USCIS Allegedly Speeding Up Processing

[coyote 3]

Hi, guys:

Just wanted to mention that when I called the USCIS yesterday they told me the new estimate for processing a I-129 application is 8 -- count 'em -- 8 months instead of 6.

What they tell you and what they actually do are sometimes two very different things. While the "official" processing period is in September - they are primarily approving November filers at this point (not only, just mostly). Times have declined substantially from the post filing fee log jam, where 8 months was more normal. Since I filed at the end of January my estimated adjudication date has dropped more than a month and is sitting around 5 months. The estimated adjudication is based on the average time it is taking people to get approval from when they filed. So I don't think you're going to have to wait 8 months on your application unless there is an RFE or some other type problem. I wish I could point to Alberto Gonzoles and blame him for something else, but he's irrelevant to your problem.

That's good to hear, about the "official" v. actual processing time.

Regarding Bush's Gonzalez problem, I was talking about Emilio Gonzalez, not Alberto Gonzales. Emilio Gonzalez was the Bush appointee to the USCIS who recently resigned. We can indeed point to him as the author of the fee increase that is responsible for at least part of this logjam -- his background is in security not service, and there was apparently no thought given to the possibility that every immigration lawyer in the U.S. would advise his or her client to file an application before the fee went up. Gonzalez also hung onto a name check process that was found to be both time-consuming and ineffective.

Your tax dollars at work.

Apparently legal immigration declined 17 percent last year because of processing delays. I asked someone in D.C. whether this was deliberate or the result of incompetence and I was told that the administration might be concerned that recent citizens would vote Democratic, but basically it's incompetence.

Not sure which is worse.

As far as political action having no effect, I don't believe that. Congress held hearings after the article in the Washington Post and various other articles shed some light on these issues. This resulted in the hiring of 1500 employees and ultimately getting rid of Gonzalez. Whether this administration is capable of appointing someone competent to this post is another question, but the issue is getting more play.

I do feel that I'm at the mercy of ####### Cheney. I think I had a dream about this last night! And given his stance on waterboarding and various other forms of torture, I'm sure he'd have very little sympathy for the vicissitudes of anyone's love life.

[sara..... 371]

what csc tells u and what really happens is anyones guess..........sure i would love to blame the fact that ours is so late because we are Muslim but i really dont think that has much to do with it......i think it has to do with who gets a hold of ur case........new person may take longer to valuate the documents and may not have ran across our particular information before and didnt find a guide line as to how to evaluate it........anyway what ever the reasons.......its just luck on if ur fast or late i think

sara

[KimandRuss 0]

Whatever/whoever the cause, it's a sad representation of our government.

Sara, if it has anything to do with you being Muslim ..that makes it even more sad! Something is seriously wrong and you are a perfect example of that.

[TinTin and Samby 11]

Samby, you were lost in the black hole of the influx from last year. You filed at the same time as the rate hike as SOOOO many others did. That's why it took you so long to be adjuticated. It was happening at VSC and CSC. It was taking 6-8 months for everyone then. Sure there are execptions, but even CSC is moving much faster now than they were last year.

Agree with the others, what they tell you at the USCIS is only to protect themselves. Your approval 'should' come much sooner than the date you receive.

good luck

Hi, KimandRuss, I'm well aware of that. That's not my point nor the point of the OP. The point is that the VJ timeline is the best place to get a reasonably decent estimate of the current (recent) timelines for the entire process. Not from USCIS.

Thanks,

Samby

[KimandRuss 0]

Samby, my comment was more directed at the rest of those reading this thread considering the possibility that their petition could take as long as yours did ...which is highly unlikely at this point.

I agree that vj is the best place to get a more accurate estimate of the entire process as long as you take into consideration that it's still only a very small percentage of those who file.

I hope your interview went well on Friday!

[rebeccajo 14]

If you want to know what is happening look to the horses mouth:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/testimony/testi...ETG_17jan08.pdf

Especially page 3, which confirms what KimAndRuss states about last summers backlog, and Page 4, which talks about new hiring procedures.

[OsLoraTamm 0]

Whatever/whoever the cause, it's a sad representation of our government.

Sara, if it has anything to do with you being Muslim ..that makes it even more sad! Something is seriously wrong and you are a perfect example of that.

