INS Making it up as they go along?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

i had to laugh at this when i read it on wikipedia...

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was part of the Department of Justice. The stated priorities of the USCIS are to promote national security, to eliminate immigration case backlogs, and to improve customer services. :rofl: :rofl:

Relatively speaking, they HAVE done that. The process is better now than years ago and any delays have been caused mostly by added demands on the system caused by humanitarian efforts to give everyone that has a bad day a green card. Were we still under the old system you may be waiting years instead of months.

I can iunderstand the frustration with the government and I certainly do not want them running my healthcare (this is a good reason why)

What I never understand is a person voluntarily entering a process, paying a large fee to do so, and then complaining! If you do not like waiting for the ride at Disneyland, don't go to Disneyland and don;t pay a lot of money to get in! I mean at least at Disneyland one could argue "Why wait 3 hours for a 2 minute ride?" but in this case we are talking about a lifelong committment...unless it is a hassle.

You have someone on the other side of the ocean waiting to spend their life with you and that is a pretty damn special thing, and they are going to need you an awful lot even though they hardly qualify as foreigners since they speak the same language (sort of) and do not even need a visa to visit. I mean it is as difficult to go to Wisconsin, as it is to go to Great Britian, jeezum!

best to spend your time preparing for a new life which is going to be here very soon.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Sorry, meant to reply to you earlier. I appreciate your support. Makes me happy to be here on VJ even amongst all the know-it-all's. Good luck to you!!!

Thanks!! Good Luck to you!!

Posters should specify if they do not want responses from people that know the answers. It will save them a lot of angst if they are not prepared for the truth.

[Oahu&Amesbury 0]

What I never understand is a person voluntarily entering a process, paying a large fee to do so, and then complaining! If you do not like waiting for the ride at Disneyland, don't go to Disneyland and don;t pay a lot of money to get in! I mean at least at Disneyland one could argue "Why wait 3 hours for a 2 minute ride?" but in this case we are talking about a lifelong committment...unless it is a hassle.

Great, why don't you tell me the secret to bypassing this to bring her here to live legally. I am very open to not "voluntarily" entering this process if it can be avoided. I'm all ears.

Edited November 30, 2011 by Oahu&Amesbury

[Oahu&Amesbury 0]

Posters should specify if they do not want responses from people that know the answers. It will save them a lot of angst if they are not prepared for the truth.

I'm open to discussion. Wise #### personal attacks like a few that were left here are another story. That is never welcome, but whatever, those types of people can not be totally avoided.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Great, why don't you tell me the secret to bypassing this to bring her here to live legally. I am very open to not "voluntarily" entering this process if it can be avoided. I'm all ears.

As I told you, there is no secret, and no way to bypass it. Having knowledge means knowing that. Being mature means accepting it and planning for the future which goes far beyond the visa

[Dan & Jenni 457]

Relatively speaking, they HAVE done that. The process is better now than years ago and any delays have been caused mostly by added demands on the system caused by humanitarian efforts to give everyone that has a bad day a green card. Were we still under the old system you may be waiting years instead of months.

I can iunderstand the frustration with the government and I certainly do not want them running my healthcare (this is a good reason why)

What I never understand is a person voluntarily entering a process, paying a large fee to do so, and then complaining! If you do not like waiting for the ride at Disneyland, don't go to Disneyland and don;t pay a lot of money to get in! I mean at least at Disneyland one could argue "Why wait 3 hours for a 2 minute ride?" but in this case we are talking about a lifelong committment...unless it is a hassle.

