stef_curls

Yeah, zero sympathy for CSC'RS. What do they need sympathy for? Can they sympathize with us, with their interviews and POES coming up and passing us by? Nope. Theyre busy starting their lives with their loved ones in 4 months from filing! It's two different worlds.

I've also read that this was not intended to apply to K-1 visas.

Again, a reminder to send your hardship stories to helptscnow@gmail.com by this coming Monday***** @lorvin

Phillipine applications are processed so quickly because of a relief effort enacted by USCIS due to the devastation of the typhoons. Simple Google search will give you more information.

Please make sure you send your story to Kristin.

Also, your example of sending all of Asia to California would also be classified as discrimination. So there's that.

Do you need something from me? You should have my story already from the letters I've written but I can link you again.

Keep this topic hot!!!

Texas filers let's GO!! Send your stories to helptscnow@gmail.com . How did you meet? When did you file? How is the news of the delay affecting your life? Extra flight costs for more visits, even if your overseas fiancé is at risk of denial at the border? Time off work/lost wages? Do you have a baby on the way? Are you heartbroken seeing California filers receive their noa2s and having interviews scheduled while we sit here knowing we still have 4 or 5 months of sitting and waiting in the dark?

NOW IS THE TIME TO SPEAK UP (if you haven't already hah)

Awesome. Thanks!! . have a great night

Edited: I accidentally completely misread your comment haha its late here on the east coast. And by late I mean 930pm

I fully recognize the good fortune that we were given by being transferred to the CSC. I am sure it significantly different for those who wait so long. I would like to correct you on one point: My reference to this country is about this country, the people, the opportuniteis, and the freedoms. Not the bureaucracy, they are not synonymous.

You say you were transferred, are you sure you are not mistaken? ALL petitions are sent to a lockbox in TEXAS, this is not the SERVICE CENTER. They are then sent ("routed" NOT "transferred") to the appropriate service center (which is based on your state of residence, most of the east coast goes to Texas Service center, west coast to cali). it's unlikely you were transferred, because the last transfer from TSC to CSC was last august. It's a common mistake, but it would be helpful if you could confirm and update your timeline accordingly .

And okay, your correction on your statement of this country is accepted ;p

Sincerely,

a grumpy east coaster

should be no problem to travel domestically. Passport is an acceptable form of ID for any within country ("domestic ").flight.

This is good information, and congrats on your NOA2, and avoiding the black hole that IS TSC.

That being said, your wait time for noa2 was less than two months. Two months. There are petitoners from July and August at TSC still waiting for theirs, and plenty after them facing a 6+ long wait. So please forgive us for not agreeing how exceptional this country is.

"Survived this process."

Again.. two months versus six or seven. just food for thought, not undermining the stregth of your relationship. It's just impossible for those at TSC to really relate you anyone who went through CSC right now, as those who filed in November and December with csc have interviews scheduled, and those filing at the same time will be lucky to see interviews in July or august.

Congrats again.

Signed!

They seem like legit TSC. I'm thinking this could be more of a tactic to making it appear that the processing time is lower. Each "recent" approval moves the processing date a fraction forward. It's like a giant eff you from tsc! Lol

I also believe those petitions approved 2/2/15 were legit TSCers. The one approved with NOA1 9/30/14, the country of beneficiary is the Dominican Republic. In their post history someone actually asked them if they were expedited for any reason. They replied no.

It's already known they don't work in order. That would seem to logical, now wouldn't it??

There were 2 updated today 2/3/15 on Igor's from 7/28, and 7/29, ~6 month approval time, which is what is currently being reported by USCIS themselves. We can only hold out hope that 6 months is now the best they can do and hope it doesn't get worse.

@hiswifey08 I understand that you may genuinely think you are helping us by letting us know how quickly your application was processed. However, I must aware you of the situation regarding expedited petitions for petitions in which the Beneficiary's country is the Philipines.

