Biden Could Fix the Logjam If He Wanted To

[Montrealy 73]

Somehow every private company has figured out long ago how to do business in spite of COVID (at least the ones the government overlords allowed to open). If they don’t, they’ll go out of business. But government bureaucracies haven’t managed to figure it out and are still using COVID as an excuse for their incompetence. If they don’t adapt, the consequences for them are zero, and you having to stay apart from your family isn’t a thing.

 

And Biden doesn’t want to fix the logjam, because that would actually make sense, and politicians don’t do those things.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Montrealy

[GregandNatty 195]

3 minutes ago, retheem said:

Hehe i know 2 people that were given B1/B2 on Tuesday only lol

Nice.....  Pour some more salt in my wound.  

[retheem 553]

Just now, GregandNatty said:

Nice.....  Pour some more salt in my wound.  

Am not pouring..am just saying they are not telling people the truth

[jan22 2,907]

There are a lot of factors involved in having consular officers at embassies/consulates to process visas that can't be solved by just saying °Do it!", even if the person saying that is the President. 

 

The hiring process for foreign service officers is complex, involving several exams, a security clearance, and a medical clearance -- usually taking more than a year.  Then there is language training and consular training -- adding about another year.  Add to that the fact that the total number of Embassy officers in a country has to be approved by the host country.  To add new officers, the host country Foreign Ministry must approve -- with no guarantees that they will --so the hiring process doesn't start until that approval has been granted.  So, hiring new adjudication officers is not going to speed up processing quickly.

 

Another concern, of course, is that all of the issues are not under the Control of the US government.  There are, for example, all of the internal travel restrictions, etc. that governments currently have in place that prevent people easily reaching the Embassy to even have an interview.  And, to process visas at a faster than normal pace to try to catch up requires the Consular section to be able to have more people in the waiting room than many places allow to gather at a time right now.  Lots of factors to take into account.

 

In a "normal" emergency that only affects one or two countries, the Bureau of Consular Afairs in the State Department would send officers from a post not affected by the emergency to the ones that needed extra help to catch up -- that's hard to do when every country in the world has the same issue.  They also can bring a number of retired officers back for part of the year.  When situations start to allow it, they will probably do some of that, by pulling officers from posts that don't process IVs or have a small IV workload to ones that do, and call up retirees.  But even that will require some training time, as the temporary officers may not have much experience with IVs.  

 

I know how hard it is to be away from family members, but there are a lot of factors that have to be considered and balanced in order to put plans in place to bring down the backlog that people may not know or think about in their frustration.

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by jan22

[HRQX 4,145]

24 minutes ago, retheem said:

Hehe i know 2 people that were given B1/B2 on Tuesday only lol

Was it for renewal? If for renewal, did they attend an interview for the renewal?

[retheem 553]

35 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Was it for renewal? If for renewal, did they attend an interview for the renewal?

Actual interview, not a renewal

Edited February 28, 2021 by retheem

[JeanneAdil 6,228]

16 hours ago, GregandNatty said:

I keep hearing people saying things will change now that Biden is in office, but there honestly has not been much done to fix the real issue we are all facing.  The main issue is the embassies are not doing interviews even close to 2019 levels.   

 

We all need to be raising a stink with our congressman about this.   Lean on Biden to pass an executive order or something that does what ever it takes to ramp up interviews.  Maybe declare the immigration workers essential works and get them vaccinated now so they can ramp up interviews.  All politics and policy aside, there needs to be a ramping up of interviews to fix the logjams.  That's the bottom line. 

Vaccine in many countries for the covid are way too slow for anyone to say 'get things moving faster"

 

for your embassy itself this is posted Feb 2nd as they ordered vaccine but haven't even settled yet on the price

 

and in the US 2019 census say over 328 million people that means with 2 doses we need 656,000,000 doses and we are no where near halfway done

 

In NYC Cuomo is proud of the following ??????

2 days ago — As of 1PM today, New York's Health Care Distribution Sites Have Administered ... Governor Cuomo announced 179,038 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been .given

that;s a city of 8.419 million people

 

Really we need patience and understand so many issues 

and Biden has done much to undo the EO of past administration but he can't control the virus alone

UPDATE 1-Uganda orders 18 mln doses of AstraZeneca's ...

www.reuters.com › article › health-coronavirus-uganda

 

 

 

KAMPALA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Uganda has ordered 18 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and up to 40% of the shipments are expected to arrive by the end of March, the government said on Tuesday, though the manufacturer said no deal had been reached on volumes or pricing yet.

 

[MXcompadre 75]

17 hours ago, GregandNatty said:

I keep hearing people saying things will change now that Biden is in office, but there honestly has not been much done to fix the real issue we are all facing.  The main issue is the embassies are not doing interviews even close to 2019 levels.   

 

We all need to be raising a stink with our congressman about this.   Lean on Biden to pass an executive order or something that does what ever it takes to ramp up interviews.  Maybe declare the immigration workers essential works and get them vaccinated now so they can ramp up interviews.  All politics and policy aside, there needs to be a ramping up of interviews to fix the logjams.  That's the bottom line. 

