Megan & Luke

It's obvious I wouldn't send them a letter with that much vitriol in it because I'd be afraid that they would take offense and take even longer to approve our case. The information I have so far about days that TSC will be in the office comes from a Tier 2 agent who was nice enough to open an inquiry for us without giving us the "May 6" date runaround from the website. We are still in the process of waiting for a response to that inquiry which was opened on the 17th - it was assigned to an officer finally on December 22 for a response.
I was using many of the statements as a "collective". The letter (if I ever even intended to send it) would have been addresses to the Director of the center, who most certainly has some say in if petitioners are able to be transferred. Definitely moreso than the Tier 1 and 2 agents. I fully believe the higher ups are refusing to do their jobs, and I understand they have no control over CSC's workload, but they do have the ability to try and even out the processing times. The system overall needs an overhaul and I think much of the issues come down to the fact that it is assigned to service center by state, rather than actual petition workload.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday! Hopefully we see July approvals in the coming month.
I had a strong urge to send TSC an open letter, which apparently the Tier 2 agent said I could do.
Dear Texas Service Center,
Thank you for the inability to spend the holidays with my fiance. Your lackadaisical attitude towards the future lives of the petitioners you handle cases for and speak with on the phone everyday is appalling. I hope you enjoy spending the holidays with your loved ones as you refuse to promptly assist in doing your jobs to ensure others have the same opportunity. While California petitioners are now being approved within one month's time and flying in at the last moment to be with their fiance's, I sit here over 3,000 miles away waiting for you to judge my relationship. Our concerns fall on deaf ears as you forge ahead in lying to us about the processing date and, as Christmas neared, seemed to give up entirely on processing petitions. If I did my job as poorly as you do I would have been fired long ago. At least someone is having a Merry Christmas, but I can assure you that is not me.
Sincerely,
Megan
..... I am really really contemplating it.

Yeah I think I will just wear it and see what happens. I won't have any of the tags, receipts etc because obviously it wasn't me who paid for it so they can't prove I didn't own it already anyway.
Yes maybe, but they do regularly blog about how sad they are about leaving it behind, so maybe not
Okay thank you, fingers crossed it'll be ok!
I saw that, my ring isn't quite worth that much though
Oh it's not just the daily mail.... the sun, the guardian, the independent..... they all follow me constantly it's getting to be a real problem

There is a guy, Josh, in the June thread who has been crunching data for June filers as he is one himself. I believe he is a data scientist - he's showing that 54% or more of June is already completed - he runs the case numbers through an algorithm and the USCIS case status section. Now that it seems to be back up maybe he will get even better data as he was having issues after the site went down.
Hopefully we hear something good soon - I already got my Senator involved because I wasn't going to stand by and let TSC have their way at any more than 5 months exactly. At the very least it makes me feel like I am making some sort of progress even if TSC isn't. I'll start my daily USCIS calls tomorrow once my shift gets back to normal (hard to call when I'm working a night shift!) Enough of this TSC CSC discrepancy - I made myself very clear in my letter that it was unacceptable to be considered a second class citizen when we all pay the same amount and are held captive by our state of residency. Hopefully everyone in July hears something soon, I think we're all at our wits end.
Good luck all!

My fellow TSC filers... it was a tough day for two of us, too. She cried most of the day while I checked for the case status tens of times. Also called USCIS and tier 1 told me I should be able to see the case status by Monday and they didn't transfer me to tier 2. But we all know that until NOA2 the only thing consistent is the inconsistency. The reality of life is that we are waiting for this approval and our lives are put on hold until that. After so much research, I have come to realize that no matter you speak to tier 1 or 2 no one will push your case forward. It stays where it is and one day that text,email is going to make us forget all this pain as we'd rush to gather documents and get ready for next steps. LOVEINGHANA, MEGAN&LUKE, ADDISABEBA, BALABREDA05, and my lovely fiancee. .. let's all stay strong and keep supporting each.

They don't work on week days ......

