HerCookie

Our RFE was sent to USCIS on 2015-03-05. We got our senator involved in September after six months had passed with no change. We were then issued an RFE. We worked on the RFE for a few months, then returned it in December. Only after our senator's office got involved a second time did we finally get approval yesterday.

Finally.

(See our timeline for more specific dates)

What does it really mean? I am confused with this processing time charts. So does it mean they processed applications from July 3 on November or that they are processing it on December? so since we are in January does that mean they should be processing August's applications?

sorry but I am so very confused and frustrated at how long uscis are taking to process this applications.

It means that on November 30th, they were processing July 3rd submissions... which means they were just short of 5 months behind on November 30th. That's about usual for the last few updates.

So, if the same is still holding true, that would mean they should be expected to be processing submissions made around the middle of August right now.

According to USCIS processing times they are processing June filer's.

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

They were processing June applications "as of October 31, 2015". (There is a line just above where the chart starts... that shows when the actual data on the chart was last updated.)

That means on November 1, they were basically processing June applications... a 5 month wait.

So, with that in mind, assuming that things haven't gotten much worse there, 5 months from *today* would be August 7th. So, they should be processing forms submitted around August, by now.

What did the email say? That they will mail you out a notice of what they need? Did it go to you or the beneficiary? What's your received date?

This is the email. We don't know to whom the letter will go to, but I suppose it will be her (the beneficiary). Our I-601 was received by them on March 5, 2015.

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

There has been a recent processing action taken on your case.

Receipt Number: LINxxxxxxxxxx

Application Type: I601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility

Your Case Status: Request for Evidence

On September 10, 2015, we mailed a request for additional evidence for your Form I601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility, Receipt Number LINxxxxxxxxxx. The request for evidence explains what we need from you. We will not take action on your case until we receive the evidence or the deadline to submit it expires. Please follow the instructions in the request for evidence. If you do not receive your request for additional evidence by October 10, 2015, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request a copy. If you move, go towww.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

A request for evidence is made when an application/petition is lacking required documentation/evidence (initial evidence) or the officer needs more documentation/evidence (additional evidence) to determine an applicant's eligibility for the benefit sought. We may send you a request for evidence at any stage of our review. The request will indicate what evidence or information is needed for us to fully evaluate your application or petition. The notice will explain where to send the evidence and will give the deadline for your response. Your application or petition will be held in suspense during that time. If you receive a request for evidence and have questions about what you need to submit, you may call our National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

• Log-in to your myUSCIS account to view your case history and understand what you can expect to happen next on your case.
• Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at under Check Processing Times.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Well, got an email from USCIS last night. On September 10, they sent an RFE. So, I guess we wait for that and see what else they want. We sent them everything we could possibly think of... so, we have no idea what it could be.

As for our case... so far, neither the USCIS or CEAC websites have changed in any way, despite the fact that (supposedly) they have issued an RFE. I'm hoping this means there wasn't an RFE and that my senator's office misunderstood USCIS's reply. (But since they won't talk to us, now, we have no way of independently finding out. Grr.)

@HerСookie , Thank you very muсh for sharing with us this detailed information about your experienсе!!! It's really really helpful for those wondering how to deal with this beyond of normal situation we're all stuсk in!!! We're going to do the same thing....totally pissed off of waiting...It's enough!!!

It's my pleasure. First and foremost, I want to help others as much as I can. This is *the* most frustrating experience I've ever encountered in my life, and if my frustration and experiences can help someone else get through the same process, then it's worth the effort put into posting it.

And, secondly... it's therapeutic.

Thank you for your kind words.

It's amazing how government forgets who they're working for. They don't work for themselves... They work for me. Heck, for that matter, my Senator works for me.

How dare they tell me that they won't discuss this with me!

"Of the people, by the people, for the people"

Unbelievable.

The latest on our 6+ month saga. (For those just tuning in... I-601 received on March 5, 2015. Got senator's office involved two weeks ago. Their first reply was "it's been assigned to an officer")

I called my senator's office again this week, since there had been no changes in two weeks since their first inquiry. They called me today. They said, "an officer looked at it, but they need more information". He continued with, "it's not unusual for them to request more evidence". He continued on to say that when we get the letter, to respond as soon as possible and to let his office know when we have so they can keep on it.

We don't know when they looked at it. All we know is that we have not received any RFE letter, and the USCIS website still hasn't updated with anything. (Still says "case received").

