Sheepwalk

Am I wrong in thinking that MOST of the July, August and September filers HAVE been adjudicated? Many have RFEs that are still waiting for approval, I know that -- but it looks from Igor's list like most of the cases have at least been looked at. The ones who haven't are mostly those who haven't been on this site in many months, and therefore probably haven't updated their timelines.
I could be wrong though! I would love to hear from July-September filers who are still actively waiting for ANY response to their petitions? Certainly there are still lots of Octobers to go, that is true. But I agree that if there are still earlier filers waiting, they need action NOW, not a stoppage or slowdown again!

They may have slowed, but they were moving at an unprecedented pace. I think an average normally of 4 a day would be pretty good. Also it is still quite early today and there is plenty of time for people to still receive noa2 today.

Keno and I are starting to slowly prepare all the documentation we are going to need to submit our I-129F. We want to take our time with the whole process to make sure every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed. Being one of the first same-sex bi-national couples to immigrate to the US on a K-1 visa on the heels of a potential victory in the Supreme Court on June 27th means we don't want anything to go wrong on our end.
While we cannot file our I-129F until DOMA is repealed, we want to be ready the instant it is to submit our paperwork because it is such a time-consuming process.
Keno is currently securing his passport quality photos which he will include in his packet of info (G-325a, statement of intent to marry) that he will send to me in late January. He should have them within the week.
To everyone who supports us, thank you very much - you have no idea how much kind words and support means to us.
To those who wish us ill or dislike us because of our sexuality, please just avoid posting inflammatory comments and leave us be - that's all we ask and we do wish you the best of luck on your journey to bring your loved one to the US.

I already wrote huge letters to the CSC director and had emails answered by the Ombudsman, as part of the letter-writing campaign in early April. None of them specific to my case number (I didn't even mention it!), just firmly reporting the incredible backlog and unfair treatment at CSC overall. I really DO feel that helped, and the Ombudsman in particular was at least slightly responsive. But all my letters then had hard facts, tables, charts and data to back them up. Now ... two days slowdown on VisaJourney timelines isn't going to convince anyone yet, so I'm afraid we might have to wait until it gets really bad again before anyone pays attention and/or believes us.

Keep complaining to your Representitives and the USCIS Ombudsman ! The July and August filers did and obviously CSC has the capacity to clear a huge load in a short period of time, they did it for a minority of petitioners so keep up the pressure untill they extend the favour to the majority of post September filers.

As i've seen from Igor's list those past couple days and if it continues it will definitely mean that CSC has stopped the crazy approval pace. It doesn't mean that they will go back to the complete stop they've been to before but it will at a more decent and steady rate.
If not it will mean that they just wanted to clear this huge backlog of petition from july-september/october because they were tired of getting inquiries from senators/congressmen.
In order to know more we will have to wait until they update their processing times on the website.

Contact your Congressman and BOTH of your US Senators. They all have websites. Google them. Within their websites they have a link for "help with federal agencies," or something like that. Once you get to that part, you can contact via email your representative. Usually you can provide a narrative of your situation. Do so. Definitely include the fact that your fiance is active duty US Military. That's huge. Once you send out the email, ALWAY follow up with a phone call. Also be sure to send in the 'Privacy Act Release Form.' That allows staffers to check on your specific case at the USCIS.
I did all of this and after a couple of weeks we had our NOA2. It might have been coincidence, but I am almost positive it helped. I did hear back from the staffers and talked several times to them. I stayed in constant contact. They wanted to help. At least here in Colorado they did. Listen, it takes a little time, but it's free and it definitely doesn't hurt to try. Good luck!

Hello all. I thought I would share an excerpt of an email I received yesterday from a staff member of one of my US Senators. I hope this sheds some light on whats going on and I also hope it gives hope to those of us caught up in the backlog of cases pending.
"Able to speak with CSC today about a different type of case and discussed the frustrations again about I-129F delays. CSC reported they have more field officers trained in adjudicating I-129F petitions and will be moving on the backlog.
Sounds like your petition since it was received and assigned September 4, 2012 priority date will be among the petitions that will be worked on immediately. Would you like for me to follow up on status in a couple of weeks or on Friday 4/19?
Let me know your preference.
Thank you for the visa forum discussion page. Also alerted CSC of the visa forum and White House notice of I-129F delays. They were interested and alert to move on the petitions."
Of course we'll see what happens. Seems that CSC is beginning to feel the pressure and there does seem to be movement lately based on some of the recent NOA-2's being issued. Let's all hang in there!! :-)

I'm really glad they are back up, but they really should get their act together for the earlier filers. I'm Sept, but there are people waiting from July! I'm sure they would like to get on with their life.

