Senator's response about USCIS

[Andreea&Kevin 38]

I decided to write a letter to my US Senators, here are their responses. Clearly they were never read by them or their staff. I do have the opportunity to meet with my congressman's staff in person next week, hopefully I'll have better luck with that.

Original Letter

Dear Senator,

I’m writing you today about the California Service Center of the USCIS and their priority of handling cases. I currently have a fiancé visa waiting for review. It has been pending review for 4 and half months now and at the current rate will be many more until it is even looked at. I realize there is a huge backlog of cases due to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, but this should not mean that all other cases are neglected. These people waiting for their cases are already in the USA and not separated from their loved ones, while I’m kept apart from mine. I feel I’m being punished for doing the immigration process the legal and proper way. There is also the financial impact on my family and your district. I’m supporting my fiancé, so that means thousands of dollars is not being spent locally. I can’t support local businesses, local jobs and there is also a loss of tax revenue, because I must support my family no matter where they are.

Another financial aspect of this is the revenue from fees of the deferred action cases. There are currently over 400,000 cases, each paying $435. Where did that $174,000,000 dollars go? The USCIS needs more staff to do their jobs. Money should be directed to the USCIS and used to get unemployed Americans back to work and relieve the backlog at the USCIS.

This isn’t the first time I have been separated from my family. I spent 6 years in the US Navy, including 2 deployments overseas. I gave up a portion of my life to help out our great nation, now I’d like to see that same respect in return.

Sincerely,

K E

Case #WAC____________

Senator Boxer

Dear Mr. E:

Thank you for your recent request for assistance with a federal agency.

Please be assured that your matter will receive serious attention, and that I will make every effort, consistent with federal law and ethics standards, to assist you. However, I will need to have your written consent on file before I can open a formal inquiry into your case. In most cases, such consent is required by federal law or regulation.

Therefore, please send your written and signed request for assistance to:

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

70 Washington Street, Suite 203

Oakland, CA 94607

In your statement, please include your name, your address, your phone number, any relevant identification numbers (such as your Social Security or alien registration number), a brief description of your case, and your signature.

If this is an emergency, please call my Oakland office at (510) 286-8537, and a member of my staff will assist you.

Once again, thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer

United States Senator

Please do not respond to this message. If you would like to comment on legislation, please visit my website and use the correspondence form at https://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm.

Senator Feinstein

Dear Mr. E:

Thank you for your e-mail about the difficulties you are having with a federal agency.

It appears that you have requested casework assistance from my office. The email form on my website is primarily used for general comments on legislative issues and not for casework. Should you need assistance with a federal agency, please first review the CASEWORK SERVICES page on my website.

After reading through the information on that page, please send your signed request directly to my San Francisco office by U.S. Mail or by fax. You should include any copies of related correspondence from the federal agencies in question. Attached you will find a Privacy Release Form that you may use to submit your request. For immigration cases, please use the Immigration Assistance Form instead. That form is found on the casework services page or, if you call one of my offices, it can be mailed directly to you.

Please know that as soon as your request is received, we will go to work on your problem. I am glad you came to me for help and I hope that my staff will be able to assist you.

[ChristianZane 70]

Hi just curious as to why you wrote a Senator's office, you're within the 5 month window since your NOA1.

[Darnell 8,478]

IMO, your initial approach was wrong, wasting days.

Why didn't you start with the release form? Fax that in with your letter of inquiry, it'll get to the immigration liason staffer.

Senator Boxer NEVER contacts USCIS - it's always the immigration liason staffer.

Want to know who it is? Call Sen Boxer's office, ask for the name of the immigration liason staffer.

If you need more help with engaging with your Senator's office, let me know - happy to Help !

Edited January 16, 2013 by Darnell

[DigitalSxKitten 1]

Very well worded letter. Think it was good you wrote now because there is a very real looming of waiting outside of the processing time. Might as well nip it in the bud now. I did the same thing and wrote my senator and sent in my consent form. No word yet though. Least you got some kind of response.

[nunya business 20]

Hi just curious as to why you wrote a Senator's office, you're within the 5 month window since your NOA1.

