coloradical

You just don't like the fact that there is some unequal treatment, do you? Understandable. Have a look at the forum contents of the people that have been approved at CSC in the last month. You will realize that nearly all of them got congressional help. Now not every senator or congressman office is willing to help. but some apparently do while some will just want to get rid of you and tell you there is nothing that can be done.

Congressman can, and should, help when there are extenuating circumstances. For us, we got help because the CSC said it was processing petitions after ours and thus, it was out of order and well outside of the processing times. We had to provide evidence and be explicit with what we were requesting, but we did get help.

Congressman can NOT make the CSC approve a petition or look at a petition that is outside processing times unless you find and provide evidence to the contrary. They CAN request that your pile be pulled for immediate adjudication if your petition is outside of the posted normal processing times and you have evidence. Being thorough and professional can and will get you assistance. Simply stating that it is taking longer than they said it would, will not.

If your case is not outside of posted processing times, you can get assistance in filing an expedite request, which may or may not be approved.

If you have this information, as we did, and the congressional aide is NOT helping, go above their head. Call and ask to speak to the chief of staff or the congressman themselves. Make them aware of the repercussions of the petition not being adjudicated within the stated time period and someone will listen. The office will help, the aide may try to tell you otherwise. All documentation should be dropped off in person as they are stamped upon receipt and logged into a system.

Congrats!!

I think that makes anyone in the past week who got approved or a RFE had some type of contact with a congressman or senator.

My Congresswoman did not say anything about USCIS agreeing to pull the file (like others with Congressional/Senatorial inquiries) - just that USCIS said my case was in the cue to be adjudicated within the next 2 weeks. At this point, I do not know if the Congressional inquiry was helpful, or if they are just starting to pick back up from transferring the DACAs to Texas....our NOA1 was July 17th which is before the posted processing state so I'd like to believe they are starting to move and ours was at the top of the pile.

Wow, that's great!

What magic words did you use? lol.

There is a larger document I am happy to share, but following the unsuccessful Congressional Inquiry we followed up with a letter asking for "fair and equitable treatment" and provided proof not only that according to USCIS posted timelines the case should have been processed months ago but that people with petition dates after ours were being processed. We then provided proof of Congressional Inquiries made by other Congressman where substantive information was given rather than the "wait 60 days" response. It was far more detailed and specific, but that is the jist of it. I was also very specific in what I wanted them to do for me and the timeframe I expected it to be done in.

What a joke! Expedited? We just want our applications processed according to the reasonable 5 month goal. If it is after 5 months, it is not @#$%@ expedited! It's pretty simple and clear.

I sent that exact sentiment to my Congresswoman, with evidence, and she emailed Friday saying she got in touch with USCIS and they expected my petition to be adjudicated within two weeks - we heard back today it was APPROVED! If you want any help with what to say/evidence to provide, I am happy to assist you!

As a July 17th filer, I can say that service requests don't do much and that although the wait sucks, there really are still people before the posted date, with uncomplicated petitions (he is from England and has been here on multiple H2B visas with no problem and has never overstayed and we have known each other for years) still waiting. Your petition isn't lost, but from what I can gather from my congressman and the tier 2 people on the USCIS call center, they have not been processing many applications that were not expedited. I fact, if you look at their posted data they processed less than half of the number of petitions they normally process in December. It isn't any fun and it definitely isn't easy, but your petition isn't lost, they are just working very slowly through other petitions.

We re July 17th and still waiting...

Since the CSC sent some of it's workload to the TSC on March 8th have any July people (past July 18th) gotten their NOA2 yet??

I know you all are frustrated by their continuous "we are processing cases dates July 18th" line, but keep in mind there are still people BEFORE that date that are still waiting. We are July 17th and the ability to make service requests and point out that they are processing cases after ours hasn't done us any good.

i am an Augist 31st filer... its been 194 days since we've been waiting. we just contacted our congerssman.,... he'll contact the Uscis tmrw..we'll see whats gonna happen... HOW LONG CAN WE WAIT.... to finally be together... upsetting

I have been gathering information and believe I have enough to make something happen, but we will see. Our NOA1 was over a month before yours.

Hi all,

I have read in various threads that some people who make contact with a congressperson regarding their case are successful in getting assistance and some are not - I am wondering if you would be willing to share your story to benefit everyone else. Including who the politician is who helped you and what the result was would be great.

My Godmother is working on a letter to such congressmen and to the USCIS regarding "fair and equitable treatment" and if it is successful for us I will post it and share. At this point, just a few days from 8 months from NOA1, I don't want them to expedite my petition. I want them to process it in the timeframe they have have posted and get accountability for not doing so.

Anyway, anything you can share would be very helpful!

I got helped from my senator. I'm pretty sure i got a timely result cause my senator inquired on my behave.

Who is your senator? May I ask how they helped?

You can't really blame any specific service center for what the operators on the phone do. These operators are contracted to USCIS to answer questions as generically as possible. I think definitely shame on the operator for hanging up (assuming of course there was no reason to do so), but CSC isn't to blame for that.

On the good news front though, CSC has recently transferred some of their caseload to Texas. VSC did this last month and they began churning out applications pretty well shortly thereafter, so hopefully this is a sign that California is about to get back on track again

How do you know that CSC transferred cases? Is there a link where I can access this information? We are 5 days away from waiting 8 months so any and all information would be helpful.

