Pay Extra!

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

1 hour ago, Ben&Zian said:

The issue with this post is the OP has also another thread about being in AP at the embassy level for 6 months. They are implying hiring more people would solve this but USCIS and NVC have nothing to do with the embassy or AP.

It would help as they now have the ds5535 which is why his wife is stuck

when they made this form which needs at least a 1 year investigation,  they should have prepared with additional workers to do the process of the security checks / a lot of it can be done by computer and paperwork and be looked over by the DHS officer

[Derik-Lina 230]

2 minutes ago, adil-rafa said:

It would help as they now have the ds5535 which is why his wife is stuck

when they made this form which needs at least a 1 year investigation,  they should have prepared with additional workers to do the process of the security checks / a lot of it can be done by computer and paperwork and be looked over by the DHS officer

In addition, someone promised to hire 10000 more officers just for this purpose, when he signed the executive order on March 6, 2017.

To his credit, they were hired but sent them to the Borders.  I am certain you suffered this family separation to have understood me.

Thank you  

[Derik-Lina 230]

10 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

The VA and US Government overall has been doing this for a few years now. These people are mainly doing administrative or clerical stuff at home (telework) and coming into the office maybe 1-2 days out of the week. I am actually trying to get one of those jobs as Program Analyst. 

Administrative? At home? could this be why the wait has reached 2 years?

I hope no one has taken work home and either lost or destroyed it? Jk of course lol 

Thanks for the information.

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

3 minutes ago, Derik-Lina said:

In addition, someone promised to hire 10000 more officers just for this purpose, when he signed the executive order on March 6, 2017.

To his credit, they were hired but sent them to the Borders.  I am certain you suffered this family separation to have understood me.

Thank you  

The 10k officers were for CBP and ICE if I remember correctly. Not the administrative part at all. So they were hired to the job that he promised that they would do. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

1 minute ago, Derik-Lina said:

Administrative? At home? could this be why the wait has reached 2 years?

I hope no one has taken work home and either lost or destroyed it? Jk of course lol 

Thanks for the information.

Yes, more administrative work and the USG is actively promoting this as a way to cut down on the utility costs of having personnel at work when they could be at home. This has been going on for a number of years now (I can think at least 5 right now) but it all depends on the work and if the supervisor allows it. 

[Derik-Lina 230]

16 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

The VA and US Government overall has been doing this for a few years now. These people are mainly doing administrative or clerical stuff at home (telework) and coming into the office maybe 1-2 days out of the week. I am actually trying to get one of those jobs as Program Analyst. 

And you are right again  

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

8 minutes ago, Derik-Lina said:

Administrative? At home? could this be why the wait has reached 2 years?

I hope no one has taken work home and either lost or destroyed it? Jk of course lol 

Thanks for the information.

they work (my understanding as i was told to look into working by DHS officer) is they supply the computer,  the internet (separate from the home internet) and all is on secure site . paperwork is scanned at the base offices and not actually in anyone's home 

there are strict investigations a person has to pass to be privy to this info and the contract includes a strict confidentially agreement

 

[Derik-Lina 230]

9 minutes ago, adil-rafa said:

they work (my understanding as i was told to look into working by DHS officer) is they supply the computer,  the internet (separate from the home internet) and all is on secure site . paperwork is scanned at the base offices and not actually in anyone's home 

there are strict investigations a person has to pass to be privy to this info and the contract includes a strict confidentially agreement

 

A great way to cut costs and accommodate certain families or people with some needs.

[geowrian 22,336]

2 hours ago, Derik-Lina said:

I truly appreciate you taking the time and presenting a nice breakdown.

How about hiring Temps for the backlog only? Retirees with experience? Bonus pays maybe?

Prioritizing Immediate family (spouses and children) over DV lottery or Refugees? Just ideas here to kills some time as I await my wife s Visa or move to her as some have suggested. Thanks  

Those are definitely options, and I've heard of USCIS doing some of that as well (including telework). But that's a drop in the bucket, unfortunately.

The ability to do so with the consulate is likely further limited. But that's speculation on my part....I have no data to actually back that up.

 

Prioritization is always a big question, and results in delays for some and speedier processes for others. When you have limited resources, you need to figure out where to best use them.

