Request from PublicAffairs, CISOmbudsman

[ANJING 0]

I called in the recent teleconference held by PublicAffairs, CISOmbudsman. At the end of it, the person asked us to email suggestions for future conferences. I did and today I received the email below from them. I'm thinking may be I should solicit your inputs before replying. Please let me know your thoughts and I'll compile a list and send in the most popular one.

Jing

===================

From PublicAffairs, CISOmbudsman

Thank you for your suggestion of a future teleconference. Do you have a

particular concern regarding family based visas that you would like to

discuss?

Thank you again,

CIS Ombudsman's Office

Edited October 16, 2007 by ANJING

[Bill B 0]

I called in the recent teleconference held by PublicAffairs, CISOmbudsman. At the end of it, the person asked us to email suggestions for future conferences. I did and today I received the email below from them. I'm thinking may be I should solicit your inputs before replying. Please let me know your thoughts and I'll compile a list and send in the most popular one.

Jing

===================

From PublicAffairs, CISOmbudsman

Thank you for your suggestion of a future teleconference. Do you have a

particular concern regarding family based visas that you would like to

discuss?

Thank you again,

CIS Ombudsman's Office

Hi Jing,

It looks like they are looking for a topic for the theme more than a large list explaining your issues with them. I would suggest sending both. I suggest your paticular concern be titled:

Current K1/K3 Processing Times; their effects on US Citizens and overall fairness of the USCIS service level commitments/goals/processing times

Then a couple lines below that, I would write something like this:

It is obvious to us that especially since April 2007; things at USCIS appear to have gotten gradually worse instead of better. For example, at the Service Centers, the average time for our community members to get their K1 VISA NOA 2 has gone from less than 30 days in May 2007 to over 130 days and still climbing now.

Some of our concerns include:

1. Significant delays in the processing of petitions. We notice that an extremely small number of petitions have been processed/approved since September 1, especially at the Vermont Service Center even in cases where they received I-129F’s well before the influx of applications submitted to beat the fee increase.

2. Information provided by call center employees is often misleading, scripted, incorrect or incomplete and almost always apathetic.

3. We feel it is entirely inappropriate to prioritize WORK VISA applications over Family-Based, Non-Immigrant Petitions and to add insult to injury, allow many types of VISA seekers to pay extra for 15-calendar day premium processing service, but not us.

4. We understand the need for security checks, as we are aware of our national security issues, but we have good reason to believe this is not the source of the most recent delays. Only the truth and some swift action on the part of USCIS can alleviate some of the stress associated with this process. Our lives, along with our loved ones abroad, are on hold and we have no idea when this first part of the immigration process will conclude.

5. The wait for a petition to clear the USCIS Service Center, reach the National Visa Center, then the appropriate Embassy and, finally the attendance of the beneficiary at the scheduled embassy interview can add an additional 4 – 12 months to an already excruciatingly slow process. The USCIS needs to set a reasonable goal of 90 days and/or have expedited processing immediately available for K1/K3 VISA applicants.

6. The strain of this process (both financial and emotional) is taking a serious toll on the health and well-being of many US law abiding citizen’s who are trying to follow the laws to bring their loved ones to the US by legal means. Our frustration level with USCIS' inability or unwillingness to ease/improve this process is reaching a critical point.

7. We, as a collective, have some expectations which include:

a. Accurate, detailed, and empathetic communication with customers suffering separation from their loved ones.

b. Immediately improved processing times with a new goal of 90 days for petitions as we believe the USCIS goal timeframe of 6 months to process a K1/3 VISA at the service centers is insensitive and inadequate for our needs. As with any company, if the new 90-day standard cannot be met with good management and talented professionals, then the organization should increase staff or streamline processes—maybe even outsource the function utilizing the creative talent of a good US company to provide our citizens with better service.

Thank you for your time and effort to assist us.

[ANJING 0]

Hi, Bill,

Thanks for your inputs. I'll pass them along.

Jing

[ANJING 0]

Reply from CISOmbudsman:

Thank you for your email regarding the USCIS Receipting Delays. We have received numerous inquires and comments on this issue. Information from individuals like you are the best source for identifying systemic problems in the immigration benefits process. We appreciate your input and hearing specific examples in order to address this issue.

We have posted the questions and answers discussed during our October 12 teleconference entitled "USCIS Receipting Delay - How Does This Affect You?" on our website at www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman. We soon will post questions and answers to emails we received after the teleconference.

We recommend that you continue to visit USCIS' weekly "Receipting Delays" update page for more information on this issue: www.uscis.gov.

If you have a specific case problem that you would like our office to research, please visit our website for information on how to submit a case problem. www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman/. Please include DHS Form 7001 with your case problem as it will provide us with the necessary

information to better assist you.

Thank you again for your time and input.

Office of CIS Ombudsman

[Bob & Kim 0]

Reply from CISOmbudsman:

Thank you for your email regarding the USCIS Receipting Delays. We have received numerous inquires and comments on this issue. Information from individuals like you are the best source for identifying systemic problems in the immigration benefits process. We appreciate your input and hearing specific examples in order to address this issue.

We have posted the questions and answers discussed during our October 12 teleconference entitled "USCIS Receipting Delay - How Does This Affect You?" on our website at www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman. We soon will post questions and answers to emails we received after the teleconference.

We recommend that you continue to visit USCIS' weekly "Receipting Delays" update page for more information on this issue: www.uscis.gov.

If you have a specific case problem that you would like our office to research, please visit our website for information on how to submit a case problem. www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman/. Please include DHS Form 7001 with your case problem as it will provide us with the necessary

information to better assist you.

Thank you again for your time and input.

Office of CIS Ombudsman

Wow! They would not dare to use the topic you submitted. If they thought 200 callers last time was very high, I would love to see their faces when they would get thousands who would want in on that topic. Great topic by the way! It was right on target and so true. Employment VISAs above us...you have to be BSing me!

Edited October 19, 2007 by Bob & Kim