You have two options to get updated information.
1. If you create a login with USCIS and add your case # you will be able to see the last updated date when you log in - it removes the validation errors.
2. If you want the updated date and you want to know what happened 'initial review, ARN changed' you should call the toll free number in the error message. Enter your case number through there and it will tell you step by step what has occurred.
Almost everyone is having this problem. I am able to login and see our updated date but not an actual status. Frustrating to say the least - I would think USCIS needs to put more effort into hiring and training staff to approve petitions instead of needlessly updating tools on the site which haven't even worked since their release.

You have two options to get updated information.
1. If you create a login with USCIS and add your case # you will be able to see the last updated date when you log in - it removes the validation errors.
2. If you want the updated date and you want to know what happened 'initial review, ARN changed' you should call the toll free number in the error message. Enter your case number through there and it will tell you step by step what has occurred.
Almost everyone is having this problem. I am able to login and see our updated date but not an actual status. Frustrating to say the least - I would think USCIS needs to put more effort into hiring and training staff to approve petitions instead of needlessly updating tools on the site which haven't even worked since their release.

This is madness. While I'm happy that I have received my own approval, it still bothers me that other people before me are still waiting. I'm still sending a letter to my congressmen about TSC/CSC discrepancies . . .

Well, if USCIS wants to keep using the line "TSC approves more types of petitions" then move every petition to CSC. Clearly they are running out of work. This wait was EXPECTED, this discrepancy and their inability to do anything about it was NOT. It gets more frustrating by the day as it seems they have no intention of making good on their five months. They pushed April and May out to get people approved within 5 months. What about us? June and July will be coming up on their five months shortly and we have CSC practically approving petitions right out of the lockbox. Ridiculous.
This is our amazing TSC at work:
cali & ray Dominican Republic Texas No 2014-03-12 - 2014-10-20
Glenn & Andy Philippines Texas No 2014-07-02 - 2014-10-16
Gordon & Tanya United Kingdom Texas No 2014-03-14 - 2014-10-15
one petition on the 20th. One on the 16th, a few on the 15th. Are you kidding me? It's the 24th already and now we've hit ANOTHER weekend. If I hear one more person at CSC say 'your time will come! I know how you feel!' Nope, you don't. You waited two weeks. -.- /endrant

Tell me about it...By the way, we wrote our congressman too. I saw your post about it .

NOA1 July 8.. ARN changed July 16... *crickets chirping*

Hi everyone, I am a June filer and up until today I have been the annoying person who has told everyone to be patient, that our moment in the sun will come too. I found out today that a SEPTEMBER applicant through TSC received an RFE. While I am happy that someone gets to breathe a sigh of relief and have some news, the jealous monster inside me told me to finally take some action.
I called the TSC and spoke with a customer rep, it didn't occur to me to ask for a Tier 2 officer. She refused to address the topic of why a SEPTEMBER applicant already had action on her file. She kept saying that since I have not received an RFE this means I don't need to provide extra info. But I think we all know this is fairytales since many people wait up to 6-7 months and then suddenly get an RFE.
So just wanted to bring this to your attention and say that clearly being nice in this country does not work. I grew up here, I pay taxes here, and work my butt off, the least I ask is that they process as quickly as California does. There is no good reason under the sun as to why the Texas Service Center should be so obnoxiously slow.
I sat down and wrote a letter to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, their address is:
B-351 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
and I am currently trying to figure out who my congressman is to write a letter to them.
If anyone wants help writing these letters I am more than happy to provide the text of my letters.
Stop being patient, let's get loud!

Our NOA1 is dated July 3rd, still nothing, I keep checking Igor's every other day to see if June approvals go up but it has been static for about a month now, a bunch of april/may filers got transferred from TSC to CSC and got approved within a couple of weeks, I'm hoping they do the same with June/July soon so we can get this wait over with. I am getting ready to write my congressman if we don't hear anything by the second week of December, I can certainly understand the process takes time, but the randomness of it is just ridiculous and unfair in my opinion. I am just glad that we're so close to the 5 months mark cause at least they have to be more responsive if not to us directly at least to our congressman, so let's see how it goes, one way or another, we should be celebrating in December if not together at least for the joy of knowing we'll be united soon!

