Gregory&Dyn

The vein of this sick joke just continues to run deeper and deeper. I've asked it before and I will ask it again, are we a third-rate developing nation or are we the freakin' United States of America?

How can a group of seemingly adult professionals be so terribly irresponsible as to repeatedly lose paperwork on a daily basis?

I'm sorry, my VJ brothers and sisters, I really am. I share your pain and frustration. On the bright side, you are moving forward. As for Dyn and me, we continue to sink deeper into the pit of despair known as USCIS.

USCIS blames NVC. NVC blames USCIS. In the meantime, nobody is taking responsibility for our lost petition. Its sickening to the core.

So, in closing, let me ask this: in reconstructing the entire petition, will you have to refile and wait out the approval process again? I fear I may be walking your same path soon.

hey guys, just an update.

I got an email today from NVCresearch - keep in mind I have not emailed them in like over 3 weeks.

The email said: USCIS has notified us that the petition is on its way to NVC. we will notify you when we receive the petition.

YAY. i think, i hope, i pray lol.

Thinking this is true because from what I have heard, USCIS sends out petitions to NVC on fridays, so today was friday- and im sure they contacted nvc today to let them know they FINALLY sent it over today. Fingers crossed its true and I'm at NVC next week!

have a good weekend guys. prayers for all that are still waiting.

That's GOOD news. Keep it flowing!

any updates?

I received an email from Senators office this morning stating that USCIS let them know that they received my reconstructed package and will be assigned to the appropriate unit for review...please allow additional time and an update will be provided when more information is available....

Can't help but be nervous and feel like my case is going to be forgotten or take forever to be "reviewed"- i dont get why i need to be reviewed, im approved!

Wait...what???

USCIS has to review your case again? Seriously? Why couldn't you send it straight to NVC since you already have your approval? God forbid this happens all over again. I can't believe this. Will they expedite it or treat it like any other case and take another six weeks to send to NVC?

No updates. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

Eleven days into the Senator's investigation, and not a word from anybody. The NVC research team has not responded either.

Depending on who I talk to at USCIS, some say the case was sent to NVC in July. Others claim it is still at the California Service Center. My confidence isn't very high right now. Even they can't figure out their own system.

Congrats on your advancements. That's a BIG deal. I will keep you posted. You do the same.

Greg

Oh, and because bad luck seems to be distributed in abundance as of late, I called my senator's office this morning because I hadn't heard anything from them in a full week. As it turns out, the immigration liaison in Constituent Services just happens to be on vacation. She was gone all last week and part of this week. Grrrrrrr!!!

Just got off of the phone with USCIS. What a joke, and what a lack of sympathy those people have. Man, I hope my senator's office can get better answers than I did.

So, I spoke to a tier II immigration officer who was able to verify that the California Service Center still has our case and they never transferred it. Last week they told me it was sent to NVC back in July. Approval was seven weeks ago, by the way. WTH?!? There is no explanation why and no reason given. I tried to explain to the officer (who was some young punk by the way) that most people who applied with us and were approved after us have already cleared the NVC stage. All he could say was, "Yup....I hear that a lot", and then he chuckled. He told me most people normally wait about three to four months for cases to be transferred from USCIS to NVC. I said, that's BS and you know it. Maybe in rare situations it takes three or four months, but don't you dare tell me that waiting that long is the norm. I know better. And because he is some young kid with no real experience, he tried pulling the old, "Well I work for the Department of Homeland Security and yadda yadda yadda."

I was NOT in a good mood at this point and I said, well for your information I hold clearances with the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA, and by the way, I carry an active TSSCI clearance with the Department of Defense...oh, and I work at the Pentagon. He actually stopped being cocky for a minute. Sadly, my creds didn't get me anywhere.

I asked again why our case hadn't been sent. Either he didn’t know or he just wouldn’t tell me. I got the impression that he just didn’t care. He was more interested in getting onto the next phone call. He also told me that he can see that I have called twice before and I didn't need to call anymore. He told me to wait four months and if I don't hear anything, I should call back then. I want to scream right now and punch something. This is absolutely ridiculous.

