New USCIS Processing Numbers Our on Dash for October

[Natanloupan 11]

What exactly is the root of the problem ? I filed for an I-130 back in 2009 and it took only a short 3 months to be approved . What has happened since to cause such a back log ? I am sure this has been gone over and debated a lot . I just filed for an I-130 and the outlook of nearly 9 months just for an approval is an outrage ! As I have stated I just sent in our petition days ago . I'd rather not sit by and just wait and hope for USCIS to get their act together . I want to be a voice heard not only to help my case , but to help others as well . What can I do at this point to achieve this goal ?

[Salo&Romashka 83]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware but Mayor-kas is up for nomination as Deptuty Director of D.H.S. in the Senate. I suggest a targeted letter to Senators this time asking him to provide transparency of DA-CA impact on USCIS, specifically the I-130 backlog. Time is running out as Congress is going to recess.

http://watchdog.org/121252/homeland-security-immigration/

Add Senator Grassley to the top of the list and use this email:

whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov

[BOS_LHR 829]

What exactly is the root of the problem ? I filed for an I-130 back in 2009 and it took only a short 3 months to be approved . What has happened since to cause such a back log ? I am sure this has been gone over and debated a lot . I just filed for an I-130 and the outlook of nearly 9 months just for an approval is an outrage ! As I have stated I just sent in our petition days ago . I'd rather not sit by and just wait and hope for USCIS to get their act together . I want to be a voice heard not only to help my case , but to help others as well . What can I do at this point to achieve this goal ?

In a nutshell, I-130s were left on a shelf while USCIS prioritized DACA requests. Instead of hiring more staff to deal with the influx of paperwork, they simply reallocated existing staff away from our petitions and left essentially no one working on them.

Glad you want to get involved! Tomorrow we will be sending this letter to the following contacts:

Bob Goodlatte

alejandro.mayorkas@dhs.gov; alejandro.mayorkas@hq.dhs.gov; uscisfrcomments@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@hq.dhs.gov; cisombudsman@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@hq.dhs.gov; brandi.blackburn@uscis.dhs.gov; rand.beers@hq.dhs.gov; letters@washpost.com; executive@aila.org; newsroom@aila.org; Public.Engagement@uscis.dhs.gov

This is the third in a series of letters that members of this community are sending to the above contacts. The previous letters can also be found on VJ if you're interested in seeing what we've been doing. Join us in sending tomorrow, and keep your eye out for the next letter, which will be sent 3-4 weeks from now.

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

I had a dream that a Feb filer got approved after months of complaining on here and then started a thread titled "NOA2 hard copy, what do I do next?". It's probably going to happen to be honest!

But makes me feel better that I'm not the only one having VJ-related dreams

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

In a nutshell, I-130s were left on a shelf while USCIS prioritized DACA requests. Instead of hiring more staff to deal with the influx of paperwork, they simply reallocated existing staff away from our petitions and left essentially no one working on them.

Glad you want to get involved! Tomorrow we will be sending this letter to the following contacts:

Bob Goodlatte

alejandro.mayorkas@dhs.gov; alejandro.mayorkas@hq.dhs.gov; uscisfrcomments@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@hq.dhs.gov; cisombudsman@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@hq.dhs.gov; brandi.blackburn@uscis.dhs.gov; rand.beers@hq.dhs.gov; letters@washpost.com; executive@aila.org; newsroom@aila.org; Public.Engagement@uscis.dhs.gov

This is the third in a series of letters that members of this community are sending to the above contacts. The previous letters can also be found on VJ if you're interested in seeing what we've been doing. Join us in sending tomorrow, and keep your eye out for the next letter, which will be sent 3-4 weeks from now.

Email/Fax Blast 3.0.

Let's keep fighting.

BOS and others, again, great work.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Blueberry Pancake

[Natanloupan 11]

In a nutshell, I-130s were left on a shelf while USCIS prioritized DACA requests. Instead of hiring more staff to deal with the influx of paperwork, they simply reallocated existing staff away from our petitions and left essentially no one working on them.

Glad you want to get involved! Tomorrow we will be sending this letter to the following contacts:

Bob Goodlatte

alejandro.mayorkas@dhs.gov; alejandro.mayorkas@hq.dhs.gov; uscisfrcomments@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@dhs.gov; Lori.Scialabba@hq.dhs.gov; cisombudsman@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@hq.dhs.gov; brandi.blackburn@uscis.dhs.gov; rand.beers@hq.dhs.gov; letters@washpost.com; executive@aila.org; newsroom@aila.org; Public.Engagement@uscis.dhs.gov

This is the third in a series of letters that members of this community are sending to the above contacts. The previous letters can also be found on VJ if you're interested in seeing what we've been doing. Join us in sending tomorrow, and keep your eye out for the next letter, which will be sent 3-4 weeks from now.

I will also do this , but what do I need to do to the letter ? Do I need to change it in any way or just send it as is ?

[BOS_LHR 829]

I will also do this , but what do I need to do to the letter ? Do I need to change it in any way or just send it as is ?

Just copy the whole text into an email, replace "Your Name" at the bottom of the letter with your actual name, insert Unacceptable I-130 Processing Time Update in your email subject line, and send away.

