P+J

I would actually suggest to do that after you pass 6 months mark... unfortunately 5 months processing time according to USCIS = 5 months + 30 days... after 6 months , congressman can have your case expedited, or so they claim in an official USCIS letter....

Yup tomorrow for me. It will be interesting to see what happens. Maybe I'll be magically approved on Thursday when the call is made...

Yes Paul my received date is 01/20. Let's see what happens!

thanks for the info. Hopefully we see some movement today. I'm going to put a call into my Congressman tomorrow since that will be my 5 months + 30. But maybe won't even have to do it. That would be nice too. *fingers crossed for today.*

Well we got the response in mail from uscis today. basically

saying they got the service request and that we will receive a decision

or notice within 90 days from july 9th... They just add days/ weeks/ months wherever and whenever they want...

Yes. It feels like we are dealing with the most psychotic system ever created...Service requests are and have always been useless, I wasn't too concerned that I couldn't push one through. Based on the information VosnMars received and prior experiences here Congressman and Senators are the best resource for some assistance. (However, only when approaching and beyond the 6 months point). What VosnMars said about the 5 months and 30 days has been stated before..Hopefully many of us can acquire an expedite now. Yesterday was a very weak day at VSC. Hopefully today is better.....Just baffles me what's going on over there.

Yeah that "gap" is concerning. Maybe those cases where given to an employee who was is on leave or something.....

Yes. There must be something to explain it since it's very strange. I didn't really notice anything like that happen in all the previous months during adjudication. Hopefully, they'll take care of it this week. Missing my fiance very much and it's times for this to be behind us 180 days and counting....I'm ready to have some good news

A borderline Jan/Feb filer just got approved. This is a good sign ya'll...

They're doing something at least. Hooray. Now if they can take care of the January filers they left behind it will be time to pump out February! they need to work fast because that backlog isn't going anywhere. *fingers crossed for everyone*

Hey There!!! I think it was while you were away, but somehow I got a Service Request in last Tuesday. I don't know how, because I was shut down when I tried before. Also, my Congressman's office inquired late in the week before that. Nevertheless, I have nothing new to report yet. I was told by the USCIS that if I didnt get a response to the SR within 15 days, I should call back and give them the SR Reference Number they gave me for an update. I think the SR process was legit, because they took all detailed contact information and entered it, including reading it back to me for verification. Anyway... its gotta be soon... Man... was I naive to think we would be getting married in August... All I know is, whenever it happens... It's gonna be freakin awesome... Being with her is worth the wait, however long it takes...

Nice. Yeah. they have been quite resistant toward submitting one whenever I try. They always say the computer will not process it because of the reported processing date in the database...Hope we all hear something this week. I'm hoping to try and put a little pressure by the middle or end of the week if things still seem pretty slow. I guess after 6 months we might actually be able to do something. But hopefully NOA2 tomorrow and won't even have to think about it anymore...Looks like they didn't do much with I-129fs today..very slow. One approval and it seemed pretty sporadic.

Hang in there... Of course you know you are not alone... My mood is all over the map... especially towards the end of the week lately. I am a monster at work on Thursdays and Fridays, and if I am not talking to Vera on the weekend, then I just want it to go by as quickly as possible.

I work with a Welsh guy, and he went through this K1 thing a while back and is now with a 10 yr Green Card. He asks me every week if I have any news yet, and then I hang my head and say, "Noooooo, not yet!" And then he reminds me that in the scheme of things, the time is short and later when we are together, this will all be a distant memory and you will forget about how long the process was.

So don't let it ruin your life... It's coming soon for us all... I like to read some other forums where people are talking about their experiences, now that they are already living here... And I start to get excited and I imagine that will be us in no time...

Definitely man! and looks like there's hope if any of us need to push this through. Based on our received dates we'd be eligible for expedites this week. (Thursday for you and Wednesday for me). 5 months + 30 days. Incredibly slow day today..But maybe tomorrow and Wednesday will make up for it...I have a good feeling about tomorrow and Wednesday. And even if it doesn't work out..Expedite time.

Well I got a letter today from Senator Cornyn's office that attaches the email from USCIS dated July 9th. I'll summarize the beginning. Basically they received my petition January 20th and it is still pending. They are processing approximately 5 months from receipt date and then: "An additional 30 days must be allowed for adjudicative review and processing before we can request expeditious processing based on an ONPT request. If the application or petition is still pending after 30 days, and once we receive your formal request for expeditious processing, your case will be forwarded to the applicable adjudicative unit for expeditious handling. Please note that the file is with an ISO for review and adjudication processing. Accordingly, the petitioner should hear from USCIS in the near future; however, if the petitioner has not heard from USCIS by July 20th, please contact us again and we will request expeditious processing at that time."