All of these petitions are expedited, due to a relief measure enacted by USCIS after the Typhoons. These applications take days to weeks to approved. However, if you are a non-filipino waiting at Texas Service Center (who services the entire east coast of the USA), you are looking at a wait of 5.5-7 months minimum.

It is safe to say this is incredibly frustrating for all of us facing (or having gone through) this incredibly daunting and seemingly unnecessary long wait time.

We do not mean to come across as brash, rude, or impolite, but if you could imagine what it feels like to be in our shoes. Sat here watching others get to be with their honey's SO much sooner than us, you can begin to understand the pain and frustration we experience every single day.

---------------------------------------------------

"Filipino nationals in the United States should visit www.uscis.gov to learn about a series of existing relief measures that may be available to them if requested. These relief measures include:

• A change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even when the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
• An extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
• An extension of certain grants of advance parole, and expedited processing of advance parole requests;
• Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
• Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens; [ (spousal and fiance visas fall here! ]
• Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
• Assistance to LPRs stranded overseas without immigration or travel documents, such as Permanent Resident Cards (Green Cards). USCIS and the Department of State will coordinate on these matters when the LPR is stranded in a place that has no local USCIS office."

source: http://www.uscis.gov/news/uscis-extends-relief-measures-filipino-typhoon-victims

Joined today. Yep.

Edited to add: And signed up specifically to post this (the OP's only) post.

Seriously, that is so aggravating!!

Great! Unfortunately for us, your spouse (or you) was from the Phillipines, and your petition was expedited, while our wait times at Texas Service Center are around 5.5-7 months. You come here to let us know you are happily married and together, thats good for you, congratulations, but is there another point to your post? I'm sorry but all posts like these do is make the rest of us feel bad.

The divorce certificate should be all you need.

Good advice stef. I think if more folk wrote their reps and made enough noise then maybe something might happen. Feel free to mention the effort my local rep is making too. If we could get more reps on board with that, then who knows, maybe another batch of petitions could be transferred to the CSC.

That said, after learning what I did WRT the delay at the TSC, I must admit to being less annoyed with them in particular. It sounds to me like the TSC is doing the best the can with a horrible situation. My frustration has shifted to the USCIS as a whole for not adjusting their strategy once the TSC was hit with this large influx of work-visa-to-AOS petitions. Perhaps the TSC hasn't complained enough about that, who knows. Regardless something needs to be done about the time difference, something needs to be done to help the TSC with their workload, which is why I'm satisfied with the approach that my rep is taking to attempt to solve the problem. For all of us.

And having said that, the larger issue that I find frustrating (and for which there is no immediate or even short term answer) is how our petitions receive such low priority in the first place. I mean heck, that's the reason the TSC is so far behind with the I-129Fs in the first place: they receive lower priority than other petitions. WHY is that??!??! A friend of a friend is an immigration attorney; I spoke with him offline about it all. Being in the "business" for lots of years, I felt that he might have something valuable to impart. He told me outright that the USCIS "...is in no rush whatsoever to process your petition." In his experience the I-129F is in the lower rung of the petition priority ladder. And yet such petitions are submitted by USCs. So what the heck? The only thing I can even attempt to come up with is the cost. AOS petitions are 3, almost 4 times more expensive, so maybe that's it. Or a part of it. But it seems illogical to me somehow. Improbable, unlikely. I dunno. Doesn't make sense to me....

And even having said all of that, the CSC is doing quite well with the processing of their I-129Fs. At least at the moment. Sure, it changes over time, but the system as a whole is broken. As has been said a zillion times before, I realize.

Ok enough ramblings. Maybe the transfer thing will happen, we'll see.

