Why do people keep creating "Month of filing" threads? it's unlogical and irrelevant

[Feliz 0]

Dear VJ forumers, especially whose who have applied for N400 recently,

speed of processing doesn't depend on Service center or Month of filing, creating such threads only adds to confusion of new applicants. Inside of same Service Center it may take (as of May 2008) total 2 to 15 month of processing because speed depends on District Offices.

as I wrote in FAQ:

For people waiting for Interview Letter: how to find your District Office' current processing speed

Your case's processing speed and your future Interview Date depends on FBI Name Check clearance and then on now busy (or how backlogged) is your Local Distric Office (DO), so don't compare your own priority date and progress to any other Service Centers or other DO timelines who filed in same month with you - only compare with your own DO.

After you file N400 USCIS starts process by cashing check and initiating FBI Name check and Fingerprints, so once you got findgerprinted consider FBI process fully launched (Detailed explanation of USCIS N400 FBI Name Check http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=136848 ). Only after FBI returns your results to your Service Center (the one of 4 big ones), your Service Center puts you in line for an Interview Date at your District Office, once there is an available date and time (may take 2-3 month in busy offices, see step 3) they schedule your interview, send your case to your DO and you receive your Interview Appointment Letter (IL). All following procedures are very specific to your DO, some give you Oath letter right away, some send it 2 month later, so check with your DO's people's experiences only, don't read (or rehearse) just random or over 6 month old Interview descriptions.

1) Locate your DO by ZIP code here: https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=of....office_type=LO

2) Find your DO's official processing dates (update usually on 15th of each month)

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp

3) Find people with close to yours Priority Date (PD) from your Field Office on this forum or others, for example this one has lots of DO specific info:

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

4) wait until people with PD LATER then yours start receiving Interview letters, schedule Infopass - usually 2 weeks ahead, if still not received, go to Infopass and Inquire about case status - it may be

A. stuck on "Name Check" - then you are unlucky

B. "FBI Clear all checks and it's forwarded to Field Office , expect interview letter within 60 days"

either way go home and schedule another Infopass within 2 weeks - if no letter - schedule another Infopass in 2 more weeks,

if no letter within 4-6 weeks of fact that people who filed after you got their letters from your field office, start considering filing WOM lawsuit against USCIS about delayed Name Check and read about it. your main document could be that that NOA1 gives you X amount of days and that is passed.

5) once you receive Interview letter - make sure you prepare for Civics and prepare to give evidence and clear confident answers for any unclear parts of your application that could make you ineligible - it means within 3 (for US citizen spouses) or 5 years such things as: a lots of traveling, separate address with US spouse, job abroad, name change, oath wording change, crime and legal issues, taxes, communism, terrorism etc.

6) if you happen to confuse Officer on Interview about your unclear eligibility, they may say "Approval pending" and they "need supervisor's approval of case", which may take another 2-4 month, but in this case you have much more right to file lawsuit - as USCIS is required by law to make desicion within 120 days.

Good Luck to everybody!

in your signature timelines - except Service Center - please also mention your DO.

[psiprez 3]

It is far from irrelevant or illogical.

These threads are for moral support from fellow filers who are at the same stage in the application process as you are. The smaller groupings makes it easiser to get to know one another and form the friendships that will get you through the rough times in the process.

Quite simply, if you don't think these threads are for you, then simply ignore them.

[Cassie 8]

I see where both of you are coming from.

The month threads are good for moral support, but there are many times when you are comparing apples to oranges (ie. one DO's N400 timelines to another) and may cause more frustration than necessary.

[tammiandtom 0]

It is far from irrelevant or illogical.

These threads are for moral support from fellow filers who are at the same stage in the application process as you are. The smaller groupings makes it easiser to get to know one another and form the friendships that will get you through the rough times in the process.

Quite simply, if you don't think these threads are for you, then simply ignore them.

Well said.

[Feliz 0]

it's nice to be from Nebraska, Oklahoma or Ohio and be done in 3 month and not care about anything or anybody else

but for NYC and SoCal and DC it's hard to watch how while some people who filed back in June-July are pending, others are done very soon and that makes everybody else nervous and question - may be something is wrong, may be they are stuck namecheck, may be they need to call and write and complain, may file a lawsuit, and so on.

The most ripped off are August-September filers, they actually PAID higher fees for this recent speed up of Feb-Marcg 08 cases while waiting themselvs.

it's a lot of unfair things USCIS does, and it may be ok for May 08 filers who are just fingerprinting, but further down uneven progress of same month will cause unnecessary anxiety and confusion.

[cmartyn 0]

The thread Nazi makes some good points but hey, people learn to deal. Id like to see a Hartford Thread. Probably more usefull. Remember, most filers here have been through the USCIS mill for a while and know the score.

