NVC Expedite Request Dismissed out of Hand Twice

[Cody&Razely 134]

Just looking for a little insight here not a brow beating or a barrage of sneers and smirks. I understand that the the NVC is not sending cases to the USEM MNL and neither is the USEM MNL Processing Routine Visa Services nor Routine K-1's and have not for many many months now. 

 

Previously I had sent an Expedite request to the NVC with no particular reason, just that our case had been sitting (As with so many others) "At NVC" for over 6 months - I was (Obviously) dismissed out of hand stating they would not send  my case along to the USEM MNL and the Typical bureaucratic, garbage, nonsense "Due to the current WRS (World Retardation Syndrome) on mass, the USEM MNL is not processing or accepting routine cases and will resume when the world has accepted communism and all have been injected multiple times with whatever we would like to stick in their bodies or after the universe dies, have a nice day" or something to that effect lol

 

Since the time that request was sent, my fiancé and I found out we are going to be parents 😁😇 After confirming, getting an OBGYN, etc.... we sent another Expedite Request to the NVC stating Financial Hardship to be endured by the Petitioner, Inaccessibility to safe and sufficient medical care during pregnancy of the beneficiary,  Emotional and Mental strain to be suffered by both the Petitioner and Beneficiary, Strain on the pregnancy, lack of care for the beneficiary during pregnancy and inaccessibility to medical care of any kind in an emergency, etc... to include hundreds of dollars in receipts just within the first month of pregnancy, a letter from our OBGYN stating that it is imperative that this case be deemed critical and our case be forwarded to the USEM MNL if that would possibly produce the result of us being together for care of both of us, medical care, strain on pregnancy, financial burden, etc...

 

After waiting the usual 5-6 business days for a response from the NVC Contractor who responds to requests, it stated: "It seems you want an expedite. K-1's are already expedited at the NVC so this cannot be granted. We will not send this request to the USEM MNL for their Decision on the matter." ..........  🤨 There was nothing said about this does not qualify, your expedite is denied, etc... neither did they even send it for examination to the USEM MNL, it seems like they didn't even read anything in the letter or any of the attachments at all, almost as if they just say "Expedite request" in the Subject line and waited the normal number of days and then sent the copy and paste response. So is this normal even when someone has a valid reason to request expedite? I am kind of wondering what to do next, I cannot stand for this. 

[Crazy Cat 39,249]

 

[Boiler 43,436]

Short version is that you need a valid reason to request an expedite.

[payxibka 10,044]

Expedite requests are requested with the consulate not NVC for k1s

[John & Rose 7,237]

Technically, in normal times, K-1 doesnt have expedites at NVC because the petition isn't there long enough.  They get it,  process it and send it on within a week or two.  There is no way to speed that up.  Now with Covid the Embassy is telling NVC to hold them so it does seem like an approved expedite can help getting it to the Embassy.  If you look at the visas statistics for Manila you will see they average about 40 K-1 interviews a month (compared to 450 per month pre covid).  So K-1 should be able to get sent on to the Embassy but the Embassy decides whether or not to approve the expedite.  Right now I don't know how much they actually read the request.  The backlog is probably pushing a year already.

[Cody&Razely 134]

On 1/11/2021 at 10:45 PM, payxibka said:

Expedite requests are requested with the consulate not NVC for k1s

Thank You!

[lavidaesbuena1 1]

Has anyone heard discussion of using satellite sites (presumably with contractors) to conduct interviews for high volume countries  so that the backlog can be cleared up?

[John & Rose 7,237]

I've heard that they are trying to think of ways to do this but I see a lot of challenges with satellite sights.  One is lack of staff (they dont have enough trained COs as it is and the other is security.  I don't see that happening and by statute, they cannot do video interviews.  I'm sure they are trying to come up with ideas but it certainly wont be an easy challenge to solve.

