I-485  was approved or POE have

-  never been in a state of legal separation 

- cohabitated 

- have not filed for divorce 

- listed both members of the couple as parents on each child born

 

and the conditional LPR (CLPR) has remained admissible (example no  crimes).  
 

If so, approval would be automatic.

 

Idea 2: the CLPR should be able to declare an intent to naturalize before the green card expires by paying the N-400 fee in advance. The CLPR would then get a 4 year extension letter, and would file a new form (paying the I-751 fee) that combines I-751 / N-400 when the N-400 window opens, but no later than 3 years after the resident since date.  There would then be a single adjudication.  

 

Both ideas are consistent with INA.  USCIS could then focus resources on couples with a higher probability of fraud.  

Edited June 16, 2022 by Mike E