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Oh! So that explains the voices I keep hearing

What Bayareaguy said. That and, well, nerves are still just a bit raw. We are all still in shock that the long nightmare appears to have ended. Can it really be true? Keep the faith y'all! It will all be over soon. Woo hooooo

I counted so far 35 approvals for yesterday from CSC...keep it up, CSC!!! you are doing great!!! :dance:

I nominate this for post of the year. Let's hope the CSC achieves BALANCE!

There now...25 already and still going. Not such a sad day after all

I am ready to file my 129F Petition on Monday. I am already getting a little depressed hearing how long everyone has been waiting!((
I guess it is my turn to wait now!
Congrats to all who got approved recently.

Went to USCIS website to check our case status yesterday, as I have done for quite a few months, and this time I see status changed to approved ! Our NOA1 date was September 21. Just like a bolt of lightning it came ! The process is not over, but at least we have made it through the longest wait. To others still waiting, I hope for a speedy approval for you.
Sorry for not posting last night, but was dancing half the night away on Skype with my LiLi !

Yah, they are definitely on a roll. To put it in perspective, they were approving less than 20 people per day TOTAL in December and January, and likely less than 10 per day in February and March. Those aren't VJ numbers--those are the official numbers. So when VJ is seeing 20 approvals a day, you know they have, in fact, seriously ramped up their I-129F team again. I'll give it some more time before I take a stab at the exact rate, but it looks to me like they are now surpassing any daily rate they previously achieved. Let's just hope it keeps up for at least two months so the backlog can be cleared out.

If this bill passes, I want back every cent of my expended legal-immigration fees, plus interest, plus pain & suffering.

WOW!!! have you seen all the NOA2's from CSC from 17 April,2013. Their is hope for the rest of us!!! CSC,.....go baby go!!!!!! Its nice to be in the frame of mind to type something positive here today!! Congrats to all people that got NOA2 from 17 April,2013.

Again, I think you are approaching the topic from exactly the right sort of cool-headed, realistic stand point. It's just when you've looked at it that way for as long as I have, almost all the plausible excuses for the way the USCIS is managed just fall apart. Case-in-point, the USCIS is self-funded. It does not rely upon the congressional budget at all; it only draws its operating budget from fees. It should thus be very insulated from the political process in how it meets its statutory mandate. And, again, it should be using a realistic fee structure that allows it more flexibility in turning petitions around in a timely manner and providing at least a modicum of competent customer service and communication. The failures in these fundamental areas are all on the USCIS, even if the current administration exacerbated them by mandating the DACA program.

They're too busy worrying about how to make illegal immigrants, legal. In all the recent immigration debate, I haven't heard one thing about fixing the LEGAL immigration system.

Well, I can share some of my stats, if that's any indicator.
According to the analytics, it's been viewed 893 times since last friday. of these, 548 were in the US. Next highest was the Philippines, with 99...after that everyplace else was less than 25, from a ton of different countries.
Even though it's about 3.5 min long, not everyone watches all of it. in the US, the average view duration is about 2 minutes. Most views were on the first day, and it's leveled off below that now.
it's been shared 9 times on facebook, and 3 times on google + (that's disappointing)
Also, since things are starting to pick up at CSC, it could be that the validity of this could be dropping soon, and since people have short attention spans, if it doesn't start of well, it could be buried fast.

I would have to say as well, that other than the political stuff it's a great video. You have a lot more detail than mine, and the graphs make the point clearly.
I understand you feel the need to take stabs at the administration, but that would still have the effect of alienating (pardon the pun) about half the viewers, and also this would have the effect of reducing the sharing of the video. The goal is to get as many eyes on it as possible, share it and take action.
Perhaps it would be shared with more conservatives with the political stuff, but libs wouldn't share it at all. and if only conservatives are taking action, then it becomes a political fight, and then it becomes an ideological issue, rather than a bureaucratic one. I think that would hurt more than help.
I know myself, speaking as a farther-left-than-Obama liberal, would be uncomfortable posting it because of that part of the message, and I doubt most of my friends and family would share it for the same reason.
You and I are both in this together, and despite having a media that revels in political division, most people out there understand fairness and right vs. wrong outside of political affiliation, pointing it out only creates a divide that doesn't need to exist. Also removing the political element keeps the issue bipartisan, and won't be dismissed by congress people on the left side of the isle. There are plenty of VJ members who are going to be working with lefties, regardless of their own affiliation to try to get results. We shouldn't make things harder for them as well.
I certainly respect your opinions on the issue, and this is a kick #### video! I'd like for as many people to see it as possible, and I'm taking that as my primary consideration with my comments.
Thanks for your hard work on this!