The sickening part of all of this, the I797 Approval has an expiration on it. If I wait four months, it will be expired. What then? Please, if you work for the USCIS, shed some light on this situation. Give me some answers. This is my life you are putting on hold.

I'm pretty sure your friend is grateful for this post and he appreciates the support.

It is my understanding that the CFO seminar can be done in advance, but no CFO stickers will be issued until the attending fiancé has his / her visa in hand. If travel is an issue, I would wait otherwise two trips will have to be made.

Hi,

Unfortunately you will have to start over again.

Here is my humble opinion. I really think you should marry and file for a spousal visa instead of another fiance vise. Let me explain the reasons why.

• You had a previous K1 that did not end in marriage so an attempt for a new one may cause some type of extra review which could delay the case.
• Not only are you getting married but you are losing your virginity. This will be a big event in your life and obviously you are stressed over it. Another K1 will only give you another 90 days. You don't need the stress of a deadline over your head while worrying about marriage and your wedding night.

My advice is to have your fiance travel to your country and marry there. There you will have your support of your family to comfort you. Maybe even have a comforting talk with your mother the night before your wedding for example. You being in a foreign country without family and to experience a life changing event was too much for.

It is ultimately your decision which route you want to take but it is something to think about.

Well thought out, and well said. I couldn't agree more

any updates on your end? thinking of you and praying!

No updates yet. Haven't heard from Senator Kaine's office. I wouldn't expect to hear anything until next week.

I got an email from NVC Research that says, "...we do not have any record of receiving your approved petition from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)."

Duh! I already knew that. That was the whole purpose of asking NVC Research to begin an investigation, right?!? We are now at seven weeks since NOA2. Here's to hoping next week brings good news. Its so sad that Dyn could actually be here right now, and instead, we haven't even cleared the NVC stage yet.

Thanks for your prayers and kind thoughts. Keep praying please!

Greg & Dyn

AAARRGGHHHH!!!!!!

How is it that everybody is clearing the NVC stage except us? This is so frustrating. We received our NOA2 Approval more than six weeks ago. USCIS blames NVC for not processing it. NVC blames USCIS for not sending it. Somebody needs to take some damn responsibility and get this done and over with. I am so pissed right now. USCIS claims they sent our petition / approval to NVC but they have no evidence to back that up. NVC claims they have no receipt of our petition. The NVC customer service rep told me that 90% of all issues with lost / misplaced / missing / damaged / delayed petitions falls on USCIS.

No solid updates...nothing of consequence anyway.

I finally reached a Tier II USCIS Immigration officer this morning. The gist of the conversation went like this:

TIER II USCIS IMMIGRATION OFFICER

Sir, USICS approved your from I129F on 07 July 2016 and your petition was sent immediately to NVC. If NVC claims they haven't received your petition, its likely that they do have it in their possession and they have yet to process it, meaning, they haven't entered it into their system yet. As of right now, the fate of your case rests in the hands of NVC. Be advised that cases are sent from the CSC to NVC in bulk. It could take up to eight weeks before NVC processes your case and acknowledges receipt. I would encourage you to continue to call NVC daily to check the status of your case.

ME:

GRRRRR!!!

By the way, I contacted NVC research Friday afternoon via their email and requested that a case be opened to track the current status of our case. I also reached out to my Senator's office and initiated an investigation.

Will continue to keep you all updated. Praying for good news.

It is just bullshit.

Why they just cant send the file as scanned and they just mailing it as paper files.

Or they should send it every week at friday so there will be no delays. Sending a file cant be that hard. I am sorry but uscis is the most unprofessional place i have ever seen. Processing a file takes 3 months. Sending files to nvc take 6 weeks. Sometimes they lose it? You pay to them and they just lose it. What kind of service is that? I feel furious because what happened to your file.

Right!?! Well said!

From personal experience, any emails / SMS messages you receive are just a bonus. TOM169 is right, they are unreliable at best. Sometimes you get them. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you get one and not the other. And worse yet, they can arrive right away, or be delayed for a week or more. Don't rely alone on just the email and SMS messages. Look for hard copies. That's your evidence of receipt.

