I-129F November 2016 Filers - Part 2

[Chelleyandaaron 512]

8 minutes ago, Adriana&Marko said:

I can't find anything or the links you sent?

On the internal affairs website on the lower right hand side there is a link to a form to request documents - or perhaps you could email and ask?

 

http://mpb.rks-gov.net/Contacts.aspx

Edited March 24, 2017 by Chelleyandaaron

[Chelleyandaaron 512]

still no word from @JimJesDuma? What's happening?

[llaz 232]

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!

For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 

 

Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

Edited March 24, 2017 by llaz

[carloolive 68]

Looking for help!

 

does anyone know how or where to seek replacement adoption records if they are lost or misplaced!

 

thanks in advance  

[Adriana&Marko 58]

2 hours ago, Chelleyandaaron said:

On the internal affairs website on the lower right hand side there is a link to a form to request documents - or perhaps you could email and ask?

 

http://mpb.rks-gov.net/Contacts.aspx

Thank you so much !!

[dbirdflyshi 51]

On 3/22/2017 at 2:29 AM, geowrian said:

I completely agree on a micro level. Cases should be processed in the order they arrived as stated.

 

However, from a macro level, what they're doing makes sense from a process flow. Think of it like a supermarket with 10 registers open and 100 customers...

• The lines very likely won't be exactly equal to start with.
• Some cashiers will go faster than others.
• Some people will have more items than others.
• Some people will have items that won't scan, or require somebody to look them up by hand.
• Some people won't have sufficient funds, or pay slowly.

Assumption: Once you pick a line, you cannot move to a new line.

 

In this scenario, 9 times out of 10 there will be a line moving faster than your own. The 5 people in line #1 could get checked out while your line sits there on person #1 still.

 

Is it the cashier's fault for some people taking wayyyy longer than others? The store's? To make it more fair, should they have cashiers wait until all front-line customers are checked out before moving to the next? Should they put all the low-item count/exact change/etc. people at the front (or use a dedicated line)? unfortunately, there's not really a solution that works best for everybody, and all the 'fair" solutions are just inefficient. This line/queue management process conundrum comes up in all sorts of process flows, and there simply isn't a generic solution...just ways to prioritize certain aspects (fairness, fastest average time, optimal customer experience, etc.).

My understanding based on conversations here is that the USCIS just gives one case worker 400-500 (hyperbolic estimation) cases at a time and each case worker works through their pile at their own leisure. What i don't understand is how some cases can hypothetically take so long? Does one case worker spend days at a time on a single case? Their jobs seem pretty simple; review the contents of the packet, if they match these 20 (arbitrary number) key points, pass it on as approved, if they don't or have errors, RFE and list all of the points that need more evidence. Even with a 200 page packet, it's not necessary to read exact word letter for letter in each page. From what I read, many filers have tens if not hundreds of pages of just chat logs. It's not as if the USCIS gives the most detailed explanations for RFEs or denials anyway.

 

Theoretical solution: Why not just use the Ross approach? Have a singular stack of all cases sorted by date submitted. Use an 'usher' to allocate small groups of packets to each case worker. When they are on their last case, provide them with 3-5 more. That way things flow significantly quicker and some people aren't waiting 40-50 days longer than another. 

 

Please don't take this as an argument, but a means to spark conversation and share ideas. Feel free to correct any misunderstandings i may have or share facts to help everyone understand better.

 

Also: @geowrian I noticed you didn't begin becoming active in this site until you started your own visa process. Could you share with us your background and why or how you are able to generate such a substantial amount of actionable insights to support this community the way you do?

Edited March 24, 2017 by dbirdflyshi

[geowrian 22,336]

1 minute ago, dbirdflyshi said:

My understanding based on conversations here is that the USCIS just gives one case worker 400-500 (hyperbolic estimation) cases at a time and each case worker works through their pile at their own leisure. What i don't understand is how some cases can hypothetically take so long? Does one case worker spend days at a time on a single case? Their jobs seem pretty simple; review the contents of the packet, if they match these 20 (arbitrary number) key points, pass it on as approved, if they don't or have errors, RFE and list all of the points that need more evidence. Even with a 200 page packet, it's not necessary to read exact word letter for letter in each page. From what I read, many filers have tens if not hundreds of pages of just chat logs. It's not as if the USCIS gives the most detailed explanations for RFEs or denials anyway.

