Hm, still no updates from here ... I'm not even gonna bother trying to figure out what is going on, but just want to get prepared for 'worst case' scenario. My extension is expiring end of April - does anyone know how to go about getting this extended?? Do I need to set up an infopass app at the local office and can get a stamp easily? I highly doubt I will get the card in time, so I think I need to start thinking of alternatives - what a ridiculous game this is ...

Talk about a raw deal. I don't begrudge the VSC filers getting their I-751s approved. It's not their fault we're getting it without lube. It pisses me off that the USCIS doesn't have the common fairness and decency to at least start working our cases after we've waited close to a year already. And in some cases more than a year.

No offense, but if you're looking for congratulations, you've come to the wrong thread.

You didn't deserve to be approved before any of us, frankly.

Hi Jill! Long, LONG time no see! I gather you must have filed last March or thereabouts in NSC. I had thought the NSC Losers were in a worse position than us TSC-VSC Losers® because we had at least been moved out of the hellhole that is TSC, but it looks like we may have just been put at the back of a six-month line.

Triple the charges? I'll take what I can get!

I got a question: didn't the online status used to say something about the filing date? like was received on xxx date? it doesn't mention the NOA1 date on mine at all.....

wow you even filed a week AFTER me and you got approved,....maybe this means i'll get approved in the next few weeks??? this is really out of whack if you ask me!, and especially for those who are with the TSC!

What is our possibility for recourse if we really are back in line? I assume we would have to wait for our case to be 30 days past processing times (in May or June, depending on their posted dates) and inquire. Then, they would let us know we r einside the timeframe and another inquiry about that would take 60 days. After those 60 days it would be August and we would be approved after ONLY 6 months at VSc anyways. I have no words for this unfairness. It sounds like a comedy show on government inability to perform anythign right...

If you ask me... I am sick of all this!!! Sick of waiting... I was so happy when they touched our cases like 3 times in February that I really thought we were going to get approved in no time... well, even though I still have hopes... it doesn't look so promising.... I am really disappointed with the US government…

People deserve to get approved in the order they filed. Period. Hence, neither you nor any other direct VSC filer deserves to get approved before any of us.

Further, and more to the point, kbf already posted his (her?) approval in a separate thread, as well as on the full VSC list thread. So what's the point of posting it in this thread as well? Strikes me as kind of rubbing it in -- particularly since s/he -- AND YOU -- have hoped publicly that you get approved before us "invaders" do.

Tweety, I don't have that status anymore, (otherwise I would C&P it for you) but I know my NOA was dated Sept 18, 2007 (from California) and my online status used to show as October 10, 2007. It said something like "Case Status: Received and pending: On October 10 this application was received at our California Service Center. We will mail you information on how your case will be processed, if you move, please let us know. This case is at our California Service Center. " The end.

Hope that helps answer your question

I've got a news flash for you: we are "ahead" of everyone at VSC, whether we actually get approved before those people or not.

The only childish people here are those who think that someone waiting only 6 months should be approved ahead of those who have been waiting a year simply because they filed directly with a particular service center. Or those people who have been waiting 6 months who think that they would be "standing aside" if, heaven forfend, someone who had been waiting a year were approved "ahead" of them.

Obviously, you do resent the fact that we have been transferred to VSC and that we have somehow interfered with your plans for an orderly 6 month approval. Well, I've got news for you, lady: when we filed at TSC, they were doing nice orderly 5-month approvals. Two months later, they just stopped.

You seem to be incapable of grasping the fact that TSC and VSC are not government agencies making up their own rules. CIS is the only agency here. And everyone here filed a petition with CIS.

Time for you to get off your high horse, stop resenting us, and learn to live with the fact that you were never guaranteed a 6 month approval time, just as we were never guaranteed a 5 month approval time.

I agree. Geographic location should not matter. I personally would not care whether there are 2 weeks or 10 months but the injustice of the service center system and transfer policy is simply outrageous. I wish they would centralize it all and approve on first-come first-serve basis.

