Suggestions to improve the timeline system

[Caladan 19]

I'd rather have some info than none at all. (Makes you sort of wonder what happens after NOA2!!!!!1111!!! Do they ever marry? Adjust status? Divorce?) And it would prevent the outlier problem: I'm going through Hartford and I have a sample size of .... three, which is smaller than the filed-after-the-25th-but-before-the-30th threads.

[Fandango 1,439]

I think Caladan's idea is great

[YanJeff 0]

I was just looking through all of the timelines at the CSC for China. I see many , many, many timelines that have not been updated in a very long while. And the Members have not visited VJ in just as long.

How does keeping outdated, NOT-Updated, Forgotten Timelines affect the VJ Database?

[Ladylethal 12]

Caladan's idea of mandatory updating from time to time would help that as well.

[*julez* 124]

I was just looking through all of the timelines at the CSC for China. I see many , many, many timelines that have not been updated in a very long while. And the Members have not visited VJ in just as long.

How does keeping outdated, NOT-Updated, Forgotten Timelines affect the VJ Database?

I think people like this should be automatically disabled after a certain period of time. The abandoned timelines corrupt the integrity of the data.

I also like Caladan's idea, since I was like Tracy and Lisa and didn't get to file for ages after joining VJ.

[LaL 418]

I was just looking through all of the timelines at the CSC for China. I see many , many, many timelines that have not been updated in a very long while. And the Members have not visited VJ in just as long.

How does keeping outdated, NOT-Updated, Forgotten Timelines affect the VJ Database?

I think people like this should be automatically disabled after a certain period of time. The abandoned timelines corrupt the integrity of the data.

I also like Caladan's idea, since I was like Tracy and Lisa and didn't get to file for ages after joining VJ.

I do not believe this is hoow the timelines work - as I understand it - incomplete timelines are not figured into the data.

that said - I really think the timelines could be more user friendly and "pretty". Most of the options are jogged and not "justified" as to look organized. Buttons would be great and would be more visually pleasing. I would love for our system of timelines to be more relied upon vs the filer threads. Maybe that could be a goal of some of the filer threads - to suggest filling in timelines where possible.

[L_n_O 3]

what about making one of the profile choices

- Petitioner

- Benefactor

- Both (we both use this account)

** helps know who you're talking to **

[L_n_O 3]

just thought I'd also mention that when I just did my *similar timeline search*, not only did I get entries from the Montreal and Vancouver consulate (as expected), I got an entry from Armenia..

odd...................

[~Nini~ 2]

1) Make filling out a timeline mandatory before someone is permitted to post.

1a) In order to allow people the ability to post before they file, one of the options on the timeline should be a checkbox indicating 'I have not yet filed.' And maybe an 'I plan to file for a....' That way everyone knows where the timeline is and that it's supposed to do something. I'm not sure if this is possible within the limits of the code available, but what I'm thinking is basically every account starts out Disabled and upon Submitting a Timeline, they are automatically undisabled.

2) Make filling out a timeline mandatory periodically. Monthly or every-other-monthly updates where the person either confirms all of their information or has a chance to add something new. We'd need a way to say 'Nothing has changed' and then submit it to the timeline, and maybe a way for people who are done to have a checkbox that says 'I am done' so they don't get bugged every month.

3) A question: in calculating estimates and the like, how are partial timelines accounted for? E.g., I've filed for AOS, but I haven't received an NOA1 yet. Am I just a null value for 'time to NOA1'? Or if I never filled it in, would I skew the results?

But basically, I figure timelines are only as good as the amount of data contained in them, and ensuring they're up-to-date is pretty important.

4) Can we re-design the naviation page for the timelines? I find it a little counterintuitive.

I love these ideas.

To address #3, I believe there was suggestion that we keep the NOA1 dates set to the actual date of when the NOA1 was issued, as opposed to when the NOA1 was mailed out as some people were doing. The only issue I have with this right now is that some people don't seem to be receiving their NOA1s from USCIS. Regardless, I am in favor for this suggestion as it'll make the timelines more accurate.

