K-1 petition information

[rebeccajo 14]

For the USCIS director:

Question about I-129F documentation - # of Marriages to document

Really now - don't make Gary go ask his friend that question.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Here's my question.

Have they moved on to another visa? There's still NOA 1's and 2's coming out though only about 10% of the amount that was coming out in October and the beginning of November. So I'm assuming that they've moved the bulk of the adjucators on to another visa. But have they also left a few so that there's a hope of getting an NOA 2 before the five month time frame.

I cannot say and maybe I will ask next time I talk to him. I don't expect updates, but yes they will move on to other visas when they get caught up. They will process visas to meet THEIR ideas of timely processing, not yours.

the idea is to get things back on an even keel (some of the disruptions were outlined above) and yes, ideally there should be the correct amount of adjudicators working on the correct amount of visas. It is not their desire to run around playing "whack-a-mole"

[that_girl 9]

Half of the October and all of the November filers at Vermont are standing at the door, looking up with big, sad, saucer eyes like Dickensian orphans, silently asking "what happened?" What about us, when do we get processed, VSC?

[OctaneGuy 0]

Just wanted to add my heartfelt thanks for posting this. My wife and I are awaiting NOA2 and this info gives us some peace of mind. One of the only good things that has happened during this wait is that I've moved up from Green Level, to Silver, to Gold, and nearing the top Diamond level for frequent miles with my airline allowing me free upgrades during these 15 hour flights to see my wife!

Richard & May (Him in California, Her in Taiwan)

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I have gone through this thread and removed all of the personal case specific requests from this thread and placed them in a separate thread. I have left the posts that specifically relate to the questions asked by Gary and Anna - or to be added to the list of questions to ask - and the answers he has received from the Director of VSC.

Please do not post questions about your personal case situations here in this pinned thread as Gary and Alla are not able to ask the Director about any of your individual situations. This thread will be most useful if it stays on topic and that is the questions about VSC activities that Gary and Alla can ask, and the answers he receives.

Please post your case specific questions in the appropriate forums and not here in this pinned thread so we can keep it focused and relevant for as many people as possible.

Thank you.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Kathryn41

[Nik+Heather 121]

Gary,

Would it be a good subject to chat with him about the I693s again? There is this rumor going around that there's been a recently awarded contract and that the new people opening the AOS packages aren't trained very well in handling the K visa packets - particularly, they don't seem to be marrying up our new filings with our POE packets. Generating a lot of RFEs, even if people did things exactly right. (See thread in AOS forum: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...owtopic=241825)

I know VSC doesn't really process those, so I understand he doesn't have any control, and maybe you'll decide not to bring it up, but I'd be curious if it is a known issue that's being fixed, or could he nudge someone...?

Edited February 22, 2010 by Nik+Heather

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Along the same line, perhaps you can bring it to the attention of the Director that many Civil Surgeons refuse to recognize that K-1 applicants have already had a medical and since they are applying to adjust status within the medical's year validity do not need to repeat the medical? Many Civil Surgeons refuse to do just the vaccination part of the Medical and are charging AOS applicants hundreds of dollars for a medical they do not need. Is there someway he can let USCIS powers that be know they need to send clear instructions to Civil Surgeons that K-1s do NOT need a new medical exam in the US and they need to do only the vaccination component?

[tany1157 161]

I have a question for the director. We had our K-1 petition denied at the consulate on january 5, 2010. NVC recieved it on Feb. 12, 2010. We got an email feb. 22 from USCIS in vermont that our approved or reaffirmed K-1 was sent to DOS on feb. 19, 2010. We are surprised because we thought it would take so long that we had decided to get married. I am leaving for Morocco this sunday,but obviously will not marry now, and will wait for K-1 to get back to Morocco. My question is, why did we get reaffirmed so quickly?? I thought denied petitions get put as a "first in, first out" procedure. We are happy, but just wondering what the rhyme and reason was. Thanks for any info you can get.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I have a question for the director. We had our K-1 petition denied at the consulate on january 5, 2010. NVC recieved it on Feb. 12, 2010. We got an email feb. 22 from USCIS in vermont that our approved or reaffirmed K-1 was sent to DOS on feb. 19, 2010. We are surprised because we thought it would take so long that we had decided to get married. I am leaving for Morocco this sunday,but obviously will not marry now, and will wait for K-1 to get back to Morocco. My question is, why did we get reaffirmed so quickly?? I thought denied petitions get put as a "first in, first out" procedure. We are happy, but just wondering what the rhyme and reason was. Thanks for any info you can get.

