Are all these calls really necessary?

[rebeccajo 14]

Whenever I had the urge to make an inquiry on our case that was going to basically end up telling me what I already knew, I used to dial a certain number in Northern Ireland to hear something else I already knew instead......

"I love you and soon will be together for good".

[pushbrk 12,882]

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

The people answering the phones are not processing our cases. Calling USCIS is seldom helpful. NVC and DOS calls can be very helpful and at certain times in the process, even every day calls may be but these calls are quick calls for status updates at times when one has reason to expect a change in status any day.

I never heard anybody suggest they were calling USCIS every day.

Calling NVC can let you know if things are going smoothly or you are in admin review.

Calling DOS after your case is at the Consulate can help you know what to expect, when. We knew our interview date 8 days earlier be calling DOS than by waiting for the P4 in the mail. That was very helpful to us and to several other people in the same queue at the same Consulate. There was even a period of a week or so, I called DOS every day. NVC, I called two days in a row once because the first day they suggested the case would probably be complete in the next couple days.

James' shortcuts required calls to NVC or they don't work. I say let common sense rule the day but in the big picture, I think there is really no reason to worry about what other people are doing to track their cases.

[chuckandkim 0]

Email them!!!

I email HCMC whenever I have a question and want to get an update. Sometimes I get a form-response, sometimes it's specific to my case. Eitherway, It's better than NOTHING. But calling, forget it, you will never get to speak to the one who has the say that matters to your case! Plus, We were fortunate enough that we didn't have to call for anything. Just email them! And you know what, email can be a great "audit trail" if they ever LOST your case.

My vote, email 100 times if you want, but calling is a waste and you have no proof of what they say for later use.