He contacted his senator because the new timeline are now 6 to 8 months because of the back log Obama has caused with the illegal amnesty act. So you can thank out Wonderful President for making everyone's life miserable.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Andy Lambert

[ChristianZane 70]

The Dream Act was introduced in August 2001 under the Bush Administration. It is currently entitled the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program, this has been going on and off for over a decade I really wouldn't blame Bush, or Obama, it's just bad timing that's all

[Darnell 8,478]

Nope, sorry, Blame Obama, as Deferred Adjudication exists because of his Executive Order.

[ChristianZane 70]

As I stated before, this was introduced under the Bush Administration, under Republican Orrin Hatch, it's been in and out, on and off for a decade, Obama starting up the process again is not news. When he is gone someone else will have to address the 11 million illegals in this country. Be thankful you have your K1 submitted now, because Immigration reform is the top agenda this year and soon ISCIS will be flooded with millions of applications, not just the 500k under Dream Act revival.

Nope, sorry, Blame Obama, as Deferred Adjudication exists because of his Executive Order.

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Nope, sorry, Blame Obama, as Deferred Adjudication exists because of his Executive Order.

Sadly, Brother Darnell is dead-nuts on.

[Brandon and Sugar 8]

He contacted his senator because the new timeline are now 6 to 8 months because of the back log Obama has caused with the illegal amnesty act. So you can thank out Wonderful President for making everyone's life miserable.

lol at your comment, I couldn't agree more.

[Harsh_77 718]

The Dream Act was introduced in August 2001 under the Bush Administration. It is currently entitled the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program, this has been going on and off for over a decade I really wouldn't blame Bush, or Obama, it's just bad timing that's all

You are right Dream Act was going back and forth and Obama signed it right before the election.

Now you do the the math if it was right or wrong timing.

[Harsh_77 718]

OP - unfortunately present administration does not give a ####### about ppl who has been doing everything legal way, paid thousands of dollars in fees and have been waiting to re-unite with their loved ones.

Senator Feinstein is busy in proposing anti gun laws while she herself carries one... do you think they were going to be any help?

Elections are over now they don't care about USC anymore.

[Andreea&Kevin 38]

He contacted his senator because the new timeline are now 6 to 8 months because of the back log Obama has caused with the illegal amnesty act. So you can thank out Wonderful President for making everyone's life miserable.

This is why I wrote the letter, not to start a service request. It was also a way for me to vent my frustration. I didn't think it would help my cases at all, but hoping might help others who are just starting the process and looking at a huge backlog. It's possible I made my letter to personal and should of focused on the process and policies of the USCIS. So, if anyone else is inspired to write their senator or congressman, keep that in mind.

I still have a meeting with my congressman's staff next week, so I'm not done yet.

If CSC is still not processing K1 cases after next week I'll start looking into an actual service request.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Andreea&Kevin

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This is why I wrote the letter, not to start a service request. It was also a way for me to vent my frustration. I didn't think it would help my cases at all, but hoping might help others who are just starting the process and looking at a huge backlog. It's possible I made my letter to personal and should of focused on the process and policies of the USCIS. So, if anyone else is inspired to write their senator or congressman, keep that in mind.

I still have a meeting with my congressman's staff next week, so I'm not done yet.

If CSC is still not processing K1 cases after next week I'll start looking into an actual service request.

Be aware also of what we call "Separaion of powers". USCIS is not a legislative office and legislators have nothing to do with it UNLESS they are operating outside the LAW. The law does not require a specific time to process a petition. The Senator or Congressman can make an inquiry and that is about it. Unless they are making errors or violating the law, there is nothing else they can do.

Obama implemented the current policy affecting processing times. No one has to like the fact he messed it up...but he did. ROCs from VSC are currently taking almost a year, some more than a year, and petitioners are having to scramble to get I-551 stamps in their passports so they can continue working and traveling.

Plan on waiting more than 6 months for petition approval for an I-129f. If you planned on 8 months you would probably not be disappointed

[Villanelle 4,122]

The problem was you included your case number at the end of your letter. That changed your letter from a general letter of complaint into a letter appearing as if you are requesting casework assistance from the office.