You have someone on the other side of the ocean waiting to spend their life with you and that is a pretty damn special thing, and they are going to need you an awful lot even though they hardly qualify as foreigners since they speak the same language (sort of) and do not even need a visa to visit. I mean it is as difficult to go to Wisconsin, as it is to go to Great Britian, jeezum!

best to spend your time preparing for a new life which is going to be here very soon.

wow i cant believe it used to be worse than what it is now lol. as for healthcare run by the governmant... while it is free (well in a roundabout kinda way it is free) it really does have its problems. medicine that is available to some but not others (it all depends on which health authority you come under and how much of there budget they have left), huge waiting lists...

complaining doesnt get you anywhere anyway... but it is a frustrating process when you dont know what is going on or how long it will take and it is good to just vent every now and then. even if no one is listening it still helps to get it off your chest.

i count myself very lucky to be british as far as travelling to, and moving to america is concerned. no visa to travel is required and for the K-1 visa the embassy dont ask for proof of ongoing relationship and they arent that fussy about having a co-sponsor even if your slightly under the 125% poverty level. plus life and culture when i get there wont be that different to me... and as i found out when i last visited... american women just love my accent haha

[Oahu&Amesbury 0]

As I told you, there is no secret, and no way to bypass it. Having knowledge means knowing that. Being mature means accepting it and planning for the future which goes far beyond the visa

So if there is no way to bypass it "as you already said", then why can't you understand why people voluntarily enter this process? As you stated bellow.

"What I never understand is a person voluntarily entering a process, paying a large fee to do so, and then complaining! If you do not like waiting for the ride at Disneyland, don't go to Disneyland and don;t pay a lot of money to get in! I mean at least at Disneyland one could argue "Why wait 3 hours for a 2 minute ride?" but in this case we are talking about a lifelong committment...unless it is a hassle."

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

So if there is no way to bypass it "as you already said", then why can't you understand why people voluntarily enter this process? As you stated bellow.

Feel free to read what I wrote again.

I understand why people enter the process. I do not understand why people whine about it after entering it. Good grief. Seriously?

I have never complaind about something I chose to do.

[Oahu&Amesbury 0]

Feel free to read what I wrote again.

I understand why people enter the process. I do not understand why people whine about it after entering it. Good grief. Seriously?

I have never complaind about something I chose to do.

Ok, works for you. I on the other hand do not feel this process is effective. It is an insult to the American people and there is no acceptable alternative. As such, I "voluntarily" entered this process, and I am pissed about it. I also understand why others have entered this process and why they are upset. Perhaps there is something your trying to say I'm not getting, because really, I do not see or agree your view.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Ok, works for you. I on the other hand do not feel this process is effective. It is an insult to the American people and there is no acceptable alternative. As such, I "voluntarily" entered this process, and I am pissed about it. I also understand why others have entered this process and why they are upset. Perhaps there is something your trying to say I'm not getting, because really, I do not see or agree your view.

My point is that people became engaged to a foreign person and that requires a government process to get married and live together here. The people who choose to do this knew that, they STILL chose to do it...and then whine about it. Frankly I find such behavior embarrassing, especially from men, and insulting to many people who went before and had much more difficult cases dealing with much more difficult countries that the UK. Jeezum, it is harder to deal with the DMV in Connecticut!

I say "have some dignity" and make preparations during this time for the much more difficult task of relocating someone to the US from a foreign country and making that adjustment (again a lot easier for people from countires with no language barrier). As this is the easy part.

[wshc 46]

There are different levels of incompetency that are accepted by different people. If your patience is greater than mine, that is good for you. Maybe you had a very good experience with USCIS, then good for you.

But my experience has been nothing but a comedy of errors. This is not Disneyland. This is real world and this is real life. They have changed our life dramatically forever due to their operating procedures. And there is not much we can do about it unfortunately.

The misinformation, lack of information, almost total absence of communication with USCIS, or at least the untimely manner they handle communications is to me unacceptable. If I went to Disneyland and they ran their operation in the same manner the USCIS provides customer service, I would go to a different theme park right away.

But what alternative do I have in the immigration process?

Granted, my situation is different. USCIS steered us wrong when returning to the US after almost 20 years in Germany. We made mistakes and they made mistakes. I corrected my mistakes and made changes where necessary, but USCIS does not recognize their mistakes and they don't even have a timely process to deal with their mistakes. What recourse is there other than filing a Federal Lawsuit or going through the USCIS Ombudsman, both requiring an extremely large amount of time. At least at Disneyland I can speak to a manager about the problems I have and if I do write the company to complain I receive a timely response.

Edited November 30, 2011 by wshc

[baron555 934]

But what alternative do I have in the immigration process?