The title wasn't intended to be misleading. Truth is, if I don't know where our petition is, and USCIS and NVC can't confirm where it is, it's lost. Kind of like your car keys or sunglasses, you know they are somewhere in the house. You had them when you walked inside, and now they are nowhere to be found. L.O.S.T.

This is a long running theme on VJ, and the answers / responses generally remain the same. I opened this thread as a means of venting. In doing so, I was hoping that something concrete would be shared that would finally set the record straight for all of those who have gone before me, and for those who follow.

The generic and canned responses from USCIS and NVC operators are just that, they are nothing more than regurgitated quotes taken from page three of the Good Employee Handbook. What I want is a solid and definitive answer on what happens. I can't accept that some petitions are approved and sent right away while others remain left behind for months at a time with no explanation.

I am a Senior Consultant for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon in Washington DC. Nobody knows the red tape and ill-directed bureaucracy of the U.S. government better than I do. I witness it everyday. Hell, its likely that I even (indirectly) contribute to it on occasion. Even so, there is a standard of accountability within my organization that keeps our toes on (or relatively close to) the line. Should any organization in the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department operate differently? While the answer to that is, no; the real response is, it IS different. The contractors and operators at USCIS / NVC that handle our cases do so with an apparent disregard. We are pieces of paper. We are numbers We are barely names without faces. We are shuffled, tossed, torn and spilled upon. We sit in desk drawers for weeks at a time. We are dog-eared and faded patrons resting weary on dark, dusty shelves. We are a burden to those who carry us. It shouldn't be that way.

After decades, and millions of applications funneling through the system, there has to be a more efficient way of handling and tracking cases. We are a paperless society, and yet, USCIS resorts to such a primitive way of organizing and processing. There appears to be no standard operating procedure. Cases are handled randomly and out-of-order. Similar petitions are approved by some, and rejected by others. Some applications sneak through and are processed in record time while others just sit and sit. I can't change the system. I can't fix what's broken. Sheesh, I can't even resolve my own issues right now. Even so, I hope that somebody / anybody with a strong working knowledge of the system would step forward and shed some light.

Rant over. Done. Complete. Finished. Kaput.

To answer your question, Tier I did not make any attempt to transfer me to Tier II. They simply said that because of the high volume of calls, Tier II was offline and wouldn't be available until next week. I will call again on Monday at 0800 EST and press forward.

I emailed the NVC Research Team a few minutes ago and included all necessary information.

My local Senator's office is within walking distance of my house. Unfortunately, Senator Kaine is clearing his path for the White House as Vice President. Doubt he will be available. Do you have any experience with requesting assistance from a local senator's office? If so, please offer some guidance on how I approach them, what I should request. I don't want to stroll into their office looking like a whiny guy with no direction. Are they used to these sort of requests?

To clarify, you scan the approval (NOA2), just the single page.

Appreciated and done! Will keep you updated. Your guidance and care is more than appreciated. Thank you.

**You mentioned just the single page of the I-797 Approval. That's all I have is the single page. Is there supposed to be more?**

This is so maddening and stressful. Today is the six week mark since NOA2 approval and NVC still hasn't received our case. USCIS can't even tell me where our case is or where it was last. USCIS Customer Service also told me that the six week wait is only a guideline and I must now wait a full ninety days before any investigation can begin to locate a potential missing case. Are you kidding me? Why the !$#* does it take USCIS three full months to send an approved petition??? I kindly requested a Tier II Supervisor who has the ability to track the case's movements and last known location. I was told that a Tier II Supervisor wasn't available to take my call. What a joke this has turned into. Nobody knows anything, and worse yet, nobody seems to care.

At the six week mark today and NVC still has nothing. USCIS can't even tell me where our case is or where it was last.

USCIS Customer Service also told me that the six week wait is only a guideline and I must now wait a full ninety days before any investigation can begin to locate a potential missing case. Are you kidding me? Why the !$#* does it take USCIS three full months to send an approved petition??? I kindly requested a Tier II Supervisor who has the ability to track the case's movements and last known location. I was told that a Tier II Supervisor wasn't available to take my call. What a joke this has turned into. Nobody knows anything, and worse yet, nobody seems to care.

