NVC Frustrations

[twin810s 23]

Sorry for the long rant, but I need to vent.

So after 2 months at NVC, I almost long for the days of my petition sitting at USCIS while they do they do what they need to do with no need for my involvement. Upon doing some quick math, I figure I've lost about a day and a half of my life to sitting on hold, listening to NVC's prerecorded hold message tell me that I may encounter a "brief" delay. Yes. Brief. Right.

But I digress...

We electronically submitted our initial I-864 package on February 26, 2014. After two weeks of not getting any confirmation of its receipt by email or in daily phone calls, I phoned NVC one last time to ask if it had been received. They told me it hadn't, and it was best to resubmit it. I asked the operator if re-submitting would delay/confuse/negatively impact our review process in any way. She assured me that it wouldn't, as the initial package had not been received. So on March 13, we resubmitted the I-864 package. On March 19, we received a checklist for the I-864 package for what seems to be a common oversight: part 3 question 9: Place of Residence (if different from mailing address). As that address is also our mailing address, it was left blank. They wanted 'N/A' entered in each field. No biggie. We fixed it and sent it back the same day, and received confirmation of its receipt on March 28.

April 2, 2014: Another email from NVC; another checklist for I-864, listing the same problem as the first checklist, which we corrected. This, I figured, must be in response to the second I-864 package we submitted on instruction from NVC. I called NVC asking if I needed to respond to this second checklist, as it had already been addressed. They couldn't confirm which I-864 this second checklist pertained to (or whether they had even received two AOS packages), and instructed me that I should, in fact, respond to this second checklist, as they require that information in order to continue reviewing our documents. I resent the required corrections, receiving a receipt confirmation on April 8.

April 9: Another day, another checklist. This time stating that they've received my DS-260, but have yet to receive a response to the checklist for the I-864 (which they confirmed twice that they received). So I wake up bright and early this morning and call my friends at NVC to find out what the deal is. After a lifetime of being told that "assistance is just around the corner", a gentleman of questionable demeanour answers the phone. I give him all our credentials, and he asks what he can help me with. I explain the situation: the double-submitting of I-864s, the checklists, etc. I tell him we received another checklist stating that we haven't responded to our checklist, which we had. As I'm explaining, he keeps interrupting me to tell me he doesn't care/need to know about all the dates and previous submissions; he wants to know the last document we submitted. I ask if he means document submission, i.e., I-864 or DS-260, or just the last thing we sent them, i.e., responses to checklists. He sternly interrupts me to say "No, what was the last document you submitted?" The last thing we submitted was a response to a checklist. He says that that can't be it, that we must have sent another document in that warranted a checklist. 3 checklists means we submitted 3 documents. I begin explain again all the submissions we've made, hoping he can discern what this last checklist pertains to. He interrupts me again to tell me that none of that matters; he just needs to know the last document we submitted (which wasn't a good enough answer for him last time, so I don't know why it would be this time...). Anyway, long story longer, he comes to this conclusion: Ignore this latest checklist. It means nothing. Wait 30 days, and we'll get another email: either a notice of approval, or another checklist. I ask him if re-submitting is affecting the processing of our case - something which I was previously assured was not going to be an issue. Is this slowing us down? Confusing the situation? Anything? He says it won't, but that it already has, as there are two identical tracks that are being taken. I mention that when this all started, I asked the operator if re-submitting and potentially having two AOS packages in process concurrently will negatively affect us, and that we were assured that it wouldn't. I asked him why we would be told that, only to discover that it is, in fact, delaying us, and potentially by months. Silence. About 4-6 seconds of silence.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Clearly not, sir. Good day."

[TAandNA 13]

Whenever you snail mail them, please make sure you ask for the receiving receipt,

Thanks

TA

[twin810s 23]

Everything is being done electronically

[gwenstar 66]

The whole thing really sucks Sorry to hear that this is turning into such a hassle for you. It seems like no matter how prepared some people are, they still manage to mess it up. I got a false checklist for the IV packet - when I called they said I should just send it in again. When I questioned if that would potentially confuse or delay the case because I had seen that it happens based on the visa forum I check. They said no it wont cause confusion or delay. I ended up not sending in another packet...I was split with worry - either that they really didn't get it and I should send it again, or if I did then it would delay things.

Anyhow, its a good thing that we have VJ to get some rants out! I hope that it gets resolved soon!! I

Also, yes..."assistance is just around the corner"....I will never be able to get that phrase out of my head

[Kaylara 814]

Before I did anything with them, I called a few times and asked different operators the same questions. (Unless Todd, Gus, or Jim told me something. They're awesome, and know what they're talking about. I took whatever they said at face value.) In fact, I was told my case is complete this morning, but I'm going to call back tonight and just confirm that!

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

We submitted the AOS waiver and IV documents, but we got a checklist for the police certificate for my stepson (17) but they don't allow minor to get them in their country. NVC just does not seem to want to accept that . I sent them an email about 10 days ago with proof, lets see what happens.

I have only called them about 4 times in total, but I won't be calling them again. I'll let things resolve themselves in time. I'm a quick learner and learned that calling does nothing but make me upset.

[Kaylara 814]

I called just about every day since I got my USCIS approval. They have a call log, and so they could see that I was going to call at least once a day to see what's going on with my case. I ignored any advice from them to not call back for 30 days.