Its hard to guess, I mean if you look at the approvals they are mostly Nov/Dec with a few Aug in there. I have no idea but I have waited long enough for them to skip me over others. I just cannot take the BS they are feeding me and others about processing July 18th. My fiancee and I have reached our melting point with the wait. Not that I have anything against the people who are approved from Dec and all but dammit I have been waiting patiently for almost 9 months now and I should have something in hand either RFE or NOA2. Enough is enough.

Accident? I don't think so. I'm sure they can look at the receipt number of the cases and see which ones are the oldest, and process those...if they wanted to.
They know exactly what applications they are processing.
I was mad before, but CSC has officially declared war by doing this. Even if I get my NOA2 today (yeah, right), I will never forget this, what BS tactics my country is doing to me, and others.
What can I do about it? Probably not much. But you never know what lies ahead, and who you will meet, in the future. Karma sometimes needs a helping hand from time to time.

I agree with those who would portend to get involved in affecting changes that may help others. There will always be a contingent among us who tell us to sit down and stop rocking the boat. Please name for me, one status quo which has changed without making waves. The more we know about the people, the process and the outcomes accomplished so far, the better our argument for change. I am not a union organizer, nor do I care much for unions, but I am a firm believer in organized, sprited dissension in the face of injustice.
If everyone of us who has been pushed to the back of the bus stood up and made our voices heard with one accord, don't you think the bus driver might take notice?
Sorry for writing like this, I just watched a marathon of Deadwood and find myself in turn of the century phraseology. Please forgivest thou me.
Carry on!

I still cannot understand this weird movement of people who went through the process years ago and now insisted that everyone going through it now merely accept the status quo, even when that status quo is far, far worse now than it was when they went through it. Yes, we understand our individual letters may not help our individual case. No, we don't really care. We are trying to draw attention to a systemic problem that is unique to the last couple of months. Blueprints for dealing with the USCIS from years ago no longer apply.
Anyway, I also believe that all those pending at the CSC should be seriously considering contacting their elected representatives if they have not already done so, regardless of whether or not their petition falls within the arbitrary 5.5 (6.5? 7.5?) month guidelines the CSC keeps shifting on us. To that end, I've written a guide and provided a good deal of statistical analysis. You can find links to all of those posts in my signature. Good luck.

Friday, I posted a list of Congressional Committees and Subcommittees and their chairpersons in this link...www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424527-congressional-contacts/page__p__6147803__fromsearch__1#entry6147803....
I have noticed Friday and throughout the weekend that some people have come away from making those contacts less than optimistic. Please do not take it personally and understand that there are politics in play on the DACA-K1 issue. I realize some have warned against turning this into a political debate and I would reaffirm those warnings.
However, I would suggest..and I do understand this is a deeply personal issue to all of us; keep in mind the facts of what has taken place and when possible try to step away from the emotional effect and look at it logically.
The facts are this. DACA's criticisms in the political arena is that it is an attempt by Democrats to draw more voters because those folks filing those petitions are likely to vote Democrat when they are legally eligible. So if you you live in a state like Texas, Florida or California please do not be surprised if you walk away from your local Democrat Congressional Representative and they did not seem to help. This issue to them is a very small part of the overall puzzle for them as try to move their own agenda forward.
Instead, I would suggest refocusing your efforts on the contacts I provided in the link; specifically at 'HOUSE REPUBLICANS'. Anyone who pays close attention to the news would know that on this specific issue; if there is anyone who is likely to help our cause, it's House Republicans. I would reach to all, but at the end of the day do not be surprised to find out this is where a majority of our help is going to come from. It's not a state secret that the President's current relationship with House Republicans is extremely COLD.
None this has anything to do with anyone being Democrat or Republican or pro or anti Obama. This is our issue and this is simply the political lay of the land right now. I just wanted to point that out.
I really think where the real pressure is going to come from to turn this tide in our favor and get some better movement is from House Republican Chaired Committees. Just my opinion. So if you live in an area and are represented by a House Republican and either a House or Senate Democrat, I would definitely urge you to reach out to the House Republican first.
I hope this helps.

