Does anyone knows when VSC will start approving petitions??

I feel bad for me and everyone else who have been waiting longer than i am. But seriously, anyone live near VSC and go their find out whaether people their are sleeping or they like pick and choose the applications to be approved or feel like doing any work????

Does anyone live near there and can smack the hell at them??????

Reehon,
Are you suggesting a road trip?? If so, Im in!!! Who else is game????
Paris Heart

This is my theory, and i posted this at a different site I belong to:

I found this article this morning. It is about a letter written by Senator Patrick Leahy at the end of November 2007 to Emilio T. Gonzalez Director of USCIS asking him to please deal with the fact that because a different employment agency (?) won the contract at VSC, "approximately 200 long-time employees will receive serious reductions to their hourly wages. Some of these employees stand to lose almost $3.00 per hour"

SOOOO, not only do they not have enough people to meet the increased amount of petitions filed, they are going to backstab the employees who are there by lowering their wages! No wonder the employees on the other end of the phone are moody, cannot answer your questions, and tell you they don't have the time. I would be moody if someone was going to cut my pay by $3.00 an hour. And if a possible job loss was constantly looming over my head I don't think I would feel too motivated to work efficiently, effectively, or expeditiously.

Geesh, I wonder if this has anything to do with the increased processing time, never mind the fact that they are advertising the directors position is open up there.

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200711/113007b.html

Oh, yeah, and here is a previous article from Sept. 2007 in which Leahy is pleased that VSC will be appropriated 300 additional positions...

hmmm...well I guess to be able to ADD 300 positions they had to bring in a new employment agency/contract, and lower wages on current employees so they could stay within the budget even though they increased the fees of petitions for immigrants...something isn't right. Especially since the processing times for Vermont have increased.

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200709/092807.html

And another letter explaining their plans for Vermont...

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200709...SCISLetter.pdf

But none of this is working...CAN't THEY TELL?!?

Sorry...didn't mean to burst anyones bubble...but I am the type of person that NEEDS to know what is going on at all levels.

Last week when speaking to our lawyer he had mentioned that recently there had been a big conference/meeting for all types of professionals regarding the backlogs being experienced at USCIS, but particularly VSC...they were all given a standard BS line that they were dealing with the situation and doing the best they could, but there was no way to speed up the process. Our lawyer asked what about people who are in removal proceedings, shouldn't they be allowed some type of expedited service considering they are in court and the answer was no...

Sooo...I felt motivated to dig up some information to find out what is going on up there because I knew there was more to it than "oh we received tons of applications, and are in the process of training new employees"

I don't know how many of you have ever been to Vermont...but it is quite RURAL, and the population is LOW

It is my opinion...that IF USCIS is SCREWING their current employees...and any new applicants are TEMPS with no bennys for up to the first year...and are promised NOTHING...they are having a hard time filling those positions...bad news travels quickly, particularly in rural areas...and who the hell is going to want to work for them...and than when you consider the requirements to even apply or be considered...geesh...you started with a limited pool of possible applicants already...why not needle it down to nearly non-existent....

Its easier to go work at the local Wal-Mart.

I looked a little further.

The town of St. Albans Vermont has a population of approximately 8-9,000 people. The county of Franklin which includes Burlington and St. Albans and a whole mess of other towns has an approximate population of 50,000. Not much of an employment pool if you ask me.

Their racial make up is almost all caucasian. If you added up all the others I doubt it would even break 5%.

And the majority of constituents are REPUBLICANS, and were big fund raisers of BUSH. Which to me is odd because we are talking about Vermont a predominantly Democratic state, where the tree huggers, and crunchy granola people migrate to...

I also went to a local newspaper called the St. Albans Messenger, and there was a front page article about the low morale and dis-satifaction of DHS Border employees in Highgate Vermont (I know its different, but they are still under the same umbrella) and how people are leaving, they cannot retain many, and they are having a hard time getting new ones...part of this due to internal reorganizing.

Sigh....I just want our petition OUT of Vermont and at our local office so we can get our damn interview and approval on our I-130!

Excellent post, I feel exactly like you. Actually I've abandonded most of my work and set a personal vendetta against VSC and their way of business. Sitting by idle is not going to move things thats for sure.

Considering the jobs listed in Vermont are well-compensated, I don't really believe that an overall bad attitude is to blame for the way the system is currently operating. I should imagine it is a failure of leadership more than anything else.