If they're giving you ####### about the police certificate, call and ask if they can please complete the case and your son will bring it to the interview, if it's actually available in that country. Arguing with them about it is probably not going to get you anywhere. If the person you get on the line won't help you, say thank you, hang up, and call back later in the day. And keep doing it until you'll get someone to help you. When I was waiting for my IV fee, I kept calling every day until Agent Todd sent the file to a supervisor for review, and the next day I could pay it.

I understand if it's making you too upset to call. I've had some bad days here too. I've dreaded calling them. But I still did it, because I really didn't want this to take longer than it absolutely had to. I think that there's a good chance that if I hadn't been as proactive, that it would have taken quite a bit longer for us to get through the NVC.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

Thanks for the advice, maybe you're right. If I wait it will never end, and he turns 18 in December.

[mtlguy 59]

Funny thing agent Todd was mentioned twice in this thread. Fact is, agents Todd, and Jim seem to be very professional individuals. kudos to both.

With some other agents you can immediately tell they're doing a 9 to 5 job, and could care less about you, your spouse, or what's going on beyond their zip code area.

Maybe we should track all agents we come across

[Darnell 8,478]

I got a supervisor at NVC,

and she moved things to the right queues for us, about 3 times, because I called her up and asked her to find it and shove it to the right queue.

check my profile for the timeline bits at NVC [click my name or click the twins to see it]

Each time I had an issue, I would call in, ask for this supervisor by name. Sometimes she wasn't there, so I'd get a call back same day when she went on shift.

The Email Queue thingie is, imo, always a mess. The first human that answers the phone CANNOT SEE WHAT'S IN THE EMAIL QUEUE. A supervisor cannot either, but a supervisor can tell the tech that CAN see the email queue to get yer stuff and sling it over to the reviewer's queue for your casefile.

Alternatively (and this works) - you can change the subject line to include (in addition to )

'Supervisor Review'

and that will get rapid attention. [3 days vs 2 weeks] but don't abuse this , aye?

[Novembro 1,763]

That's funny- it was always the opposite for me. I spent more time on hold with the bloody USCIS people than I have with any call center ever. NVC was like a breath of fresh air when we were transferred there. Not to mention they were a lot more friendly and knowledgeable than the mouthbreathers at USCIS.

Sorry to hear that, though. Bombard them until you get the answer you want.

[Darnell 8,478]

Funny thing agent Todd was mentioned twice in this thread. Fact is, agents Todd, and Jim seem to be very professional individuals. kudos to both.

With some other agents you can immediately tell they're doing a 9 to 5 job, and could care less about you, your spouse, or what's going on beyond their zip code area.

Maybe we should track all agents we come across

We do this, in the monthly NVC thread . Have a look for March, when yer able, from a PC.

[NikLR 13,227]

Follow darnell's advice.

One thing I'd like to know.. when was the ENROLL email sent and when did you get acceptance of the ENROLL email? (the one that optins for the EP)

Edited April 10, 2014 by NLR

[NorthernLights 4]

That's funny- it was always the opposite for me. I spent more time on hold with the bloody USCIS people than I have with any call center ever. NVC was like a breath of fresh air when we were transferred there. Not to mention they were a lot more friendly and knowledgeable than the mouthbreathers at USCIS.

Sorry to hear that, though. Bombard them until you get the answer you want.

For me USCIS if you needed teir 2, I had to call right at 8 am or it was for sure going to be a 1 hour hold time.

Even when I call NVC @ 7 AM it is certain to be at least 15 minutes. If I try at other times of the day the number is always engaged.

Crossing my fingers I will not need to call much more.

That's funny- it was always the opposite for me. I spent more time on hold with the bloody USCIS people than I have with any call center ever. NVC was like a breath of fresh air when we were transferred there. Not to mention they were a lot more friendly and knowledgeable than the mouthbreathers at USCIS.

Sorry to hear that, though. Bombard them until you get the answer you want.

For me USCIS if you needed teir 2, I had to call right at 8 am or it was for sure going to be a 1 hour hold time.

Even when I call NVC @ 7 AM it is certain to be at least 15 minutes. If I try at other times of the day the number is always engaged.

Crossing my fingers I will not need to call much more.

[twin810s 23]

Follow darnell's advice.

One thing I'd like to know.. when was the ENROLL email sent and when did you get acceptance of the ENROLL email? (the one that optins for the EP)

We didn't get confirmation of enrolling, I seem to recall, until we re-submitted the EP enrol email (at the operator's request). NVC's email correspondence is spotty at best; sometimes I would get an immediate auto-response acknowledging that I sent an email to them, sometimes not. Sometimes I'd get a confirmation email a week or two later, sometimes not. If there's one thing I've learned about EP at NVC, it's that you can't rely on NVC acknowledging or confirming receipt of anything, even though operators insist that they do every time you send them anything. It's kind of a catch 22; the operator tells you that if you didn't receive a confirmation email, it wasn't received. Yet, they don't always send confirmation emails, and the operator can't give you a definitive answer one way or another. Their response is speculation based on a flawed and inconsistent program.

Before I did anything with them, I called a few times and asked different operators the same questions. (Unless Todd, Gus, or Jim told me something. They're awesome, and know what they're talking about. I took whatever they said at face value.) In fact, I was told my case is complete this morning, but I'm going to call back tonight and just confirm that!

Congrats, Kaylara! Glad to so some positive movement on your case!