I am USC and filed I-130 for my wife. I have two minor kids under 18, and didn't know that if you upgrade a petition from F2A to IR1, there is no derivative benefits, means your minor kids can not get visa with your wife's petition alone. NVC suggested I need to file separate I-130 for each child and I did the same back in March 07.
Now my wife's case is already at NVC and will be completed at the end of July 07 and CSC hasn't approved my kids I-130 yet. I sent CSC fax at (949) 389-3441 to expedite my kids petition so their case will be processed at the same time whe my wife gets visa. CSC is not replying back to my fax requests even I have sent them 2 more faxes as suggested by USCIS Customer "Dis-Service" Rep ( Yes, I did write Return fax number on each page )

Does anyone have similar experience and like to share any suggestion, what should I do next. Really frustrated at USCIS CSC.

CSC doesn't expedite to keep petitions together (and they don't normally respond to faxes). Expedites are usually only given in the case of military deployment. I would suggest contacting your state senator by using their online privacy form to see if they can help you.

kitkat1, When my wife gets visa and my kids' petitions are still in process, how can she leave 3 1/2 and 2 years old kids behind? Do you think its not a reason to expedite a case? I beleive its a solid reason, Anyone else?
Moreover, CSC should have decency to at least respond. They don't. I faxed to Vermont Center in error, they were kind enough to send me a letter in the mail, letting me know of my mistake and advised me to contact appropriate Svc Ctr, CSC.

It doesn't matter what you and I think - it matters what CSC rules are. Petition approval is different from consular interview dates. Perhaps you can contact the consulate when it comes time for the interviews to request that they are scheduled together.

Of course CSC should have the decency to respond. But they are not customer service oriented. (Last March when IMBRA went into effect and all processing came to a screeching halt, they did not contact petitioners - even though they had email and mailing addresses - and provided zero information regarding procedures. Cases were delayed for months on end, with no explanation and no information. Unfortunately, that's how USCIS works.)

I would delay the interview until the Embassy has all the petitions.

You have 6 months to activate a visa anyway. But you can never be certain how long each file will take to go through the system.

I would not expect the Embassy to have an issue doing this especially in the circumstances.

You cant expidite your childrens I-130's but you can delay your wife's interview until the Childrens papers are ready too....

Kez

I completely agree with you. I wonder if majority of US population had to deal with USCIS, they still had the same Customer "Dis-Service" Reps? I really doubt it.

Thanks Boiler for the suggestion but my obvious choice will be to have my family here with me as soon as possible, specially when I have been away from my family for more than 4 years and missed out my kids early childhood days.

I know someone who was in the same situation and they were able to expedite their kid's petition via fax with VSC. I wonder if USCIS rules vary by center?

They definitely do - VSC seems to be a much better run service center and much more responsive. That said, I think your best bet is to get your senator involved to be sure that the interviews are scheduled together. My guess is that's the only option here. Good luck.

I have already contact Senator over the weekend. Lets see if it helps

No luck from any Senator yet , but I called USCIS (CSC) today to check on my kids I-130 and CSR transferred me to a supervisor. He mentioned that as long as I have filed for I-130 for my kids and my wife gets Interview date, I should be ok, even if kids petitons don't get approved by that time. Embassy will need copies of kid's I-130 and they will issue visa to kids also. This is a news to me and still not sure if its true, you can't trust what USCIS tells you

Did anyone ever hear something like that? If its true then it will be great and my family can move here by end of this year.

It does not sound right, but I suppose they could be procesed by the Consulate. I would want confirmation from the Consulate.

USCIS sent letters stating these requests did not qualify for expedited service and will be processed as regular petitions.
Its been more than five months now...........how long more do they need to process these petitions !!!!!!!!
They wouldn't be running background checks for 2 and 3 1/2 years old kids. Whould they?

They do checks on everybody.... no mater what age they are.... sorry you are having to wait... but this is what I have seen happen to others in your situation.... but you were right to try for expedited service...

Kez

Finally I heard something from USCIS, even though in the form of RFE for both my kids I-130
Sent the requested documents today.

Does anyone know how long USCIS (Calif. Svc Ctr) takes to approve petition once they receive the requested documents?

Should be pretty quick looking at other people's timelines. I would guess less then 4 weeks from receiving the RFE.

If you received an RFE, that means your petition is on an Adjudicator's desk. Reply to it completely and prompty. USCIS prioritizes finishing up petitions already on the desks rather then getting stacks of new petitions from the filing cabinets.

Best of luck!