I guess the formal request will have to come from the senator's office for being out of normal processing times, but I'm going to hold USCIS to these words.

I'm glad to see it indicates some light at the end of the tunnel! Many of us can push for an expedite at the end of this week. VosnMars what is your received date when you put in your receipt number on the USCIS website? Is it 1/20? I'm thinking I'll have my Congressman finally make his call on Wednesday (been saving it for this) and hopefully go for the expedite if the 1/18 received date would make me eligible this Wednesday (7/18)..This gives me a lot of hope..finally we can do something. And maybe I'll hear something tomorrow or Wednesday. But I probably won't let anymore time be wasted after 7/18. Enough time has passed now for all of us.

it's not for the service request you have in mind it is to do with a typographical errors..

180 days here...It appears a group of petitions from the middle of January fell into a black hole that formed in Vermont Service Center. Those with a NOA1 date of 1/20 had one of the worst rates of approval ever to be seen at VSC. It's literally a hole in Igor's list. The week of NOA1s directly following this date also have very sporadic levels of approval...It's a complete enigma...But when you go down the list, it all starts with 1/20...I hope VSC will stop tormenting us soon...I used to pray that I wouldn't wait 170-75 days. That used to seem like a long time..This is a nightmare...

Checked some more of the 1/18s received around mine. No movement whatsoever. Last petition approved in my group was July 11th...Hope we see something happening tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday...We all know how Fridays go by now...Shocked we didn't have at least one approval today yet...this is definitely the worst VSC has been in a very long time. oh well 180 days here I come..(I guess if I count my received date, I'm already there). It is not pleasant at all......

Aha now I see (full version) still nothing from VSC it looks like. I bet this forum will be ringing with approvals by Thursday. Hopefully sooner though!

Yes. Slow start. Hopefully will pick up tomorrow. Come on VSC.

I don't really have my hopes up as I am not dealing well with this disappointment each week... Terry will be ringing today to check the status of that service request as it's been over 10 days now... also my sister in law said I would be approved before her birthday on Tuesday and she tends to be right... oh well a little surprise would be nice of course but I can't be bothered anymore as I am going to see him in 6 weeks and that's all I care for at the moment!

Good luck guys!

I've been unsuccessful getting a service request through because of the droids. "Must not conflict VSC source computer date..Beep Beep." Piece of ####### system. But hopefully, today or tomorrow will put an end to this nightmare / nonsense. 6 months. Can't believe sitting here saying that. This system is good at shattering hopes, stalling our dreams, and applying cruel and unusual forms of torment. Please let this week be the end of it. January filers have suffered enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOq7PX66yxw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This week is the week for us!

Been far away for far too long!!!

Agreed! And I'll be glad to not have to wish my weekends away anymore just so VSC can work! aha. Time for a week of NOA2s. Come on VSC.

Unfortunately family based visas (K1, I-130 etc.) are low on the priority list. With the way things have been going lately for Vermont clearly not enough are adjudicated per day.

It is not really that much about other center at this stage as much as our own... I am upset with all those approvals of people who filed after us or being approved within a month which happens at Vermont as well... it is too unfair to describe how one feels seeing it... USCIS has done everything so far to turn the engagement period , which should be one of the nicest moments in our lives into a hell!Right now I just hope we will all be approved before we all hit 6 months as it seems for some of us it might be even longer...

Yes. and the worst is when we call and they tell us that they're working on January 9th. haha. They've been working on January 9th for a month. How many petitions were received that day???? It's just a system designed to drive us crazy..Really just want to get approval before or at least around 180 days now...Please God don't let it go into the 200s..I think by mid week I'll get my Congressman involved at a much deeper level (have him actually call). Usually at 6 months they can exert a little more pressure...Still hard to believe many January filers are sitting here in mid July hoping for an approval...On average VSC is worse right now than when CSC was at its slowest earlier in the year...whatever meltdown they had over there to create such a backlog must have been relatively substantial. 2.5 months just to process a single month's worth of petitions? that's a serious issue.

Way to stay positive. Another good note for vermont is looking at igors list of the last 15 approved. At least it spans 3 days instead of 3 weeks. We all know they could have finished Jan in any given 2 week period. Lets hope the resources are there now to crank these out finally, hopefully now within a week... 5-7 per day VJ approvals will shorten the Jan list quickly.

