Waiting for a NOA2 from CSC for your I-129F?

[OsLoraTamm 0]

Well - that's if we ever get to that stage of course *still* nothing

Yep -- 187 days +++ here as of today...

Hey TBobeTx....well went to the immigration office here and they sent me away because they do not research pending cases......so at 198 days today....nothing, nada, nil and of course USCIS has not changed there processing times because they do not want to hear from us either.......and yesterday the VSC approved someone who was filed August 30th......Talk about a kick in the teeth....I just flat out hate the b*stards.....I am not normally foul but I am at the end of my rope and no one is holding the other end......Lora

Well - that's if we ever get to that stage of course *still* nothing

Yep -- 187 days +++ here as of today...

Hey TBoneTx....well went to the immigration office here and they sent me away because they do not research pending cases......so at 198 days today....nothing, nada, nil and of course USCIS has not changed there processing times because they do not want to hear from us either.......and yesterday the VSC approved someone who was filed August 30th......Talk about a kick in the teeth....I just flat out hate the b*stards.....I am not normally foul but I am at the end of my rope and no one is holding the other end......Lora

[TBoneTX 45,308]

file must be in the "special" bin.

Rooting for you both!!

Thanx, Mox. Yea Harvard, or whomever. In violation of my own earlier recommendations, I may call the USCIS help... er, hell-line again.

(After call) Well, here we go. I first dialed the toll-free hell number and 1,2,2,6,2,4, and got a royal B*TCH who insisted on reading her script. I tried to cut her off and explain that I'd heard the script and she wasn't required to read it. "Oh yes I am," she said. She began with it again; I interrupted and asked to be transferred to an Immigration Officer. She said, "I can't do that. You must answer the questions that I am asking." I responded that she was obliged to transfer me to an ImmOff at my request. She said, "No, I'm not. You will answer my questions." I told her, "I will report you, and I will hang up in order to reach someone with an inkling of customer service," and I hung up. She is Stella, LM503.

I dialed back, this time the hell number and 1,2,2,4,2,1 and my case number. As last week, the recording said, "You must provide the evidence required." I hit 1,1 and reached a young-sounding ImmOff. He was kind, patient, and forthcoming. As with the ImmOff last week, he saw no trace of an RFE having been assigned. My file is with an officer in Division 9, which is Background Check. Files go there or not on a case-by-case basis (I didn't inquire deeply about details). The ImmOff said that it usually doesn't take very long, especially with tardy files like mine, and once Division 9 is done with it, it would probably go straight to an adjudicator instead of back on the shelf. He estimated mid-January (whoopee!) as a time frame when I might hear of any RFE. He stated that approximately 60% of K-1 files get no RFE.

I have a unique name and a clean criminal record (noncriminal?), and the fiancee got a clean Ecuadorian police certificate earlier, so it ought to be easy to research me. I am worried a little because I have crossed the Tejas/Mexico border many times in the last two years in order to collect information for my upcoming tourist book about T/M sister cities, and the U.S. Border Patrol has flagged me at crossings a couple of times but always let me go after several routine questions. The Border Patrol is a unit of the Div. of Homeland Security just as USCIS is.

The ImmOff sent an e-mail to Division 9, asking them (diplomatically) to shake it. He was absolutely the second person with USCIS who was positive to deal with, and I told him so.

What should we make of all of this? No need to requote 100% of the above.

[SSAH 0]

Hmmm, I really wonder about that. Did your fiance take a lot of trips back and forth too? Did he indicate that files are sometimes sent there randomly or was there always a reason?

My fiance has had a lot of trips back and forth to the US, even before we starting dating. Maybe they are looking into those visits?

I'm waiting for the CSC processing dates to update...

[TBoneTX 45,308]

[...] at 198 days today....nothing, nada, nil [...]

Lora, dial the hell-line and whip through the prompts (someone has surely posted the order of them for the VSC, so that you don't have to listen to the infuriating options), and get to an Immigration Officer. Be sure to use the order of prompts that goes to the Automated Status line, NOT to the front-line screeners. From there, probably hit 1,1 to directly reach an ImmOff. Simply ask (without frustration -- hard, I know) WHERE in the Division your file is. After you learn, you can cite the indisputable truth that July/August files have been approved before yours, and you therefore ask the ImmOff to send an e-mail to wherever your file is (workstation, wherever) to ask them to move it to the next step and to not let it sit further.

