rlt

I have no idea about what they´re doing wth my package 3, since I sent them before they sent my application back to the USA.

I also received p.4 yesterday, but when they called me to tell me my interview was canceled, she said I should ignore p.4

If we are still sharing frustrated conversations with USCIS officers?

So, I couldn´t find Vermont´s email and emailed California SC (oh yeah, I´m shooting everywhere!).

Here´s the dialogue so far:

ME:

Hi there.

I´d like to know if the Service Centers are processing cases received after March 6th, or if they are still waiting for the new procedures because of the IMBRA law.

Also, when these recalled petitions reach the Service Centers, will they be processed as priority or they will be put at the bottom?

Please, this informations is very important to me, since I had already my interview scheduled and now I wonder what´s gonna happen.

These answers will help me to have more hope that my case will have a new status soon.

Thank you so much.

CCS:

Sir,

Please provide your receipt number, that way I can give you specific information about your petition and how it is being processed.

ME:

Sure.

My receipt number is xxxxx

Petitioner´s name: xxxxx

Beneficiary: xxxxx

If you could please tell me if yhe Service Centers are already working on sending the new quetionnaire or form to the petitioners I would appreciate it. It would give me a lot of hope to know if that´s the situation right now or if all the cases dated ather March 6th are still being held waiting for new instructions.

Thank you very, very much.

CCS:

Your petition was processed at the Vermont Service Center, it was approved xxxxx, 2006. The petition should have been forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC). You can contact NVC by phone at 603-334-0700.

Thanks,

ME:

Thanks, but that was not my question.

My petition, after fwd by the NVC to my Consulate in Brazil, was sent back to USCIS due to a new request. It was not only mine. As the official statement of the Dept. of State said, a total of 1100 applications were recalled.

You can read that at http://travel.state.gov/visa/laws/telegram...grams_2927.html

Please, all I´m asking is if the Service Centers are already sending out these questionnaires to petitioners or if they are still waiting for further instructions.

Please, I´m not asking for a timeline of my case. I know at this point it´s impossible to predict, but I need to know if the recalled cases are being processed or if they are still on hold.

Please, this is very important to us.

Thank you so much.

CCS:

You would get a more correct answer to your question if you were to contact the Vermont Service Center, as the petition was not returned to this location.

Thanks,

---

So I just emailed them asking for Vermont´s email.

Should I laugh or should I cry?

ok...let me clear this up....we didnt do this cause we were looking for our noa2. i do however appreciate your posts to mine. i was asked to call by a member, the more people calling(maybe) the better. we just talked to them, asking if they knew of some kind of timeline, and we also told them that this was pretty fresh, noa1....04/29. in my case wanting to know maybe, how long this might take was because i have a son who is now 20, who is coming over with me...hopefully, by the time this gets going again, he will still be 20.. ...i didnt mean to upset anyone

I´M SO WITH YOU on this one!

It´s not because he process is long and stressful that we have to sit and wait while they are giving us wrong information.

All we want is a word from someone saying if this new request is being implemented or if they are still waiting for something to start doing it.

That´s all.

We all know we need to wait, but they have a service called information that are not working properly.

Apologies for not reading aroiund to se if this has been posted, but the immigration attorney who posts to AVUMB posted this yesterday:

HEADS UP -- DHS Error -- Post 3/6/2006 K-1 Petitions Recalled

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375323

"It seems that approximately 1100 K-1 petitions filed with CIS after March 6, 2006 were mistakenly approved without the necessary background checks ont he petitoners. Those visa petitions are being recalled from the Consulates for proper processing in compliance with the law." (more)

At least we know there is a finite number (are most of them listed here, lol?)

m

You're right about that and considering that this is worldwide, 1,100 isn't SO many. Honestly, I was imagining more like 5,000+. If the SCs buckle down and work they could get these older petitions reprocessed and approved in a matter of weeks and for people without criminal records/prior petitions, maybe the wait won't be ridiculously long and they can continue where they left off waiting for interviews. AND newer petitions can start being processed.

Good luck to everyone being affected by this new law (and to everyone in general too)! Hopefully, now that they've recognized an exact number (more or less) and have recalled most of them, people who haven't gotten any information about their case in relation to the IMBRA can relax a litle bit and assume they won't be affected.

Sorry not to be as optimistic as you.

What scares me the most is not even the affect that IMBRA will have n petitioner´s criminal records but how long will take to USCIS to start requesting it from them.

It doesn´t look like it´s gonna be tomorrow.......

As we are aware, there are a few cases getting approvals thru Nebraska these last few days. SO have they figured out this new law, and implemented the necessary steps to abide by the new law? IF so we have not heard from any of them saying they received and RFE's, so maybe they are just doing the checks, without any paperwork on our part. I wish some of them would let us know.

No, that´s not the case.

All Servic Centers but Vermont are still processing cases dated before March 6th because they do not need to meet the new request.

And the new request is the criminal records of petitioners, so they can look at it and see who meet the new IMBRA law and who doesn´t.

So, they will be sending out new instructions to everyone after March 6h. Or, if we´re lucky they will put this on their website for download.