So I actually had used a quote from your recent update from Carter in a post I wrote for reddit. Here is the google doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Q5SZQL7Lg72JESW6bgdEmq6B4aJOwdK1qGlXx_STKA/edit?usp=sharing

I found your post enlightening and relieving, that they finally admitted how behind they were. That straight out lying stuff was BS.

and here are the two places on reddit I posted. Unfortunately we aren't very popular.

http://www.reddit.com/r/wemetonline/comments/2tsxx8/uscis_unacceptable_processing_times_please_sign/

http://www.reddit.com/r/LongDistance/comments/2tsln5/uscis_unacceptable_processing_times_please_sign/

If we could get more people even on VJ just sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/uscis-distribute-the-current-caseload-between-tsc-csc-vsc-and-nsc

Honestly that's the least anyone can do here, but we seem to be having trouble garnering support even for that. We are only allowed to post about it in our November Filer thread or in the general forum though it seems. Kristin and I have been trying really hard to get as much exposure as possible and we aren't giving up anytime soon. Even after our eventual NOA2's and we move on, we don't plan on stopping.

I agree with you, its absolutely outrageous that our i-129F's seem to be taken less seriously than others. If it's cost- why not make us pay more? At this point I would absolutely pay more to have my case processed within a REASONABLE and PREDICTABLE time frame. Either way, since I came here and found out how much more time we are facing in this step, I had been seeing-red-raging. All of this rallying and contacting of reps is the only thing making me less miserable right now. I am so grateful for this site and the friends I have made (looking at you, Kristin ).

Hopefully some TSC'rs (employees and petitioners alike) will find relief in a transfer. That's the only thing that makes sense to do at this point, considering the obnoxiously fast pace CSC is moving. Petitioners who filed at the same time as me (November) already have their interviews scheduled? Nah, that's really not right at all. *not dwelling here because my rage will return haha*

At this point I would be happy if my application was adjunctated at the 5th month mark, but I won't hold my breath for that... and certainly not any sooner than that. My Senator has put in an inquiry and forwarded my original "statement of hardship" to USCIS, so we will see what kind of silly response we receive from that. My Congressman has replied but I need to call his office and speak directly with his Rep later this week, hopefully tomorrow, and come up with a came plan on how I would like them to address the issue with USCIS as a whole, I don't want them to put an inquiry on my application alone since the Senator has already done that... and I'm only at just over 2 months, hardly seems necessary at this point (from their processing time frames anyway).

Sorry this is kind of ramble-y... it's early and Im about to drive to work on an ice slick. Damn Juno...

Hey everyone... I feel your pain with being frustrated with TSC. Let me tell you-- I've contacted one of my State Senator's and reps and am now working with them to get answers from USCIS. That is what these people are there for, to help. If you haven't yet I highly suggest getting in contact with them! It's a fairly easy google search to find who yours are, and then their websites. A lot of them have everything online now.

Here is an example/blank letter to base yours off of... just tweak it to fit your story.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_6zX0T7LHrJA7dWgiwbmyxtOAe7YksWXTc0Bnpp8mTs/edit?usp=sharing

Look for a privacy release form on your rep's website and send that in too if they have one. Even if nothing comes from this, all the noise we are making might be enough to do SOMETHING. The more of us making noise, the more likely we are to be heard. Good luck everyone, and let us know how it goes if you do write.

yay April!

Again, anyone who is interested in getting in contact with your Senators or Reps... here is a "fill in the blanks" letter.. We are hoping everyone will, even if you aren't very far out from your NOA1, the more noise we make the more likely we are to be heard.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_6zX0T7LHrJA7dWgiwbmyxtOAe7YksWXTc0Bnpp8mTs/edit?usp=sharing

Personalize it to make it your own of course, but it shouldn't take you long now, just find out if they have a privacy release you can send with it and you're set. A lot of reps have everything online now.

Hey guys just gettin caught up with everything been busy with work. I def think I need to jump onboard and right my my senator as well the wait ahead of us is disheartening. ..

Please do! It shouldn't take you very long with examples floating around the thread, but here is a google doc I created as a "fill in the blanks" letter.