Now, the first uncertainty is... we don't know which one of us will get the letter. I'm assuming it will be her (the beneficiary) and not me (the US citizen) since it is technically *her* waiver. But, that's a problem... her mail in the UK is regularly lost. In fact, we never did get the initial letter from USCIS about their receipt of the waiver application.

The second uncertainty is the length of time we have to respond. I have read that it's 30 days. Mail from the US to her location takes a solid 10 days. That's a third of the time gone. If the request is something that takes time to get (say, perhaps, an updated police certificate), that can take another 10 days. That really pushes the time limit.

So, with these two issues looming over us, we decide to get on a three-way call with USCIS to find out if we can get any sort of information about the RFE (when it was actually sent... what it is in regards to... anything)

After spending 20 minutes on the phone with a USCIS rep, she was having "technical difficulties" and decided to send us to "an immigrations officer". She transferred our call to them, but they were all busy, and we had no choice but to use their "callback" system. Their callback system claimed it would be 35 minutes of wait before we would get a call back. This was not ideal, because I have no idea how to add her to a three-way call when the call wasn't started by me. Secondly, we had no idea who they were going to call... me or her.

So, we all hang up and we wait...

... and wait ...

... and wait.

45 minutes go by with no call, so she (being in the UK and it being late in the evening with an early day to start tomorrow) gives up and goes to bed. Rightfully so.

So, guess what?... A full 90 minutes after their callback system says that they'll call us back in 35 minutes, I get a phone call. I answer it (and ironically, still have to wait five minutes before someone answers the other side).

The immigration officer (who, by the way, was very short with me) asks me the case number and asks what the question is. I explain all of the above to her. She interrupts me mid-sentence and says, "I'm sorry, but since you have asked your senator to get involved, this becomes a congressional matter and we are not authorized to talk about any information about this case with you. You must go through your senator for any additional information."

What.

A.

Load.

Of.

#######.

I was already of the opinion that these people were next to useless. This, however, just certifies it.

Absolutely.... useless.

So, yeah... no help whatsoever from USCIS, and apparently no help EVER.

Amazing, isn't it?!?

I guess we wait. And if we don't get the RFE letter in the mail within a week, we call our senator's office... again.

This is such a load.

New update on CEAC.

Status Updated Date: 10.09.2015

Yesterday called to USCIS they told us they are currently working on submissions that were received on March 2, 2015 (the same they told us 2 week ago)

They told us the same story two weeks ago, too. And that was a second-tier rep that told us that.

This is so depressing. On March 5, 2015, USCIS received our I-601 application. The only thing that has changed in six months' time is that the "last updated" field changed on March 17th.

That's all. Nothing has changed since then. CEAC has remained exactly the same, as well. We've done online inquiries and senator inquiries, both of which came back with only "it's been assigned to an officer".

Meanwhile, their site still says they are processing submissions for 4 months ago, and people keep reporting approvals as recent as May reception dates. We're so tired of this. There are about eleven other I-601 cases around ours case-number-wise (ranging from LIN1590745673 to LIN1590745820). One was approved in June, another in July, two approvals and one denial in August, and that's it. Five applications from March 5th and one from March 2nd are just sitting there.

Feeling hopeless.

... and frustrated.

Very happy for you!

It's so depressing, though, to see all of these approvals for filings as late as May when ours from March 5th just sits with no progress at all, despite online and senator inquiries.

I truly believe ours has been lost in the process. And there seems to be nothing we can do.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share the news, my waiver finally got approved today, September 3, 2015. My filing date was March 12, 2015. Now I will have to wait for the Embassy in Montreal to contact me. I'm so excited and relieved. These have been longest 4.5 months of my life!

Very happy for you. (By the way, that was 5.5 months since March 12.)

We're a March 5th receipt date... and still waiting. There's been no updates at all with our case. We contacted one of my senator's offices. They put in an inquiry. It came back about 4 days later saying "it was assigned to an officer" (that was a week ago, now). Nothing.

I was finally able to submit an online inquiry for our case. That came back this week. It also said, "assigned to an officer".

But, yet, nothing has changed. Someone at NSC, please go check on the guy in the back cubicle. I think he's dead.

USCIS received our I-601 on March 5, 2015... our number is in the 56xx range, and it's still in "Received" status. I don't think there is any order in which they process these.