[Kiv 32]

There is people who will get anxious even if they don't see monthly treads, specially the ones who got adjustment of status and removal of conditions very fast (good for them) and have experienced a Delay processing the N-400.

At this point most of us know that sharing a date or a disctrict office does not mean we will have the same advance.

A friend of mine applied in my same DO in November 07, and got her interview letter by June 19 only one week before me and I applied Feb 08.

We all want to pass trough this as soon as possible but it does not really depend on us so...

What is wrong with a little chat in the waiting room?

Edited May 29, 2008 by Lady_K

[Cassie 8]

The thread Nazi makes some good points but hey, people learn to deal. Id like to see a Hartford Thread. Probably more usefull. Remember, most filers here have been through the USCIS mill for a while and know the score.

In theory! Being in the Removing of Conditions section myself right now, I have been surprised at how many people join VJ at this stage in the game and still don't know not to compare -- heck, I've been here close to the beginning of my journey and still can get anxious looking at other timelines.

[Feliz 0]

I will not benefit from anything I will offer here, I know pretty much everything I need for my process and I am sure I can get through sooner this year or if I get denied - possibly next year.

it's just better for next "generations" of newbies and to keeps forum cleaner and looking better:

I suggest creating 2 subforums in the N400 section -

1) "Subforum by filing months" - and let it update ( threads with latest messages float on top)

2) "Subforum by SCs (with states in the title) and inside separate threads by DOs" make it alphabetical and stable, so new posts don't mess up alphabetic order

and leave general questions outside where they are now

[Feliz 0]

also make a top announcement in BIG RED LETTERS on the top of every page - and

[NickD 202]

I am not about to bother the FBI, have a receipt that fingerprints were taken by the USCIS and that is good enough for me. So far the USCIS got it right twice, no reason for me to suspect they screwed up the 3rd time.

In regards to checking your case status at https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/caseStatusSearchDisplay.do, a waste of time, least with Nebraska, after checking it for over two years now, Nebraska never has shown updates, for more effective to check your mailbox.

In regards to checking case status at https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp dates bounce around more than a basketball at the NBA playoffs, can result in severe depression when you case status is withing days of being processed, then the next month they post some kind of 05/04/1776 date.

In regards to writing or contacting the Ombudsman waste of time and a stamp even if the posted date is 05/04/1776 and infopass won't even let you make an appointment unless your receipt application date is at least a couple of weeks after the posted processing date.

Regarding October Texas filers that deal with the N-400 application dates, that ain't me and my mouse is already trained to jump pass those, but they have every right to be here and report their progress, but may peek in at time to time if even a different service center if the filing month is the same. Doesn't do me any good, but what the heck

Regarding hiring even a top immigration attorney, if on a fixed fee, just sends you a standard letter or e-mail, wait for your turn, if not on a flat fee, get a far more extensive letter with excuses, some very elaborate, but you are paying and paying dearly for that.

So you have it all figured out, eh? Try recommending attending a campaign fund raiser for your congressman and senator and legally donate a large contribution, kind of how our government works, one favor gets another. But actually like dealing with Venezuela better, bring some USD and can get anything done instantly, but that's illegal here. Another thing that really helps is having a brother-in-law that works for the USCIS, but I checked and ain't got one of those.

But the bottom line is waiting for your turn, but you also learn that your place in line is constantly being jumped around.

What is really fun on this board is trying to make heads or tails out of the N-400 questions, have to learn that special USCIS language, but an English major or a top immigration attorney will just tell you, very poor grammar.

Did you know by dealing with a top attorney you get the same USCIS forms where you can actually change to a slightly smaller font so you can fit in an address without having to attach a separate sheet of paper? Really helps if you are just one or two letters short.

Also there are hundreds if not thousands of other immigration forums on the net, looked at bunch of them, some are pretty nasty, met a lot of good people here, very helpful, so kind of made this my home. Let's keep it that way.

[Staashi 371]

I enjoy having filing updates from everyone...although it can be depressing for some, it is helpful to see where things stand.

In the grand scheme of everything, if you don't want to read a thread then don't read it. It's kind of like the radio...if you don't like what they're playing, don't tune in.

Peace out!

[DDL 1]

The most ripped off are August-September filers, they actually PAID higher fees for this recent speed up of Feb-March 08 cases while waiting themselves.

For sure! Not only are we an August filer, but our District Office is Charleston, SC - one of the slowest District Offices in the system. It's sooooooo frustrating, but we're patiently waiting!

