Clash of the Titan Bureaucracies - the Sequel

[ellis-island 6]

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2007,1018-ellis.shtm

If anyone is interested, I've written a piece about consular returns of K-1 petitions and

K-1 expirations through CSC. That's the link. I recommend it for anyone whose K-1

was blue-sheeted or returned.

It's a mess right now. But if you read the piece, you'll see that even though USCIS

loses cases and puts petitioners through delays, at least their adjudicators are trained in

the law and at lẽast the agency knows its accountable at the end of the day.

I don't fault CSC for allowing expired K-1's that have been returned by consulates - to remain expired.

I don't fault VSC for going through the Review/NOID process.

I place the blame solely on DOS management in DC - for allowing the return of petitions that should

never have been returned in the first place.

I don't fault line consular officers & supervisors as much as I fault their managers in Washington.

But the Department of State has been a badly-managed bureaucracy for decades. Nothing new about that.

Two consular officers have written me about the piece. Ỏne liked it. One thought it was rubbish.

The one who thought it was rubbish was a VO manager. He thought "Matter of Arias" was an

"ancient case". His words.

Did I go over the top? Of course.

Did I describe the conflict between CSC & consulates with precision and clarity?

Absolutely.

Did I take sides? Yes. I think CSC is more in the right than DOS.

Am I doing this to generate more business?

No. I have too many clients right now. I can't take any more.

And I'm leaving for a month's vacation in the States soon.

All the Best,

m.e.

Edited October 18, 2007 by ellis-island

[Dave_Thao 0]

Just when I thought everything was going great with our NOA2 , I read this and it appears we don't have a snowball chance in Hell to get our visa when Thao interviews.

[brnidokiegurl 0]

nothing has changed hes just bringing it out in the open and getting our cases some attention so we can try to FIX some of this stuff so there wont be delays, so they will follow their own set rules...my case was sent back to calif, first part of june it expired, june 12 they received it...case closed, end of story. Have they even sent me the letter telling me this NO..my congresswoman got thru to them and they advised her no further action and i was free to REFILE and PAY THE FEE AGAIN....

[rebeccajo 14]

It's interesting to read the article within Ellis' article about Mr. Richardson's case.

It appears that someone somewhere has decided to archive the file to the Cave. How can they just DO this?

[ellis-island 6]

"Just when I thought everything was going great with our NOA2 , I read this and it appears we don't have a snowball chance in Hell to get our visa when Thao interviews."

Why do you think that?

The Chief at HCMC is trying to get this stuff right. I've seen him make a couple of good calls on cases recently.

He just works for a dysfunctional agency. If you want a smooth, efficient, courteous process with DOS, you're

being unrealistic.

First off, if she interviews in English - she should sail through.

There are some good officers there. She might draw a good one.

If she's not - don't worry. Sloppy officers write sloppy denials. Sloppy denials are

the easiest ones to disprove. And one can derive the satisfaction of making them look

like hacks and utter incompetents.

If she interviews in Vietnamese, ah...then she is at the mercy of the consular clerical/

translation staff. One thing to be alert for - she should make careful notes

about what question is asked by whom?

There has always been a tendency at that consulate

for some Vietnamese National clerks and translators to free-lance.

Vietnamese clerks work double, triple duty as translators and amateur fraud sleuths.

They're not sworn to give accurate translations as translators are in any

stateside legal proceeding. And their other duties create a conflict of interest

to any duty they have to give an accurate translation.

It's bad form to have Vietnamese clerks and translators asking questions

that cause damage to US Citizens back home.

So watch for that. But if she interviews in English, it should be a piece of cake.

The applicants who fail interviews there overwhelmingly interview in Vietnamese.

--

Rebeccajo:

It's interesting to read the article within Ellis' article about Mr. Richardson's case.

It appears that someone somewhere has decided to archive the file to the Cave. How can they just DO this?

A lot of people in USCIS aren't even aware of the two Service Center policy for filing K-1 petitions.

Call the 1-800 number and ask where to file. I've had clients tell me they're told (as recently as two weeks ago,)

to file in the Service Center with jurisdiction over there home.

[rebeccajo 14]

--

Rebeccajo:

It's interesting to read the article within Ellis' article about Mr. Richardson's case.

It appears that someone somewhere has decided to archive the file to the Cave. How can they just DO this?

A lot of people in USCIS aren't even aware of the two Service Center policy for filing K-1 petitions.

Call the 1-800 number and ask where to file. I've had clients tell me they're told (as recently as two weeks ago,)

to file in the Service Center with jurisdiction over there home.

Nooooooooo....I mean Richardson's case. How can they just archive it? Isn't he appealing?

[ellis-island 6]

--

Rebeccajo:

It's interesting to read the article within Ellis' article about Mr. Richardson's case.

It appears that someone somewhere has decided to archive the file to the Cave. How can they just DO this?

A lot of people in USCIS aren't even aware of the two Service Center policy for filing K-1 petitions.

Call the 1-800 number and ask where to file. I've had clients tell me they're told (as recently as two weeks ago,)

to file in the Service Center with jurisdiction over there home.

Nooooooooo....I mean Richardson's case. How can they just archive it? Isn't he appealing?

I haven't read the case. It looks like he is filing a Madamus to force agency action though.

That is most likely. DOS also - BTW, is subject to Mandamus writs.

The problem is - his case never should have been returned to begin with.

The problem began at the Guangzhou Consulate. It usually starts with the consulates.

USCIS adjudicators in my experience, are at least trained in the law.

I've seen both up close. Based on what I've seen, the average rookie USCIS

adjudicator has better immigration law training than most career Chiefs of IV Sections in big consulates. And that goes double for the BCA/VO people in Washington.

A petition was returned by a consular officer that should have been approved.

CSC misfiled it. As a result of both, a US Citizen has waited six years to bring

his wife to the US.

The petitioner sues DHS. But the source of the problem is DOS.

And it hasn't been named as a defendant.