Are all these calls really necessary?

[StillThePrettiest 3]

not really a massively important issue, but over and over again these past few days I've seen people in here talking about 'calling every day' 'calling til I get an answer' and so on; obviously sometimes this is necessary (in the case of paperwork having gone astray, or similar), but I can't believe it always is; many of the comments seemed to relate just to checking the status of a case... so I thought I'd see what others thought:

is there any possibility that these calls are slowing the process even further? are the people who answer the phones - not necessarily the first person, who's probably a receptionist, but the one(s) the calls get passed to via the 'RFE trick' or whatever - also the ones who process our cases? and if there's even a remote possibility - can we minimise unnecessary calls please?!

not meaning to target anyone with this... it's a genuine question that I thought I'd open up to discussion

it may well be that the process would be exactly as slow if no one called at all... just been wondering

[Ladylethal 12]

You do realize that the people who answer the phone are not the same people who work on cases, right?

[StillThePrettiest 3]

did you read my post? I think I answered that

[TracyTN 237]

I have wondered similar before - but not in the way of slowing down processing; more to the point of why bang your head on a brick wall hearing the same information day after day after day? How that helps one's sanity during the already insane process, I'll never know.

But when I suggested such, I was roundly yelled at and basically told that I must not care about my case as much as someone who calls every day so I gave up...!

[StillThePrettiest 3]

oh well, if someone yells at someone else for wondering aloud about something then I think they have more of a problem than the wonderer

and that's a good secondary point you make as well; why add to your own stress with constant calling?

[*julez* 124]

I have wondered similar before - but not in the way of slowing down processing; more to the point of why bang your head on a brick wall hearing the same information day after day after day? How that helps one's sanity during the already insane process, I'll never know.

But when I suggested such, I was roundly yelled at and basically told that I must not care about my case as much as someone who calls every day so I gave up...!

We ALL care about our cases Tracy, just some of us more than others

But seriously, if ya wanna call a million times, knock yourself out. Doesn't really hurt me at all, but its certainly not a pratice in which I will engage.

[*JG* 2]

not really a massively important issue, but over and over again these past few days I've seen people in here talking about 'calling every day' 'calling til I get an answer' and so on; obviously sometimes this is necessary (in the case of paperwork having gone astray, or similar), but I can't believe it always is; many of the comments seemed to relate just to checking the status of a case... so I thought I'd see what others thought:

is there any possibility that these calls are slowing the process even further? are the people who answer the phones - not necessarily the first person, who's probably a receptionist, but the one(s) the calls get passed to via the 'RFE trick' or whatever - also the ones who process our cases? and if there's even a remote possibility - can we minimise unnecessary calls please?!

not meaning to target anyone with this... it's a genuine question that I thought I'd open up to discussion

it may well be that the process would be exactly as slow if no one called at all... just been wondering

Through the whole process, I only made two calls and that was to the National Visa Center. Otherwise, I decided for my own sanity to purposely NOT call no matter what. After reading various posts on here about the many calls and their disappointing aftermaths, I am positive I made the right decisions.

I'm not sure it really slows anything down, though. I would imagine the people answering the phones are not the same one's working on the cases.

[Yodrak 7]

StillThePrettiest,

You've hit on exactly the reason why the USCIS closed the public phone lines to the SCs and opened the National Customer Service Center a few years ago.

Unfortunately, they didn't give the contract people who staff the NCSC access to any more information than the public already has access to itself. And the (relatively) few USCIS people who man the 'second tier' are also not located at the SCs and are not the people who process cases, so with regard to case-specific issues they can only send inquiries to the SCs to which the SCs may or may not respond. (At least non-response is a possible indication that all available SC personnel are working on cases and don't stop doing so to become responders, which would somewhat defeat the original purpose of setting up the NCSC.)

Yodrak

not really a massively important issue, but over and over again these past few days I've seen people in here talking about 'calling every day' 'calling til I get an answer' and so on; obviously sometimes this is necessary (in the case of paperwork having gone astray, or similar), but I can't believe it always is; many of the comments seemed to relate just to checking the status of a case... so I thought I'd see what others thought:

is there any possibility that these calls are slowing the process even further? are the people who answer the phones - not necessarily the first person, who's probably a receptionist, but the one(s) the calls get passed to via the 'RFE trick' or whatever - also the ones who process our cases? and if there's even a remote possibility - can we minimise unnecessary calls please?!

not meaning to target anyone with this... it's a genuine question that I thought I'd open up to discussion

it may well be that the process would be exactly as slow if no one called at all... just been wondering

[TracyTN 237]

I have wondered similar before - but not in the way of slowing down processing; more to the point of why bang your head on a brick wall hearing the same information day after day after day? How that helps one's sanity during the already insane process, I'll never know.