DV doesn't really impact USCIS, and it also has a hard cap (50k) per year, counting derivatives.

I don't know the refugee process well enough to comment on that, other than that made up just over 22k cases last year, and lots of the vetting process are handled by an international group, not the consulates/DOS.

 

The big thing right now in the news is asylum cases. I would imagine that takes up a large portion of USCIS resources.

As does ROC...IMO, change the law to kill off ROC and free up those workers for more meaningful tasks.

[yuna628 9,533]

2 hours ago, Derik-Lina said:

I truly appreciate you taking the time and presenting a nice breakdown.

How about hiring Temps for the backlog only? Retirees with experience? Bonus pays maybe?

Prioritizing Immediate family (spouses and children) over DV lottery or Refugees? Just ideas here to kills some time as I await my wife s Visa or move to her as some have suggested. Thanks  

I'd have a hard time knowing that our cases were handled by temporary hires with little experience. I want the persons handling our cases to be competent, experienced, well-trained, and well-paid. If there's one thing I learned suffering through the backlogs at the beginning of our journey many years ago, the process is inefficient to begin with, computer system out of date or conflicting/confusing, and increasing the scrutiny of all petitions increases the length of time a worker must handle each case. I remember some time ago seeing a photograph of the 'filing system' at the Texas Service Center. Whew.. it was mind-boggling like a hoarder's house. It was very easy to see how paperwork goes missing or gets delayed.

[TBoneTX 43,247]

My source (from several years ago, granted) said that the part-time USCIS workers were often work-from-home housewives. Not sure how exaggerated this is.

 

Extra fees wouldn't affect the consular phase at all.  Background checks & AP take as long as they end up taking, and that process is opaque even to the COs.  More officers often can't be hired or assigned because of no place to put them (physical space), and on-the-job training/monitoring can become demanding on the senior staff.

11 hours ago, geowrian said:

The big thing right now in the news is asylum cases. I would imagine that takes up a large portion of USCIS resources.

Very large USCIS office in southeastern Texas is routinely packed (like sardines) with asylum interviewees.  Some might be there for AOS interviews.

[TE and AE 39]

On 5/2/2019 at 7:06 AM, TBoneTX said:

My source (from several years ago, granted) said that the part-time USCIS workers were often work-from-home housewives. Not sure how exaggerated this is.

 

Extra fees wouldn't affect the consular phase at all.  Background checks & AP take as long as they end up taking, and that process is opaque even to the COs.  More officers often can't be hired or assigned because of no place to put them (physical space), and on-the-job training/monitoring can become demanding on the senior staff.

Very large USCIS office in southeastern Texas is routinely packed (like sardines) with asylum interviewees.  Some might be there for AOS interviews.

I hope no one refers to me as a work from home housewife...I work from home as a teletherapist and I work just as hard, if not harder than my counterparts that work onsite. Here’s the thing, your work is always there waiting for you.  When you are off from your job, you go to work in the house.  There’s no drive time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being a teletherapist but there are disadvantages as there are advantages.

 

In response to the original post, I would pay for an expedite ability if I was guaranteed faster processing.  The problem is the system is broken.  The USCIS and the NVC require paperwork that does the same thing.  The first 60 days at the USCIS is a background check from the FBI (this is according to the Ombudsman report).  Having been through multiple fingerprinting and background checks, this is a true number.  The problem that I see is that each agency that handles the various pieces take at least 30-60 days to process.  Although all of us would say 30 days isn’t bad, it’s the cumulative effect that posses a problem.  Yes, hiring individuals at the USCIS would help but I’m afraid it wouldn’t as much as everyone would hope.

 

Streamlining the process is a better option. Having one set of paperwork that is digitized from the onset.  We live in a digital world, we sign home mortgages online through a secure venue, why can’t we do that with submitting the I-130.  If something was not included that would be the petitioners error.  It could be checked electronically prior to reaching the reviewer.  I know that they have tried to do this with some of the other visas and had problems.  Also the other problem anytime the Government tries to streamline they end up making it longer. 

 

Anyway just my my two cents for what it’s worth.

[TBoneTX 43,247]

Those were my source's precise words.

