ZOMG that's freaking hot. And I don't mean "hawt."


Ha! Cute! That's not my petition though. Mine is the one in the break room keeping the table from wobbling.

LOL.... LOVE the pics and YEP looks pretty close to me <grin>

have a GREAT day
Tracy
:-)

I called them yesterday to check if they are working on my case yet! and all what they say..it's the same status as what in online said..(still pending) and no touchs yet neither

I wish i was living in Vermont! now I'm thinking to move there

Completely off-topic (sorta), I'd just like to say that I'm glad to see the September thread getting some life back into it! And while I don't think we have quite the volume that certain other threads have (July I'm looking at you!) I think we more than make up for it in class and style.

Ya but September filers are all better looking than July filers!

It certainly explains why they processed all of them so quick and then stopped when they got to us. They just can't let us go! I bet they have their lockers plastered with all the passport-sized photos we sent in...

Sure, I bet you all get RFE's for missing passport photos!

Hey now, I'm a September filer too! We shall not speak of the "R" word that ends in "E" and has a "F" in the middle!

Mox,

I got no touches (other than my address change on 13 Dec) before my approval. I checked it once in the morning, and once around noon and had nothing. So unless all the touches happened between noon and 730pm when I checked and saw my approval, I didnt get any. I dont know why some people get touches recorded and some dont.

Also, dont put ANY stock into what cust service says. On the day I got my approval, I was spending some time catching up on the VSC thread from what I had missed while in Russia. I saw that there had been some Sept approvals, so I did a timeline search and saw that they had me bracketed. About 4 approvals from after me and 3 approvals from before, so I got antsy because I need to talk to the NVC folk while they still have my petition at the reccommendation of the USCIS guys to make sure my address change took in the system, and I had been reading reports that the CRIS system was not notifying people again. I tried calling using the RFE trick, but it told me that there were no officers available and kept kicking me to cust service, so I would hang up and try again. I tried about 10 times and finally let it go to cust service, knowing I probably wouldnt get any info but figured I would try. They told me that "according to the selections you chose you have an RFE, what is your question?", so, I lied to them and told them that for some reason I could not access the website and I wanted to know if that meant I had an RFE. They did a status check on my petition and said that it was still in the PENDING stage and I had no RFE. They went on to tell me that the processing timeline for VSC was still 6 months and that they were currently working on June 19th petitions, so It looked like I had about 2 or 3 more months to wait for my approval. I thanked them and hung up. 3 hours later on the dot, the website showed I was approved and I checked my email and there was the CRIS notification of the same.

Those people dont know a damn thing when you call them. It is a waste of time and an exercise in futility. I believe her when she said my petition was still pending and that my approval came sometime in that 3 hour window, but to tell me that I have a 2-3 month wait still, and it turned out to be 3 hours is an order of magnitude incorrect. But, I guess that is where the saying "Close enough for government work" comes from.

Good post Bobalouie. I think the frustrating thing right now is that either:

CSC approvals have slowed down to a statistical zero.

-or-

CSC are not updating cases online.

In either case, because the data has completely dried up, we have no way of knowing where CSC stands. If they're not updating cases online, then for all we know they could be right up there with VSC, meaning that September filers might actually be being approved. If it's the former case, then...well then WTF.

I agree with you that customer service are not to be trusted. Although I take the view that the customer service people are only as good as the tools they are provided by management, and those tools are crap. Your situation is a perfect case in point. I believe the rep told you exactly what he knew, and what he had been told to say in that situation. I.e., I think his computer showed that you were not approved yet, so the default answer based on your filing date was a couple months out. Had he been provided a tool that showed roughly where in the "queue" you were, he could have given you a much more granular answer. It really must be as disheartening for them as it is for us. I mean, they've got to know their tools are crap.

I don't really have a right to be too upset right now though. I'm still well inside the approval curve, and while I'm jealous as hell that you're sitting on the other side of that curve I'll try to be patient and let the process run its course. That's right, I've decided to take the high road and have abandoned my Bobalouie voodoo doll project. For now.

'preciate the voodoo abandonment Mox. I can screw things up plenty well enough on my own, I dont need you with your hocus-pocus helping me

where's my NOA2?

Don't worry, it's still a bit early. You filed through Vermont so I'm sure it's very close now.

The recent flurry of activity at VSC is exciting because that is where we filed. However, it also causes me some anxiety because I had settled into the idea of late February or early March approval, and now I find myself checking my status several times a day because people on both sides of my date have been approved in January. I'm certainly not complaining about the early approvals but there is something to be said for a consistent and predictable process. The lack of consistency reveals that they don't have good processes in place at the service centers.

Mox makes the good point that the worker drones at the service centers really don't have any control over the process. Given the opportunity, most people would much rather deliver good news than bad news, even to a stranger on the phone. I'm sure those workers would love to hear the excitement in your voice caused by giving you some good news. But alas, they are slaves to the machine. Having worked for the government for about 16 years (mostly as a manager), I am well aware of the affirmative action hiring they have in place. Although I know nothing about the USCIS, I can guarantee that their staff is very well represented with emigrants and/or ethnic minorities who can surely relate to our suffering. Unfortunately, over time I’m sure the USCIS workers take a beating from people like us who are frustrated with the process. Eventually they have to harden up to us just so they can get through the day without falling into deep depression after hearing our sob stories.