 

[lavidaesbuena1 1]

Yes, those are valid points. We'd previously contacted our congressman for assistance with our case that has been at NVC since December 16th. The staffer who contacted me was empathetic to the situation but also said in Manila they have something like 10 folks staffing the consular section. What's a bit perplexing to me is now that there are (presumably) quite a few staff who are vaccinated why they are not ramping up operations (perhaps even moving to expanded hours as one option) to start to make a dent in the backlog. I don't know if they sent folks back to the US during initial phase of this or not. I'd encourage everyone in this situation to contact your representative to share your concern. Though it may seem like a small thing, if enough of us (politely) share our concern, the issue will get some attention. Notably, State Department is not the only agency facing backlogs. I saw some congressional testimony/discussion regarding a backlog of over 500,000 requests for VA records and no plan to address.

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 hour ago, lavidaesbuena1 said:

Yes, those are valid points. We'd previously contacted our congressman for assistance with our case that has been at NVC since December 16th. The staffer who contacted me was empathetic to the situation but also said in Manila they have something like 10 folks staffing the consular section. What's a bit perplexing to me is now that there are (presumably) quite a few staff who are vaccinated why they are not ramping up operations (perhaps even moving to expanded hours as one option) to start to make a dent in the backlog. I don't know if they sent folks back to the US during initial phase of this or not. I'd encourage everyone in this situation to contact your representative to share your concern. Though it may seem like a small thing, if enough of us (politely) share our concern, the issue will get some attention. Notably, State Department is not the only agency facing backlogs. I saw some congressional testimony/discussion regarding a backlog of over 500,000 requests for VA records and no plan to address.

If you do a search in the Philippines section, youll see this has been talked about quite a bit over the last 16 months.  Without repeating all of that, unfortunately a Dec date at NVC is still relatively recent.  There are still many, MANY that have had their petitions at USEM since Jan-March 2020 and still waiting for an interview.  Its impossible to put a timeframe on how long the wait will be, but it could be a very long while.  Many have already contacted their congress people without  much luck, while others have sued.  The ones that sued in December 2020 have not had any movement in their cases and the other batch that sued is still waiting.  A few others made the smart decision and met in a 3rd country, got married, and then re-filed doing a CR1 and not K1.   

[lavidaesbuena1 1]

Wouldn't refiling under CR1 restart the entire process over again?

[flicks1998 1,044]

10 minutes ago, lavidaesbuena1 said:

Wouldn't refiling under CR1 restart the entire process over again?

Yes, but CR1's have priority, plus CR1s dont need to adjust status once they get to the US which are also backed up.  If you filed a CR1 now, there may be a wait of 12-15 months (someone else can correct me on that timeline as its a guesstimate).  Where you are in the K1 process, I would think it would be reasonable to say you have at least another year wait until you get an interview.  You have almost 1 year of petitions ahead of you as of now.  For example sake, lets say you do get the interview in 12 months, then once in the US, you would need to adjust status.  The EAD to work is taking another 8-12 months.  Therefore, realistically, you could be looking at 2023 or even 2024 before the beneficiary would be able to work.  With the CR1, once they arrive the US, they could work almost immediately.  In some locations, the I-485 is taking more than 2 years.  The State Dept came out with a memo that K1s would get priority a few months ago, but there has been zero movement at USEM and its expected to remain like that for awhile. 

 

If I had my petition at NVC since December 2020 and I either had a way to get into the Philippines or meet my fiance in 3rd country, I would switch to the CR1 without question.  The time apart most likely wont be too much different, but then you can avoid the wait on the US side as well, plus save some money.  I dont expect USCIS to be caught up to reasonable time frames within a year on I-485s.

Edited June 14, 2021 by flicks1998

[flicks1998 1,044]

@top_secret  You went to Costa Rica and got married diba?   Switched to CR1.  Maybe you can let @lavidaesbuena1 know where you are in the process.  I dont see K1s moving anytime soon, at least at a normal pace.

[lavidaesbuena1 1]

All very good points. Fortunately even though my fiancé is a nurse, no need to work except to keep her clinical practice current. We are ok financially on my income. We’d like to start a family soon so not planning on working.  May have to think about the CR-1 route though. 

[lavidaesbuena1 1]

Or course there’s no guarantee that the CR-1 process doesn’t suddenly slow way down and the K-1 flips and starts getting processed. Imagine changing up and then seeing that happen 🙄🙄🙄