 

The various security checks can take so much time that the validity of one might expire before another is complete, which yields a repeat of the expired one and adds more time.

[geowrian 22,336]

7 hours ago, CSTSLP said:

I hope no one refers to me as a work from home housewife...I work from home as a teletherapist and I work just as hard, if not harder than my counterparts that work onsite. Here’s the thing, your work is always there waiting for you.  When you are off from your job, you go to work in the house.  There’s no drive time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being a teletherapist but there are disadvantages as there are advantages.

I work from home pretty often now as well (medical reasons). But even before that, work from home is a great benefit we could use as needed. At one point, the entire office was work from home for a few months due to an office move.

I guarentee that (nearly?) nobody felt we were working less than the other offices that required you to be on site.

 

7 hours ago, CSTSLP said:

In response to the original post, I would pay for an expedite ability if I was guaranteed faster processing.  The problem is the system is broken.  The USCIS and the NVC require paperwork that does the same thing.  The first 60 days at the USCIS is a background check from the FBI (this is according to the Ombudsman report).  Having been through multiple fingerprinting and background checks, this is a true number.  The problem that I see is that each agency that handles the various pieces take at least 30-60 days to process.  Although all of us would say 30 days isn’t bad, it’s the cumulative effect that posses a problem.  Yes, hiring individuals at the USCIS would help but I’m afraid it wouldn’t as much as everyone would hope. 

Bingo.

 

7 hours ago, CSTSLP said:

Streamlining the process is a better option. Having one set of paperwork that is digitized from the onset.  We live in a digital world, we sign home mortgages online through a secure venue, why can’t we do that with submitting the I-130.  If something was not included that would be the petitioners error.  It could be checked electronically prior to reaching the reviewer.  I know that they have tried to do this with some of the other visas and had problems.  Also the other problem anytime the Government tries to streamline they end up making it longer.

I fundamentally agree. Modernization of the process is needed, but the complexity, funding, etc. ensure that it will not be quick or easy. I disagree that the government doing it means it will take longer...they do get a bad rap - some deserved, some a consequence of the restrictions put on them. I work in IT with large federal agencies regularly, and there's good and bad when it comes to changes. But it's always slow to happen. Always.

 

Part of the issue with digitizing the process is that some documents need to be verified/authenticated. Seals need to be viewed clearly, and embossing needs to be verified by hand (i.e. running your hand over it). These are things that one cannot just verify via a file upload.

They are the majority of items, and I'm 100% sure a good solution can be worked out (i.e. submitting those as needed later, or maybe even deferring their authentication until the AOS or embassy interview). There are changes that could improve the process for the vast majority of cases.

[TE and AE 39]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

I work from home pretty often now as well (medical reasons). But even before that, work from home is a great benefit we could use as needed. At one point, the entire office was work from home for a few months due to an office move.

I guarentee that (nearly?) nobody felt we were working less than the other offices that required you to be on site.

 

Bingo.

 

I fundamentally agree. Modernization of the process is needed, but the complexity, funding, etc. ensure that it will not be quick or easy. I disagree that the government doing it means it will take longer...they do get a bad rap - some deserved, some a consequence of the restrictions put on them. I work in IT with large federal agencies regularly, and there's good and bad when it comes to changes. But it's always slow to happen. Always.

Having worked for a government agency, I can only go by my own experiences.  Even my boss stated, every time they try to make less paperwork, it ends up more. 

 

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Part of the issue with digitizing the process is that some documents need to be verified/authenticated. Seals need to be viewed clearly, and embossing needs to be verified by hand (i.e. running your hand over it). These are things that one cannot just verify via a file upload.

They are the majority of items, and I'm 100% sure a good solution can be worked out (i.e. submitting those as needed later, or maybe even deferring their authentication until the AOS or embassy interview). There are changes that could improve the process for the vast majority of cases.

I get about the seals but everything we sent to our attorney was copies or digital copies with the exception of our original signatures on various forms.  I agree the Consulate or Embassy could verify that.  One of the issues I read about with the electronic submission of other visa was training and implementing the system.

 

You absolutely correct, it will take a very long time to implement this because they will have to put a bid out as it most likely will not be done in house.  I would not want to be the project manager on this project.   Lots of political heat if it’s too slow or not done correctly.