Texasav8r

I just checked our case status online (like I've been doing every 5 minutes for 3 days) and it shows it's approved No text or e-mail yet, but I'm calling it NOA2!

I really feel the pain of everyone who is still waiting, but don't let it affect you or your relationship too much, guys!

Best of luck!

Congrats!!

3 more transferred approvals...that's 4 so far.

NOA1 - 4/14

NOA1 - 5/1

NOA1 - 5/15

All transferred on 8/11

The background checks are probably for the beneficiary in Russia and unfortunately, records and employment data, etc. are severely lacking over there. The requests may be arriving at an old employers desk, they see something they can't read and throw it away. As you know, no one is in a hurry to accomplish anything in Russia. The other problem is our side doesn't continue to push for answers...they just sit around and wait for something that may never be in process...

I have a feeling I will be in the same boat....

Finally an hour ago I got email and text message - NOA2. 7 months of waiting!!!

I hope for speedy approvals for everyone else who it's still waiting.

Congrats!!

My fiance (petitioner) just got a call from an officer this morning! He said there were a few things he didn't fill out on the I-129F and asked if he would like to answer over the phone or to get an RFE. He said he'd answer them, of course. They were about the criminal check, I guess we thought you didn't have to fill them out if it was a "no". Anyways, he said that was it and the rest looked great!!! And he said we'll get official approval any time now

I had no idea they did that, and I found it very nice of them. I think it shows a great attitude of wanting to get things moving, because they could simply send us an RFE.

Good luck!

Wow, that was convenient . That saved a great deal of time. Nice to see that type of interaction from TSC.

Congrats!

I noticed on Igor's List that there were no NOA2's yesterday, so far.

I seem to notice most NOA2's come on Monday and Tuesday of each week with a few exceptions of course.

texasav8r, is the date range of transfer really just 8-8 - 8-11?

PS: How do you tag someone?

Yes. Those were the only two dates reported in the first notice. I was going by what people reported (e.g. - I received an email today (8/8) that my petition was being transferred to another center.......)

8/11 seems to be the most common.

I "tagged" by actually hand writing a list of everyone that posted....and added columns for notice dates and where they went....now another for approval dates

Been away and busy last couple of days so a HUGE shout out to all the recent approvals.

CONGRATS!!! Glad to see they are moving now. Happy for you all!

Does that also mean Csc original filers will be seeing a 5-6 month rather than sickening 1.5-2 mo approval time while April and May tsc transfers are processed?

Not any time soon. However, the 1-2 month approvals will probably gradually move to 3-4 months. It will depend on how fast they get through all the transfers and any other outside influences such as DACA renewals or any other priorities with "other" immigration matters that may take precedence. These things are relatively impossible to predict.

After going through some case numbers around mine I noticed few of them (including mine) with this status:

Post Decision Activity

On August 18, 2014, the Executive Office of Immigration Review returned this case. If your case was remanded or your appeal was sustained, we will notify you of our action within 60 days of the date of the EOIR decision. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

I really wonder what this mean? We were transffered to CSC on August 11, and we received hardcopy stating the same. Now this? I'm really confused and worried, any idea what to do would be helpful.

It sounds like a fancy way to say it has been returned to the proper reviewing agency for action. In other words, you petition left one reviewing body, so it became a pending "matter" until it reached it's transfer destination. Then it re-enters the system at another location (thus returning to a normal process). I think you will be fine.

When you guys talk about being pushed back you mean on the Visajourney timeline, right?

I don't mean to break people's hearts, but if there is one thing I've learned in almost 6 months... That thing can give you some serious false hopes. I was pushed back a little bit every day, and that started driving me crazy.

I'm sure that it won't take 6 months for the people who were transferred, but still, I wouldn't advise anyone to keep looking at that :/

Good luck

(reading the July filers page because: no idea. This website is truly addictive when you are anxious)

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ This.

Watching the timeline estimates will drive you crazy. I stopped watching mine after the 25th or 30th push back. My initial estimate was late April/early May LOL. I am now mid August to early September which is probably the 50th push back over the last 5.5 months.

A watched pot never boils so best to keep yourselves occupied and not watch them. They are going to get longer for CSC so push backs will continue. Try not to get hung up on them

A couple of requests for the fine folks that have been transferred (well maybe 3):

1. Can you all please make sure your timelines are updated with accurate data? Your timeline should reflect TSC as your Service Center and YES to transferred. See below:

Event Date

Service Center: Texas Service Center

Transferred? California Service Center on 2014-08-08 or 2014-08-11

I have seen a couple that changed their original Service center to CSC. This is not correct and will adversely affect CSC timelines and also affect ours.

2. When you get approved, please post your approval date here so we can track progress and allow everyone to see the benefits of the transfers. Of course, please post in your respective monthly thread also, I am just asking for an extra post here as well

3. Please refrain from asking post decision qurestions here. There are many threads covering those topics and I would like to see this thread continuing to focus on transfers and events surrounding them.

