Congressional Inquiry

[biazo 0]

My husband wrote to the congressman. And i am all for it! The more people sit quiet the less anything will happen/

They had lost our first petition and i dont want the same happen again with our second one!

[Delicia 1]

Here's what I am wondering. And it SHOULD be the crux of this entire conversation.

Do we have it factually stated somewhere, from an official source, that the processing of I130's has been halted?

Check the link titled "USCIS Processing Times Spreadsheet" on my blog. It is evident that I-130s have not been processed for some time, according to the USCIS Processing Delay updates that USCIS publishes weekly.

Edited December 7, 2007 by Delicia

[rebeccajo 14]

Here's what I am wondering. And it SHOULD be the crux of this entire conversation.

Do we have it factually stated somewhere, from an official source, that the processing of I130's has been halted?

Check the link titled "USCIS Processing Times Spreadsheet" on my blog. It is evident that I-130s have not been processed for some time, according to the USCIS Processing Delay updates that USCIS publishes weekly.

Delicia, do you understand what the processing times as stated by USCIS mean? The processing times mean they are processing cases AT LEAST that old.

You still haven't shown me any official word that USCIS has halted the processing time of I-130's in favor of other petitions.

[Divine Mercy 0]

I admit I skipped over the majority of the mudslinging posts in this thread. But someone mentioned that having the congressman flood them with calls takes their time away from adjudicating.. this is true. It will only clog a process that is already the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner hose that sucked up a mack truck.

Secondly, the Congressmen.. although they are there to help their constituents.. are also getting flooded with calls. Yes, I understand that NOT getting receipts are very bad and frustrating.. so is a case that's severely problematic that actually NEEDS congressional assistance. Please free up the congressmen to work on complex cases or cases in which the wait is actually outside the process times. I will tell you from experience, if you call the congressmen to check on/speed up your process, they will contact VSC or CSC and they will be told the same thing we are told.. just wait. They will relay that message right back to you. That's really all they can do. It is a waste of everyone's time.

Things right now are bad in terms of getting receipts, and I hate to say this but (hopefully for the majority of applicants this will not be true) things only GET WORSE in this visa journey.

As for media coverage, it has already gotten some. See the thread I posted before. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry1365729

As for the K1 being faster than the K3 and CR1/IR1 cases.. we all know that's a crappy deal. I take responsibility in the fact that I went ahead and married him before applying but it's still crappy all the same. Says a lot about the value of marriage and family in this country. Temporary workers are getting priority over all of us. Let's point the finger at the USCIS rather than at one another.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Here's what I am wondering. And it SHOULD be the crux of this entire conversation.

Do we have it factually stated somewhere, from an official source, that the processing of I130's has been halted?

Check the link titled "USCIS Processing Times Spreadsheet" on my blog. It is evident that I-130s have not been processed for some time, according to the USCIS Processing Delay updates that USCIS publishes weekly.

Delicia, do you understand what the processing times as stated by USCIS mean? The processing times mean they are processing cases AT LEAST that old.

You still haven't shown me any official word that USCIS has halted the processing time of I-130's in favor of other petitions.

Rebeccajo - What Delicia and others in our position at the moment are referring to are the current unusual delays (on top of the wait that everyone experiences) because of the huge backlog generated by thousands of people trying to beat the price rise. She's not just talking about the USCIS processing times which reflect as you correctly say "cases at least that old" but this separate delay which we check every week on a different USCIS page - receipting delays

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0004718190aRCRD

As you can see the I-130s are right at the bottom of the processing priority. The other visa types have been slowly advancing but the I-130s seem to be stuck miles behind the others. It appears that they are processing in some kind of order and have put the married people who are just filing for CR1s at the back of the queue. In my case at Vermont for example, the center is still only opening and data inputting info on applications for I-130s up to the end of July. It has been stuck on that date 29/07/07 for about seven weeks now! I think our cheque is going to expire before the application has even been added to the system AND THEN we all have to start the countdown which everyone else on here is used to ie we then start looking at the standard processing times on USCIS, which as you know can be six months more onwards.

It is significantly worse at the moment in terms of waiting times for those of us who filed after the middle of July than it has been for a LONG time. So can I ask those of you already almost though the system - particularly those of you with your partners by your side over the holiday season to show a little compassion on these boards to those of us with this long wait ahead of us and be understanding when people rant a little.

Thanks

[Delicia 1]

Here's what I am wondering. And it SHOULD be the crux of this entire conversation.

Do we have it factually stated somewhere, from an official source, that the processing of I130's has been halted?

Check the link titled "USCIS Processing Times Spreadsheet" on my blog. It is evident that I-130s have not been processed for some time, according to the USCIS Processing Delay updates that USCIS publishes weekly.