Please dont be mad that my case got approved and some ones else is not...James you been doing great so far...But i have to say that i agree with Kez...
we don,t need to argue here that who is right or who is wrong....All we can do is share our experience so that it can help someone. This forum and you all really helped me alot by sharing your experience. So I just want everybody to please continue sharing your data and dont be mad at any...Just hope that every body will get approved within timely fashion. After all its USCIS and its not in our control....

I have to agree with James and baunzerbudi.

Congratulations are always in order to anyone that gets approved, whether they are VSC, NSC, TSC or CSC original filers.

But the point is, we did file a petition with the USCIS - and the wait times should be the same for everybody, just like the fees are on a given filing date.

The original TSC filers who were transferred to VSC (like my wife) are in a mess.

We now have to start making arrangements to schedule appointments at our USCIS filed office pretty soon to get I-551 extension stamps. That means taking a day off work, incurring considerable expense in driving to the USCIS filed office (200 miles RT for us) and depending on who you get, maybe subject to a gruelling process just to get a miserable stamp.

So in light of this, I have to agree with James on this, that frankly posting your approval notice on 3 threads, especially this one, is rubbing it in.

My intentions were just to inform everybody and was,t expecting or gathering congratulations... I am sorry if some body got feelings hurt

Congratulations! No offence taken by me personally...but many people are agitated, and when agitated, people react differently...

Good luck with the US Citizenship process!

Ho wow!!! This got really personal already!!! GUYS GUYS!!! Nothing that you say or not say will make USCIS work faster.... I am a TSC LOOSER TOO... although I am only waiting since JULY 07, I get sometimes angry at people that get approved before me that filed on September ... well that is JUST human nature... ALSO LOOK AT THE LIST on the other threat (VERMONT CENTER LIST) and you can clearly see that my case got lost in between all the approvals!!! That really makes me angry... but, what can I do??? Nothing... what can you do???, nothing ! Let’s not insult each other!!!!

well... understand that the frustration of seeing everybody being approved except us, TSC LOOSER, which we have not done anything wrong... (we are just unlucky applications lost in the limbo!) Makes us be mad at everyone.... I am not saying is the correct way but, like I say it is human nature, and no one is a Saint, now, don’t take me wrong but I had read other threats were maybe you or someone else from Vermont talked about us as "the invasion of TSC" some people could take that wrong... same don't... Hopefully we all get approved because we all deserved it.

As somebody said, there is only one cis, and they did take our money before they took yours so we should be first.

this whole situation sucks royally.

Correct, sir. We were out of our money longer than the people who filed after us. Hence, we should be compensated for the longer "no-money" time period with earlier approval.

James' frustration is understandable, though, obviously, kbl was not looking for a "congratulations", but was merely notifying everyone of his status. Kezzie's, on the other hand, is being a little biaaatch. I first thought he was truly offended for kbl, but later it came up that he himself is an original filer at VSC and has vested interest in having original VSCers get approved before us, the transferees. I am watching you, Kezzie, "meet-the-parents-robert-de-niro" style.

I'm not at TSC or VSC, but I'm stuck in the same nonsense at NSC, filing nearly a year ago. I totally understand the frustration of someone who has to wait a long time and then seemingly gets lost in the shuffle. It's not the first time either since many of us went through this exact same scenario a few years ago when petitions got transferred from NSC to CSC and then those transferees got approved well before people who'd filed well before THEM. I when I filed in Feb and people who filed in July and August got immediate transfers to CSC and then quick approvals. It's deja vu all over again.... And yes, I understand how someone can not have much sympathy for someone when they cry that they've been waiting for a few months at VSC OR CSC. Maybe a little understanding needs to come that way too. Would I feel like I was butting ahead of someone now at CSC if our petition got transferred...NO WAY. It IS human nature to think these things and sometimes even say them. It's human nature to be pissed off and since it doesn't seem to do much good to be pissed of at USCIS, I DO understand how it can sometimes come out at someone who really doesn't deserve the anger directed at them. So, no I don't agree that someone DOESN'T deserve an approval, but I can at least secretly believe I deserve it more because I've been waiting longer. So shoot me! LOL

Ok, I'll run back to the NSC-loser thread now.... carry on...

