USCIS Tier 1 Officer rant on Reddit

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

9 minutes ago, boris64 said:

I work for the government...that's not salty or a rant. Just reality in an organization with a high workload....

Same here and this is so true......

 

What's funny is I actually got an account on reddit so that I can comment on the askimmigration and immigration subforums last week. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Cyberfx1024

[BVGApeach 288]

Well, it's been deleted on reddit. 

 

I have a job that's high stress and pressure dealing with tough customers, and I recognize a "letting off of steam" when I see one  Honestly, I think it's good to hear from their POV because we rarely do. 

[EmmNM 179]

I've often wondered why it takes so long. Especially the AOS and the Removing conditions. You can't tell me it costs them $1200 to process an AOS case. And for it to take over 2 years? If they are short staffed then hire more people. They receive plenty for our petition fees. And my K1 petition. I bet they don't look at the case for more than 20 mins here on state side. Yes they do background checks and whatever. But $535 to do all that?

[Loren Y 2,748]

If the workload is so high they should hire a few more people. Here is a link to the Fiscal budget from USCIS for the past few years. They bring in 4,458,000.00 roughly from our fees, and their total cost for every Full-time, Part time, benefits, insurance, etc. is only 2,018,000.00 or so. I'm rounding a little bit. Your telling me that extra 2 plus million goes for paperclips and post it notes? I suggest they hire a few more people, looks like they have the money.

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/USCIS FY18 Budget.pdf.

I didn't read the whole 172 pages, so maybe I missed something, but I'm pretty sure our fees could bring in a few more employees. I know they have to buy those thousand dollar staplers, and 200 dollar pens, but I think there is some wiggle room in there for a few more employees. It's just the standard government agency, they are all just about the same, I just wish it was like in a few countries I have been to where you could grease a few palms and have your approval in a few days instead of a few months. LOL I invested in a business as a co-owner years ago in Macedonia, and had citizenship in 6-7 months. My friend still runs the business there and lives there and loves it, I was just in it for the second citizenship, and a place with a flat tax of 10% if I ever finally decide I have had enough of the US and leave permanently and dump my US citizenship, because if I keep my citizenship I still have to pay taxes on money earned while I am out of the country. Not if I am no longer a citizen!

[Carpe Vinum 2,314]

27 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

If the workload is so high they should hire a few more people. Here is a link to the Fiscal budget from USCIS for the past few years. They bring in 4,458,000.00 roughly from our fees, and their total cost for every Full-time, Part time, benefits, insurance, etc. is only 2,018,000.00 or so. I'm rounding a little bit. Your telling me that extra 2 plus million goes for paperclips and post it notes? I suggest they hire a few more people, looks like they have the money.

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/USCIS FY18 Budget.pdf.

I didn't read the whole 172 pages, so maybe I missed something, but I'm pretty sure our fees could bring in a few more employees. I know they have to buy those thousand dollar staplers, and 200 dollar pens, but I think there is some wiggle room in there for a few more employees. It's just the standard government agency, they are all just about the same, I just wish it was like in a few countries I have been to where you could grease a few palms and have your approval in a few days instead of a few months. LOL I invested in a business as a co-owner years ago in Macedonia, and had citizenship in 6-7 months. My friend still runs the business there and lives there and loves it, I was just in it for the second citizenship, and a place with a flat tax of 10% if I ever finally decide I have had enough of the US and leave permanently and dump my US citizenship, because if I keep my citizenship I still have to pay taxes on money earned while I am out of the country. Not if I am no longer a citizen!

Now that's a rant))) Interesting document. It looks like they hired 2300+ in the immigration examination section fro FY17 to FY18...That includes district offices and service centers. They seem to be very top heavy. A lot of GS-13, 14 and 15 level employees. Also, 15% of their workforce are located at headquarters and never touch a case...

Edited July 5, 2018 by boris64

[Loren Y 2,748]

50 minutes ago, boris64 said:

Now that's a rant))) Interesting document. It looks like they hired 2300+ in the immigration examination section fro FY17 to FY18...That includes district offices and service centers. They seem to be very top heavy. A lot of GS-13, 14 and 15 level employees. Also, 15% of their workforce are located at headquarters and never touch a case...