Delicia, do you understand what the processing times as stated by USCIS mean? The processing times mean they are processing cases AT LEAST that old.

You still haven't shown me any official word that USCIS has halted the processing time of I-130's in favor of other petitions.

"As of (insert date here) USCIS has completed initial data entry and issued receipt notices for applications and petitions received on or before the dates indicated"

I take that to mean they are processing (or not processing may be more appropriate) I-130 applications as of 8/30/2007 at CSC and 7/29/2007 at VSC. Those dates have not changed in roughly 2 months (3 more at VSC). So you are under the impression that they have so many I-130s that arrived on or about 8/30/2007 at CSC that they are still processing them 2 months later? Perhaps they have just one employee at each Service Center processing the I-130s. That could make sense although it is a little far fetched. The 8/30/2007 date has not changed since September 2007 for CSC. VSC has been sitting at the end of July since mid September.

Edited December 7, 2007 by Delicia

[rjp44 1]

Check out these two news releases from the USCIS and maybe it will become clearer what is causing the delays, what the posted processing times mean and why AOS and naturalization cases are processed first.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0004718190aRCRD

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0004718190aRCRD

[Lansbury 19]

Those links explain it all, almost double the applications and delays on entering information into the tracking system. I would suggest that any information on what is or is not being processed on their web sites is as about as useful as a chocolate teapot. There is no way of knowing if the I-130 haven't been processed or have been processed but the system not updated. I would guess entering that sort of information is at the bottom of the list of priorities.

[rjp44 1]

Those links explain it all, almost double the applications and delays on entering information into the tracking system. I would suggest that any information on what is or is not being processed on their web sites is as about as useful as a chocolate teapot. There is no way of knowing if the I-130 haven't been processed or have been processed but the system not updated. I would guess entering that sort of information is at the bottom of the list of priorities.

Yes, and the 1500 new hires will help, but I'm sure it takes some time to train them and get them up to speed.

[rebeccajo 14]

The processing dates mean the OLDEST cases in the system.

I think those of us who have our loved ones with us are sympathetic to you. Very much so. That is why we try so very diligently to help you see that the mess you are in right now is out of your control. I don't know - maybe that doesn't help you. I know when we were processing, if I told myself there was nothing I could do about something, I was somehow able to get past worrying. It was whenever I would lay awake in bed at night, creating monsters in my mind, that I would find myself pacing the floor and upset.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but cases are not separated by types for adjudication. Everything goes into boxes by date order. All visa types - family based and otherwise. If you don't believe me and you can't find confirmation of this elsewhere on the web, then research the posts here on VJ of the member huskerkiev, a former USCIS adjudicator. The only thing that gets pulled out and separated are the premium processing petitions.

As for petitions for naturalization, there are time limits in the INA under which these petitions are supposed to be approved. Right now, as you read in the press, USCIS is not meeting those goals and that's a VERY bad thing since they are actually breaking the law by doing so. So it is possible that file boxes will be rifled through to locate any Natz petitions that are gathering dust in boxes.

I will agree with you that the delays right now are extraordinary. I am sure they are painful. I suppose it will do me no good to tell you that I have read of worse delays as little as five years ago, and there was no 'fee increase' or anything else to blame it on.

Whatever you think of what we who have already passed through the system think or feel is of no consequence, I guess. Some of you simply believe we don't understand, we don't care or we just want to cause trouble. That couldn't be further from the truth. We have information we would like to share that we hope can help you.

That being said, from what I know to be true about the way the system operates, it's fundamentally impossible for USCIS to be targeting I-130's behind other cases. It's just not possible. They aren't that well organized!

Edited December 8, 2007 by rebeccajo

[Delicia 1]

I completely disagree based upon the USCIS weekly updates and the sampling of individuals on this forum who, having submitted I-130s in August, have not yet received their NOA-1s. The alternative is to believe the weekly updates are just completely false and USCIS is inputting random data or they are just not updating the I-130s on their weekly reports. If the latter is true, then why report their progress on the N-400s, I-175s, I-765s, etc? This logic escapes me as does yours.

We can leave it at that.

Edited December 8, 2007 by Delicia

[*Snowdrop* 604]

The processing dates mean the OLDEST cases in the system.

I think those of us who have our loved ones with us are sympathetic to you. Very much so. That is why we try so very diligently to help you see that the mess you are in right now is out of your control. I don't know - maybe that doesn't help you. I know when we were processing, if I told myself there was nothing I could do about something, I was somehow able to get past worrying. It was whenever I would lay awake in bed at night, creating monsters in my mind, that I would find myself pacing the floor and upset.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but cases are not separated by types for adjudication. Everything goes into boxes by date order. All visa types - family based and otherwise. If you don't believe me and you can't find confirmation of this elsewhere on the web, then research the posts here on VJ of the member huskerkiev, a former USCIS adjudicator. The only thing that gets pulled out and separated are the premium processing petitions.