I agree Kim......but after dealing with the Peruvian government....the height of incompetence.....I can see at least a ;ittle hope in the U.S. governments ability to improve........that is my hope for all who follow us in this process......Lora

[kokosunny 0]

Hi, guys:

Just wanted to mention that when I called the USCIS yesterday they told me the new estimate for processing a I-129 application is 8 -- count 'em -- 8 months instead of 6. Or perhaps this is just mine? The boyfriend is Muslim, from Kenya, so they may be giving us extra scrutiny because of post 9/11 paranoia. But it may be that the agency has been thrown into even more disarray by the resignation of Emilio Gonzalez, the Bush appointee who has caused this nightmare. Here's what I'm putting out there for as many people as I can reach on this site.

Hi, Everyone:

This website is a useful tool for obtaining information but it seems to me that we're still operating as individuals rather than a group. With some targeted political activism, it seems to me we'd have a better chance of getting results.

I was spurred to try to stir up some action by an April 3 call to the USCIS - apparently the wait has now increased from six months to eight months for action on an I-129 application at the California Service Center. This despite the reported increases in personnel.

I'm also concerned about the apparent violation of statute when it comes to allowing fiances to work. An official with the Ameican Immigration Lawyers Association told me categorically that the K-1 visa allows the fiance to work the minute he or she sets foot on American soil. Yet the USCIS is requiring yet another fee and application, which delays the fiance's ability to work for another 3-4 months, while he or she waits for the agency to issue the permit. There are additional cost factors related to poor planning for this process, but you get the picture.

I'm sure those of you who are applying for other kinds of visas have similar issues.

The point is that, if my last phone call is any indication, things seem to be getting worse rather than better, despite the resignation of Emilio Gonzalez, the Bush appointee who has been responsible for many of the bad decisions that are affecting us.

I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest some kind of concerted political action. Can folks get me up to date on what's been done so far? Here are the ideas that spring to mind for me:

1. Letter writing campaign.

2. Demonstrations in several cities, with media outreach.

3. Website designed specifically to inform public about these issues.

Have these already gotten underway? If not, are people willing to volunteer a few hours to work on this? Does anyone have political organizing experience? Can we coordinate with immigrant rights groups?

Let me know!

Susan Zakin

[kokosunny 0]

Anybody with any idea what is happening at CSC? Notice their approvals for last week? ONE!!!????

I called last week and got a scripted response from (I believe) a human stating exactly what I can find by checking on the computer -nothing. I was able to dig out of him that they just got the H1Bs (about 150,000) dumped on their desks, but then he told me they wouldn't slow things down. What with a now headless, long heartless bureaucracy what are we to expect? One thing that may be of some help is when you do call, get chatty and try to dig out some tidbits of information and share them so we can better understand what happens inside those closed doors. How many agents are working at the center? What hours? etc etc. Interesting that a major US bureacracy is immune even to congressional inquiry............

[rebeccajo 14]

Just to let you know there have been Congressional Inquiries before and who has instigated some of them:

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION FEE INCREASES

Posted on: 6/7/2007

By Attorneys Robert L. Reeves and Joseph I. Elias

On July 30, 2007, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase many immigration fees dramatically. The USCIS said that the fee increase will allow it to reduce processing times by 20%. The fee increase has been the subject of Congressional inquiry and pleas from advocates and citizens not to increase fees because they can unfairly place immigration benefits out of reach for many immigrants.

http://www.rreeves.com/news_article.asp?aid=466

Kennedy, Schumer, Leahy letter to Chertoff on USCIS backlog

Submitted by Travis Valentine on Thu, 03/20/2008 - 11:14am. Hispanic / Latino Immigration

(Via Senator Kennedy's press release. You can also read a pdf of the letter, which includes the requests for information, on our website.)

March 19, 2008

Secretary Michael Chertoff

Department of Homeland Security

20 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20529

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

We are deeply troubled by the serious backlog of naturalization applications pending adjudication at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Last year, USCIS announced it would increase the naturalization fee by 80% from $330 to $595 (if the biometrics fee increase is included, the total fee increase is from $400 to $675, or 69%). As a result, almost a million and a half immigrants applied for naturalization before the increase went into effect. The agency justified the unprecedented fee increase by arguing that it would solve many agency problems and pay for a 20% efficiency improvement in adjudicating naturalization applications. At the time, USCIS reported that the average processing time for naturalization was 5.57 months, just under its stated six-month goal.

However, the USCIS recently announced that it will take 14-16 months to process naturalization applications filed after June 2007. In other words, for naturalization applications filed after the fee increase, USCIS is now charging almost twice as much for a service that takes twice as long.

