The most frustrating part about this process

[holi 1]

Even ignoring the visa overstayers that skip the line to AOS and get quick approvals for their i-130s,

 

I find it very frustrating that it takes more than even a week or so to approve cases like mine.

My three children are US citizens, their mother is listed on the documentation required for their CRBA. This was all approved without any issues, and my kids all ahve their passports and SSNs.

It's an open and shut case, my wife is still obviously the mother of my children and we haven't divorced so she is obviously still my wife.

What is there to investigate?

I don't know why more of this can't be automated.

 

 

Edited March 1 by holi

[Crazy Cat 42,732]

18 minutes ago, holi said:

I don't know why more of this can't be automated.

You are right about the frustration.  I think we all have felt it, but even open and shut cases have to wait until they are at the front of the line.   

1.  Based on this USCIS quarterly report (4th Quarter of FY 2024), there were more than 2 MILLION cases pending. Looks like they processed 816, 549 cases, but they received 981,202 cases. 

2. I'm not sure there is a way to automate the process.  Every case has to be vetted by human eyes and human judgement.  

 

quarterly_all_forms_fy2024_q4.xlsx

Edited March 1 by Crazy Cat

[appleblossom 3,433]

1 hour ago, holi said:

Even ignoring the visa overstayers that skip the line to AOS and get quick approvals for their i-130s,

 

I find it very frustrating that it takes more than even a week or so to approve cases like mine.

My three children are US citizens, their mother is listed on the documentation required for their CRBA. This was all approved without any issues, and my kids all ahve their passports and SSNs.

It's an open and shut case, my wife is still obviously the mother of my children and we haven't divorced so she is obviously still my wife.

What is there to investigate?

I don't know why more of this can't be automated.

 

 

 

What step of the process are you at? Are you referring to being DQ’ed at NVC?

 

A week is super quick, it wasn’t long ago that the DQ stage took months and months. It’s not that checks will necessarily take a week, but just that you have to wait your turn in line. As CrazyCat said, there are a huge amount of cases in the system at any one time. 

Edited March 1 by appleblossom

[S2N 24]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cat said:

2. I'm not sure there is a way to automate the process.  Every case has to be vetted by human eyes and human judgement.  

Verification of US citizenship of the sponsor can fairly easily be automated. USCIS already runs eVerify, which works with things as manual as birth certificates. Given that SSNs are required nationally for a marriage license issuance and usually maintained in a database by the state in order to facilitate suing someone for child support, it should also be fairly simple to automate verification of a valid marriage.

 

An easy reform of the process would be to have USCIS handle only the verification of sponsorship eligibility, which can easily be automated, and punt 100% of the manual stuff to the Department of State. Most of the denials for bona fides come at the consulate level anyway, because USCIS does a horrible job of identifying fraud. 
 

It likely wouldn’t add to the backlog either. Worst case would be current USCIS wait times would be shifted to NVC.

 

It’s not going to happen though. A lot of what USCIS does is a jobs program, and the congressional GOP is currently getting angsty that the cuts from Musk might start leaving Washington and hitting the non-DMV areas where they were able to set up federal offices. There’s a reason many of the service centers and field offices are in red districts.

Edited March 1 by S2N

[pushbrk 13,256]

Your case is not taking a long time because of any "investigation".  It's just sitting in a queue, waiting for a human to spend less than an average of 30 minutes with it before approving, sending an RFE, or denying.  You file an I-130 into a black hole and wait.  Then you deal with NVC and wait for an available interview appointment.  Having the proper expectations allows you to be prepared, and more relaxed as you wait.

[holi 1]

2 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

What step of the process are you at? Are you referring to being DQ’ed at NVC?

 

A week is super quick, it wasn’t long ago that the DQ stage took months and months. It’s not that checks will necessarily take a week, but just that you have to wait your turn in line. As CrazyCat said, there are a huge amount of cases in the system at any one time. 

We're awaiting our interview at the embassy.

 

I'm just fed up with the whole process.

[Edward and Jaycel 897]

3 hours ago, S2N said:

Given that SSNs are required nationally for a marriage license issuance and usually maintained in a database by the state in order to facilitate suing someone for child support, it should also be fairly simple to automate verification of a valid marriage.

 

This is not true.... Jaycel was not required to have an SSN to get our marriage license nor for us to get married using the license or to have it recorded

[S2N 24]

13 minutes ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

 

This is not true.... Jaycel was not required to have an SSN to get our marriage license nor for us to get married using the license or to have it recorded

Apologies for not being more specific. The 1996 Welfare Reform Act requires it in every state as a matter of federal law for anyone who has been issued an SSN. My husband didn’t need one either, he showed his Chilean passport. I had to provide a SSN and proof and this is standardized across the states to be in compliance with federal law.

 

It would be trivial for USCIS to match petitioners to marriage licenses with SSNs and then do an automated name match for the beneficiary. The petitioner SSN would be sufficient to locate the license. They already do something similar with eVerify.

 

Would be more difficult for people married in foreign countries, but even then given the information sharing between DHS and many foreign interior departments it probably could be overcome.

Edited March 2 by S2N

[KMG 156]

21 hours ago, holi said:

Even ignoring the visa overstayers that skip the line to AOS and get quick approvals for their i-130s,

 

I find it very frustrating that it takes more than even a week or so to approve cases like mine.

My three children are US citizens, their mother is listed on the documentation required for their CRBA. This was all approved without any issues, and my kids all ahve their passports and SSNs.

It's an open and shut case, my wife is still obviously the mother of my children and we haven't divorced so she is obviously still my wife.

What is there to investigate?

I don't know why more of this can't be automated.

 

 

Yes, it is very frustrating and unfair.  There is no reason to wait 16+ months for valid cases.  I am hopeful that while they get a handle on all this illegal immigration, that those of us doing it the legal way will be treated with respect and dignity.

[Boiler 46,398]

When I started the process a friend of mine had married and filed for his wife to immigrate to the UK, took him a month and he could have paid to expedite.

 

For some reason I assumed it would be similar to come to the US. Wrong.

 

The fees pay for the process. I would have thought most of it could be automated with the final check done in a few minutes but that is asking a lot, they could just employ more people?

[S2N 24]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

When I started the process a friend of mine had married and filed for his wife to immigrate to the UK, took him a month and he could have paid to expedite.

 

For some reason I assumed it would be similar to come to the US. Wrong.

 

The fees pay for the process. I would have thought most of it could be automated with the final check done in a few minutes but that is asking a lot, they could just employ more people?

The question is what in the process is judgmental vs. what is verifying a box has been checked.

 

For a straightforward case (no crimes, foreign divorces, etc.)  the only thing that really requires human judgment is the determination of if a marriage is bona fide. That’s something that can be handled at the embassy (and de facto is already, USCIS rarely questions on that point. Consular officials overwhelmingly are the ones rejecting visas for fraudulent marriage reasons.)

 

 

Most if not all of what USCIS does can be automated, and that would align with DHS’ other initiatives to take human judgment out of what it does. Global entry and TSA screenings now are just humans telling you the computer has decided you’re good.

[Ontarkie 14,648]

~~This thread is locked to further replies. If you would like to discuss how to streamline Immigration take it to the proper forum. As the OP needed to Vent and others have replied, not much more can be said to help the OP. Again Please take Immigration reform topics to the proper forum.~~