That's about all that I can offer you; I do know that taking this approach prevented me from yelling at them and from feeling overly upset (that is, more than usual) afterwards.

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Did your fiance take a lot of trips back and forth too? Did he indicate that files are sometimes sent there randomly or was there always a reason?

My fiance has had a lot of trips back and forth to the US, even before we starting dating. Maybe they are looking into those visits?

She took perhaps 3 trips, but only 2 fell within the 5- or 6-year period that we had to list on the I-129F. As for myself, I presume that U.S. citizens still have the right to travel to non-prohibited countries as they wish, presuming possession of a valid passport (which I have). But, with all of us now under suspicion for being criminals, terrorists, or people who fail to use pit-spray (it having been confiscated at the airport), who knows?

He said that files go to Background Check "on a case-by-case basis." I asked him whether my file had been adjudicated at all beforehand; he said simply that the internal routes of files vary individually.

My fiancee & your fiance's trips are probably being investigated to see whether a visa was overstayed. I've forgotten what I read in passing some time ago, but the penalties for violation can result in a 3-year ban or a 10-year ban from visiting the U.S. once the overstay is discovered, depending on length or severity or whatever it was. Perhaps check www.dhs.gov or another such site to learn what those rules are.

[TBoneTX 45,308]

[...] But, with all of us now under suspicion for being criminals, terrorists, or people who fail to use pit-spray (it having been confiscated at the airport) [...]

It is rare to reply to one's self. ("You're not crazy if you talk to yourself; it's only if you listen.") I wish for the one or more governmental goons (that's you, Goonie) who are reading this site to understand the following:

A. The above was stated with wryness. Consider it a beef; if Midwestern, a corned beef.

2. Consider it a veiled (passive-aggressive?) effort to Petition My Government for Redress (you ARE familiar with Article I of the U.S. Bill of Rights, right, Goonie?).

Now, back to our regularly scheduled grousing.

[SSAH 0]

I have heard of the ban to the US (3 or 10) if an overstay is proved. He never came here on a visa though, just on vacations.

And since they told me my file was assigned, would that mean its not in a background check, assuming I was given correct info?

Next time I call I'll use your prompts to get to an Immigration Off.

[TBoneTX 45,308]

I have heard of the ban to the US (3 or 10) if an overstay is proved. He never came here on a visa though, just on vacations.

And since they told me my file was assigned, would that mean its not in a background check, assuming I was given correct info?

Next time I call I'll use your prompts to get to an Immigration Off.

That's right -- the U.K. is one origin whence travelers need no visa. If your file is with an adjudicator, it could be dealt with (approved/RFE'd/denied) anytime now, but that's not to say that it couldn't also go to Background. I was very grateful that some long-ago poster advertised the correct prompts -- it does wonders for the blood pressure to NOT have to deal with those loser front-line contract employees.

From what you say, Stephanie, I suspect that your file will be approved before mine.

[mox 298]

Another July CSC approval. Congrats of course, but sure would be nice to see some August filers start popping up!

[u2rsobad 0]

It's awfully quiet on the threads today

[mox 298]

It's because Jeraly is a bit preoccupied today.

[u2rsobad 0]

It's because Jeraly is a bit preoccupied today.

I wish I was preoccupied with more than just work here

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Another July CSC approval. Congrats of course, but sure would be nice to see some August filers start popping up!

Uh, ain'tchu fergittin' sumwun, feller? And I was thinking the same thing about Jeraly.

Breaking gnus (fragile antelopes?): My file has been touched already today, likely to rearrange the cobwebs into a Christmas motif.

Edited December 18, 2007 by TBoneTX

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Another July CSC approval. Congrats of course, but sure would be nice to see some August filers start popping up!

Uh, ain'tchu fergittin' sumwun, feller? And I was thinking the same thing about Jeraly.

Breaking gnus (fragile antelopes?): My file has been touched already today, likely to rearrange the cobwebs into a Christmas motif.

Or, St. Patrick's Day. Ha!

[mox 298]

Breaking gnus (fragile antelopes?): My file has been touched already today, likely to rearrange the cobwebs into a Christmas motif.

Nice! You think it had to do with your phone call?