I saw 2 cases around my case # ( from CSC july 17th) getting approved yesteday. So there's some move.

No matter what is going with CSC but they are approving petitions at the higher rate than usual. For most of us, especially post-December filers, it's an excellent sign. For black hole people it is outrageous. Overall - they are working hard on I-129F's and this is good.

http://www.campbell.house.gov/
if you go to the bottom of this page you will find a casework release authorization form(PDF)to download and return to him signed.. if enough of us send him one of these asking him to help ALL OF US to get the first come first serve process followed, he might be inclined to help or at least provide info beyond the standard reply.. again please dont focus on your own case but rather ask for him to help all who have been on hold while CSC has been doing what ever they have been doing

I'm an August 2012 filer (NOA1 September 11), and I've been working with Senator Baldwin's office to see what can be done about the current slowdown at CSC. Her staffer for Immigration matters has been excellent and very responsive, but I wanted to push for more than my personal case. We need our representatives putting pressure on USCIS to realign it's priorities, not just pull individual files and get them pushed through.
Tonight Senator Baldwin (Wisconsin) had a fundraiser here in Madison, so I showed up, waited patiently, and when I had the time, spent a few minutes bending her ear about what's going on. I got the impression that she was already familiar with the problems at CSC, and that she was putting her weight behind the issue. Baldwin's a pretty cool Senator in that she has a long record (as a US Representative and in our State legislature) of really fighting the good fight for her Constituents.
So here's hoping we can get some results out of USCIS and see all of our petitions move forward! Good luck to all of you out there missing your loved ones.

I found that the quickest way to get connected to a Tier 2/Immigration Officer is when I stay on the line and do not choose the English or Spanish option but stay on hold like your phone had a rotary dial. This will bypass all the blah blah blah... and connect you directly to a Spanish speaking rep who will start introducing herself and ask you the usual questions. I explain I speak English and the rep usually apologizes that you went through the Spanish line. At this point I do one of two things: (1) either answer all the preliminary questions or (2) just tell the rep I was on hold for a Tier 2/ Immigration Officer or I was already speaking with an Tier 2/Immigration Officer and got disconnected. It works every time. I still have to go on queue to be answered in the order calls were received but I find it quicker. If I get disconnected for whatever reason, the I go through the process again.
Also I contacted my senator's office and I have a case rep who keeps me updated. I found this to be the best path to go since she was able to provide me with more concrete information than my xxx,xxxs of calls to USCIS. My Senator's Immigration Case Worker was able to tell me that my file was located from the "holding room" (where it was for several months) and was now at the Adjudication Division. My case worker also emailed me saying that their liaison at the USCIS gave her a date of April 12 for a response (NOA2) or she would contact them again. Then I got an update on the USCIS website on April 1, 2013 saying that I had an address change. (I did an address change 2x last year but not recently. USCIS Tier 2 says that when they "touch" or do something to the file, sometimes the quickest notation they can use to indicate a "touch" is an address change even though it is not the action taken.) It is now past April 12 and still no NOA2, so I called my case rep again and she promised to email their contact at USCIS to followup and they usually get an update within a week.
I also contacted my congressman's office and spoke to his Immigration Case Worker but their policy is not to intervene when the constituent is already being assisted by another senator/congressman due to "professional courtesy." However, he has been very helpful in answering general questions and I have called him a couple of times for advise.
I am now at 7.5 months and my "consuelo de bobo" or literally translated "consolation of the fool" is that 7.5 months have passed. NOA2 should be coming soon.
Good luck to all of us.

Yep my fiance was hung up on when he asked to speak to a tier 2. Seems customer service is just about non existent at USCIS.
No you do not have to just sit and wait it out. Be as pro active as you feel you wish to be but do be prepared for let downs from most people that you think might be able to help e.g congressman, senator, media etc. Every so often, someone gets lucky with their congressman or senator. You may be one of the lucky ones but you will not know until you try.
Good luck in your journey.

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.

