K-1 petition information

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hello All

I had a great opportunity Saturday evening to have dinner with and spend several hours with a director at the VSC. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. His wife is an adjusicator that handles YOUR petition (if it went through VSC). His wife is Russian, arrived on a K-1 and is now a citizen. This man has worked for USCIS for many years and was at several local offices before being assigned to the VSC. His wife is a friend of Alla's and we were all at a dinner party for several American/Russian/Ukrainian couples Saturday. We had a long chat, he was very open and helpful. We talked about a lot of the things we see here on VJ and I was trying to remember all the "usual questions" I read about and pin him down for some answers. I also have asked him if he will give an "official interview" for VJ. He said he will check out the site and I will call him later this week. So, anyway I will try to cover what we discussed, he was quite frank and direct in his answers, not rude, not at all, but he knows his stuff and answers without hesitation. It turned into an impromtu and fun "interview" with me trying to remember all the hot button issues I see on VJ

I told him that the number ONE and number TWO "complaints" I see are Why is the VSC taking so long and why can't we get through to you guys?

Why is VSC taking so long, what happened? I was approved in 58 days!: We had problem with labor last year and lost many workers, we hired more last November and it took some time to get them trained. Some of the petitions were sent to California and we also assign people to different tyopes of visas. They will concentrate on one tyoe, get behind on another and then shift many people back to the other type. Lately we have shifted many, almost all, adjudicators to I-129fs, so that should make people happy. They will do that until they get caught up. Summer is a busy time for I-129fs, usually about June we get slammed with them. The winter or early spring is the slowest time for I-129fs, but then it depends what they have everyone working on also.

OK, why can't we get through to you? The 1-800 line is useless. Those are contract employees and they are trained to select answers from a menu of 14 answers. They pick which one is best for your question. There are thousands of visas being processed at any time and everyone is special and everyone has special circumstances and if we had direct lines we weould do nothing but field requests by petitioners to give them priority, we just can't do it. How would you feel if your petition got bumped because some woman called and cried on the phone and then her petition got moved up ahead of yours. We simply have to operate in a way that avoids any chance of fraud, corruption or unfairness.

So what about some people get approved ahead of others? Sme petitions have problems or delays, we do not hold back others for this. If an adjudicator has problems, he puts that one aside or sends an RFE and goes on to the next. The next one may be clean and gets approved right away, in just a few minutes, they adjudicate 15-20 petitions a day per person, and the ones with problems may wait weeks for the petitioner to respond to the RFE, or maybe it is a name check they are waiting for. Petitions are assigned as they arrive, when we are working on those petitions, but they do not go out the door in the same order they came in.

G-325a, Signed or Unsigned? Unsigned.

WHAT? Ok I have seen the memo but lots of VJ members got RFEs for unsigned G-325s, what gives? They do not have to be signed,they can be signed at the consualte interview. Some adjusicators haven't read all the memos, we get hundreds of the things, and maybe they make a mistake. If you want to be sure there is no mistake, sign it. Or send a letter expalining why it is not signed and request it be signed at the interview. Do you have that memo?

It is on the VJ website somewhere You can print a copy of that and send it with the I-129f and G-325a.

Fiancee intent letter? Signed or unsigned? Signed.

What about a faxed or emailed signature? When I was adjudicating, if I could see a signature, I accepted it, but many adjusicators will not. Signed is better.

Lawyer or no lawyer? For what?

Enough said. Now a hot issue, a very controversial one. There seems to be a trend in some countries of foreign men marrying American women and the women are considerably older. There is always a question if this is a problem. It never seems to be a problem for older men/younger women (My wife is 13 years younger, his wife is also considerable younger than him) Is it a problem? For us, USCIS, no. "Free to marry".

What about the consulates or for AOS or I-751? Consulates do what they do, it is not USCIS, some of them are bastards. Kiev is easy, they approve everyone (laughs), they used to be bastards but they got easier since they first started doing those in 2005, before then you would have had to go to Warsaw, you know. For AOS if they can prove they are legitimate we do not care about age but anything that is "not normal" for the culture will draw suspicion. They probably will not get a no questions asked interview (I had told him our AOS was "no questions asked")

What about birth certificates, some people have trouble getting them? This is a problem for us also. Some people, especially our younger staff, think all the world is like the USA. I remember one, when I was in the Kansas City office, the beneficiary was from Viet Nam, she was born in 1954 there was no birth certificate. The CO asked me about this and I looked at the file. I said "Do you know what was going on in Viet Nam in 1954?" She looked at me, straight faced and said "What, their computers were down?" If a birth certificate cannot be obtained they can usually get something from a church, a village official, something, and send that with a letter of explanation. Or just their passport and a letter explaining the situation (this applies to AOS more than I-129f as beneficiary birth certificate is not required for the petition, but I wanted to ask anyway, it seems a common question here)

What about extra documents? Proof of relationship? We don't need it, only that they have met for the fiancee visa.

What about the consulates? Consulates do what they do, as I said, some are bastards. They get whatever we get when it is sent on. I can't tell you what NVC and consulates do, I know some are terrible and some are really easy, but I do not know all the details of each. Kiev is easy, western Europe is easy, Nigeria is horrible, but you would not believe the scams from Nigeria, I get jaded. I am surprised a lot of them get visas and then we have to deal with them.

I have to ask for a collegue, Ecuador? Bastards.