[NickD 202]

Dear VJ forumers, especially whose who have applied for N400 recently, speed of processing doesn't depend on Service center or Month of filing, creating such threads only adds to confusion of new applicants. Inside of same Service Center it may take (as of May 2008) total 2 to 15 month of processing because speed depends on District Offices.

So why are we sending our N-400's to one of the four major service centers and are they contributing to the delay in processing or not? And exactly what is a district? Something about combining a number of field offices into a district, and according to the USCIS, one of the managers of a given field office is also suppose to be in charge of the district, but they changed that putting yet another guy in charge of a district. There really isn't a district office per se, rather a group of field offices that form a district as the USCIS shows as follows:

District 1

Boston, Massachusetts*

Manchester, New Hampshire

Portland, Maine

Providence, Rhode Island

District 2

Albany, New York

Buffalo, New York*

Hartford, Connecticut

St. Albans, Vermont

District 3

New York City, New York*

District 4

Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey*

District 5

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania*

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

District 6

Baltimore, Maryland*

District 7

Fairfax, Virginia*

Norfolk, Virginia

District 8

Atlanta, Georgia*

Charleston, South Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina (under development)

District 9

Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands

Miami, Florida*

San Juan, Puerto Rico

District 10

Jacksonville, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Tampa, Florida*

West Palm Beach, Florida

District 11

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Memphis, Tennessee

New Orleans, Louisiana*

District 12

Detroit, Michigan*

District 13

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio*

Columbus, Ohio

Indianapolis, Indiana

Louisville, Kentucky

District 14

Chicago, Illinois*

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

District 15

Des Moines, Iowa

Kansas City, Missouri*

Omaha, Nebraska

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Paul, Minnesota

District 16

Dallas, Texas*

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

District 17

Houston, Texas*

District 18

El Paso, Texas

Harlingen, Texas

San Antonio, Texas*

District 19

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Boise, Idaho

Denver, Colorado*

Helena, Montana

Salt Lake City, Utah

District 20

Anchorage, Alaska

Portland, Oregon

Seattle, Washington*

Spokane, Washington

Yakima, Washington

District 21

San Francisco, California*

San Jose, California

District 22

Fresno, California

Sacramento, California*

District 23

Los Angeles, California*

San Bernardino, California

Santa Ana, California

District 24

San Diego, California*

District 25

Las Vegas, Nevada

Phoenix, Arizona *

Reno, Nevada

Tucson, Arizona

District 26

Hagatna, Guam

Honolulu, Hawaii

In our case, we have been sent to both District 14 and 15 where the field office spread covers a 1,500 mile range in traveling for us, but they claim that one field office cannot communicate to another field office unless it's in the same district and the purpose of setting up a district is so the workload can be evenly distributed among the field offices within a given district. This is way beyond my comprehensive abilities.

We do know the USCIS does not publish processing dates for districts, only for service centers and field offices and with the hardships imposed by extensive processing dates, the processing dates becomes a key subject. So what is wrong with sharing these experiences? We could talk about the weather instead, but this is an immigration forum, not a weather forum.

Now I am hearing about background checks on the N-400 causing delays as was the I-751, I never read where the USCIS is doing background checks for these two applications, but they certainly did background checks for the initial immigration procedure and they did issue green cards to either us or our spouses and we had to send in a ton of proof both for the US citizen and the immigrant before we were approved.

We also have background checks before opening a bank account or going to a sporting goods store to buy a gun. We have to show positive ID and this is to non-government personnel. The compare our names to some kind of a FBI list and if we are not on there, you got that bank account or gun, takes all but a couple of minutes. So exactly what is the USCIS doing that can take months if indeed they are conducting yet another background check?

Heard a news commentator last night being rather critical of our agencies as causing more damage to this country, but he did state the only efficient agency we have is the IRS, can't argue with that, just make one tiny error or send it in 10 seconds too late, and they are all over you. And did any of us actually supply any new information with the N-400 application? We sure didn't, same old stuff.

One major difference between my wife and me, is that I am a US citizen, served my country, and well aware of my constitutional rights that I feel are being infringed upon, and get angry, but keep that to myself. My wife, a stranger to this country on the other hand is frightened by this procedure, can you blame her the way the DHS treated her when she first arrived here? She gets very nervous when we go to our local field office and can easily break down into tears if someone is rude to her. That isn't right either.

[Staashi 371]

Now I am hearing about background checks on the N-400 causing delays as was the I-751, I never read where the USCIS is doing background checks for these two applications, but they certainly did background checks for the initial immigration procedure and they did issue green cards to either us or our spouses and we had to send in a ton of proof both for the US citizen and the immigrant before we were approved.

Nick, I do know that a background check/biometrics are required as written in the M-476 document - the Guide for Naturalization. It is what it is.