But when I suggested such, I was roundly yelled at and basically told that I must not care about my case as much as someone who calls every day so I gave up...!

We ALL care about our cases Tracy, just some of us more than others

But seriously, if ya wanna call a million times, knock yourself out. Doesn't really hurt me at all, but its certainly not a pratice in which I will engage.

Oh I hear you - and I know it doesn't 'hurt me' for someone else to call 16 times a day. I just find it one of the strangest anomolies.

[no name 1]

and that's a good secondary point you make as well; why add to your own stress with constant calling?

Some people like to obsess & micro manage........

[*JG* 2]

and that's a good secondary point you make as well; why add to your own stress with constant calling?

Some people like to obsess & micro manage........

I've thought that about this and a few other issues dealing with this process.

I did not micro manage and we sailed through incredibly smooth. But what do I know? Or, at least that's what has pretty much been said. To each his own, I suppose.

Edited August 8, 2007 by Jomo's girl

[*julez* 124]

I have wondered similar before - but not in the way of slowing down processing; more to the point of why bang your head on a brick wall hearing the same information day after day after day? How that helps one's sanity during the already insane process, I'll never know.

But when I suggested such, I was roundly yelled at and basically told that I must not care about my case as much as someone who calls every day so I gave up...!

We ALL care about our cases Tracy, just some of us more than others

But seriously, if ya wanna call a million times, knock yourself out. Doesn't really hurt me at all, but its certainly not a pratice in which I will engage.

Oh I hear you - and I know it doesn't 'hurt me' for someone else to call 16 times a day. I just find it one of the strangest anomolies.

I guess some people thrive on stress and no news.

[TracyTN 237]

I have wondered similar before - but not in the way of slowing down processing; more to the point of why bang your head on a brick wall hearing the same information day after day after day? How that helps one's sanity during the already insane process, I'll never know.

But when I suggested such, I was roundly yelled at and basically told that I must not care about my case as much as someone who calls every day so I gave up...!

We ALL care about our cases Tracy, just some of us more than others

But seriously, if ya wanna call a million times, knock yourself out. Doesn't really hurt me at all, but its certainly not a pratice in which I will engage.

Oh I hear you - and I know it doesn't 'hurt me' for someone else to call 16 times a day. I just find it one of the strangest anomolies.

I guess some people thrive on stress and no news.

Apparently!!!

[GOLDEN.247 0]

not really a massively important issue, but over and over again these past few days I've seen people in here talking about 'calling every day' 'calling til I get an answer' and so on; obviously sometimes this is necessary (in the case of paperwork having gone astray, or similar), but I can't believe it always is; many of the comments seemed to relate just to checking the status of a case... so I thought I'd see what others thought:

is there any possibility that these calls are slowing the process even further? are the people who answer the phones - not necessarily the first person, who's probably a receptionist, but the one(s) the calls get passed to via the 'RFE trick' or whatever - also the ones who process our cases? and if there's even a remote possibility - can we minimise unnecessary calls please?!

not meaning to target anyone with this... it's a genuine question that I thought I'd open up to discussion

it may well be that the process would be exactly as slow if no one called at all... just been wondering

Through the whole process, I only made two calls and that was to the National Visa Center. Otherwise, I decided for my own sanity to purposely NOT call no matter what. After reading various posts on here about the many calls and their disappointing aftermaths, I am positive I made the right decisions.

I'm not sure it really slows anything down, though. I would imagine the people answering the phones are not the same one's working on the cases.

I agree, I chose not to call unless I had to. I had a problem in the very begining and I called. I found VJ and a lot of my questions have been answered here as well. No need to call. I've been patient and I know he will be here soon.

[roverdriver 0]

I wondered the same about the calls. And also wondered if all the calls will end up having them close the other lines as well.

What I did was periodically do a timeline search with criteria matching my case. Same SC, same month (sometimes a month before to get a better average), stuff like that. When we got approval we were in the middle between the shortest and longest approval times, so I felt no need to call.