Everywhere on planet Earth Bureaucracy evolves at a deafeningly SLOW cycle and implementation.  It has been 39 days since the inauguration of the Biden administration.  Nothing within government functionality ever happens expeditiously, absolutely nothing!  Since 2017 USCIS has been thwarted by implemented policy initiatives that have mired and greatly slowed the day-to-day operating agenda processes within USCIS.  The Biden administration has addressed and implemented policy changes that has greatly thwarted and slowed their internal processing capabilities. Each and everyone of us who has filed/summitted a petition, application or request must embrace that processing is tediously time consuming and slow.  Always focus upon knowing that our/your turn will come, although nearly never as soon or fast as we want!             

[Duke & Marie 1,389]

I don’t see how pressuring your congressman or Biden issuing an EO could fix anything.. 

 

1. Biden EO’s can’t over ride legislation approved and signed off by congress... USCIS are bound by immigration law to process applications etc in accordance with that legislation not per Biden’s EO

2. Your congressman nor Biden have power over any covid lockdowns in relevant countries that embassies are in, the embassies while classed as US soil still have to abide by local laws of that country

3. Some countries still have rules in place that their citizens can’t leave the country unless specific conditions are met and permits have been obtained from their (not US) government, your congressman or Biden can’t change that

 

you just need to be patient 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Duke & Marie

[Boiler 43,632]

Nothing wrong with a rant, and I sympathise with the situation, but this is competing with other areas and to ramp up as has been mentioned is not a quick or easy process assuming it was a priority.

 

Sadly it is what it is.

 

If you have any basis for an expedite I would focus on that.

[GregandNatty 195]

1 hour ago, Duke & Marie said:

I don’t see how pressuring your congressman or Biden issuing an EO could fix anything.. 

 

1. Biden EO’s can’t over ride legislation approved and signed off by congress... USCIS are bound by immigration law to process applications etc in accordance with that legislation not per Biden’s EO

2. Your congressman nor Biden have power over any covid lockdowns in relevant countries that embassies are in, the embassies while classed as US soil still have to abide by local laws of that country

3. Some countries still have rules in place that their citizens can’t leave the country unless specific conditions are met and permits have been obtained from their (not US) government, your congressman or Biden can’t change that

 

you just need to be patient 

 

 

The issue isn't USCIS or NVC.  I was seeing people getting DQ in 2-3 weeks through NVC, so there doesn't seem to be a bottleneck there.   The logjam is at the embassies and yes Biden could fix this with an EO.  The embassy I'm going through issued like 380, or something, DV VISAs in October but only 20 spouse VISAs.   This embassy is still processing student visas, which require an interview, at pre-covid levels because students coming to the US means out-of-state tuition for the universities.   This embassy is still issuing tourist visas, which require an interview.

What all of us with pending document qualified K1/CR1/IR1 cases are being told is that there isn't enough bandwidth at the embassy to do the interviews to finalize our cases.

Are you telling me that tourists and foreign national students should take precedence over getting families the visas they need to be together?

 

Moreover, with an EO Biden is letting tens of thousands of asylum seekers come and stay here in the US while their cases are being processed.  Why couldn't Biden write and EO that says all DQ VISA applicants come come stay here in the US until their cases are finalized?  Us DQ people are much less likely to be a burden on US society as opposed to asylum seekers, right?

  

Edited February 28, 2021 by GregandNatty

[davidvs 320]

18 hours ago, Mike E said:

 

* let petitioners and beneficiaries pay extra for premium processing as well as pay for premium courier services.

ide

I don't like the idea of putting the wealthy in the front of the line. 

[Duke & Marie 1,389]

1 hour ago, GregandNatty said:

The issue isn't USCIS or NVC.  I was seeing people getting DQ in 2-3 weeks through NVC, so there doesn't seem to be a bottleneck there.   The logjam is at the embassies and yes Biden could fix this with an EO.  The embassy I'm going through issued like 380, or something, DV VISAs in October but only 20 spouse VISAs.   This embassy is still processing student visas, which require an interview, at pre-covid levels because students coming to the US means out-of-state tuition for the universities.   This embassy is still issuing tourist visas, which require an interview.

What all of us with pending document qualified K1/CR1/IR1 cases are being told is that there isn't enough bandwidth at the embassy to do the interviews to finalize our cases.

Are you telling me that tourists and foreign national students should take precedence over getting families the visas they need to be together?

 

Moreover, with an EO Biden is letting tens of thousands of asylum seekers come and stay here in the US while their cases are being processed.  Why couldn't Biden write and EO that says all DQ VISA applicants come come stay here in the US until their cases are finalized?  Us DQ people are much less likely to be a burden on US society as opposed to asylum seekers, right?

  

I see people taking months to get DQ also... each case is different and you can’t compare them..... you can’t simply say you’ve seen them approved in 2-3 weeks so no backlog there, it took 6 months for me to get through NVC, then another 6 to get an interview and I’m not from a country where significant numbers apply for immigration to the US or a high risk country.