Yes it will. and then they can move on and catch up on that backlog. This week will be six months for many of us so hopefully they have the resources necessary to prevent most of us from going beyond 180 days. *fingers crossed* It would be nice to have this over early in the week.

We do know that perfectly by now ! But this not changing the fact that this is unfair to all who are going through this. For all I know, maybe our box is on a desk of an adjucator on a sick leaving and will stay there until he is coming back...

Yes. there has to be some kind of reason for a void like that..It's not a couple random petitions. Instead a specific section of the month has been ignored.

Are 1/17 are all in the same box ? Because they are not a lot of them being approved either ! 1 once in awhile wich never happen to be mine...Maybe they put us in the 1/20 box...

Yes. My received date on the website is 1/18 but looks like we might be with these misplaced files. This is the kind of stuff that should not be happening. If you say that you process in the order received...well then process in the order received for God's sake. Or at least have some level of consistency. Can't believe this week will be 6 months...Been anxiously waiting for this NOA2 since the middle of May now...Please let it end this week...

Updates for July 13:

January 17:

1 x approval

January 23:

4 x approval

3 x RFE

January 30:

1 x approval

3 x RFE

January 31:

2 x approval

19th-20th totally skipped!

I hope they don't forget 19th and 20th again this week. Did they misplace the files? Or do they selectively just not feeling like working on these dates. They aren't going away so they might as well finish them! so frustrating.

All I know to tell you guys is to keep pushing with your congress people and to keep calling and ask for tier 2 every time. If they won't transfer you, tell them you were being transferred and your phone died while it was ringing I did that and they transferred me on through no questions asked.

If they try to give you some ####### about the computer won't let them do a service request and you're past 6 months, ask them if they can call the service center directly or if they can refer you to someone else who can help

Yes. I think this week is a big week for getting my Congressman involved since we'll hit 6 months. I'm hoping VSC can just take care of us early in the week and that would be a nice surprise. It's just so perplexing to look at Igor's list and see the literal black hole for 1/20 NOA1s. It's a void in approvals, and I don't understand it. But maybe they'll close this last gap early in the week (hopefully by Wednesday and this will finally be over).

How was DR?

DR was great man. Definitely a vacation to remember. Perfect weather and applied plenty of sunscreen. ha. She was not ready to go home haha. And neither was I (unless we could go together). Hopefully, some good news this week, so we can get things moving.

Yesterday was 6 months for us. Called to see if I could make a service request (thru tier 2) they said "Ohhhh looks like they're getting closer! They are on January 9th so not too much longer". I was like, "umm....yeah, that would seem exciting if it werent for the fact that they have been on that date for 3 weeks now". She said there is nothing she can do as far as a service request until the system updates to January 13th (our NOA1 is January 12th).

I contacted my congresswoman this week and am waiting to hear back. God I hope we hear something soon....

Yes. This process is torment..looks like another disappointing start to the weekend...I'm just so tired of it all.

Looks like no luck for me today...Guess they don't want to approve anymore 1/20 petitions this week.

Good point!

I just can't believe there is no way to find out what's up... It gotta be one freaking box just "lost" somewhere. Or the adjudicator for mid jan filers has been sick for weeks or something.

There has to be some explanation!

Yes. our petitions are MIA right now. only 1 approval for 1/20 NOA1s so far. worst statistics for all of the January petitions when you look at the number of 1/20 NOA1s that are still pending. CSC is a magnificent site to behold..They are blazing through K1s. The number of pending petitions at VSC is insane right now. Hopefully we don't end up with just a single approval from VSC today. Would be absolutely pathetic with the backlog that's going on.

It's worth a try. I contacted Ombudsman and my senator right after I hit the 5 month mark. My senator said that my file was on someone's desk and I couldn't do anything until 7/17 (so, 6 months). I never heard back from Ombudsman. If it gets to 6 months for you, I would definitely contact USCIS and ask for a service request, as well as contacting the congressman again. I just checked and about half the petitions around mine are approved/RFE'd, and the other half are untouched, Since they approved mine yesterday without me putting in a service request (I tried and got the 1/9 processing time response), I think they'll be working on a lot today and early next week to get them approved before the 6 month mark.

Yes. I think you're right Knope. I'm expecting approval by the end of next week at this point. It would be right up to the 6 month mark for me. And when you look at Igor's list all the mid Jan filers are next in line (beginning and end of the month are just about completely finished up. So hopefully this is it now..Finally.