Called USCIS Customer Service today who told me that the six week wait is only a guideline, and I must now wait a full ninety days before any investigation can begin to locate a potential missing case. Are you kidding me? Why does it take USCIS three full months to send an approved petition??? I kindly requested a Tier II Supervisor who has the ability to track the case's movements and last known location. I was told that a Tier II Supervisor wasn't available to take my call. What a joke this has turned into. Nobody knows anything, and worse yet, nobody seems to care.

There are TONS of people who have experienced the same, search the NVC subforum.

This isn't an NVC issue - this is a USCIS issue (liks 90% of all other issues in this process). People's cases are stuck at USCIS after approval, they simply take forever to send them and no one really knows why.

Somebody must know why. I fail to see how the logistics work in their process. Several others with identical approval dates for the same type of visa and for the same country reached and cleared the NVC stage in a matter of two to three weeks while ours seemingly vanished.

What is your status? Any updates?

well here we are at six weeks after my approval and NVC still hasn't received the approval yet. tier 2 sent an email that hasn't been answered yet even though they said we should receive a letter from NVC in 2 weeks this was 1 1/2 weeks ago. Why is it that everything is one big secret. I am not allowed to know where anything is. during this entire process I was 100% aware of the location of my petition and paperwork whether going to and from the Philippines for signatures to the agency that helped to texas drop box to california but once the approval I know nothing

Any updates on your case? Please inform.

What a mess! Seriously. Could things get any worse right now?

• I-129F reached USCIS in early April 2016.
• I-797 / NOA2 Approval on 07 July 2016.
• Post Decision Activity email implying case was sent to NVC arrived on 14 July 2016.

Six weeks later NVC still hasn't received our case. No updates. No concern on their behalf. What can we do? Why on earth does it take six long weeks to send a simple package from California to New Hampshire? Nearly all of my fellow April I-129F K1 filers from the Philippines have cleared the NVC stage, scheduled interviews and are in the process of of getting their visas. We feel so left behind. Please help. Its depressing, frustrating, and heart breaking. USCIS and NVC have offered no solid advice or guidance on what to do other than continue waiting.

• Has anybody else experienced a similar situation, and if so, what was the resolution?
• Can someone offer some solid guidance and direction on how USCIS => NVC process works?
• What can we do, if anything?

UPDATE!! The NVC received our paperwork this morning! We won't have a case number for up to two weeks, but it's in their system and no longer among the missing! Hope everyone else gets good news this week too!

No kidding? That's GREAT news. Wow! Such a long wait. Were you starting to feel hopeless? So happy that all is well now.

Teacat- what did they say to you? Any good news?

I called again (I'm so ####### I know) ... Asked to speak to supervisor but was refused. They told me that the email team has more access to petitions than they do and if they sent me an email saying they received it they probably did it's just waiting to be put into the system and I am free to call back as much as I'd like whenever I'd like it should take a few days.

Feeling hopeful- kinda sorta not really. But trying to stay positive. If I am not in their system by the end of the week or Monday I will probably be up their butt and USCIS when I get back Thursday to the US and figure out if I actually need to reconstruct my petition.

For some odd reason I feel like it's at NVC and they just had it siting there and realized now- and USCIS is basically letting us know they sent it July 1st it should be there but if NVC continues to say it's not that I would need to reconstruct my petition and have them resend it to them.

Hoping it's at NVC and I get better news by Friday l

Brother,

What a mess. Don't know whether I should be happy for you or concerned. Sounds like a bit of progress has been made. Let's keep our fingers crossed that your case continues to move in the right direction. PLEASE keep me updated.

Its so sad that there is no way to track these cases. At the very least, each case should be scanned and digitally stored for safekeeping. And the fact that it is a massive system with heavy caseloads just emphasizes the fact the system is primitive and archaic. It should never take six weeks to move between CSC and NVC. Although, if there was some consistency between cases, I might understand. Sadly, it all seems willy-nilly. I've witnessed several cases process through NVC in less than two weeks, while others of the same type / country / approval date take forever and ever.