P.S. Hoping that original VSC filers get approved before people who have been waiting longer does seem a tad harsh.

Can you guys take your fight to PM please!
Back to topic!

Tweety, can you, for once, stand by your friend James and get into a catfight with Kezzie?

i AM NOT LOOKING FOR ANY CATFIGHT....

I HAVE DELETED MY POSTS AND WILL LEAVE YOU ALL TO YOUR FORUM POST.....

GOOD LUCK AND SPEEDY APPROVAL TO US ALL...

KEZ

It was a joke, Kezzie.

I'm with you tweety, this is getting ridiculous.

Well, all I can say is that I'm not surprised about USCIS screwing us over.
When we filed for AOS, we originally filed at VSC. They took so long to process it that we had to get the fingerprints a second time (and the closest support center was 3 hours away). Then we were transferred to CSC and got an RFE for things we had included in the original packet.
Then were approved and had to get biometrics AGAIN. We waited for months. Turned out they lost the biometrics and had no record that they had been taken. Got biometrics AGAIN. Then we moved. We changed our address by mail, phone and in person when we had the biometrics done. They still sent us our card (a year after approval) to the OLD address.
In conclusion, we are filing for naturalization next month and I wouldn't be surprised if we get interviewed before the I-751 is even processed.

I see we've had some posts made invisible.....

And deservedly so!

ANYWAY . . . would somebody stalk A_C so we get the word as soon as she is approved? She's also actually the only one outside the posted VSC processing time.

FYI I deleted the posts they were not made invisable.... and I still stand by my comment that you James were wrong to say what you did say to that member.... frustration is no excuse.....



Kez

Let's just leave well enough alone, shall we?

Will we actually have to redo biometric services if it takes longer than a year? That would be great news on top of everything!

she popped her head into one of these threads I think it was yesterday saying no news yet, if I remember correctly.

Ah yes, post #351 on this thread

Wow, did I reach such a celebrity status that I am being stalked now

Well, unfortunately no news from my side, last touch was still Feb 25. I am thinking about calling in, but then again I am not past the "30 days" to really be outside the processing window (I assume I should use VCS times now). And also I had heard from them during the last 60 days. So I think I will spare myself the useless call and wait a little longer. I AM starting to get a bit worried though because I am running out of time end of April. Does anyone know what I am supposed to do?? Will I be considered 'illegal' ?? I have a job and would like to be able to travel, so I need sth to have in hands to show my legal status.

Thanks for any info and I'll keep you posted if I finally get some news, no worries

Yes, A_C we're all looking in your direction. If you have time (and who has that these days) it would not hurt to call USCIS. You can always plead ignorance about checking the case status online, in which case you are past 30 days from the time you received the paper letter indicating transfer to Vermont.

As far as legality you would have to schedule an INFOPASS appt. at your local USICS field office and bring as much evidence to the appt. (USCIS notices, air tickets, letter from work stating your need for travel, or even evidence that your parents reside overseas, and that on a whim you will have to travel if there is a family emergency). Once that evidence is seen (should they need to see it) they should stamp in your passport an I-551 stamp good for a year.

One prediction about how many TSC cases are now in Vermont.

Let's assume that the posters on this message board (and on James's master list) are representing 1% of USCIS applicants. (I think its a lot more, but lets take 1%).

Then would it be reasonable to assume that there are 100 times the applications pending for our category (just TSC transfers to VSC)? Any thoughts?

That seems like a lot - the only thing I can take solace in is that we are acquiring the needed time (36 months if married to a US citizen) for applying for US citizenship....and dealing with the USCIS....again!!!

So if there are around 20 transferees from TSC to VSC on this board, are you suggesting there are 2000 total transferees? In my view, this is an exaggerated figure. To prove this, just try changing the last one or two digits of your 10-digit case number. I did it and I only found 1 other case that was filed on the same date as me. So if they received two cases per day between February and June, that's 300 cases that were transferred from TSC to VSC. That sounds a little more reasonable I would say. What's unreasonable is why they can't figgin' handle those cases in a timely manner.

