llaz

HOLY MOLY!! A LANDSLIDE DAY FOR USCIS!
3 cases approved in one day for Nov 3rd! 
HAPPY DANCE! HAPPY DANCE!
 
* Note the exaggeration, but yes, I am happy for 3 cases approved by all means its better than 1 case last week!  * 

***Today's comprehensive update***
Date: 3/27/2017
Scan ran: 10:34 PM ET
Scan finished: 11:42 PM ET
Records: 3825 (Reduced from 5,000 via removing "final" statuses)
 
Cases updated today: 136
Approved: 94
RFEs: 18
Other: 24
 
Today's Data: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8es4j04tzi2aDlrZV9XMllYLW8
 
All data: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1B_oR3Imoi-dVhQSG02YkFhVjg
MS Access Database: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8es4j04tzi2WndWWDFpM2gxVm8
 
*Keep in mind I'm only counting WACs from WAC1790048000 onward. Records untouched prior to this are not included.*
 
 

True, I understand. If I didn't know you guys I would have been more nervous and upset. Enjoy your trip in Chile. 

Thanks Chi for all of your support! You are too kind! I couldn't have taken all of this time of waiting if all you guys and all of your support didn't exist, don't get me wrong my fiancee is a great support as well but sometimes its nice to have the support of others who know the process a bit more. He gets to sit back and just wait this entire time, well, his time will come soon once we get NOA2 and its off to Chile! 

Thanks Chi for all of your support! You are too kind! I couldn't have taken all of this time of waiting if all you guys and all of your support didn't exist, don't get me wrong my fiancee is a great support as well but sometimes its nice to have the support of others who know the process a bit more. He gets to sit back and just wait this entire time, well, his time will come soon once we get NOA2 and its off to Chile! 

Of course they are. USCIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget is decided by Congress. The Secretary of Homeland Security is nominated by the President but must go through Senate approval and the Senate can question and have hearings into decisions and actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security and its various sub-departments. It's all politics. 
 
Powerful, influential people such as Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, Congressman Ryan and Congresswoman Pelosi will most certainly get USCIS to move.

To do this you need to sign a document with Senator's office giving him/her permission to get information on your case
the response most get from Senator to an inquiry is the same you get (the last you received like NOA1 or NOA2)
really they are not suppose to get involved although some do as immigration does not work from Federal budget and suppose to be totally out of control of Congress except for the laws and rules they pass through the Homeland Security 
i wrote to both Senators and Congressman, Obama and Secretary of State of State
i got polite responses saying all were concerned with immigration
some Senators do seem to get action (or take credit for something that was already going to happen) but depends on party of the Senator and who is currently in office 
i know many will disagree with me but i got no help and Senator office told me they could not really do anything 

@mallafri76 and @Dee elle Thanks for sharing your experiences, seems that the congress person/senator may be the way to go. We want to choose the right way to get answers and not waste anymore time. 

 
If you've been following Geo's updates in the Nov 2017 post, I do not believe that after 6 months of waiting for an NOA2 response we will be too hasty by any means or causing delay for other I-129f's as they are working on mid-December cases and we are a Nov 3rd case. There are 19 cases left out of 219 for Nov 3rd and they have been approving 1 - 3 cases over the past ~6 weeks, with the last two weeks resulting in just 1 case approved per week. The USCIS officially claims (per their website) they are working on Oct 15 cases right now with an update to their "processing cases" date coming within 2 weeks which at that time will more than likely automatically put our case out of automatic processing times (this happens when the date they say they are working on passes your received date), but we are going to wait until just about 6 months to send a letter/open a case inquiry, so we aren't writing right off the bat as you are stating. 

There's no "expedite" here. You are permitted to request an inquiry at any time, and once you are out of normal processing times (~6 months for the I-129F), you are more likely to get a response for a reason for the delay. Most I-129Fs are taking 3-4 months to be adjudicated, not 6 months. There's no gaming the system here.

We involved our Senator after being stuck at NVC for about seven months. 45 days later, we got case complete so it definitely worked in our favor.
 
If you're pass the usual processing times and you're not getting any answers then I definitely recommend involving a Senator or Congressman.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!
For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 
 
Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

...approved!

I wish I would even get half of that time off lucky u...good luck

yayy! that is very cool that you can travel there for such a long time and wait together, I am from Argentina next to Chile, and yeah our flight tickets are expensive hehe, hope we all get approved soon though. 

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!
For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 
 
Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!
For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 
 
Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

My understanding based on conversations here is that the USCIS just gives one case worker 400-500 (hyperbolic estimation) cases at a time and each case worker works through their pile at their own leisure. What i don't understand is how some cases can hypothetically take so long? Does one case worker spend days at a time on a single case? Their jobs seem pretty simple; review the contents of the packet, if they match these 20 (arbitrary number) key points, pass it on as approved, if they don't or have errors, RFE and list all of the points that need more evidence. Even with a 200 page packet, it's not necessary to read exact word letter for letter in each page. From what I read, many filers have tens if not hundreds of pages of just chat logs. It's not as if the USCIS gives the most detailed explanations for RFEs or denials anyway.
 
Theoretical solution: Why not just use the Ross approach? Have a singular stack of all cases sorted by date submitted. Use an 'usher' to allocate small groups of packets to each case worker. When they are on their last case, provide them with 3-5 more. That way things flow significantly quicker and some people aren't waiting 40-50 days longer than another. 
 
Please don't take this as an argument, but a means to spark conversation and share ideas. Feel free to correct any misunderstandings i may have or share facts to help everyone understand better.
 
Also: @geowrian I noticed you didn't begin becoming active in this site until you started your own visa process. Could you share with us your background and why or how you are able to generate such a substantial amount of actionable insights to support this community the way you do?

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!
For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 
 
Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

still no word from @JimJesDuma? What's happening?

LEAVE OF ABSENCE APPROVED!
For 8 weeks and they are going to pay me for 2 of those weeks as "vacation time". 
Love my employer!

Now I just have to decide which days I should go, I can go May 12 - July 9 or June 5 - July 31 ... hmm ... I really want to be there for when his interview happens. 
 
Hopefully Chile treats me well, at least I will be with my love  ... and after this can we please stop spending money on airplane tickets!? lol

Just sent my leave of absence letter to my employer, wish me luck! 
*holding my breath*

***Today's comprehensive update***
Date: 3/23/2017
Scan ran: 10:42 PM ET
Scan finished: 11:41 PM ET
Records: 4800 (See Note below)
 
Cases updated today: 198
Approved: 103
RFEs: 72
Other: 23
 
Today's Data: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8es4j04tzi2a2E0dFlFbHMwWG8
 
All data: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1B_oR3Imoi-dVhQSG02YkFhVjg
MS Access Database: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8es4j04tzi2WndWWDFpM2gxVm8
 
*Keep in mind I'm only counting WACs from WAC1790048000 onward. Records untouched prior to this are not included.*
 
 
NOTE: There was some connection issue going on and I was only able to pull the first 4800 from my list today. I removed 12/23 and 12/27 from my table above, but a few counts may still be off.

Good luck llaz!

Approved! After 131 days of waiting. 
 
@Chi&Clint Thanks for giving me hope! 

I really hope you get a positive answer and you two get to spend those months together. The best thing that could happen is to get approved and be together, you guys will be able to go out and celebrate! 

Yes, I would be coming from Spain. The last time I was there, was in January (I left the US on the 9th of January) and I stayed for 1 month and 3 weeks. I came with the ESTA and we were thinking to either come now on April for a week or wait until June which will be already 5 months since I stepped a foot into the US and come for some longer than a week if we still got no news from NOA2 (which at that point would be crazy...)