I am not able to get information about individual cases, certainly not from a post with no names or case numbers. It would be a serious violation of the rules he works under to discuss individual cases with me...as it should be. Kathryn correctly noted this already. I do not discuss individual cases with him. Be happy it went quickly and I would advise never doing somethig like getting married unless you know the exact reason for denial...and the reason is "lack of being married" (highly doubtful with a finacee visa) Getting married does not "solve" any issues of denial unless lack of marriage was the reason for denial.

I think it is clear that the government's assurance of "first in, first out" is not always the case. For one, it is the government and it is rare for anything they say to be reliable. For another, the cases are assigned as they come in, if yours is an easy case to resolve should you be held up while someone does a "price check" in the next cashier lane? There are a lot of adjudicators, the cases get assigned in order and some adjudicators are better than others and some cases are easier than others. The order they "go in" has little to do with how they "go out" I can tell you from first hand knowledge, when there is a problem with a case, usually because the petitioner didn't provide something in the instructions, the case gets tossed in the adjudicators "problem" file and they go on to another one, they do not get bogged down in yours because you forgot to include a passport photo or proof you met within two years. They spend 15 minutes or so, tops, on each case. When you make an error, the whole "first in, first out" deal is off. Any cases with "problems" get sent to another pile for someone else to handle.

That said, the I-693 issue is something I can discuss. Next weekend, Sunday, there is a party of the local Russo/American couples club (March 8 is International Women's Day , a BIG holiday in the former Soviet Union) and that is where we usuqally run into each other. I imagine he and his wife will be there. The I-693 issue seems to be a problem and it is pretty clear something has changed.

I had discussed this with hm before in general terms. He agrees that CS's can be parasites and there is not much USCIS can do about it. That may have changed and at least he may be able to pass along our discontent at the change.

[tany1157 161]

I did understand you couldn't discuss individual cases but was looking for a general answer and you provided a great one. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. You are a great tool for this website and you don't sugar coat anything. Thanks again!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I did understand you couldn't discuss individual cases but was looking for a general answer and you provided a great one. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. You are a great tool for this website and you don't sugar coat anything. Thanks again!

I am diabetic. I have to avoid sweetness.

[T & J MC 0]

Thank you so much for the information Gary and Alla. I really needed some clarification on alot of what you had covered.

Hello All

I had a great opportunity Saturday evening to have dinner with and spend several hours with a director at the VSC. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. His wife is an adjusicator that handles YOUR petition (if it went through VSC). His wife is Russian, arrived on a K-1 and is now a citizen. This man has worked for USCIS for many years and was at several local offices before being assigned to the VSC. His wife is a friend of Alla's and we were all at a dinner party for several American/Russian/Ukrainian couples Saturday. We had a long chat, he was very open and helpful. We talked about a lot of the things we see here on VJ and I was trying to remember all the "usual questions" I read about and pin him down for some answers. I also have asked him if he will give an "official interview" for VJ. He said he will check out the site and I will call him later this week. So, anyway I will try to cover what we discussed, he was quite frank and direct in his answers, not rude, not at all, but he knows his stuff and answers without hesitation. It turned into an impromtu and fun "interview" with me trying to remember all the hot button issues I see on VJ

I told him that the number ONE and number TWO "complaints" I see are Why is the VSC taking so long and why can't we get through to you guys?

Why is VSC taking so long, what happened? I was approved in 58 days!: We had problem with labor last year and lost many workers, we hired more last November and it took some time to get them trained. Some of the petitions were sent to California and we also assign people to different tyopes of visas. They will concentrate on one tyoe, get behind on another and then shift many people back to the other type. Lately we have shifted many, almost all, adjudicators to I-129fs, so that should make people happy. They will do that until they get caught up. Summer is a busy time for I-129fs, usually about June we get slammed with them. The winter or early spring is the slowest time for I-129fs, but then it depends what they have everyone working on also.

OK, why can't we get through to you? The 1-800 line is useless. Those are contract employees and they are trained to select answers from a menu of 14 answers. They pick which one is best for your question. There are thousands of visas being processed at any time and everyone is special and everyone has special circumstances and if we had direct lines we weould do nothing but field requests by petitioners to give them priority, we just can't do it. How would you feel if your petition got bumped because some woman called and cried on the phone and then her petition got moved up ahead of yours. We simply have to operate in a way that avoids any chance of fraud, corruption or unfairness.

