Expedite USCIS

[Inita 44]

Hello there,

my husband requested expedites for my and our son's I-130's on Dec 11th. On Dec 16th we were contacted from TX (that's where my I-130 is) to send additional information which we did. Expedite request was accepted the same day with notice that we would hear from them again within 45 days. On Dec 19th we received an email from the national benefits center in Missouri (that's where our son's I-130 petition is)  asking for additional information to be faxed to them. We did this on Dec 20th. Never heard from them again. We have been calling USCIS about 4 times now to ask for a status update but they always tell us that they can't see anything in their system and that we have to speak with a Tier2 officer but then they come up with excuses why they can not transfer us to a Tier 2. We have tried at all different times (morning, noon, afternoon, evening) and are never put through. Just now the agent told us that calls from outside the US can not be transferred. I am getting really annoyed as it seems to be impossible to just get an info. We would just like to know if our son's expedite request is being worked on or if there is anything else that they need etc. 

on our USCIS account is says for both that the request is completed, but for the one for my son it is dated with Dec19th (when we had not sent the additional info yet) and we never received an email or text confirmation.

Any ideas/ thoughts/ insights/ experiences?

 

I am worried that my I-130 will get approved soon but our son's is stuck somewhere and won't be worked on/ approved within the same timeframe.

 

Thank ya'll and best regards

[Klugscheißer 175]

I have no idea at all about the process you go through, but when I wanted to call the NVC from outside the U.S., I used the app "talkatone", which provides you an American phone number, so you can call "within the country" for free. I used the app with a phone without sim-card and it worked without any problem.

Good luck!

[Going through 5,668]

When you request to be transferred to a T2, you're not really being "transferred" per se, but instead what happens is that you leave your name and phone number on a recording and the officer calls you back by a designated time limit.

 

It seems reasonable that T2 officers do not call foreign countries...imagine the phone bill as a result of USCIS placing phonecalls all over the world---and then for somewhat lengthy conversations about case status...so there likely is an office policy in place where customer service agents cannot heed transfer requests from those outside the US.

 

I imagine if they need further info from you they'll send a 2nd RFE.  Best of luck to you!

Edited January 15, 2020 by Going through

[Inita 44]

8 hours ago, MalinRonja said:

I have no idea at all about the process you go through, but when I wanted to call the NVC from outside the U.S., I used the app "talkatone", which provides you an American phone number, so you can call "within the country" for free. I used the app with a phone without sim-card and it worked without any problem.

Good luck!

You're a star!! Thank you so much for that tip  if you were close, I would bake you a cake- that was exactly the hint I needed!!

I downloaded the app and we called USCIS and actually managed to speak to a tier2 officer today!

she could not really do anything but told us she would escalate our case and we should receive a call back from the escalation team within 72hrs.

let's see what happens

 

[Inita 44]

8 hours ago, Going through said:

When you request to be transferred to a T2, you're not really being "transferred" per se, but instead what happens is that you leave your name and phone number on a recording and the officer calls you back by a designated time limit.

 

It seems reasonable that T2 officers do not call foreign countries...imagine the phone bill as a result of USCIS placing phonecalls all over the world---and then for somewhat lengthy conversations about case status...so there likely is an office policy in place where customer service agents cannot heed transfer requests from those outside the US.

 

I imagine if they need further info from you they'll send a 2nd RFE.  Best of luck to you!

Hello, 

Thank you for your message! It seems that it's not always going the way you described though- we were connected with a tier2 directly (after almost 1 hour in the waiting line lol)... but no recording machine 👍

 

As for the call backs, I don't really agree. I have been working in various international customer service centres for many years and we would always call all international customers back in their home countries- it's a question of having the right phone plan... I think it's part of a technique to brush people of, but that's just my opinion

However, as my above comment states, we were successful today and hope that things will get moving now 🙏

 

All the best for you too 😊

[geowrian 22,336]

1 hour ago, Inita said:

As for the call backs, I don't really agree. I have been working in various international customer service centres for many years and we would always call all international customers back in their home countries- it's a question of having the right phone plan...

Depends on what is meant by "right". International is always going to be at least as expensive as a purely domestic system. If you are trying to sell a product, retain a customer, etc., then those costs can make sense. They bring in or retain revenue. In the case of USCIS and NVC, they gain nothing by having those added costs. There is nobody else to go to...unless somebody decides to immigrate the other way, but I doubt they are in any way concerned about that.

[Inita 44]

43 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Depends on what is meant by "right". International is always going to be at least as expensive as a purely domestic system. If you are trying to sell a product, retain a customer, etc., then those costs can make sense. They bring in or retain revenue. In the case of USCIS and NVC, they gain nothing by having those added costs. There is nobody else to go to...unless somebody decides to immigrate the other way, but I doubt they are in any way concerned about that.

True