 

bandwidth at the embassy? No idea what you mean there...

 

you seem to have an issue with people with non-immigration visa’s getting issued first, complaining that tourist and students are getting their issued... but not IR1.. do you know how long these people have been waiting for their interview? I very much doubt you do and to them their reason for travel is just as important as yours, they might need to visit sick family on B2, they might lose 40k in uni fees if don’t get their visa I’m sure if it was you you’d want yours issued and wouldn’t be saying oh let the CR1 go before me.

 

and an EO saying all DQ peeps can come here and wait? That wouldn’t place financial pressure on them here while they wait without the ability to work I’m sure 🙄, not to mention that would be millions of people now lining up for an interview here.. and what if denied? You just going to let them stay illegally? Or are you going to buy yourself a ticket back home using the money you weren’t aloud to earn without work authority? 

 

my suggestion to you is just be patient like the rest of us, heck, we submitted in 2018 and I’ve been waiting 2.5 years and like you I’m still in line.if you’ve got a valid reason for expedite use it

Edited February 28, 2021 by Duke & Marie

[MXcompadre 75]

20 hours ago, GregandNatty said:

I keep hearing people saying things will change now that Biden is in office, but there honestly has not been much done to fix the real issue we are all facing.  The main issue is the embassies are not doing interviews even close to 2019 levels.   

 

We all need to be raising a stink with our congressman about this.   Lean on Biden to pass an executive order or something that does what ever it takes to ramp up interviews.  Maybe declare the immigration workers essential works and get them vaccinated now so they can ramp up interviews.  All politics and policy aside, there needs to be a ramping up of interviews to fix the logjams.  That's the bottom line. 

Greg, also consider calling/emailing/contacting your elected US Senators, and your US Congressional House Representative.  You will need to be proactive, present each of them with your USCIS timeline details, and measures that each/both of you have initiated regarding your individual case.  Be aware & cognizant that each and every USCIS petition case is unique unto itself, and critically scrutinized using your personal factual information and data specific to you and your fiancé/spouse. No EO, newly implemented/changed directive or edict will/can alter that, never. Each and everyone of us that has chosen to embark on our USCIS immigration process journey will/has/have our own experience saga unique to ourselves, and the country that our spouse/fiancé is emigrating from to join us in our lives together in the United Sates of America. Buen suerte siempre.             

[GregandNatty 195]

24 minutes ago, Duke & Marie said:

I see people taking months to get DQ also... each case is different and you can’t compare them..... you can’t simply say you’ve seen them approved in 2-3 weeks so no backlog there, it took 6 months for me to get through NVC, then another 6 to get an interview and I’m not from a country where significant numbers apply for immigration to the US or a high risk country.

 

If you went through the NVC process pre-covid, your experience is no comparison to what is going on now.  Things are much different. 

 

Quote

 

bandwidth at the embassy? No idea what you mean there...

 

Bandwidth = capacity to perform interviews. 

 

Quote

 

you seem to have an issue with people with non-immigration visa’s getting issued first, complaining that tourist and students are getting their issued... but not IR1.. do you know how long these people have been waiting for their interview? I very much doubt you do and to them their reason for travel is just as important as yours, they might need to visit sick family on B2, they might lose 40k in uni fees if don’t get their visa I’m sure if it was you you’d want yours issued and wouldn’t be saying oh let the CR1 go before me.

 

I have no problem with non-immigration VISAs.  What I have a problem with is the embassy issuing student VISA at pre-covid levels but IR1/CR1 VISAs at less than 20% of pre-covid levels.   Lower the student to maybe 50% of pre-covid levels and spin off some of the interview slots to increase family VISA interviews. 

Yes, I do have a problem with tourist VISAs when the embassy is issuing more tourist VISAs than family VISAs and saying they don't have capacity to increase interviews. Sorry, I just don't feel foreign tourist coming to the US should take precedence over a US Citizen or permanent resident seeking a VISA.  It's our country not theirs, and so we should be first in line. 

 

Quote

 

and an EO saying all DQ peeps can come here and wait? That wouldn’t place financial pressure on them here while they wait without the ability to work I’m sure 🙄, not to mention that would be millions of people now lining up for an interview here.. and what if denied? You just going to let them stay illegally? Or are you going to buy yourself a ticket back home using the money you weren’t aloud to earn without work authority? 

Why not?  Biden doesn't seem to have a problem letting 10s of thousands of Asylum seekers come here and stay in the US waiting for their cases to process.  And by the way Biden is also giving each one of these asylum seekers $1,100 of US Tax Payer money for travel expenses.   The statistics show that only 1 in 4 of them get ultimately approved.  They all know that and so its very likely most of them won't bother to show up for the court case.   Once they are in, what do they have to lose?

Why do these people coming to the US illegally get to stay here in the US waiting for their court date while those of us doing immigration legally have to be away from our families waiting for our cases to process?

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by GregandNatty