[Kaylara 814]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware but Mayor-kas is up for nomination as Deptuty Director of D.H.S. in the Senate. I suggest a targeted letter to Senators this time asking him to provide transparency of DA-CA impact on USCIS, specifically the I-130 backlog. Time is running out as Congress is going to recess.

http://watchdog.org/121252/homeland-security-immigration/

Add Senator Grassley to the top of the list and use this email:

whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov

If we are going to do that, then we also should mention that they first impacted the Fiance visas to process DACA, and then moved that over to the spousal visas. That shows a pattern of behavior. I believe that one of the K1 filers compiled pretty compelling information regarding that particular situation last year.

[iamwhatiam80 92]

All right, I've done a quick first pass to use as a jumping off point. Please read, comment, suggest changes and additions. I want to keep this under a page -- we're responding to a very specific set of data, so let's stay on point.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q4y1fpKnSggGCPubbqoW_EBGDfmnDP7bG1QiLHBhKfE/edit?usp=sharing

Very nicely written. Thanks for your effort.

[Sukie 1,439]

I also think we should blitz the major newspapers with a letter-to-the-editor piece about the pain that we are going through over the holiday and New Year seasons. Most of us have a tie to a major holiday during this time of year, whether it is Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Years (and all the others I've left out because of my ignorance).

The big wigs don't give a rat's patootie (sorry, rats) about us. But let's see if we could rally public opinion. Can someone improve on the letter below? I don't have the stats, but I know some of you are keeping up with them.

During this holiday season, there are xxx,xxx US citizens who are trying to unite their families. Of these, approximately xxx,xxx are legally married couples who are finding themselves in two different countries, celebrating their holidays via Skype, email, telephone or letters. The United States Department of Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) average (also know as "goal") for approving the US Citizen's petitions for their family members has now stretched from five months to 8.4 months. During the month of September, USCIS's own statistics claimed that each of the service centers were "current" to February 12, 2013, meaning any petitions filed prior to this date were "being worked on". After a whole month of "working on" petitions, the October statistics state that the service centers were "current" to February 13, 2013. One whole month. One measly day.

The most frustrating part of this "delay" is that we, as US Citizens, have paid $420 dollars for this petition. Those of us who filed our petitions during January through July 2013 were given an average of five months for processing. We are still waiting. Who invests $420 for a tangible object (a piece of paper approving our petition) and isn't upset when up to 11 months later we still are waiting?

Both conservative and liberal constituencies in the US tout "Family Values". What kind of family values splits spouses (and children) for months, causing financial and emotional trauma?

The USCIS needs to stop manipulating data and should start processing petitions. It's already too late for xxx,xxx families for this holiday season.

[Natanloupan 11]

Just copy the whole text into an email, replace "Your Name" at the bottom of the letter with your actual name, insert Unacceptable I-130 Processing Time Update in your email subject line, and send away.

I will set the email up in a draft and send it in the morning . Thanks everyone for this post and inspiring others to help with this matter .

[r060106 109]

If we are going to do that, then we also should mention that they first impacted the Fiance visas to process DACA, and then moved that over to the spousal visas. That shows a pattern of behavior. I believe that one of the K1 filers compiled pretty compelling information regarding that particular situation last year.

Yeah, but what I don't get is that they appear to have really cleaned up the K-1 issue and those are flying through. Why haven't they been able to do the same for Spousal Visas? Doesn't make sense to me. So I don't think you can liken both situations given USCIS' terrible response to ours. Make sense?

[Kaylara 814]

Darn, I ran out of reputation today. I'll make up for it tomorrow. You guys are just awesome!

[Kaylara 814]

Yeah, but what I don't get is that they appear to have really cleaned up the K-1 issue and those are flying through. Why haven't they been able to do the same for Spousal Visas? Doesn't make sense to me. So I don't think you can liken both situations given USCIS' terrible response to ours. Make sense?

I understand what you're saying. That backlog got a much faster resolution, which only shows that they can do it when they want to. What I'm suggesting is that we show it's impact on the K1 visa last year, and then the I130's impact to show that this is a standard of behavior that they, the top level USCIS people endorse, including Mr. Mayorkas. I know that the Ombudsman commended him and the whole USCIS on the quick processing of the DACA applications. Perhaps the USCIS was unaware that the USCIS had diverted nearly all adjudicators from first the K1's and then the I130's.

I think that we need to be clear that we were not the only people who had to suffer because of the way the USCIS dealt with the DACA applications. I believe that showing what the K1's had to go through last year will strengthen our case and garner us more support from our representatives, as we have no vested interest in the outcomes of the already adjudicated K1's. We do have a strong interest in the I130's outcomes at the moment and that may be perceived as bias, even if we don't intend it that way.

If the point is that we don't want them to continue behaving like this, we should provide the relevant data. K1 visas are family visas too, imo. Their suffering was just as important and just as bad as ours.

[BOS_LHR 829]

The third paragraph was falling a little flat for me, felt like there was more to be said. I'm still working out how to wrap up this line of thought, take a look at the added (red) text and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Furthermore, there is reason to believe that USCIS has begun adjudicating petitions out of order so that they meet targeted processing averages. This method flies against the “first in, first out” policy that USCIS claims to process according to; July petitioners have been granted approvals while many from March are being passed over in the queue. Adjudicating newer petitions while earlier filers are left to wait as a statistical maneuver is unacceptable and reprehensible. USCIS must process petitions in a linear fashion from oldest to newest and accurately report the resultant data.

I'm thinking about adding something to tie it back to fairness/transparency, we have a right to know where we are in line, etc.