Touched base with my senator's office today and asked if there were any updates. He said, "Not yet. Usually it's about thirty days, but the Nebraska Service Center is usually fast with these things... in a couple of weeks."

Two weeks to ask someone a question (or just look on a computer screen) and get an answer on the status of something is "fast"? Only in government.

*sigh*

Any bets that the reply will be the usual "it's within normal processing times" BS?

I've lost all faith in this entire process.

Any ceac updated ?

Nothing here. Three days after contacting one of my senators, nothing has changed... not CEAC, not USCIS, and no word back from the senator's office.

Pathetic.

We made a second attempt at contacting USCIS last week for some answers. The first-level rep agreed that our case was "outside the normal processing times" and (after some technical glitches with his system) forwarded us to a second-tier representative. The second-tier rep was able to say that someone had looked at our case on August 10th (even though the "last updated" date on their website has not changed). He also said that they were currently working submissions that were received on March 2, 2015 (ours was received March 5, 2015) and said that we should hear something within days. But, he had a differing opinion and said ours was within normal processing times. (How he could say that, faced with the obvious fact that it isn't, is beyond me.)

Here we are a week later, and absolutely nothing has changed. No "last updated" changes in either CEAC or USCIS sites, no change in status... nothing.

So, I just sent the privacy release forms for both myself and my fiancee to one of my two senators, along with a copy of the current processing times and a brief message explaining the situation, and asking for their assistance in finding the true status and helping the process along. I'll post back any feedback we get.

We have hopes that this will nudge something along, but I'm not holding my breath.

My fiancée and I called the USCIS customer support people this morning (three-way call, everyone on the line). We wanted to place a case inquiry with them, but all we got were excuses. In a nutshell, it went down like this:

• We explained that our case was received on March 5th, but that nothing has happened since then.
• We explained that the case seems that it is out of normal processing time since their processing times say 4 months.
• The representative said "your case is within the normal processing times."
• We asked why, then, did the processing times on their website differ from her claim.
• The representative said, "those are just average times. Yours is within normal processing times", although she wouldn't tell us what those "normal processing times" are.
• We said we'd like to create a case inquiry because we think that something is out of the ordinary with our case.
• The representative said, in a very condescending voice, "you have to place case inquiries on the website. You know how to use the Internet, don't you?"
• We told her that we have already tried that and the website is still behaving as if it is within time, which it clearly is not.
• The representative said, again condescendingly, "do you know how to use the website?"
• We told her yes, and that it won't let us submit the case inquiry.
• She then said, "wait a few weeks and try again."

Shortly after that, her phone call was disconnected, leaving only myself and my fiancée on the line. I can't say she hung up on us... but it sure seems that way.

We're going to try again later today... hopefully we will reach someone who will actually be helpful.

In the meantime, we've gotten the privacy release forms for both of us and a letter prepared for my senator. This has gone beyond any reasonable amount of time and the non-professionalism of their customer service is completely unacceptable.

Yes, we have the same feeling HerCookie, when was your receipt date?

March 5th... a week before yours.

Being a March filer, our case is now (according to that new date) one and a half months out of the expected processing time. So, I try to submit a case inquiry for it being outside of normal processing times....

... and the website refuses to let me submit it because it claims my application is within the normal processing times.

I swear, the longer my fiancée and I go through the process, the more I realize that this entire system (and the department that runs it) are hopelessly broken and pretty useless. We are both WAY beyond frustrated.

I'm giving this until tomorrow to start working, else I'm just getting my senator involved. This is pathetic.

Look carefully. Although they were posted today, the "as of" date is June 30th. So, four months prior to June 30th is February 30th. It's not 4 months from the date that it was posted.

Scratch that... brain fart on my part. I see what you're saying. It's certainly disheartening.

Odd.

Our visa was refused in December 2014 and, with the exception of one update about a week after the refusal, our CEAC updated date hasn't changed... it still remains in December, 2014.

The same goes with our USCIS updated date (which you can only see if you create an account and add your case to your list). It got updated a week or two after they received the waiver application, and nothing has changed since then.

@kimet08... do you mind sharing what your waiver was for? Overstay? CIMT?

Ours was a minor CIMT. Maybe one type just takes longer than others.

Gosh, it seems they've skipped early March submissions.

Interesting. Well, I certainly hope that there's motion on your case (and that it's positive, of course!)

Gives me something else to obsess over with ours. Lol. Sure wish ours would move.