So what about some people get approved ahead of others? Sme petitions have problems or delays, we do not hold back others for this. If an adjudicator has problems, he puts that one aside or sends an RFE and goes on to the next. The next one may be clean and gets approved right away, in just a few minutes, they adjudicate 15-20 petitions a day per person, and the ones with problems may wait weeks for the petitioner to respond to the RFE, or maybe it is a name check they are waiting for. Petitions are assigned as they arrive, when we are working on those petitions, but they do not go out the door in the same order they came in.

G-325a, Signed or Unsigned? Unsigned.

WHAT? Ok I have seen the memo but lots of VJ members got RFEs for unsigned G-325s, what gives? They do not have to be signed,they can be signed at the consualte interview. Some adjusicators haven't read all the memos, we get hundreds of the things, and maybe they make a mistake. If you want to be sure there is no mistake, sign it. Or send a letter expalining why it is not signed and request it be signed at the interview. Do you have that memo?

It is on the VJ website somewhere You can print a copy of that and send it with the I-129f and G-325a.

Fiancee intent letter? Signed or unsigned? Signed.

What about a faxed or emailed signature? When I was adjudicating, if I could see a signature, I accepted it, but many adjusicators will not. Signed is better.

Lawyer or no lawyer? For what?

Enough said. Now a hot issue, a very controversial one. There seems to be a trend in some countries of foreign men marrying American women and the women are considerably older. There is always a question if this is a problem. It never seems to be a problem for older men/younger women (My wife is 13 years younger, his wife is also considerable younger than him) Is it a problem? For us, USCIS, no. "Free to marry".

What about the consulates or for AOS or I-751? Consulates do what they do, it is not USCIS, some of them are bastards. Kiev is easy, they approve everyone (laughs), they used to be bastards but they got easier since they first started doing those in 2005, before then you would have had to go to Warsaw, you know. For AOS if they can prove they are legitimate we do not care about age but anything that is "not normal" for the culture will draw suspicion. They probably will not get a no questions asked interview (I had told him our AOS was "no questions asked")

What about birth certificates, some people have trouble getting them? This is a problem for us also. Some people, especially our younger staff, think all the world is like the USA. I remember one, when I was in the Kansas City office, the beneficiary was from Viet Nam, she was born in 1954 there was no birth certificate. The CO asked me about this and I looked at the file. I said "Do you know what was going on in Viet Nam in 1954?" She looked at me, straight faced and said "What, their computers were down?" If a birth certificate cannot be obtained they can usually get something from a church, a village official, something, and send that with a letter of explanation. Or just their passport and a letter explaining the situation (this applies to AOS more than I-129f as beneficiary birth certificate is not required for the petition, but I wanted to ask anyway, it seems a common question here)

What about extra documents? Proof of relationship? We don't need it, only that they have met for the fiancee visa.

What about the consulates? Consulates do what they do, as I said, some are bastards. They get whatever we get when it is sent on. I can't tell you what NVC and consulates do, I know some are terrible and some are really easy, but I do not know all the details of each. Kiev is easy, western Europe is easy, Nigeria is horrible, but you would not believe the scams from Nigeria, I get jaded. I am surprised a lot of them get visas and then we have to deal with them.

I have to ask for a collegue, Ecuador? Bastards.

What about changes? Are there any in the works? Is Obama ouching you guys to work faster? I am not sure Obama knows we exist. There have been no changes and no pressure other than the usual workload and shifting things around. I do not expect any immigration changes in the next year or two, at kleat not in rules or amnesty or anything like that. I do expect FEE INCREASES within the next year...across the board.

How much more? I cannot say, that is not my area, I just hear talk.

He added, "We try not to deny petitions, people really get angry and make lots of trouble. Denials usually come at the consulate or maybe AOS or sometimes even with the I-751. If we deny someone we need good reason, if they meet the criteria, we will approve it, they just have to give us what we need to approve them."