As for petitions for naturalization, there are time limits in the INA under which these petitions are supposed to be approved. Right now, as you read in the press, USCIS is not meeting those goals and that's a VERY bad thing since they are actually breaking the law by doing so. So it is possible that file boxes will be rifled through to locate any Natz petitions that are gathering dust in boxes.

I will agree with you that the delays right now are extraordinary. I am sure they are painful. I suppose it will do me no good to tell you that I have read of worse delays as little as five years ago, and there was no 'fee increase' or anything else to blame it on.

Whatever you think of what we who have already passed through the system think or feel is of no consequence, I guess. Some of you simply believe we don't understand, we don't care or we just want to cause trouble. That couldn't be further from the truth. We have information we would like to share that we hope can help you.

That being said, from what I know to be true about the way the system operates, it's fundamentally impossible for USCIS to be targeting I-130's behind other cases. It's just not possible. They aren't that well organized!

I completely disagree - the processing dates we are talking about are the receipting delay dates and that does NOT refer to the oldest case in the system. It refers to the date they have reached in their processing.

If they are being processed in date order then please explain why people who filed their 1-130 in August to Vermont have not had their case put into the system and their cheque cashed and people who have filed K1s have had them as recently as October and November?

And as we see today - they have just announced that all the 1-130s received after 29/07/07 are being shipped to Chicago - which suggests even more strongly that they were just sitting in a pile not being touched.

[SusieK 3]

The processing dates mean the OLDEST cases in the system.

I think those of us who have our loved ones with us are sympathetic to you. Very much so. That is why we try so very diligently to help you see that the mess you are in right now is out of your control. I don't know - maybe that doesn't help you. I know when we were processing, if I told myself there was nothing I could do about something, I was somehow able to get past worrying. It was whenever I would lay awake in bed at night, creating monsters in my mind, that I would find myself pacing the floor and upset.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but cases are not separated by types for adjudication. Everything goes into boxes by date order. All visa types - family based and otherwise. If you don't believe me and you can't find confirmation of this elsewhere on the web, then research the posts here on VJ of the member huskerkiev, a former USCIS adjudicator. The only thing that gets pulled out and separated are the premium processing petitions.

As for petitions for naturalization, there are time limits in the INA under which these petitions are supposed to be approved. Right now, as you read in the press, USCIS is not meeting those goals and that's a VERY bad thing since they are actually breaking the law by doing so. So it is possible that file boxes will be rifled through to locate any Natz petitions that are gathering dust in boxes.

I will agree with you that the delays right now are extraordinary. I am sure they are painful. I suppose it will do me no good to tell you that I have read of worse delays as little as five years ago, and there was no 'fee increase' or anything else to blame it on.

Whatever you think of what we who have already passed through the system think or feel is of no consequence, I guess. Some of you simply believe we don't understand, we don't care or we just want to cause trouble. That couldn't be further from the truth. We have information we would like to share that we hope can help you.

That being said, from what I know to be true about the way the system operates, it's fundamentally impossible for USCIS to be targeting I-130's behind other cases. It's just not possible. They aren't that well organized!

I completely disagree - the processing dates we are talking about are the receipting delay dates and that does NOT refer to the oldest case in the system. It refers to the date they have reached in their processing.

If they are being processed in date order then please explain why people who filed their 1-130 in August to Vermont have not had their case put into the system and their cheque cashed and people who have filed K1s have had them as recently as October and November?

And as we see today - they have just announced that all the 1-130s received after 29/07/07 are being shipped to Chicago - which suggests even more strongly that they were just sitting in a pile not being touched.

EXACTLY - so with that being said, I believe and it is the trend to see I=130's not being entered yet for us August on filers. And Yet, look at the K-1 thread, tis wrong, and showing proof of what is going on there it about as fruitful as a lemon tree in Alaska in January.

Dont mean to sound offensive to anyone, but look at all our stats. NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE and with talks to USCIS (altho deemed as useless) they are now stating they will get to the I-130's in January and hopefully work to get them up to speed. So much for family values YEAH GOOOOOO AMERICA......

If someone has had an I-130 NOA1 from late August, and on, and received a NOA1 from either Vermont or Calif., then it would be mind settling to see them post here, but as far as I know only two from my timezone had theirs approved along time ago and early August filers, but since the last two months, nada, could be wrong, tired of searching timelines that show NOTHING. NO NOA1, no nothing to report on todays AP headlines at VJ.

Cheers mates

Susie

[SusieK 3]

The processing dates mean the OLDEST cases in the system.