Thank you very much! Keep the news coming!!

One common question I see raised here is regarding the logic behind transfers and why some in the same timeframe were not transferred. Here is my thought on that topic:

I have a weekly staff meeting that involves 12 fellow engineers. We go over the status of all our projects (10 - 20 per engineer depending on scope) and determine whether there are any that may be in jeopardy of being completed and estimate the balance of workload. If one engineer is going on vacation or has too many in his queue, then the workload is redistributed. Now, with that said, here is what I think happened at TSC:

- After receiving hundreds of congressional inquiries, thousands of angry letters and thousands of phone calls, they FINALLY got off their butts and decided to do something. I am guessing they had an all hands meeting within the department responsible for adjudicating K-1 I-129f's and polled the workload. Let's say there are 100 adjudicators and each of them has a minimum of 80 petitions on their desk (Dec - Aug filers) but 30 of them had a minimum of 120 petitions for various reasons. The decision has already been made by management to transfer, to CSC, a number of petitions that would balance the workload among all the adjudicators and place them back on a level playing field. So, the department head made a decision to transfer only April and May petitons as it seemed most fair to those that made the decision. They then asked the 30 adjudicators with 120 petitions to pull all of their April and May files and send them on their merry way to CSC. Assuming all the extras were May and April, that would be 1200 petitions and would also explain why everyone was not transferred. The ones that were not, were sitting on the desks of the 70 adjudicators that had a fair load to begin with.

Those numbers are probably a bit low when you consider we make up about 5 - 10% of the total number of filers. Of course, all of the extra 40 petitons per 30 adjudicators would not all be April and May files so there is plenty of fudge room.

We can only speculate of course, but based on what I see every week in my own working life, that seems like a fairly feasable scenario. We can also second guess their logic behind what is fair or not based on what we see coming from CSC. Are all transfers going to see approvals in the next 2 weeks? No. Will many see approvals in the next 3 - 6 weeks? Pretty good chance. Is it fair to January - March filers (and left over Nov & Dec)? Again, we can debate that. Right now we are seeing many Feb and March approvals and have seen one transferred May (I think he was May) filer approved.

As each day goes by, we will have a better idea of what's going on and can make a better estimate of the time we will all (most all) be waiting.

Good luck to all and I am truly happy for all those who will see quicker approvals as a result of the transfer (those who were and weren't)

Sorry for the long delay Marco...I had a couple of 18 hour days and am finally able to get back to this. I have the data but am going through and adding the last few pages of updates and will post shortly.

Ok, here is the latest:

Total VJ transfers from TSC - 91

Confirmed Transfers to CSC - 46

Transfer to VSC - 1

April Transfers - 46

May Transfers - 45

- The only two dates I have seen regarding transfer notices (initial) are 8/8/2014 and 8/11/2014

- The confirmation hard copies indicating transfer to CSC were received between 8/13 and 8/19

- There has already been one approval after transfer and that came 4 days after confirmation notice.

Again, sorry for the delay. This represents data as of 23.30 on 8/20 and only what was posted in this thread and a couple that I spotted in other threads.

Thank you for the reply,

I was interested in your thoughts, it seems you are very knowledgeable in this process and your comments are welcomed. Gives me some sense of assurance. Your bottom line is confirmation of my thoughts and I am not going to worry, as you said this isn't anything I need for my next step. What I worry about is not receiving the NOA2, which is crucial in the process. Hopefully that document will be sent to me and if not than I will have to be more aggressive in my due diligence. Which is not a problem for me.

It's just that sometimes I would like to believe that our government agencies run accurately and accordingly, and with less attitude, e.g post offices, Department of Motor Vehicles, Social Security Office... I know that these are human beings that are probably overworked and have to deal with angry customers on a daily basis and God knows what other personal situations maybe causing additional stresses, but it is a choice they make in their careers to be of customer service, I will say that I will continue to treat these people with respect for what they do. I will continue to be polite and cordial as this strategy is always beneficial to me.

Have a great day! and thanks again

Thank you so much for the kind words . There are many far more knowledgeable than me which is why this is a great place to be for information.

You have a wonderful attitude about the process which will help you deal with the trials and tribulations that come with the territory.

You will receive good news soon and if you fail to recive a NOA2 hard copy, I would then call and raise holy you know what to gt it sent to you. That I would definitely stay on top of.

Good luck and best wishes

Sir, can you possibly provide me with the #s of petitions that you have compiled confirmed in this thread that were transferred to CSC? Also, when was the 1st transfer date, 8-8-2014? I want to compile some info & that would be highly beneficial.

Sorry for the long delay Marco...I had a couple of 18 hour days and am finally able to get back to this. I have the data but am going through and adding the last few pages of updates and will post shortly.