Um......don't do it? You move to their country? Break the relationship because it's too stressful?

I knew there would be this wait without info and both my wife and I made the best of it. Good friends of ours took 10 months to get their NOA2, and he was military (not at front lines). They never complained, never received an RFE, did make a few inquiries and were told the same spiel....and then voila they were approved and are happily married together. Soon you all will be also and soon after that you will forget all about this....and then maybe you will read about a newbie's ranting and raving and you will try to console them as we do and you will hear the same spiel.....They don't think about me. They really don't care about us, we are just part of their job, they process hundreds and thousands of cases, there is not time to be personal, we wait 5 months or more to have our case adujcated in 15 minutes. Think about it. Just 15 mintues.......there must be a lot of fools such as us engaging this process?!!!!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

There are different levels of incompetency that are accepted by different people. If your patience is greater than mine, that is good for you. Maybe you had a very good experience with USCIS, then good for you.

But my experience has been nothing but a comedy of errors. This is not Disneyland. This is real world and this is real life. They have changed our life dramatically forever due to their operating procedures. And there is not much we can do about it unfortunately.

The misinformation, lack of information, almost total absence of communication with USCIS, or at least the untimely manner they handle communications is to me unacceptable. If I went to Disneyland and they ran their operation in the same manner the USCIS provides customer service, I would go to a different theme park right away.

But what alternative do I have in the immigration process?

Granted, my situation is different. USCIS steered us wrong when returning to the US after almost 20 years in Germany. We made mistakes and they made mistakes. I corrected my mistakes and made changes where necessary, but USCIS does not recognize their mistakes and they don't even have a timely process to deal with their mistakes. What recourse is there other than filing a Federal Lawsuit or going through the USCIS Ombudsman, both requiring an extremely large amount of time. At least at Disneyland I can speak to a manager about the problems I have and if I do write the company to complain I receive a timely response.

That is because Disney is a for-profit company, the government is not. Consider that when you expect them to provide health care. Even so, if you ask them to make the lines shorter for Pirates of the Caribean they will say "sorry, no can do" Go to another ride if you don't like the lines. Maybe the teacup ride.

As to YOUR situation I did not address YOUR situation and I do not excuse incompetence and there ARE effective procedures for handling incompetence. This thread is not about incompetence. The nature of this thread is "I am tired of waiting! " That is not imcompetence, that is just the nature of the beast and everyone knows that going in, unless they don't and then they should be educationg themselves better.

I have been working for two years with a Senator from our state to CHANGE some rules to make things easier and eliminate some opportunities for incompetence and abuse in the process. It takes a long time, even longer than getting an NOA2 but then I am in this for life so it is worth it. Stop whining and do something. The usual modus operandi is top whine until they finally get what they want and then run off and say bad words but do nothing about the system and nothing to help someone coming along behind. Nice. They will even insult and chastise those that stay to help as "know it alls" when the facts don't fit their theory.

If you are not willing to do something to improve the system, then at least do something to improve the future life of your fiancee. Even if it is only educating yourself on what they will need to do. Do you know what is needed for them to get a drivers license? Have their educational documents been copied, translated (if needed), evaluated for US equivilency? Why not? what wil they have to do to continue a career here? What about their professional licenses, if any? Have you made medical appointments to get them in the care of a doctor and dentist? Checked it out even? What about school, if any? ESL, college?

[wshc 46]

@Gary

All advice is good and well intentioned I am sure.

My case is not an I-129 case, but for those cases your advice is good.

Edited November 30, 2011 by wshc

[Rattlehead 69]

plus life and culture when i get there wont be that different to me...

You just have to learn to drive on the correct side of the road!

My two cents: if a bureaucratic entity of the US Government being two weeks late in a five-month backlog of paperwork and red tape is the worst thing that happens to you this year, you're doing pretty well. Not to discount the stress it induces, but when dealing with paperwork and the US Gov, being late is the norm. Sure you can complain, but did you seriously expect differently?

Of course the problem could be solved by not giving ANY time estimate and leaving you in the dark until a decision is made....