Of course you'll have to tweak it to make it your own!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_6zX0T7LHrJA7dWgiwbmyxtOAe7YksWXTc0Bnpp8mTs/edit?usp=sharing

Let us know if you do and what kind of response you receive!

Hi April,

I'm a Houstonian and November filer.

Unfortunately I'm traveling to India for work the February 7th weekend. I would have loved to have met with some of the locals in the area, and be involved in being a voice for others that will go through the process.

I noticed that the USCIS Petition now has 239 people. How many people are actually needed for this to become a formal petition? It seems like the number of people needed keeps changing.

Event Date Service Center : Texas Service Center

Transferred? No

Consulate : Bogota, Colombia

I-129F Sent : 2014-11-18

I-129F NOA1 : 2014-11-24

Well, every time the petition is signed, USCIS TSC and USCIS hq are getting emails. At 1000 we can try and get a media source to pick it up. The best we can do right now is have everyone that is willing to, share and post the petition wherever you can. I am currently trying to get exposure on reddit. You can also contact your senator or congressman if you already haven't. A couple pages back in this thread Kristin and I both post variations of our letters we wrote. You can also use twitter - post to @USCIS or @USCISprocessingtimes . Example:

@USCIS Fix TSC processing times. #FixTSC #TSCneedshelp

Do you know guys why the uscis website don't work anymore ? i have a error message

It's probably just down for maintenance or some thing. It won't load for me either. Try back in a bit.

Another update!! I checked my mail and had a letter from the senator Jack Reed:

"Thank you for contacting my office regarding your concern with your pending Fiancé Petition (I-129f). I appreciate the opportunity to be of service to you in this matter.

On your behalf, I have contacted USCIS relative to the nature of your inquiry and forwarded your hardship statement. Please know that once I receive any information, you will he notified promptly.

In the meantime, should you need any questions or additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact [my immigration representative] at [contact info].

Warm regards

Jack Reed

United States Senator"

Here's mine! I am big on the statistics.. haha. Mostly because they are mind blowing and incredibly upsetting. Thanks to Kristin for sharing her response with me and letting me use it! I responded to the email I received on Thursday from the immigration caseworker who works with Congressman Jim Langevin of Rhode Island.

Ms. Costa,

Thank you for getting back to me regarding my letter to Mr. Langevin! Unfortunately because of my work schedule I will be unable to get in touch with you during business hours by phone until Tuesday of this week.

In the meantime, I wanted to provide you with additional information regarding the current issue, so we can avoid getting a canned response back from USCIS in the event you and Mr. Langevin decide to make an official inquiry on my behalf.

A fellow K-1 filer and friend of mine in Miami, Florida recently had U.S. Senator Bill Nelson make an inquiry for her.

USCIS’s reply referred them to their processing times, posted on the official website (https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do;jsessionid=bacXD1OC9RCyFagQNRyeu). The processing times, first of all, are outdated.

Posted on January 20, the report states that as of November 30, 2014, TSC had processed I-129F/K visa applications from June 6, 2014. This is around a 6 month wait. The same chart, when you select CSC, reports that as of November 30th, 2014 they are processing K visas in around 5 months. This is simply not true, and has us questioning whether or not this information is purposefully posted out of date to keep us in the dark.

Bill Nelson’s office contacted CSC instead of TSC by mistake. However, their response was as follows:

“This message is in response to the inquiry received from your office on December 18, 2014. USCIS records show that the subject petition was receipted into the Texas Service Center on November 18, 2014. If the petition had been receipted into the California Service Center on that date, the processing time would be five months from the receipt date of the petition into CSC. It appears that there is a one month difference between the TSC and CSC processing times. The fact that the petition comes under the jurisdiction of TSC, the constituent has the option of requesting expeditious processing of the petition if she can submit appropriate documentation to support her request.”

According to visajourney.com’s timelines, where members of the forum post updates as their visas process, California is currently processing anywhere from 3-6 weeks to 2 months maximum, while Texas is taking at least 6-7 months.