It´s impossible to get this answered right now, since this new request for criminal records doesn´t seem to be ready yet.

How in the world do you get to a human on the USCIS phone?

I think you diall their number and then 1-2-6-1.. smething like this

They will ask for your receipt number (you must press 322 for the EAC letters as well) and then I think you just hold.

I remember sometime they said PRESS 5 to speak to an operator.

It would help a lot to know if they have the new questionnaires or if they´re waiting.

I tink that´s all.

Shouldn´t be that hard for them to answer!!!!!

hi all......called real early this morning to the vsc in st. albans, without any sucess, was told there was a 30 min hold, then was told not to stay on line...and it then said GOODBYE. geeeeeze........so i went online to get the tel numbers for vermonts senator and congressman....bill will call on his lunch hour today...will give any news after those calls. in my situation, i was given a noa1 on 04/29/06....soooo no noa2 will go out for some time..i quess...just want some info is all. i feel sooo bad for people who actually was given an interview date and then it was cxled, or even an noa2,....i just hope this all gets cleared up soon, so that we can all go on with our lives.. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE

Hi, could you put these Congressmen phone/email here so we can all call him?

That will make them realize the length of the mess.

----

Ok.. how frustrated can a person get?

Just got off the phone. The lady who answered my phone call was very polite and after I asked her wether USCIS is ready to send out the new forms or not, she asked me to hold and promised not to transfer me to them.

So, when she came back, she said they have no information saying the Service Centers are sending out new forms. The last information she has is that Consulates are returning these petitions.

So, she couldn´t tell me for sure, but it seems to her that they are still implementing or preparing the new system.

She said they are taking a lot of phone calls about that and they realize how many people are desperate for a solution.

But, when it comes to a "do you t´hink this is gonna take months" kind of question, all the answers are still pretty vague.

All she said was "I certainly hope not".

Could anyone call USCIS and ask the same question, please? It´s not a toll free from outside USA and my phone bill is gonna be huge.

Please.

Guys. I´m on hold to the Department of State.

They also give information about Visas. It´s a different number than the USCIS one.

I won´t ask them about my specific case.

I´ll just try and find out if Vermont has been processing I129Fs recalled petitions or waiting.

Let´s see...

I´ll post here as soon as they answer me. Waiting time is about 15 min, they said.

Keep your fingers crossed!

If Vermont is on March 6th then I think if they are reviewing old application...mine should be coming up soon(March 8)

, at least I can only hope. If this is the case then we are rolling somewhat again....but the status on USCIS has not changed for me, it gives the same message......perhaps the message is not going to change? I'm going to call my congressman's office again today to see whats news.

It does make sense, since their processing date says now they´re checking on cases dated from March 6th.

I think the main question now is if they are really reviewing those cases or if they are still waiting for new instructions, which would be my guess.

If your Congressman could find that out it would be the best!

I've just got my NOA2 after 3 long months of waiting!

No previous touches. Good lack to all of us.

The Service Centers are working. Only they are not processing anything dated after March 5th.

Hello all,

I had a lady come here recently and things did not work out. If I go through the process again, do I need to wait for a certain amount of time? Someone told me 18 months? 2 years? Is that correct? Does that apply to me if I only had 1 approval?

Thanks!

BigK

Hi

With this new law IMBRA, you have to wait 2 yrs prior filing 2nd petition.

Bill

I think you should look for more information, since nothing about IMBRA is known for sure at this point.

My lawyer said we need to wait until uscis contact us.

I won´t do that.

But at the end, I think things will be clearified when they contact us, and only that way.

NVC has no information. They only fwd applications and assign case numbers.

USCIS is the one responsible for giving us news.

I just don´t think they will.

It is difficult to dual with... stay strong peoples...

Someone have posted this somewhere…

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/edit...torial_0731.xml

we are in the process to get hold of the CIS Ombudsman involved, not sure it would be able to help for anything…. We would just try whatever that we could now..

I think it´s a great idea to get him involved.

So let´s not wait...

We demanded a word from USCIS and they released an Official Statement.

Now we know Washington has the answer to "WHEN??????????????????"

Let´s get this answer from them. Why not?

rlt, I know you are upset. And I know you believe that some sort of organized effort has been banded together here. But I really doubt that 'demanding a word' from USCIS brought about the Official Statement. More likely it was the director of the Vermont Service Center that is forcing any action that is taking place. From all the previous commentary I have read, she is a highly skilled and efficient manager. You can probably thank your unlucky stars that this happened in Vermont. At least they will stay on top of it there.

And in case this sounds harsh, I feel for you people. I would be as mad as you are. I think you all need to hang tough and support each other - and watch the tone of your posts too. I can see where if I were in your shoes and reading some things here, I would become even more disheartened...

Does that make sense? Not admonishing....just asking for calm.

Yes, of course it does make sense.

Thanks.

It´s just that as you said, I am on my shoes and it´s a very big mistake they made. I mean.. sending approved aplications in error.

I´m sorry if I treated someone with no respect. It was not my intention. Just not easy not to plan after you have your interview scheduled.