What about changes? Are there any in the works? Is Obama ouching you guys to work faster? I am not sure Obama knows we exist. There have been no changes and no pressure other than the usual workload and shifting things around. I do not expect any immigration changes in the next year or two, at kleat not in rules or amnesty or anything like that. I do expect FEE INCREASES within the next year...across the board.

How much more? I cannot say, that is not my area, I just hear talk.

He added, "We try not to deny petitions, people really get angry and make lots of trouble. Denials usually come at the consulate or maybe AOS or sometimes even with the I-751. If we deny someone we need good reason, if they meet the criteria, we will approve it, they just have to give us what we need to approve them."

So how can I speed up my petition? You can't really. If it gets to be too long and if you can get a congressman or senator to call, that will get some action, but half the time those guys dont'' call or they do and the petition has only been there 3 months. Sometimes one falls through the cracks, gets overlooked, we are human. A congressman can get through and get them to dig it out if it has been too long, but I wouldn't call that "speeding it up". That's a fix for whn it is too slow.

we talked for some time more, about 5 hours altogether, briefly interrupted by Alla every now and again who had her own questions about the I-751 procedure which I posted in that forum, about VJ and other topics (his Navy days) He said he will check the site and gave me his home number. He said "call anytime but not 3 in the morning" I asked about an interview or answering prepared questions, he said possibly, he will check the site. He said many internet sites are advertisement for immigration attorneys or instructing people on how to pull scams, I assured him he would be very pleased with VJ and he thinks it is great that there is a good site for information and advice. (he never heard of VJ before this)

I can also say, that speaking to him, I heard so many of the same buzzwords or advice that I have seen right here, this is really a great site with some great folks giving some really great info.

[Stephen + Elisha 92]

Gary, this is an absolutely fantastic post. Thanks for doing this!

[Stephen + Elisha 92]

Gary, if you talk to him again, I thought of another hot one:

G-325A: one page or four?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Gary, if you talk to him again, I thought of another hot one:

G-325A: one page or four?

I knew there would be something I forgot!

[Anh map 2,098]

Did you mention Linh's I-751 specifically?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Did you mention Linh's I-751 specifically?

No but I did ask alot about the I-751, I posted in that forum also. I thought of you when he told me about the Viet Nam case, but then he said "1954" and I thought ...Naaaahhhhhhh

[Allie and Nigel 2]

I didnt use VSC but you guys are a great help to us all around...thanks so much for the info and your great posts and advice to these people needing the help..including myself!

[Joe_&_Nadiya 1]

Thank you guys for this useful info!!!! Great Job!!! Unfortunately, we didn't know about it before when we were passing this way, but anyway I am sure a lot people will need it. I think moderators have to make a special mark of this page on VJ. Because many people create threads with these questions about I-129F, AOS and waiting for answers during some time.

Nadya.

[Smizzy 0]

This is fantastic information. Now we just need to find someone with friends at the NVC...

[Leenie 15]

Gay, you're the best!

Agh, fee increases. Just another good reason to hurry up and get our I-129F package out ASAP.

[Road 2 Peace Arch 0]

Nice work Gary.

[thepizzadude 26]

Thanks dude, nice work!

[Enigma11561 336]

Wow!! I just recently joined this site and recently just filed my 129 as well. This is great info. Like most people, I was scared to death that EVERY t was crossed and I dotted. Our government at work. SO..it only takes a few minutes to approve a petition? And the delays are basically just not enough workers to handle the volume? Incredible. ( can we move workers from the IRS to the USCIS?) And thank you!

[TBoneTX 45,266]

What about the consulates? Consulates do what they do, as I said, some are bastards. They get whatever we get when it is sent on.

The second sentence is a relief to know.

I have to ask for a colleague, Ecuador? Bastards.

Why, thank you, colleague! And, it's good to know that someone besides "all of us" has come up with the correct synonym for Guayaquil, si man.

More questions (a couple of them multipartite) to ask the dude:

1. Does it slow down the processing perceptibly if people front-load their applications in anticipation of dealing with the consulates later? Do his staffers mind this, or they deal with it because "a package is a package"?

2. What percentage of the VSC's workload is dealing with petitions that have been returned from the consulates?

3.a. How exactly does he define "#######" consulate? How specifically do Guayaquil & others qualify, and is the VSC doing anything in particular to make it known, such as reaffirming 99.44% of returned petitions from there?

3.b. Can you get him to come up with a list of the 15 or 20 "most #######" consulates, along with seemingly common reasons that these places return petitions to the VSC? (This is a back-door way of learning tips for front-loading.) It would also be helpful if he could offer a reason or two why each is a #######, as he did for Lagos.

4. Does he know anyone by name & title in the Dept. of State to whom to complain about "#######" consulates?

(This last could be valuable also for those who have been subjected to the blonde in Casablanca, and, I think, to some ill-tempered consul in Vietnam that I seem to remember reading about -- individual misbehavior means institutional tolerance of it.)

5. Can he (or someone who works for him) provide an updated, detailed, insider's description of what a file goes through when it's received and processed? That "former adjudicator at the NSC" thread here on VJ was immensely interesting, but it's 5 or 6 years old; parts of it still likely apply, but other parts are certainly wildly out of date.

Part of the insatiable search for knowledge, si man. Gracias again.

[Starlight95 1]

Wow!! Thanks Gary that was great information. This is great info and right from the source.