Just Heard Back from Congresswoman about my TSC Petition

[Annie S. 2]

I decided to contact my congresswoman about my petition because it has been 5 months (even though now they are telling us 6 months...) since filing.

Surprised by how quick it took - I went in this morning to sign a privacy release from and she just called me now saying that my background check has been completed and my petition is now "in transit to an examiner which can take up to 30 days"

Has this happened to anyone else? What is everyone else's experience with contacting their representative?

I am hoping that it will be a lot earlier than that and maybe her call flagged my petition in some way for a quicker approval. Wishful thinking but I just hate how I was one of the unlucky ones NOT transferred and am still waiting for USCIS to get their act together.

[alicia98981 128]

30 days to an examiner is absurd. TSC is basically saying it will take us about 30 days to go through all these boxes looking for yours and 15 minutes or so to make a decision. TSC is full of ssshhhhh . . . . .

[AlissaCarly 44]

Well, we got the state senator involved who called us an hour (!) after we filed our case on his website. His office told us our case had been pushed to the processing queue, and we were approved 5 working days later So I don't know if they had any influence on it, but I hadn't seen it move at all in almost 6 months when we contacted them!

[PrincessButtercup 4]

We had the exact same response! When I heard another 30 days I felt like someone had just told me there would be 6 more weeks of winter!

That was August 28th and our NOA2 was September 15th so it was about 2 1/2 weeks.

Hopefully for you it won't even take that long! Good luck!

[Annie S. 2]

We had the exact same response! When I heard another 30 days I felt like someone had just told me there would be 6 more weeks of winter!

That was August 28th and our NOA2 was September 15th so it was about 2 1/2 weeks.

Hopefully for you it won't even take that long! Good luck!

This gives me a little more hope that we will have good news sooner rather than later!

[Caryh 5,206]

We got a congresswoman involved during my wife's AOS. They said CSC of USCIS would complete it within 30 days but had notice it was approved within the week.

If you're above their published processing time, it does seem to help. If you're not above the published processing time, then it does nothing. The immigration liaison in the congresswoman's office told us they hardly ever take the 30 days when they get that response from USCIS, and he was right in our case.

[wbeem 568]

I decided to contact my congresswoman about my petition because it has been 5 months (even though now they are telling us 6 months...) since filing.

Surprised by how quick it took - I went in this morning to sign a privacy release from and she just called me now saying that my background check has been completed and my petition is now "in transit to an examiner which can take up to 30 days"

Has this happened to anyone else? What is everyone else's experience with contacting their representative?

I am hoping that it will be a lot earlier than that and maybe her call flagged my petition in some way for a quicker approval. Wishful thinking but I just hate how I was one of the unlucky ones NOT transferred and am still waiting for USCIS to get their act together.

I contacted my Congressman's office several times. Very poor response and honestly, no help at all. Some junior staff member called USCIS to see they could move us along and, of course, the answer was "no." He was OK with that and just parted back to me that it takes five months.

I asked him about the disparity between CSC and TSC, and he gave some usual rhetoric about each case being different. No real investigation or questioning of USCIS. Honestly, this guy was no more helpful than calling USCIS Tier 1 myself. It's still a black hole mystery.

Then I tried another tactic and had him request a transfer of our case from TSC to CSC. They denied, saying it would take too long to find our case. Seriously? What kind of BS answer is that one? These things are bar-coded and identified when they arrive. However, the junior staffer bought it hook, line and sinker.

[Dohan 133]

I contacted my Congressman's office several times. Very poor response and honestly, no help at all. Some junior staff member called USCIS to see they could move us along and, of course, the answer was "no." He was OK with that and just parted back to me that it takes five months.

I asked him about the disparity between CSC and TSC, and he gave some usual rhetoric about each case being different. No real investigation or questioning of USCIS. Honestly, this guy was no more helpful than calling USCIS Tier 1 myself. It's still a black hole mystery.

Then I tried another tactic and had him request a transfer of our case from TSC to CSC. They denied, saying it would take too long to find our case. Seriously? What kind of BS answer is that one? These things are bar-coded and identified when they arrive. However, the junior staffer bought it hook, line and sinker.

USCIS won't react until you're at 5 months because you are TSC. Believe me, I'm a TSC filer as well so I know what it's like. Just be patient, 5 months will roll around soon enough. Best of luck!