So how can I speed up my petition? You can't really. If it gets to be too long and if you can get a congressman or senator to call, that will get some action, but half the time those guys dont'' call or they do and the petition has only been there 3 months. Sometimes one falls through the cracks, gets overlooked, we are human. A congressman can get through and get them to dig it out if it has been too long, but I wouldn't call that "speeding it up". That's a fix for whn it is too slow.

we talked for some time more, about 5 hours altogether, briefly interrupted by Alla every now and again who had her own questions about the I-751 procedure which I posted in that forum, about VJ and other topics (his Navy days) He said he will check the site and gave me his home number. He said "call anytime but not 3 in the morning" I asked about an interview or answering prepared questions, he said possibly, he will check the site. He said many internet sites are advertisement for immigration attorneys or instructing people on how to pull scams, I assured him he would be very pleased with VJ and he thinks it is great that there is a good site for information and advice. (he never heard of VJ before this)

I can also say, that speaking to him, I heard so many of the same buzzwords or advice that I have seen right here, this is really a great site with some great folks giving some really great info.

[kwala 3]

I knew there would be something I forgot!

you are the best on here

[RS2 3]

Hello All

I had a great opportunity Saturday evening to have dinner with and spend several hours with a director at the VSC. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. His wife is an adjusicator that handles YOUR petition (if it went through VSC). His wife is Russian, arrived on a K-1 and is now a citizen. This man has worked for USCIS for many years and was at several local offices before being assigned to the VSC. His wife is a friend of Alla's and we were all at a dinner party for several American/Russian/Ukrainian couples Saturday. We had a long chat, he was very open and helpful. We talked about a lot of the things we see here on VJ and I was trying to remember all the "usual questions" I read about and pin him down for some answers. I also have asked him if he will give an "official interview" for VJ. He said he will check out the site and I will call him later this week. So, anyway I will try to cover what we discussed, he was quite frank and direct in his answers, not rude, not at all, but he knows his stuff and answers without hesitation. It turned into an impromtu and fun "interview" with me trying to remember all the hot button issues I see on VJ

I told him that the number ONE and number TWO "complaints" I see are Why is the VSC taking so long and why can't we get through to you guys?

<b>Why is VSC taking so long, what happened? I was approved in 58 days!:</b> We had problem with labor last year and lost many workers, we hired more last November and it took some time to get them trained. Some of the petitions were sent to California and we also assign people to different tyopes of visas. They will concentrate on one tyoe, get behind on another and then shift many people back to the other type. Lately we have shifted many, almost all, adjudicators to I-129fs, so that should make people happy. They will do that until they get caught up. Summer is a busy time for I-129fs, usually about June we get slammed with them. The winter or early spring is the slowest time for I-129fs, but then it depends what they have everyone working on also.

<b>OK, why can't we get through to you?</b> The 1-800 line is useless. Those are contract employees and they are trained to select answers from a menu of 14 answers. They pick which one is best for your question. There are thousands of visas being processed at any time and everyone is special and everyone has special circumstances and if we had direct lines we weould do nothing but field requests by petitioners to give them priority, we just can't do it. How would you feel if your petition got bumped because some woman called and cried on the phone and then her petition got moved up ahead of yours. We simply have to operate in a way that avoids any chance of fraud, corruption or unfairness.

<b>So what about some people get approved ahead of others?</b> Sme petitions have problems or delays, we do not hold back others for this. If an adjudicator has problems, he puts that one aside or sends an RFE and goes on to the next. The next one may be clean and gets approved right away, in just a few minutes, they adjudicate 15-20 petitions a day per person, and the ones with problems may wait weeks for the petitioner to respond to the RFE, or maybe it is a name check they are waiting for. Petitions are assigned as they arrive, when we are working on those petitions, but they do not go out the door in the same order they came in.

<b>G-325a, Signed or Unsigned?</b> Unsigned.

<b>WHAT? Ok I have seen the memo but lots of VJ members got RFEs for unsigned G-325s, what gives?</b> They do not have to be signed,they can be signed at the consualte interview. Some adjusicators haven't read all the memos, we get hundreds of the things, and maybe they make a mistake. If you want to be sure there is no mistake, sign it. Or send a letter expalining why it is not signed and request it be signed at the interview. Do you have that memo?

<b>It is on the VJ website somewhere</b> You can print a copy of that and send it with the I-129f and G-325a.

<b>Fiancee intent letter? Signed or unsigned?</b> Signed.

<b>What about a faxed or emailed signature?</b> When I was adjudicating, if I could see a signature, I accepted it, but many adjusicators will not. Signed is better.

<b> Lawyer or no lawyer?</b> For what?

<b>Enough said. Now a hot issue, a very controversial one. There seems to be a trend in some countries of foreign men marrying American women and the women are considerably older. There is always a question if this is a problem. It never seems to be a problem for older men/younger women</b> (My wife is 13 years younger, his wife is also considerable younger than him) <b>Is it a problem?</b> For us, USCIS, no. "Free to marry".