The agency has responded to previous Congressional inquiries on this issue by stating that it could not have foreseen this surge in applications. We do not find that argument persuasive. Every previous naturalization fee increase has had the same effect. Preceding each of the naturalization fee increases in 1998, 2002 and 2004, a large surge in applications took place. It should have come as no surprise that the agency received 1.4 million naturalization applications in FY 2007, nearly double the volume received in the previous fiscal year. Despite knowledge that the fee increase would bring a surge in applications, the agency apparently did nothing to prepare for it. Clearly, a work plan should have been put in place well before the fee increase was implemented.

We understand that USCIS is now preparing a response plan to deal with the backlog. The agency has begun to hire an additional 1,500 employees, of whom 723 are adjudicators. To date, 580 have been hired, including 274 adjudicators. We also are aware that the office of Personnel Management, on request of USCIS, has extended USCIS temporary authority to rehire retired annuitants to assist in clearing the backlog. We commend these efforts, but we understand that the agency does not believe they will have an impact soon enough to ensure that most of the applicants who filed in FY 2007 will become U.S. citizens in FY 2008.

We recognize that the FBI name check verification process is delaying approximately 145,000 naturalization applications. But the FBI cannot be held responsible for the vast majority of the naturalization applications backlog. In fact, according to the USCIS Production Update Reports, USCIS does not include applications currently held by the FBI in the official count of its backlog.

It has also recently come to our attention that last year, USCIS experienced a so-called "front log," in which the agency did not immediately process many naturalization applications received by mail and failed to send applicants a receipt confirmation for several months. Thus, the agency delayed the date on which the applicant was entered in the USCIS system to begin the adjudication process. We are concerned about this problem, and we wish to learn more about what occurred last year and what steps the agency has taken to eliminate the front log.

In order to fully understand the scope of the USCIS backlog and front log problems, we request further information. Our specific requests are contained in the attachment. The agency's responses will help us fully understand the scope of the backlog and front log problem and identify the areas where the agency needs the most assistance in alleviating these delays. It will be especially helpful to the Committee to have this information prior to your appearance before the Committee on April 2, 2008 and so we ask that you return the information by March 28, 2008.

We also ask that you report to the Committee on a bi-weekly basis from this time forward on the progress made in the adjudication of naturalization applications, including how many cases have been completed during each two-week period and how many are still pending, including the dates of submission of the pending cases.

We appreciate your assistance with this request, and we ask you to coordinate your responses with Wendy Young, Chief Counsel for Immigration Policy, Subcommittee on Immigration (202) 224-7878; wendy_young@judicicary-dem.senate.gov, Matt Virkstis, Counsel, Judiciary Committee (202) 224-7703; matthew_virkstis@judiciary-dem.senate.gov, and Sandra Gallardo, Senior Counsel, Oversight and Investigations (202) 224-3112; Sandra_gallardo@help.senate.gov. With respect and appreciation, and we would be grateful for your prompt consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Leahy

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary

Edward M. Kennedy

Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration Refugees and Border Security

Charles E. Schumer

Chairman, Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts

http://www.ndnblog.org/node/2097

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

Anybody with any idea what is happening at CSC? Notice their approvals for last week? ONE!!!????

There might be more approvals that we don't know of... not everyone signs up at vj

Edited April 7, 2008 by JeroenAndMichelle

[sunnybear 0]

Anybody with any idea what is happening at CSC? Notice their approvals for last week? ONE!!!????

There might be more approvals that we don't know of... not everyone signs up at vj

I think it should be manadorty via USCIS that everyone signs up here so we can all speculate one when we will get approvals hahaha

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

Anybody with any idea what is happening at CSC? Notice their approvals for last week? ONE!!!????

There might be more approvals that we don't know of... not everyone signs up at vj

I think it should be manadorty via USCIS that everyone signs up here so we can all speculate one when we will get approvals hahaha

lmao.. If only that could happen.. that'd be awesome, then we finally would be able to do some real speculations

[Yoink 7]

There is a thread here somewhere about how VJ community is maybe only 5% of visa filers.

So when on this site we don't see results remember we are only a 5% sample of everything that is going on.

[mox 298]

There is a thread here somewhere about how VJ community is maybe only 5% of visa filers.

So when on this site we don't see results remember we are only a 5% sample of everything that is going on.

I haven't seen the thread, but since USCIS don't release actual numbers it's bound to be only a guess. Whatever the numbers however, VJ does seem to be a fairly diverse and most likely representative sample. So when you see approvals slow down or speed up on VJ, it's a good bet that it's speeding up or slowing down for everyone.