[Texasav8r 183]

I decided to contact my congresswoman about my petition because it has been 5 months (even though now they are telling us 6 months...) since filing.

Surprised by how quick it took - I went in this morning to sign a privacy release from and she just called me now saying that my background check has been completed and my petition is now "in transit to an examiner which can take up to 30 days"

Has this happened to anyone else? What is everyone else's experience with contacting their representative?

I am hoping that it will be a lot earlier than that and maybe her call flagged my petition in some way for a quicker approval. Wishful thinking but I just hate how I was one of the unlucky ones NOT transferred and am still waiting for USCIS to get their act together.

My call (at 6 1/2 months) resulted in a similar response except that it was pulled from the general pile, which they all end up in, and placed with an adjudicator. She said give it 30 days because they are working on several files. I opened a case with the ombudsman 10 days later and a service request 2 days after that and then 2 days later I had my NOA 2. So, after a little more than 2 weeks from my representative's call, I had my NOA 2. I think you will see something soon now that it is with an adjudicator....fingers crossed.

[FoamoftheDaze 4]

I e-mailed my Senator yesterday and explained my situation and the situation others are having with the Texas Service Center. I know I am not past my 5 month mark but I still felt it was worth e-mailing and explaining how unfair the situation is for all of us.

[jfgk1987 303]

I was told by TSC to wait 60 days, I only had to wait 6!

[NYCruiser 423]

I decided to contact my congresswoman about my petition because it has been 5 months (even though now they are telling us 6 months...) since filing.

Surprised by how quick it took - I went in this morning to sign a privacy release from and she just called me now saying that my background check has been completed and my petition is now "in transit to an examiner which can take up to 30 days"

Has this happened to anyone else? What is everyone else's experience with contacting their representative?

I am hoping that it will be a lot earlier than that and maybe her call flagged my petition in some way for a quicker approval. Wishful thinking but I just hate how I was one of the unlucky ones NOT transferred and am still waiting for USCIS to get their act together.

Yes I did.,.,contacted BOTH Senators and they were useless. Essentially the 'wait' for 30 days seems flexible depending on who is saying what...For ours it was 60 days...but they did nothing

[Caryh 5,206]

Yes I did.,.,contacted BOTH Senators and they were useless. Essentially the 'wait' for 30 days seems flexible depending on who is saying what...For ours it was 60 days...but they did nothing

You can't get any action until they're 30 days beyond the posted processing time for the service center your petition is at. You also need to remember, your senator or congressman cannot order USCIS to do anything. They can only look into your case, and if its over due by 30 days, they'll normally pull it out to get worked on. It doesn't work to say but my case is at 5 months and CSC is doing them in 30 days while TSC is taking 6 months. You're stuck with your service center, and it is what it is, your representatives can do nothing about that. But our representatives do get access to a better source than we as petitioners seem to be able to access, or they get better feedback at least because of their political position.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

I decided to contact my congresswoman about my petition because it has been 5 months (even though now they are telling us 6 months...) since filing.

Surprised by how quick it took - I went in this morning to sign a privacy release from and she just called me now saying that my background check has been completed and my petition is now "in transit to an examiner which can take up to 30 days"

Has this happened to anyone else? What is everyone else's experience with contacting their representative?

I am hoping that it will be a lot earlier than that and maybe her call flagged my petition in some way for a quicker approval. Wishful thinking but I just hate how I was one of the unlucky ones NOT transferred and am still waiting for USCIS to get their act together.

I highly doubt that your congresswoman had anything to do with this. It just so happend that the file was in process and when the congresswoman cheked she got the most current status. Just a coincidence that your congresswoman would like you to think had something to do with her... There's just no way a call from anyone, even the Prisident could produce such fast results. Unless of course there are illegal aliens involved...then the Presisdent can do anything he wants.

Edited October 28, 2014 by David & Zoila

[yuna628 9,541]

I should think it very likely that if the President wanted a fast result, he'd get a fast result no matter whom it was for. I don't have doubts that some elected representatives can get better results than others do in this process, probably because they have vested interest or are willing to call in a few favours with some contacts. It won't be the same for every politician though. I'm sure some just don't care. I've lobbied some on animal cruelty/rights cases before -- the response is varied. Some will reply with a personalized and helpful response, others with a canned unhelpful response, and some simply never bother to reply. I'm glad that some are still willing to help their constituents and have brought results.