Signed!
When was this petition on " We the People" site created?
"we petition the obama administration to:
expedite the processing of I129F petitions to meet current government processing goals of 5 months"

For example, most people who aren't directly involved in this process has no idea on I-129F. We might better call it "the first step of US Fiance Visa" etc., something more generally understandable.
It should work to invite wording ideas here in VJ before starting another .gov petitions, if we need to.

I am happy that people are taking action however if we are to succeed we need to plan this out and think about how we will do achieve 100,000 signatures before we start
the petition. Please people post your ideas and try to organize. Those of us who are professionals at any of the above mentioned needs we kindly ask that you help and
contribute. Because we can either be selfish and just wait hoping for our wait to end, or we can stand up, we can let our voices shout out and be heard in Washington,
we can defend ourselves and our pursuit to happiness and our right to marry the person we love and live with them in our country, we can do this not just for ourselves
but for all of those who find their true love outside of America, and WE CAN FIGHT! Here some of my own suggestions. Please use this topic as a room to post your
suggestions I hope some of us professionals in some of the fields I will mention, who are going through the same ordeal would kindly contribute
-We need a written plan of action for this petition that we can hand to people and to fellow members. We start one
and then ask everybody to sign it in a month.
-Any company or organization doing an event or advertising for a show advertise or spread the word before
the actual date. What we need to do is to drum up the support of 100,000 signers then open the petition.
-We need to create a facebook group page for this "movement" and promote on facebook, and all other social media
-Even though we are not an organization we need a name for ourselves we need an identity. We need to all organize into one group
and give ourselves an identity to present to the general public. Maybe we go so far as assigning leaders.
If we do not have a cohesive name that we can present to people then the public will not pay us any heed.
-We need a website and we need a video and we need a logo. We need a mission statement. We need a slogan.
-We need media ie: pictures, videos etc... and we need to create a blog where couples can post what they feel like
and about how much harships they endure by waiting.
I hope this gets everyone thinking. In order to affect the government and to get action we need to organize and rebel against the unfair processing times the k-1 visa petitioners have to wait for.

Okay, i spoke with a friend of a friend of a friend who works for the California Service Center. Please consider the multiple degrees of separation here. I didn't like the answers i received and neither will you. She said the backlog is horrendous & the pile of K-1 Visa apps are stacked on the floor, creating a near fire hazard. Reason? They have been asked to drop everything & work on the H1B apps. For the first time ever, USCIS met the 65K cap in the first week of its filing period & they have a crazy internal deadline to get these H1B's approved. For those of you that are familiar with it, there was some glitch in the "lottery" & thus trying to wrap their heads around it.
She said "don't kill the messenger, we're all doing our best." Just wanted to pass this a long, even though it doesn't appease nor alter our particular situation.

It just occurred to me why the USCIS is processing Nov and Dec. After all, if you process July and August now, you only extend your avg processing time. meanwhile, you bang out the Dec ones, and you bring the average processing time down from 7.5 months closer to 5. Then when Congresspeople are getting on your case about processing backlog, you say "what processing back log?" I am sure your constituent has a hang up in his app and we'll get to it as soon as possible.

Ummmm, no.
Unless you are saying that the majority of July 19-mid november filers just all happen to have RFE's

I put together a short video (original link disabled - please see http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424394-video-is-complete-start-sharing/page__view__findpost__p__6145474 for the new link) as a means of getting the word out about what's going on at the CSC.
it's basically a draft, about a minute and a half long. My goal is to get some input from all of you wonderful folks, clean it up and add in any suggestions you might have, and get it out there tomorrow night, for all to post to whatever social media they see fit.
there's not a lot of info in it, I didn't want to complicate it, so I was going to add some links in at the bottom for more information.
I'll take suggestions on those as well!
Thanks!

I like many others am torn. I am happy to see petitions being processed these last few days at what appears to be a reasonable rate. I am excited at the prospects of them getting caught back up and my case (february filer) getting done in a more reasonable time frame than I'd feared would be reality. On the other hand, I feel absolutely horrid about all those July - October filers who've been seemingly brushed aside for whatever reason. I really want to see CSC catch up for my own sake and for others in here, but not at the expense of those who have waited so long before us. I truly hope that they have some plan to get everyone back within acceptable times (5 months or less) sooner rather than later

Personally, I think that when we are being told it could be about a year to get an NOA2 from CSC, it's gonna be about right
Would have loved a nice warm summer in oregon but looks like i will get a cold, foggy winter. Oh well, we will just have to snuggle up in front of the wood stove to keep each other warm. They say every cloud has a silver lining lol