I believe no one was worried about "something still can happen" before this IMBRA thing.

I agree with Luis&Laura. Is it our fault they don't have the new form yet?!

It´s their fault.. they know that.

But they don´t care. People are gonna lose plane tickets and if I recall correctly, the petitions are valid for 4 months.

If they don´t sort this out soon thwy will expire and we can expect even more delays.

It is always advised to not make any plans or flight bookings until visa is in hand. That is not USCIS fault.

How can there be delays if the petition expires.....it will be extended just as it always has been in the past.

I'm all for saying that this situation sucks but not everything is their fault. Some comments that are being thrown around these threads loosely will add fuel to unnecessary panic.

Today I got package 4 in the mail.

It should have been the best day of my life, but instead it was the most frustrating.

It was very sad to read my interview date, and forms that I will do nothing with them.

Not a reason to panick?

Plus, somepeople need to give a 1 month notice to their jobs.

Not the best situation to think clearly.

That´s what these forums are for.

First: who are we talking about? The DHS? Are they the ones incharge of writing new forms and laws for immigration?

So let´s not wait...

We demanded a word from USCIS and they released an Official Statement.

Now we know Washington has the answer to "WHEN??????????????????"

Let´s get this answer from them. Why not?

Who should we call, email, write a letter, or whatever in Washington?

I agree with Luis&Laura. Is it our fault they don't have the new form yet?!

It´s their fault.. they know that.

But they don´t care. People are gonna lose plane tickets and if I recall correctly, the petitions are valid for 4 months.

If they don´t sort this out soon thwy will expire and we can expect even more delays.

I am in the same boat! Filed I-129f under current instructions, which have not changed, USCIS just got it today. I am thinking if they need anything I'll get RFE, but hopefully not! Really, if they need a new form, they should have already updated it, or what - everyone has to wait?? I know that there should be a new form, but they have not issued it yet! Just another frustration!

Yeah, believe it or not they will send you another request for the petitioner criminal records.

When they will do that is what we all wanna know.

Doesn´t seem like it will be soon since Vermont informed a Congressman that they are still waiting for new instructions.

E,

Those things you list are not security checks, certainly not in the sense that the term 'security check' has been associated with for the last few years.

Let's not introduce that confusion.

Yodrak

Ah, ok sorry. I guess I'm not familiar with what the term "security check" means in this instance. Sorry - my fault.

I just wanted to make sure that the background checks (more appropriate term?) are the only thing that's going to be done on the recalled petitions. Presumably, if the background check is uncomplicated and the petition had already been approved on all other terms, then it should be approved once again.

My main concern now is simply how long all this paperwork will take. :-(

---

Ok. I think we all agree that the petitions that never left the Service Center are being held.

We can also say that the recalled petitions are gonna be processed first, since the Processing Date on USCIS website is now back to March 6th.

I read on a post here today there a Congressman called Vermont, and was told that they are waiting for Washington to give them new instructions, since they don´t have a clue of what they should do with the aplications they have.

We also read that they are gonna send some kind of document asking the petitioner to provide their criminal records to USCIS.

Since they are still waiting for instructions, we can presume that Washington (DHS???) is working on a new form or whatever so USCIS can send this to applicants.

I tracked down the package that the Consulate in Rio returned to United States and it reached the NVC yesterday in the morning.

I called NVC and they said they fwd everything to the Service Centers when Consulates return it to them. They won´t keep any records of it, being impossible to confirm if they have already sent it to the Service Centers or not.

If the USCIS do not update status of recalled petitions on their website, we won´t know where our case is!

From what I heard, the Government only issue new forms or laws on the 1st or 15th day of the month.

So, what I think is that we can´t expect anything being sent to petitioners before June 1st.

What we can expect is an update in our status.

Let´s see.

I agree with those who say the american citizens should call their Congressmen and Senators requesting information.

Really? That´s great!

DO YOU HEAR THAT GUYS? WE HAVE A TOUCH POST IMBRA !!!

Now we need a touch post IMBRA through Vermont.

Hang on.

Who was touched after IMBRA?

There are applications being approved as well, but not dated after March 6th

Who got touched and when was their NOA1?

I didn´t read it clearly stating there will be a new I-129F. Did I miss something?

You have to read through the bureaucracy speak to get that

ACTION: Request OMB approval: 1615-0001, Petition for Alien

Fianc[eacute](e).

To get OMB Approval is to get approval to put out a new form...

THe normally put out a new form immediately after the public comment period has ended. FOr instance they public comment period for the new I-485 started on January 23, 2006, ended on March 25, 2006 and a new I-485 was out on April 1, 2006.

Things might be delayed due to them adding things to the Form due to the IMBRA...

It's not their fault.. the IMBRA went down in January with it going into effect in March. Not much time to get things in motion. Blame Congress for making the effective date so fast...

NOT MUCH TIME???????????????????????????????

---

Well, so we have our answer. Vermont is not sending anything to petitioners yet, since they are still waiting for instructions from Washington.

I think the question now is: WHO SHOULD WE CALL IN WASHINGTON???