<b>What about the consulates or for AOS or I-751?</b> Consulates do what they do, it is not USCIS, some of them are bastards. Kiev is easy, they approve everyone (laughs), they used to be bastards but they got easier since they first started doing those in 2005, before then you would have had to go to Warsaw, you know. For AOS if they can prove they are legitimate we do not care about age but anything that is "not normal" for the culture will draw suspicion. They probably will not get a no questions asked interview (I had told him our AOS was "no questions asked")

<b>What about birth certificates, some people have trouble getting them? </b> This is a problem for us also. Some people, especially our younger staff, think all the world is like the USA. I remember one, when I was in the Kansas City office, the beneficiary was from Viet Nam, she was born in 1954 there was no birth certificate. The CO asked me about this and I looked at the file. I said "Do you know what was going on in Viet Nam in 1954?" She looked at me, straight faced and said "What, their computers were down?" <img src="http://www.visajourney.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wacko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wacko.gif" /> If a birth certificate cannot be obtained they can usually get something from a church, a village official, something, and send that with a letter of explanation. Or just their passport and a letter explaining the situation <b>(this applies to AOS more than I-129f as beneficiary birth certificate is not required for the petition, but I wanted to ask anyway, it seems a common question here)</b>

<b>What about extra documents? Proof of relationship?</b> We don't need it, only that they have met for the fiancee visa.

<b>What about the consulates? </b> Consulates do what they do, as I said, some are bastards. They get whatever we get when it is sent on. I can't tell you what NVC and consulates do, I know some are terrible and some are really easy, but I do not know all the details of each. Kiev is easy, western Europe is easy, Nigeria is horrible, but you would not believe the scams from Nigeria, I get jaded. I am surprised a lot of them get visas and then we have to deal with them.

<b>I have to ask for a collegue, Ecuador?</b> Bastards.

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/good.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="good.gif" />

<b>What about changes? Are there any in the works? Is Obama ouching you guys to work faster?</b> I am not sure Obama knows we exist. There have been no changes and no pressure other than the usual workload and shifting things around. I do not expect any immigration changes in the next year or two, at kleat not in rules or amnesty or anything like that. I do expect FEE INCREASES within the next year...across the board.

<b>How much more?</b> I cannot say, that is not my area, I just hear talk.

He added, "We try not to deny petitions, people really get angry and make lots of trouble. Denials usually come at the consulate or maybe AOS or sometimes even with the I-751. If we deny someone we need good reason, if they meet the criteria, we will approve it, they just have to give us what we need to approve them."

<b>So how can I speed up my petition?</b> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laughing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="laughing.gif" /> You can't really. If it gets to be too long and if you can get a congressman or senator to call, that will get some action, but half the time those guys dont'' call or they do and the petition has only been there 3 months. Sometimes one falls through the cracks, gets overlooked, we are human. A congressman can get through and get them to dig it out if it has been too long, but I wouldn't call that "speeding it up". That's a fix for whn it is too slow.

we talked for some time more, about 5 hours altogether, briefly interrupted by Alla every now and again who had her own questions about the I-751 procedure which I posted in that forum, about VJ and other topics (his Navy days) He said he will check the site and gave me his home number. He said "call anytime but not 3 in the morning" I asked about an interview or answering prepared questions, he said possibly, he will check the site. He said many internet sites are advertisement for immigration attorneys or instructing people on how to pull scams, I assured him he would be very pleased with VJ and he thinks it is great that there is a good site for information and advice. (he never heard of VJ before this)

I can also say, that speaking to him, I heard so many of the same buzzwords or advice that I have seen right here, this is really a great site with some great folks giving some really great info.

Hello GAry,

Thanks for sharing and posting this it gives me some wisdom i hope you continue to share and help us.. Well my fiance will have his infopass appt. on Monday(Do you have an idea on what to bring?).. i hope theres some answers and quick actions regarding our case. We are worried so much bcoz until now we haven't received Noa2 yet. It's 6.5 months already. Noa1 received Aug. 27, 2009.We feel we are the last batch left so sad. I miss my honeybunny so much.

[TBoneTX 43,124]

Although everyone's situation is worthy of respect, please:

1) Avoid asking questions about your individual case in a pinned thread; start anew, or search.

2) For God's sake, AVOID quoting the ENTIRE ORIGINAL MESSAGE!