I think those of us who have our loved ones with us are sympathetic to you. Very much so. That is why we try so very diligently to help you see that the mess you are in right now is out of your control. I don't know - maybe that doesn't help you. I know when we were processing, if I told myself there was nothing I could do about something, I was somehow able to get past worrying. It was whenever I would lay awake in bed at night, creating monsters in my mind, that I would find myself pacing the floor and upset.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but cases are not separated by types for adjudication. Everything goes into boxes by date order. All visa types - family based and otherwise. If you don't believe me and you can't find confirmation of this elsewhere on the web, then research the posts here on VJ of the member huskerkiev, a former USCIS adjudicator. The only thing that gets pulled out and separated are the premium processing petitions.

As for petitions for naturalization, there are time limits in the INA under which these petitions are supposed to be approved. Right now, as you read in the press, USCIS is not meeting those goals and that's a VERY bad thing since they are actually breaking the law by doing so. So it is possible that file boxes will be rifled through to locate any Natz petitions that are gathering dust in boxes.

I will agree with you that the delays right now are extraordinary. I am sure they are painful. I suppose it will do me no good to tell you that I have read of worse delays as little as five years ago, and there was no 'fee increase' or anything else to blame it on.

Whatever you think of what we who have already passed through the system think or feel is of no consequence, I guess. Some of you simply believe we don't understand, we don't care or we just want to cause trouble. That couldn't be further from the truth. We have information we would like to share that we hope can help you.

That being said, from what I know to be true about the way the system operates, it's fundamentally impossible for USCIS to be targeting I-130's behind other cases. It's just not possible. They aren't that well organized!

I completely disagree - the processing dates we are talking about are the receipting delay dates and that does NOT refer to the oldest case in the system. It refers to the date they have reached in their processing.

If they are being processed in date order then please explain why people who filed their 1-130 in August to Vermont have not had their case put into the system and their cheque cashed and people who have filed K1s have had them as recently as October and November?

And as we see today - they have just announced that all the 1-130s received after 29/07/07 are being shipped to Chicago - which suggests even more strongly that they were just sitting in a pile not being touched.

EXACTLY - so with that being said, I believe and it is the trend to see I=130's not being entered yet for us August on filers. And Yet, look at the K-1 thread, tis wrong, and showing proof of what is going on there it about as fruitful as a lemon tree in Alaska in January.

Dont mean to sound offensive to anyone, but look at all our stats. NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE and with talks to USCIS (altho deemed as useless) they are now stating they will get to the I-130's in January and hopefully work to get them up to speed. So much for family values YEAH GOOOOOO AMERICA......

If someone has had an I-130 NOA1 from late August, and on, and received a NOA1 from either Vermont or Calif., then it would be mind settling to see them post here, but as far as I know only two from my timezone had theirs approved along time ago and early August filers, but since the last two months, nada, could be wrong, tired of searching timelines that show NOTHING. NO NOA1, no nothing to report on todays AP headlines at VJ.

Cheers mates

Susie

sorry to repeat this quote but I wish it was true.......

"don't know if you realize this or not, but cases are not separated by types for adjudication. Everything goes into boxes by date order. All visa types - family based and otherwise. If you don't believe me and you can't find confirmation of this elsewhere on the web, then research the posts here on VJ of the member huskerkiev, a former USCIS adjudicator. The only thing that gets pulled out and separated are the premium processing petitions."

Rebecca - actually was told by immigration professor at USC in California who is there constantly that this is not the case, that the applications are processed by types of filing, and not date order. I would not want to argue this case with her since it seems to be holding water and it is her job to have current knowledge. FYI - wish it was true then the K-1's (and no grudge here YET) would be processed along with our applications.

Cheers

Susie

Edited December 8, 2007 by SusieK

[rebeccajo 14]

I completely disagree - the processing dates we are talking about are the receipting delay dates and that does NOT refer to the oldest case in the system. It refers to the date they have reached in their processing.

If they are being processed in date order then please explain why people who filed their 1-130 in August to Vermont have not had their case put into the system and their cheque cashed and people who have filed K1s have had them as recently as October and November?

And as we see today - they have just announced that all the 1-130s received after 29/07/07 are being shipped to Chicago - which suggests even more strongly that they were just sitting in a pile not being touched.

I believe I see the page you are referring to. Is this it?

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

Receipting dates aren't the same as procssing dates. Just because you don't have a NOA doesn't mean your case isn't being kept in order.

How long on the average, in the recent past before the fee increase and receipt delays, did it take for an I130 to be adjudicated? I'm asking because I seriously do not know and I would appreciate some honest feedback on this. Has not the adjudication time for and I-130 always been longer than for a K1?

I see the message about the I130's being sent to the Chicago lockbox for data entry. This still does not imply, to me, that entire files have been sitting there ignored.

Is it possible you may start seeing NOA1 followed almost immediately by NOA2? Did that happen with the K1 backlog?