I am on the same page as you my friend. July 30th. Keep your head up even though I know it seems impossible. I truly hope neither of us hit the 8 month mark in processioning times. Stay strong, great love never became without a great struggle!

We will hit 8 months on Sunday

Can't even imagine how you guys are feeling. Helpless no doubt . Hope things pick up for you soon!

Right there with you! Our NOA1 was July 17th at CSC and we get no love.

Are we expecting too much from our government? clear, orderly thought process...

It would be nice to see though..

I think they may have filed expedite requests - a few of the profiles discussed wedding plans for this summer. Still not cool though!

That's excellent news. Just wish California would process a few more. We filed two weeks before you and not a thing!

We are three weeks before you and haven't heard anything either. Multiple service requests and even a congressional inquiry and still nothing. Filing expedite soon and also contacting senators.

I think the update will still say July 18th...it has every time I have called and considering we are July 17th and have no news I don't see it moving. From what I can tell, the only applications they are processing are those who have made successful expedite requests. The last few approved I have checked the profile and while most don't say they filed an expedite most have weddings planned for June/July/August so I'm willing to bet they had expedite requests.

Yes I believe miracles do happen. Thanks for the input!

As someone who is 10 days away from 8 months after NOA1 with the CSC not having even looked at the petition, I would say that believing in miracles is a great thing and also that you will need one if you are to get married by June. We applied in July 2012 and are hoping to get married the coming August and things are not looking like they are going in our favor at the moment.

yep many are being approved past 200 days of waiting

We will be at 8 months in 10 days....

That was my congressman reply 3 weeks ago...

"Thank you for contacting our office regarding your I-129F filed on behalf of your fiancée. We have contacted the California Service Center on your behalf. They confirmed that your case appears to be running behind schedule. Fortunately, the Congressional Liaison agreed to pull your file to determine if it can be adjudicated immediately. If your file is complete, and if the Agency does not need any additional evidence in order to reach a decision, you should receive a decision shortly. We will provide you with updated information as soon as it is received."

Nothing since then. Our case was not even touched.

I'm glad you actually had a response rather than a blow off...

Do you think it's because the congressional aide who called them actually gave a ####### about getting a result? Or do you think it's because the congressional liaison was feeling nice that day? I just don't get any of it. We were about 10 days before your case and the response we got was wait 60 days and call back.

Congratulations! And with an RFE too (what I would give for an RFE and I never thought I would say that but at least it shows they've looked at our damn file). Our NOA1 is a week earlier than yours, so it gives us hope. CSC do seem to be trickling thorugh.

I hear that!

Try anyone but Boxer because first of all no one ever contact you regarding you case or anything. I tried her a month ago and I haven't even talked to the case worker once. I left her numerous voicemails but she never called me back.

I have a different congress person but also had trouble making contact - I found that emails get very quick responses and going in in person is also effective. My phone call was responded to a month later but the email was responded to within a day.

July 17th here. No sign of activity at csc

We are July 17th and waiting as well.

Just tried my congressmans office again since I've gone beyond 200 days now...they will do nothing until CSC is "working on" cases after my NOA1 date. So since they are still stuck on that July 18 date, I'm out of luck.

Screw you Congressman Honda, I will work my best to see that you are never elected again.

We are July 17th filers and have had a congressional inquiry made into our case. The response our congressmen received said the following:

USCIS electronic records indicate that the I-129F petition that you are inquiring about was filed on 7/17/2012. Please note that our office has received a high volume of submissions in this workload. There is a current backlog and the petition is currently located with the adjudication division for the assigned I-129F workload (pending action). We recognize your interest in a final adjudication on the above referenced case and are aware of the difficulties caused by any delay in processing. The California Service Center is committed to processing this workload, and will be making every effort to adjudicate your constituent’s case in an expeditious fashion as soon as available under our resource constraints. Please feel free to follow back up with us, if your constituent does not receive a decision within 60 days of this inquiry

It is basically a brush off and ours was filed before the 18th so try and be patient. Im still trying to figure out how they are working on July 18th (and lots of later cases from what I see on the timeline) while a July 17th hasn't been done yet.

We want to do everything in our power to get his K1 approved for our wedding and to live in the US where we are mostly settled, but if it doesn't work out we will likely get married anyway and apply for me to go to England instead, let him keep working for a few years, and then come back. That idea is less than ideal though, so looking for advice on moving this process along.

Sounds like you have done everything you can do under the circumstances. But I will say, at least once or twice a week I read of people on VJ who have made wedding plans and made deposits on dresses, reception halls, caterers, etc... the whole 9 yards,only to have to change everything and lose thousands of dollars because they didn't wait until they had the visa in hand before they made huge wedding plans. There are so many things that can go wrong during the visa process, people really need to take the advice of others who have gone before them on this site and never put deposits on a wedding before the visa is issued. You still have 5 months until wedding time, hopefully the visa will be issued by then. Good luck.

It is not a huge wedding - fewer than 100 people and we won't lose thousands of dollars if we don't get the visa in time. What we lose is the ability to have my brother be there, which is beyond important to me. He can't get time off during fire season without requesting it during the season before.