I called last thursday - When I called just keep asking fora tier 2 agent even if they tell you the first time they can't transfer you. I asked twice and they said "since you asked twice, I am required to transfer you" or something like that.
The tier 2 agent was the most hopeful even after I went to both my congresswoman and senator. He told me my petition was on someones desk even though he couldn't tell me the name and said I should hear very soon. and then yesterday I was approved!!
They can't really expedite anything but can give you the most information.

In view of the speed of CSC, all I-129F's should be sent to them. It seems that TSC is doing nothing at all for I-129F's except maybe Philippines and a few other expedites. As far as the confusion with the TSC petitions as opposed to the Texas Lockbox... can anything be done by the mods to fix this so it doesn't continually jig the figures?
The imbalance between the two "service" centers is a joke frankly. USCIS has to be aware of this which makes it even more of an outrage.

Yes I have worked with my Congress person. I filled in a waiver form and they called USCIS on my behalf. My case went from "oops someone here forgot it" to in progress in less than 48 hours.
Please note, my case had no issues, my fiance had lived in the USA for 2 years previously, and we've been a couple for 4 years. From filing at the lockbox to USCIS NOA, took over 8 months! We had an excellent case with literally zero issues, sometimes people really just don't care and blow you off.
Keep calling.
Legal immigration should not be this difficult. No one should have to beg to marry the love of their life, when other citizens of the same country can elope anytime. (venting)
I wish you luck :-)

Hello - We are also a PA/UK applicant and have the same attitude. We are approaching the 4 month mark and fed up of waiting so decided to contact PA's congressman/senators to see if they could do anything to help and draw attention to the vast difference between the 2 service centres. And if it doesn't work that at least you have tried.
I read a lot about senators/congressmen in other states not being helpful but that is the complete opposite to PA's. We contacted Robert Casey Jr. and Patrick Toomey and their representatives were extremely polite and helpful and said they will do all they can to help us get a sooner approval. However the most helpful has been congressman Glenn Thompson who has been pushing the hardest for us - so I would highly recommend dropping his office an email also. They all replied within 1 day of us contacting them so they are quite efficient.
I wish you luck ... its worth a try and better than sitting idle!
Jason

Hopeful,
Perhaps you get flak over your posts because you post so often, therefore people see you more often.
To be honest, at this point everything is TSC vs CSC. Combining that with the expedites for Filipinos and you have a very volatile, angry crowd on hand. The discrepancies between the two service centers is downright criminal - 5+ months compared to 15-30 days. Absolutely unacceptable.
People are most likely not angry with you, and maybe I missed a post but I am not sure why this was brought up so suddenly? I thought you had filed, were approved and moving on to the next stage, are you rebuffing someone's post? I think I missed something.
Yep - we all agreed to wait 5 months. 5 months is what we were told by USCIS as their standard processing time. The reality is that there is a ridiculous discrepancy which is wholly unfair to petitioners who have no choice in where their petition goes. When we (for example, at TSC) see someone from CSC applying 15 days before their NOA2 arrives, we get a little miffed. Rightly so, to be honest. TSC folks see it as insensitive to practically have it shoved down our throats every day by CSC petitioners. CSC petitioners feel they have the right to talk about it and celebrate same as everyone else. Both groups are correct, it's all in the emotions. Either way it's never handled appropriately.
If it seems like you are being verbally attacked by others, report it. I am not sure if something was missed because I honestly don't follow this thread anymore. I check in every once in a while, but it is too heartbreaking and depressing so I stick with the July TSC post.

Hopeful,
Perhaps you get flak over your posts because you post so often, therefore people see you more often.
To be honest, at this point everything is TSC vs CSC. Combining that with the expedites for Filipinos and you have a very volatile, angry crowd on hand. The discrepancies between the two service centers is downright criminal - 5+ months compared to 15-30 days. Absolutely unacceptable.
People are most likely not angry with you, and maybe I missed a post but I am not sure why this was brought up so suddenly? I thought you had filed, were approved and moving on to the next stage, are you rebuffing someone's post? I think I missed something.
Yep - we all agreed to wait 5 months. 5 months is what we were told by USCIS as their standard processing time. The reality is that there is a ridiculous discrepancy which is wholly unfair to petitioners who have no choice in where their petition goes. When we (for example, at TSC) see someone from CSC applying 15 days before their NOA2 arrives, we get a little miffed. Rightly so, to be honest. TSC folks see it as insensitive to practically have it shoved down our throats every day by CSC petitioners. CSC petitioners feel they have the right to talk about it and celebrate same as everyone else. Both groups are correct, it's all in the emotions. Either way it's never handled appropriately.
If it seems like you are being verbally attacked by others, report it. I am not sure if something was missed because I honestly don't follow this thread anymore. I check in every once in a while, but it is too heartbreaking and depressing so I stick with the July TSC post.