Introduction
This thread is offered as a compliment to my previous CSC data analysis thread. While that thread was dedicated to showing why I-129F processing has been delayed at the CSC (because of DACA), this thread is dedicated to showing you the potential extent of that delay going forward.
All the projections done for this thread were done with the same algorithm used for my delay processing calculator (v. 2.0). If you have not tried that out yet, I suggest you do, as it can give you a more exact sense of where your petition falls on these graphs.
Once you have finished reading these graphs, I hope you will consider contacting your elected representative if you have not yet done so. You can find my guide on how to do so here.
Remember, if you find this or any of those other threads useful, please give a vote so that others can more-easily find the same information. (The churn around here tends to bury things rather quickly.)
The Graphs:
Each graph is based off of a set scenario that I programmed for my calculator spreadsheet. Each scenario relies upon the data published by the USCIS for the months of February, 2011 through January, 2013 (the latest as of the time of this post) and then uses hypothetical competition figures for the months thereafter. Due to the limits of making projections based on the published figures, these projections are limited for NOA1 receipt dates filed before the end of January, 2013.
What each graph shows is how long an I-129F petitioner on a given NOA1 receipt date could expect or can expect to wait for their petition to be completed at the CSC.
Doomsday Scenario
I will start with what I believe is the worst possible scenario--that the USCIS has greatly wound down processing of I-129Fs over the last two months and will keep those processing levels low indefinitely. To estimate this going forward, I assumed that only 200 I-129Fs had been completed in each of the months of February and March, 2013, and that the constant rate of 200 completions per month would continue going forward. The reason I chose the 200 number is because it is low enough to allow that there would still be pending July 18, 2012 petitions as of the time of this post, which is what the USCIS swears is the case. Note that this projection cannot account for the wait times of petitions submitted after September, 2013 because those petitions would not be completed before the end of 2014 and the calculator was not designed to project beyond December, 2014.

As you can see, this would be truly catastrophic for I-129F petitioners. Next, however, I will look at how bad things are under more optimistic scenarios...
Note: all scenarios from here on assume that the January, 2013 rate of 574 completions per month (which is quite low by historical standards) continued through February and March, 2013. I know that is a very optimistic assumption and that the real rate was likely much lower for those months (as I stated above, I believe it was likely closer to 200 per month), but even the optimistic projections are devastating and they should be even more persuasive to elected officials because they are still so bad, despite the optimism.
Scenario 1: Indefinite January, 2013 Pace (574 Completions Per Month)

Scenario 2: Return to Median Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in April, 2013 (1968 Completions Per Month)
Returning to the median processing rate in April, 2013 would only allow them to lock in a completion time frame of about 8 months for all petitioners going forward.

Scenario 3: Return to Fastest Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in April, 2013 (3414 Completions Per Month)
Returning to their fastest pace would help the CSC push processing times down so that were basically back on track by the time they were processing February, 2013 petitioners. But note that this is truly a best case scenario because there is no indication on VJ that April processing has been anything but extremely slow.

The last few scenarios are just variations on scenarios 2 & 3, but with the CSC increasing processing in May or June. Accordingly, they have show similar outcomes, but with bigger delays built in.
Scenario 4: Return to Median Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in May, 2013 (1968 Completions Per Month)

Scenario 5: Return to Fastest Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in May, 2013 (3414 Completions Per Month)

Scenario 6: Return to Median Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in June, 2013 (1968 Completions Per Month)

Scenario 7: Return to Fastest Pre-August, 2012 Pace Starting in June, 2013 (3414 Completions Per Month)

Conclusion:
All of the graphs, as optimistic as they are, show that the CSC has let an extremely abnormal processing backlog for I-129Fs build up. No matter what they do now, I-129F petitioners will continue to suffer for several months to come. But the severity of the possible suffering should behoove them to start processing again as soon as possible. And those of you who filed after the fall of 2012 should look at how you will be affected by this mess going forward. It's going to hurt you too, guaranteed. Time for everyone to start contacting elected officials and the media. We need to fight for ourselves and our loved ones because no on else is going to.

For your use, I made a color map showing which states belong to which service center.

I really hate this type of condescending nonsense. If you think the USCIS's service is adequate because you happen to be friends with one of the numb skulls that runs a service center, then fine. Great for you. But to pretend like you better know how much preparation someone else has done or needs to do is just ridiculous.
Your friend is an integral part of a horribly managed system that causes a lot of unnecessary grief and confusion for the people who have no choice but to avail themselves of it. And a lot of those people are going to continue to demand better of that system, whether you or your friend like it or not. Just because he sat down and had drinks with you and told you "how it is" doesn't mean we have to accept the way he or others in the USCIS are mismanaging the system we depend upon.

Yah, I know the reply is vague and makes it hard to draw firm conclusions. But I'd couple it with the observation from my data thread that, besides DACA petitions, overall submissions to the CSC were down, not up, during the period from August, 2012 through January, 2013. There was no other priority that could justify pulling resources from I-129Fs. It's simply not there in the data (which is not VJ data--it's the USCIS's published stats).
Re the Nov/Dec, it seems very few if any were exceptional cases that had political or other help in getting expedites. They remain one of the great mysteries of the universe for the time being.

The Final version is posted
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I agree with this. It is not just us K1 folks suffering.
No need to mention I-129F, I-130, K1, CR1 or any of that. Focus on Fiances, Spouses and Children. It's all about the family
Oh! Fiances, Spouses, and Children OF AMERICAN CITIZENS...