Here is the link to view these timeline statistics (this link specifically takes you to applications processed at CSC):

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=1&visa=1&scenter=1&option=2&sortby=2

At the top you will see most recent approvals. Just to clarify: NOA1 date means the day the application is received, and NOA2 is approval (it then gets sent to the National Visa Center, and then on to the beneficiary’s country).

If you click on the forum user’s name, you can see their timeline specifically, and what country their fiancé is coming from.

Here is the same chart with Texas selected:

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=1&visa=1&scenter=3&option=2&sortby=2

According to visajourney.com’s estimations based on timeline data, petitions with NOA1 dates as follows are currently being processed:

I-129F for K-1 Visa:
CSC: December 27, 2014

TSC: August 9, 2014

VSC: November 18, 2014

(Source: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/)

Hopefully this information appropriately highlights the drastic difference in processing times for the two centers.

In closing, I am not asking you to advocate for my case, as I understand things take time and there are processes to follow. What I am asking is that you question the processing times of the service centers.

Unfortunately for the people of Rhode Island there is zero transparency and the only available avenue to find out why this issue hasn’t been addressed is to ask for help from our amazing people in office that are there because we believe in them.

I’m asking to find a way to help TSC. It appears as though they either need more staff to manage their workload or a transfer of files to the other service centers so they are able to “catch up” and return to processing files in the previously expected timeframe (around 5 months).

My friend and I have started a petition to do just that and we are hoping that if we can get enough signatures, USCIS may start to understand that instead of leaving the system broken we need to find a way to make a change so U.S. Citizens and immigrants alike don’t have to suffer so much in the future.

I would be honored if you joined in our plight to make things equal for all visa seekers. Please sign the petition below and I look forward to working together to make a difference.

https://www.change.org/p/uscis-distribute-the-current-caseload-between-tsc-csc-vsc-and-nsc

In the meantime, please feel free to fax a privacy release to [my work's fax], and I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Stefanie [full name, address, phone number, and case info removed]

So an update on the letters I sent out on Monday!

I heard back from the Congressman's Immigration Rep:

"Good afternoon, Ms. Gulino –

Thank you for contacting the office of Congressman Jim Langevin. I handle the immigration casework for the Congressman in his Rhode Island District Office.

If you would like, please give me a call at your convenience so we may discuss your immigration issue.

My normal hours in the District Office are Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm.

Sincerely,

Emily Costa

Emily M. Costa, Constituent Services

District Office of Congressman Jim Langevin (RI-02)"

Yay!! Unfortunately I can't call until Tuesday due to my work schedule, but that will give me ample time to prepare exactly what I want to say. Here's hoping.

I don't know, I don't think it could hurt honestly. And although I don't think USCIS would care, it's possible it could get media attention if we pulled an all out twitter campaign and that could put pressure on USCIS to get their act together. I'm in.

@DudleyTapirs is my twitter handle, I'll RT anything anyone else tweets and add my own. I think we could really drum up some sympathy for the plight of the TSC people on twitter if we can get this rolling

Yay! I saw you followed me! We can do this!!

I appreciate people who are willing g to kick at the waves to effect change for people who endure the process after them.

It's quite unselfish. I'm trying to help CSV people whose files were misdirected in the processs. That's what happened to us.

@that_Angela

thatangela.ca

Cheers.

Your timeline isn't filled in and I am unaware and curious, what happened?

Thanks for the support

@mike. It's under 31, but I just read it , it does have a lot of conditions to qualify. Also, I can't tell by your timeline how you went about your visa journey, but it doesn't seem as though you waited abroad/had your loved one wait on an i130 or i129. Can you relate to the struggle that is being away from the person you love and having to spend extra money to take off from work and make eextra visits? It may seem petty from the outside but the situation is absurd imo and I'm not going to stop trying to do what I can to raise awareness.

Thnks for the heads up that it's the system all around and not just fiance visas, though. This movement should reflect on the big picture.