Well, I don't know what to make of my absent formal transfer letter. I as well received an email notification informing me of my I-129f being transferred to "local Office" on 8/11 with and NOA1 date of 5/29, I still have not received a letter version of that. So, I decided to call USCIS, against my will. but I became a little anxious seeing everyone post their receipt of letter. An automated recording confirmed that my file was transferred to "Mesquite, TX"???? Now, I have being following this topic and understand that this is just a formality. That the Mesquite, TX office is actually the TSC physical address? So i waited and I did speak with an officer who rudely explained "NOTHING!!". She said that I don't necessarily have to see a formal letter in the mail as I received the email version.... I highly doubt that. She went on to say that the only reason they will notify me by writing a this time is to request more information or to schedule an appointment. I am back to square 1, did I get transferred? and if so, then where??

I will just wait some more and see what happens, these mean USCIS officers are a deterrent on follow up phone calls..... But I'm not giving up.

I did wish her (Heather #G686025) a better rest of the day, LOL

@Texasav8r; what do you think of this???

I think you were nice to wish her a better rest of her day They probably don't hear that very often.

Here is what I think about the notices. I would imagine you have several adjudicators that have the same guidelines (as a general rule) to follow while performing their duties at TSC (heck, anywhere for that matter) and many of them follow them to a T and others not so much. I would guess that at some point in their training, they were told "we normally send out notifications for this and that but it isn't mandatory" so many do not follow the guidelines the way they should. We see examples of this regarding the Philippine expedites, inconsistent NOA2 dates, etc. It could boil down to plain laziness on their part for not wanting to enter the data into the system for the notices or they just don't have time to do it. Some may even think to themselves "They will find out eventually". I know it may sound harsh to us and it builds stress in our lives, but to them, it is just a job and they do the same thing every day, several times over. Different people do their jobs different ways and there are many reasons why.

I would even go as far as to say that there are probably a few people that were transferred and don't even know it. You, and others may never see a hard copy of the transfer....some never receive NOA1 hard copies. As long as you have been notified of a transfer via email and/or text, you are fine. I would just wait for NOA2 and hope that it will arrive sooner than it would have originally. That is a nice positive to keep in your mind. On to the next step .

One other thing to keep in mind about calling a large service center. These people field hundreds, if not thousands, of calls every day from angry people. They get beat up pretty bad by most and are treated decent by a handful. After months or years of this, they become numb to the reasons behind the calls and just want to be done with them. It becomes difficult not to take things personally with all the anger directed at them for something they have no control over so it eventually gets reflected back on the callers. It always helps to understand people when we look at it from both sides of the coin even when it is as difficult as waiting for our loved ones to arrive.

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about not receiving a hard copy for a transfer. It isn't anything you need for the next step of the process and it won't have any bearing on a decision. Just smile every time you think about a faster approval

I like your personality. Many people cannot see past their own self in life, & I find it very sad & disappointing. But I'm used to it, so I'm always happy to meet people who are actually human.

Human? I thought we were Martians. I read it in a book somewhere . Seriously though, the feeling is mutual my friend and it is sad that we find ourselves getting used to certain situations in life...but I guess it is just that...life.

I hope you're not right about your 2nd paragraph texasav8r. I mean soon enough, you'll have it, & then you'll be in my boat, which is being excited for myself but still sad about people who've waited longer. The reality is, I think we all wish the petitions were generally processed in the order received. That way, at least we would have a much better estimate on when to expect processing & it would be more fair. In such a system, we could then know that if anyone's petition took longer than normal (in other words, watching people be processed who were later filers), it could be considered fact that something happened to their petition, like RFE being generated or a longer background check, or something.

I hope you are right and I am wrong . It would indeed be nice for there to be consistency at the centers for the very reasons you stated. It would certainly help identify issues long before they become problematic or stressful for people who are waiting. I know I will be like you in the sense I will feel bad for those still waiting after I am approved. I also want to make sure it is understood that I am not at all upset with seeing later March filers approved before me. I don't roll that way. I was merely pointing that out as a reference in my response. I completely understand it is a matter of who got what files at the center and how they work them. Life is too short to get upset about those things. I am truly happy with all normal filers and warranted expedites at TSC that get approved..regardless of when.

I couldn't agree more. This is not my first time to go through the system but my first time to go through it this way. Many things with them don't make sense. I suppose it is not directly their fault, it is just the system. Used to if you called them to ask a question in regards to paperwork, you'd get an answer. If after hanging up and it still didn't make sense, to call back you might get a different answer. Don't think it's quite that bad now. I'm thankful we have a forum where we can help each other through because there was no such a thing back then. Much better these days.

Is it me just thinking that there are higher approvals for UK citizens? I hope I'm not making that up. Was thinking I read that somewhere. I know we are friendly countries....