As well, I've noticed that there are a few people who have just started their K1 petitions, yet they're "jumping the gun" by inserting their planned wedding date in their timelines. I'm fine with keeping the "wedding date" in the timelines, but it seems that this causes false data in calculating the average time from start to finish, especially since the timelines seem to give that calculation of "Your I-129F was approved in (x) days" based on a planned wedding date.

If no one understood that (), look at this timeline as an example: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=8106

I know this goes into the realm of complications, but surely we can perhaps separate that date from the overall calculation without having to take it out completely?

[YanJeff 0]

I have spoken to 2 nice ladies at USCIS because I have recieved 4 "I-179, NOA- Receipt Notice" 2 with "NOTICE DATE: 7/9/2007" , 1 with "NOTICE DATE: 7/25/2007, and 1 with "NOTICE DATE: 7/26/2007".

All four of these NOA1's were "REPLACEMENT RECEIPT NOTICE". Because of the computer problem they had in May, that delayed the sending of NOA1.

Both ladies and my Visa Service told me.

The date that we use to track our progress is the "RECEIVED DATE". My "RECEIVED DATE" is 05/25/2007.

So unless I misunderstand. The NOA1 has no affect as far as "Timelines" go.

[YanJeff 0]

SORRY! I mean to say The NOA1 has no affect on "Processing Times"

[~Nini~ 2]

Ooof! What I meant to say was, "I believe there was suggestion that we keep the NOA1 dates set to the actual date of when the NOA1 was issued, as opposed to when the K1 petition was mailed out as some people were doing."

My presumption was also that they issued an NOA1 on the same day that they received it... obviously also my misinterpretation. I meant that we should track the progress based on the date that USCIS received each petition. My bad.

(Can you tell that I need more sleep?)

[bszoom42 0]

With the I-797C (NOA1) and I-797 (NOA2) there are a bunch of dates that makes it confusing.

NOTICE DATE is the date the physical paper (I-797 or I-797C) was printed, and is basically irrelevant to your Visa Process.

On the I-797C (NOA1), the RECEIVED DATE is the date your petition is prioritized by. That is the date that should be entered in the VisaJourney.com timeline. The NOTICE DATE is simply the date your I-797C was printed.

On the I-797 (NOA2), the date that is important is the first date listed in the date range of the petition Validity. For example, "Valid from 07/09/2007 to 11/09/2007" means that 07/09/2007 is the NOA2 date. That is the date that should be entered in the VisaJourney.com timeline. The RECEIPT DATE is simply the date your I-797C was printed; and the NOTICE DATE is simply the date your I-797 was printed.

Perhaps we should add this information to the timeline page, so that people put it the right values.

I also like the idea of specifying if you are Petitioner or Beneficiary.

[Ladylethal 12]

For NOAs I used the date shown in the actual NOA, as notice date.

[featherB 1]

Thanks.

Wow, it's amazing how many people don't fill in their timelines after a certain point.

Indeed... if you go into any of the monthly filer threads in the AOS forum, and click on a few people's 'my timeline' links, you'll find that half of them don't have a timeline at all... and that for some reason, a lot of people that do have timelines seem to give up on filling them in after they get their visa. There are SO MANY people who've faithfully filled in every last date on their K-1 journey... and yet not put in anything after that. And yet they're posting in a thread that tracks people's timeline information... I don't get it, it's not as though they're unaware of VJ's timeline feature!

Anyway... I too like Caladan's idea, I think it would improve things (timeline-filling-wise) greatly.

I think I've asked this one before, but... would it be possible to make the options for viewing AOS timelines more like the options that are there for K-1s? I like to view lots of timelines in one go, and there's no option to do that with AOS (I don't think)... and if I remember right, there's also no way to order the timelines by date, etc. Also, any chance of adding a 'transferred to CSC' option? I have my local office listed in my timeline & my profile, but as my AOS has been transferred to CSC, it's of very little relevance to anything anymore, and there's no way of filtering timelines to see other CSC-transferees' timelines. Although I know there might not be much point doing that (what with namechecks being as long as a piece of string and all that), but still...

Edited August 5, 2007 by featherB