I know they are hiring at a lot of the local service centers, about a month ago I checked job listings and they had about 63 open jobs. I was going to apply at my service center so maybe I can help my own application along, but decided against it. LOL

[mindthegap 2,550]

 

Tier 1s are on the frontline because the whole system is a shambles, and people who have called before know that tier 1s cannot tell you anything at all. Callers know that it needs to be escalated, so in the majority of cases where they immediately ask for a tier 2 are actually trying to save them work and time by having to read out exactly the same thing that the automated voice just did.

if you don't like dealing with people (frustrated people at that), then don't get a job that involves dealing with people. 

I have also been hung up on by both tier 1 and 2s before.

 

 

 

Heaven forbid people actually want to know what is going on with what is a pretty drastic thing in their lives, in the absence of any communication from USCIS.

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by mindthegap

[OlayemiLoray 172]

While our petition was in process from February 2017 through November 2017, I had never called USCIS..I would have people (not my husband) bugging me to call to see what was prolonging our petition, but never did and we both waited patiently..When it came around to the NVC, while in the process of filling out my Ds-260, I got locked out of the CEAC website, so I called and the issue was resolved 3 days later..The next time I called, it was a month and a half later and the agent provided us with our interview date..I say all this because I knew we were within our normal time frame and didn't feel the need to call on a weekly basis...Not knocking others who feels the need to do so, but my husband and I kept ourselves busy throughout this whole process...It was all worth the 13 months and 3 days of waiting....

[ThomasNC1988 762]

Some people are borderline ridiculous that I've seen on this site. Statements along the lines of "I know people that filed a week after me have gotten their NOA2 so I'm going to call and ask for a tier 2" The results are normally wasting time on hold. Unless you have an actual issue or are wayyyyyy outside by of the ordinary don't be part of the problem. If you are of the opinion well I paid so I should be able to call if I want to. Don't you think the tier 2 officers would love to hire more people so they wouldn't get as many angry phone calls? If you want to waste your breath at least call your government representatives because they could possibly one day maybe actually do something about it.

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

31 minutes ago, ThomasNC1988 said:

Some people are borderline ridiculous that I've seen on this site. Statements along the lines of "I know people that filed a week after me have gotten their NOA2 so I'm going to call and ask for a tier 2" The results are normally wasting time on hold. Unless you have an actual issue or are wayyyyyy outside by of the ordinary don't be part of the problem. If you are of the opinion well I paid so I should be able to call if I want to. Don't you think the tier 2 officers would love to hire more people so they wouldn't get as many angry phone calls? If you want to waste your breath at least call your government representatives because they could possibly one day maybe actually do something about it.

That is one thing about this site I do not like is people literally start freaking out if there case is a week out of status or someone's case was approved before their's. 

 

Where in NC are from? I am in NC right now. 

[Sav&Har 142]

I work for a known company as customer representative. I can definitely relate or be on his shoes. Lol. "Put me with a supervisor" before I even get to introduce myself. When all the possible solutions are given and they are not happy with it, they expect the supervisor to do magic. I assume asking for a 2 Tier is the same idea.

[ramesesthe2nd 149]

It's partially USCIS fault too. Telling people it will take about 8.5 months to 11 months with no information in between whatsoever is what causes this flood of calls. I waited 6 months for my USCIS approval and I counted every single day. It wasn't easy. In this day and age, when companies like Amazon can tell you where exactly is your delivery truck minute-by-minute, nobody wants to sit and wait for 11 months with no information about such a major aspect of their life.

[ddy51 20]

21 hours ago, BVGApeach said:

I think this part kind of showed me the amount of frustration on both sides - callers wanting information on cases that they've had no updates on in months (I can relate) and the Tier 1 support people trying to find the best solution to the callers' problems, which may not always be transferring to Tier 2. 

 

I deeply wish that there was more transparency on USCIS's side. For example, while we were waiting for our K1 NOA2, it would've really put my mind at ease to get a notification that my file had been touched. Instead, it was like a 200 day anxiety marathon wait of no information at all.  

Also if there was a process for selecting cases. First in First out or something like that. When you see people who filed way later than you have been interviewed while you are still waiting eagerly for you USCIS approval, it does frustrate you.

[Amadia 711]

I can completely relate to the Reddit poster.....customer service of any kind is beyond frustrating when you are limited on resources/info to provide the general public. Yelling, cursing and degradation will be rampant but there is nothing you can do to help if you don't have the answers to the callers' questions. You just can't use lemons to make an apple pie.

[WaterLeaf 200]

Thank you for posting this and including the content before it was deleted. It really helps us out a lot, and I may not even be there to that level to call yet but it helps me reconsider for the future.

 

Now, the more I know!