 

Theoretical solution: Why not just use the Ross approach? Have a singular stack of all cases sorted by date submitted. Use an 'usher' to allocate small groups of packets to each case worker. When they are on their last case, provide them with 3-5 more. That way things flow significantly quicker and some people aren't waiting 40-50 days longer than another. 

 

Please don't take this as an argument, but a means to spark conversation and share ideas. Feel free to correct any misunderstandings i may have or share facts to help everyone understand better.

No "argument" here. haha I enjoy the discussion, and you make some good points.

 

It's only speculation, but the running prediction is that each case only takes about 15-30 minutes to process (on average). A case worker is evaluated regularly based on how quickly they work. As such, this does create an incentive to "gloss over" cases that appear to be more complicated. I guess they could switch to evaluation based on (in part) how old their cases are. But then again, somebody with an unlucky set of cases would then be (unfairly) evaluated based on luck instead of their actual performance.

 

While many, many cases are fairly simple, there are some that will likely hold up the line. Cases with a divorce (or multiple) to spouses abroad, cases with multiple filers, cases with a petition that was previously approved but the K-1 visa was denied, etc. The vast array of possibilities they encounter is crazy...and before denying a petition, they need to provide a valid basis for doing so. Sometimes they don't know something or need to research it, so it has to go through review by others, which means no more work on that case until they hear back. Over time, I can imagine that backlog is huge and anything can come back with an update on any day. Even with RFEs, that's the case, albeit likely a shorter lifespan on that waiting for new data. Also, I believe the vast majority of adjudicators are not dedicated to I-129Fs. I-129Fs are the "easy" cases...so they may only get to a look at a couple I-129Fs in a day.

 

Also, the adjudicator may have started on a case and then gone for vacation, left, etc., which can cause delays. Other times, background checks require a manual check or otherwise come back inconclusive and need further investigation.

 

Is this a perfect design? Heck no! While it is one way to optimize average utilization (performance) of an adjudicator's time, it is prone to various unwanted side effects such as a high variance in processing times of some individual cases. Most are fine, but that doesn't create a "fair" field either.

 

That potential solution is one approach that I personally would prefer. It does have additional overhead (potential waiting for new cases) and costs (pay for usher(s)), but would provide a more consistent timeline. Maybe more than 3-5 at a time would be needed, but an optimal number of cases could be found to minimize variance and waiting periods. It doesn't address the issue of having a backlog of cases waiting for a response from the petitioner, an external party, or supervisor...but it would be easier to work on those after the much-smaller current batch of cases are processed. There still would be some people who are waiting much longer, but I would imagine that would be much few and farther between.

 

Anyway, the idea is that I'm confident there is a method to their madness...it's not just purely random. The data suggests this as well as you can see a clear progression of forward progress from week to week. But I'm also confident that the flow could be improved if there's somebody there who has the means to make changes...or at least decrease the variance. I can't speak for others, but I'm willing to wait an extra couple days or pay a couple dollars more to have the process be more consistent and make my scans mostly irrelevant.

[fibelbs 31]

2 hours ago, llaz said:

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!

For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 

 

Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

yayy! that is very cool that you can travel there for such a long time and wait together, I am from Argentina next to Chile, and yeah our flight tickets are expensive hehe, hope we all get approved soon though. 

[Quenbee 47]

4 hours ago, llaz said:

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!

For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 

 

Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

I wish I would even get half of that time off lucky u...good luck

[geowrian 22,336]

...approved!

[visamountain 73]

CONGRATULATIONS @geowrian to you and your forever love!

[N and C 30]

10 minutes ago, geowrian said:

...approved!

Congratulations, Geo! I am so happy for you and your love.

 

Our RFE was received last May 15th. Unfortunately, we haven't heard from USCIS since.  I hope approval comes nextweek. ??

[geowrian 22,336]

4 minutes ago, N and C said:

Congratulations, Geo! I am so happy for you and your love.

 

Our RFE was received last May 15th. Unfortunately, we haven't heard from USCIS since.  I hope approval comes nextweek. ??

Thank you!

 

Fingers crossed for you! What was the RFE for?

[N and C 30]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Thank you!

 

Fingers crossed for you! What was the RFE for?

They are asking for more evidence. Copies of passport stamp for 2015 and 2016, airline tickets and photos as secondary proof were sent. Im getting antsy! Haha.

[Chi&Clint 203]

25 minutes ago, geowrian said:

...approved!

Awesome, I told ya, must be this week or next week :p. I'm happy for you