Burs,
I hope you are right. And yes, I can't see what's taking them so long. Anyone else care to chime in?

I would estimate that there are about 500 to 1000 transferees. Just my personal guess. What takes them so long? They treat us like al other TSc transfer case files. That means we stand in line for 6 months! They seem to ignore (intentionally or due to system isues) the year we already waited!

I highly doubt that we are put on an equal footing with folks who filed directly with VSC in February 08. Putting us at the back of the line is consequential for USCIS in terms of increased senator inquiries and possibility of law suits. I still think that we are not too far from getting the "card production ordered" message. I used to process applications for credit for a major corporation. It was an after-college-type-gig. My desk and the desks of other analysts were piled with applications. Whenever an analyst required help with processing his load, I would take some of his applications (that were filed before mine) and start processing them. However, I would never give them full priority over my own, but I would never dare to stick them on the bottom of my pile. I would think USCIS has a similar approach. My guess - one to two weeks from now we will forget the webaddress of this forum because we will be done.

That would be great but why has nothing happened in a month? Not a single person has been touched since last month. I am simply afraid the system treats us like TSC-VSC transfers without distinguishing between current TSC files and the old ones. That "system error" would lead to at least 3 months of trouble until we can inquire... anybody else got any opinion on this...?

I'm making an educated guess that there are roughly 12,000 TSC-VSC Loser® transferees, give or take.

According to the proposed rule it published in connection with the fee increases last year, CIS said that it received 143,000 I-751 petitions in FY2006 and estimated about the same for FY 2007-08. Divide that figure evenly among the four service centers (I have no other way of doing so) and you get 35,750. The TSC-VSC transferees consisted of petitions filed during a four month period from roughly mid-February 2007 to mid-June 2007. Four months is a third of a year. So if you divide 35,750 by three, you get 11,916.

You'll also note that CIS estimates that the actual time a service center spends to complete the review of an individual petition is about 45 minutes.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/ProposedRule.pdf

(See p. 65-66 for the figures on the number of petitions received and p. 78 for the figure on completion rates.)

I kind of agree with baunzerbrudi. Not a touch in 2 weeks, after many touches. Even though my wife filed in March 2007, what concerns me is that there has be no action with Jan. 2007 filers. So if we assume that the Jan 2007 filers start being seen, say tomorrow, it would still take two months (in my estimate) before March 2007 filers heard anything.

What would help if anybody knew, maybe through 6 degrees of separation, *anyone that worked at the VSC.*

1. What's the culture like?
2. Do they take half-days or days off to go skiing in winter in Stowe?
3. Do they take half-days or days off to go boating on Lake Champlain?
4. Do they talk half-days or days off to eat Ben N Jerry's ice cream (a VT original)?

Or more importantly:
5. How many officers adjudicate on I-751s? One, two , three?
6. How many TSC to VSC transfers are they, and at what rate are they being processed?

Well, I just got off the phone with USCIS I told them I'm outside the processing window and havent heard anything and dont know what is going Surprisingly, the girl didnt try to argue that I was still within their window (like it was during last calls), but took all my information and put in another service request, including notes that my extension is about to expire and that I had no response for my previous service request (which is not quite true, but I considered the answers useless so that equals "havent received information" for me ).

Now it's the usual ... in 30 to 45 days I should receive a response to my service request, bla bla. Asked her what I am supposed to do if GC expires before I hear anything --> go to local office and get a stamp for another year. Good thing it's 'only' an hour away and an IKEA opened up there today, so I can at least get some use out of the trip.

I didnt bother asking any other questions of what is going on, since by now I KNOW they dont know anything ... My only hope is that, maybe, but only maybe, they will have to go look for the file to fulfill the service request and then will just throw it on top of the piles on sb's desk, instead of putting it back in the bottomless box

I'll keep you posted if I hear anything new.