But now step back one more level and look at the plight of the USCIS mangers. They don’t have an unlimited budget to hire workers because we, the tax payers, want a lean government. And to put it quite bluntly, we are not willing to pay government managers the salary it would require to attract the “best and the brightest” managers who might be able to improve the process. We can’t spend money to improve our social services but we (not me) support a president who spends $600 billion to fund a war. I don’t know what a USCIS worker makes, but the price of one Humvee ($65,000) would probably pay the salary of at least two of them for a year.

Things to think about when you go to the polls in November.

Ok that’s my rant for the month. I promise I’ll abstain at least until February…please don’t ban me Mr. Moderator!

Good post Frank, hopefully it won't be until Feb that we hear more words of wisdom from your keyboard. And you're right, there's never enough money in government, and even when there is money, most managers have discretionary limits of what they can spend, and where they can spend that money. So it every well may be the case that they want a better computer system to give us better tracking but lack the discretionary funds to fix the problem.

What I can't forgive, however, is the simple lack of communication. If these are indeed problems, then it would do so much good for them to step forward and say "this is the problem with our computer system, and here's what we'd like to do but we have to wait until 2nd quarter for the funds to be in place, etc, etc" or whatever. Communicating is free, and for whatever reason they just refuse to do it. Grr.

Another boring weekend. Only 12-16 more weekends to go.

No arguments from me on that point.

If I could go back to when I mailed the petition I would slip a $100 bill in the envelope with an attached note to sneak my petition in with the August filers.

APPROVED!

Wow! What a great feeling!!! I just got logged on and was checking my email and while I was reading a different message, in popped a new message from USCIS at 7pm! Who would think the are working at VSC at 7pm!! Obviously they didn't read my rant on page 16.

But what a feeling really. I immediately called Jocelyn but I was so emotional I found I hard to even say the words. Who would think that a simple little email could make a person feel so good. I last checked my email and the USCIS web site before I left work at 5pm and nothing, so I thought here we go through another weekend with no updates.

What a ride. I know we are not done but right now I'm the happiest guy in the world, or at least in South Carolina .

I don't know how it happened, but somehow a 105 pound Filipina found a way to destroy my defenses and enrich my life in ways I will never adequately be able to express to her.

Good luck to everybody else and thank you VSC. I will only speak your praises from now on (fingers crossed). Really I think they approved me because I compared them favorably to the CSC in my signature pictures.

Wow Frank, this is AWESOME news!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I'm really just so happy for you and Jocelyn. Please stay in touch and let us know how the rest of your journey goes!

Congratulations.... best of luck the rest of the journey too

Conratulations Frank. When you least suspect it would happen, there it was. 7pm. I doubt the CSC is working that late on a Friday. I still have 20 days left before my guess in Mox's contest.

Congrats!!!! That is awesome.

Congratulations!!!

CONGRATSSSS!!I have a feeling, we are next.. I hate to say I cannot check my email working here in the hospital..Do you have update on USCIS website or you just found out to your email? Congratss again!!!!

I got the email and immediately checked the USCIS web site and it was there also.

Ok Thanks! No touches and no approval in the website ... Where's mine NOA2??

I think they saw your avatar and they are showing their appreciation for the way you made out the VSC office to be! Congratulations!! Hopefully we will start seeing many more Sept filer approvals very soon. It is exciting to think about.

Woohoo! Congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I just wanted to take a moment to share my joy.

I logged into my email this morning to find, quite unexpectedly, an NOA2! I called Aey this morning and surprised her at work. She started cheering, crying, and certainly had the attention of everyone in the office. I know how she feels! This is certainly I will be back in Thailand with her in about 19 days, and we really didn't think this would happen until closer to (or even after) my trip. Now, I can take her the paperwork she will need in person!

Congratulations to everyone else who has received NOA2! It looks like things are moving faster now

Congratulations Rinso!!!!

Woohoo! Congrats! Now if only CSC was this fast

Congrats!!!

Congratulatsions Rinso! It certainly is a great feeling. They're really cracking the whip down at VSC.

Congrats Frank, Jocelyn and Rinso..I'm happy for you guys.. I know you will never forget about this moment ..and this experience will only make you stronger in ur future life together.. hope to hear about ur final approval soon best of luck for all of us.. oh I'll start to cry now I don't know but I'm kinda become so emotional lately

Thanks Lucky5. If your emotional about our NOA2 I guess you'll fall apart when you get yours!

Thanks everyone! Aey and I hope that you will soon know our surprise and happiness as well.

OH my GOSH CONGRATULATIONS... Frank & Rinso
I always get excited when I see someone approved... but NOW that it is SEPT. filers... everytime I read an approval, tears build up in my eyes (or as my SO says - my eyes get all leaky and we don't know why <grin>)... I think I am more emotional for the Sept. filers because it means we might be getting closer and closer... (well if we had filed in vermont anyway LOL)....
AGAIN huge congrats.....

have a GREAT day
Tracy
:-)

It is pretty exciting to see approvals approaching "routine" for September filers, isn't it? Let's bring on more of em!!!

Especially from CSC! I must admit that every time someone gets approved I hurriedly check to see if they filed at Vermont or California and am always a little disappointed when I see Vermont! I'm very excited that September filers are being approved, but disheartened that CSC seems to have ground to a halt! ~sighs~

You guys should ring up Arnold Schwarzenegger

The pile of I-129F's here in California is this high....

Oh...now that's just WRONG!

Gross!!! LOL

I wonder what kind of visa Arnold used to come over from Austria?

T-1.

(Don't worry, he won't overstay his visa. He'll be back.)