I think the UK is in the top 3 for visas if I am not mistaken. I don't know actual numbers, but just from what I have seen here, it would appear that Philippines is number one, followed by Canada then the UK. I think Canada and UK are very close though. That is just a casual observation with no numbers to back it up and just referencing profiles on this site .

Im end of the month lol. So for me I doubt it. But best of luck to you all!

One never knows how they do things so it is entirely possible for you. They have approved some March filers that were a week behind me so it is completely random. They go back to January and February, then jump into March again. I think it all depends on the desk they are piled on and what that individual is doing...(smoking, surfing, working, vacation, etc.)

For some reason, I have a feeling I will be one of those last remaining March filers watching August and September approvals in November like the December filers that just received approvals a few weeks ago..or worse yet, the ones who still haven't.

Good news this week for us all I hope!!

I second that

If you look at everyone who has transferred, how many have been from the Philippines? Just the one that went to VSC I believe. I'm guessing most from April and May have already been done. I wouldn't be too worried if I were Chris.

Just because a SC doesn't do the form now doesn't mean it can't start doing them again.

This is true, however, other Philippines petitions were transferred to CSC, so I don't think that has anything to do with it. It would only take 30 minutes or so to call and give him peace of mind. I would.

Sir, can you possibly provide me with the #s of petitions that you have compiled confirmed in this thread that were transferred to CSC? Also, when was the 1st transfer date, 8-8-2014? I want to compile some info & that would be highly beneficial.

Be happy to. The info is at home though so it will be a while

Yes!

To be honest Chris, if it were me, I would be a little concerned about this. Texas has/had a huge backlog of I-130's recently and it is possible they are transferring some of those too. Vermont stopped processing fiance petitions about a year ago and so far, you are the only transfer there.

It is possible they accidentally placed your file with a group of I-130's that was being sent (transferred) to VSC.

Personally, I would be on the phone with TSC this week and I would ask them to confirm they meant to send it to VSC while reminding them VSC stopped doing those types of petitions last year and also let them know that every other petition you have seen, went to CSC. This would accomplish 2 things (maybe 3*).

1. You would confirm your petition did in fact go where it was supposed to go and there won't be any unnecassary delays for you later.

2. It would provide some insight to the forum concerning where transfers are going and why.

*3. If they did screw up, it will gt your file pulled and sent where it belongs and save you some heartache later.

Again, this is only if I were you....that is what I would be doing. Something just doesn't seem right.

I received my copy, and it say that it was transfered but

I was wondering on top of my letter has my case # and an A# too, im still confused about all of this

TSC was/is severely backlogged and to help reduce this backlog and process petitions in a more reasonable and balanced manner, they have transferred a good number of April and May filers to CSC (one VSC so far as well but I suspect TSC may have screwed up on that one). Your file (SRC#) number and A number should not have changed and will remain the same until your petition is approved and on your way to NVC ( I believe ).

This should be good news for you as your NOA2 should (barring no other issues) come a little earlier than if you had stayed at TSC. The average wait was ~180 days and now you may see it drop to ~140 or 150. It is really hard to say at this point but once the approvals roll in, we will have a much better idea.

Good luck.

case #???? that's weird .........thought case numbers are assigned by the NVC..........at this stage how come you have a case #?

I believe it was supposed to be "File #"

You send the I-129F to a Texas Lockbox. Where it goes from there...is the determination of the USCIS...as some here have said. You do not have a choice where your petition is going to be processed.

For the time being, various service centers have experienced backlogs...that does not mean that that is how it's going to go for your petition. You're expecting to have your petition processed quickly. Just sit back and WAIT! You've got at the very least - 2 - 3 months - up to 5 months. None of the Service Centers are beyond 6 months for processing your application. Then, your petition goes to NVC to get assigned a case number and then it will be forwarded to Manila. Well, at the moment, NVC is backed up - it's taking up to 60 days to get a case number. Then, when your petition is sent to Manila, your fiance will have her hands full getting all of the docs that she needs in the format that the Embassy requires. For the most part...none of that can be done before a case number is assigned.

So...cool your jets...simply accept that you're anywhere from 6 months to 9 months away from being together...that is if everything goes ok...no RFE's and no 221(g)s or other issues...like Obama trying legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants...which will impact USCIS and NVC! So...join the club...hate the wait but it is what it is...

Although I agree with everything you said, I feel I should point out that TSC is technically beyond 6 months. They post their current processing date as 12/31/2013 so that is well beyond 6 months. Many of the recent January and early February filers approvals were more than 180 days and I am rapidly approaching that myself. Granted, they seem to be picking up speed with several 150 - 160 day approvals so that is indeed good news for many.

P.S. I haven't heard "Cool your jets" in ages...got a laugh out of that...thanks