The fees are for two different things.
There is a fee for filing the I-129f ($340) and then once your fiancé hits the interview portion the visa fee must be paid for the actual issuance of the K-1 visa ($265)

That is the NOA1 yes. The first notice of approval just says 'Hi we received your petition and it has been routed'. Your fiance should have already received a physical letter by now - it's been a month. This letter will give you your case number.
If it begins with:
SRC = Texas Service Center
WAC = California Service Center
Your service center is determined by the state of residency of the petitioner. I see you listed San Francisco, California in your profile.. if that is correct, then you'd be routed to California Service Center.

Hope this makes a little bit more sense now. Not very pretty but readable now,
I-129-F_California-Service-Center_Trend-Chart
Month & Year Receipts Completions Awaiting customer action All Other Pending
Sep12 1,483 1,973 1,575 7,804
Oct12 1,714 1,229 934 8,850
Nov12 1,447 938 624 9,733
Dec12 1,443 484 438 10,929
Jan13 1,445 574 381 11,898
Feb13 1,568 420 366 14,200
Mar13 1,796 347 318 15,797
Apr13 1,691 3,478 2,088 11,210
May13 1,779 2,766 2,552 7,924
Jun13 1,513 2,103 1,953 7,998
Jul13 1,567 2,545 1,824 6,739
Aug13 1,585 3,324 2,588 4,333
Sep13 1,569 2,587 1,953 4,081
Oct13 1,581 3,263 2,419 2,141
Nov13 1,285 2,499 2,104 1,801
Dec13 1,471 1,835 1,653 2,345
Jan14 1,676 2,195 1,407 2,635
Feb14 1,641 1,901 1,620 2,648
Mar14 2,010 1,400 1,127 4,037
Apr14 1,915 2,732 1,654 2,897
May14 1,798 1,948 2,137 2,434
Jun14 1,667 2,048 1,646 2,748
Jul14 1,819 1,376 947 4,031
Aug14 1,642 1,368 890 7,902
I-129-F_Texas-Service-Center_Trend-Chart
Month & Year Receipts Completions Awaiting customer action All Other Pending
Sep12 0 0 0 1
Oct12 0 0 0 0
Nov12 1 1 0 0
Dec12 0 0 0 0
Jan13 0 0 0 0
Feb13 0 0 0 0
Mar13 0 0 0 0
Apr13 0 0 0 1
May13 0 0 0 2,011
Jun13 0 777 0 3,253
Jul13 399 2,592 0 3,783
Aug13 2,024 1,971 0 7,553
Sep13 1,695 2,934 0 7,165
Oct13 1,787 3,516 1,170 4,383
Nov13 1,597 2,204 1,167 3,890
Dec13 1,702 1,710 650 4,658
Jan14 1,827 1,465 408 5,646
Feb14 1,944 1,509 376 6,716
Mar14 2,291 1,051 366 8,203
Apr14 2,105 971 291 9,629
May14 2,123 578 272 11,564
Jun14 2,033 1,143 554 12,291
Jul14 2,109 1,443 963 12,532
Aug14 1,757 2,597 2,082 7,385

I am starting to think it a strategy to speed up the process would be to establish a dummy domicle in California so that one's K1 petition can be processed there as opposed to the TSC.
Congrats.

Hooray, for you guys,...,but this was no doubt CSC!!!
WHY is the TSC being "hosed" so bad.,.,.,,..""WHY""., not even the work load and if you need to keep adjusting, between service centers, then do it!
How can CSC be 29 days, and TSC be over 180 days.,.,""WHAT is wrong with that!
I suggest move to CSE districts for a month, file, get approved, then move back to your original home! If I was going through K-1 again, I would do it in a "heart beat!!""