Kate + Evgeny

Believe it or not, some have sued and won against USCIS citing Writ of Mandamus. It basically exists to force an entity (in this case the government) to perform whatever action they've stated they will perform, regardless of administrative hold ups. Meaning in the case of immigrations, the only possible positive verdict would be one that forces USCIS to make an immediate determination on the case (and not necessarily in your favor). In most of the cases where this sort of extreme action is taken, it's because USCIS has been holding out on a green card, or an adjustment of status for years....Obviously we're not there yet. 
 
There are a couple of points I'm starting to become very concerned about, however. If we were receiving some kind of information about why the case has been delayed (lost in "background checks" or any of the other crazy excuses I've read about) I'd just assume we're lost in the processing the same way many others are. We've been in contact at multiple points though, and with every point of contact the officers I've talked to have directly refused to give me information regarding the case. The only clear acknowledgment I've even had that they still possess the case was the "assigned to officer" email. Granted, it could just be luck of the draw, getting on the phone with officers who just haven't been very helpful or pleasant. It may even be luck of the draw all around, but in this case I'm just trying to get prepared for whatever the next step will be to escalate this. 
 
We have been patient. We didn't even start contacting USCIS or government officials until after the 5 month mark. I've tried to stay clear headed and empathetic to the situation that USCIS employees must be facing. That being said, next week our case will have been listed as "Received" for 6 months. Their delay is now very seriously threatening the wedding we planned with almost a year's safety net. We planned to get married by the justice of the peace, like so many others, and just do the ceremony much later. Yeah, that didn't work out so well...If they don't approve our petition in the next 2 weeks, all of THOSE plans will now have to be changed. We were smart in only choosing vendors who would be willing to work with such a shift, so we won't be losing in money. That's really beside the point now though. 
 
As I stated, we are not asking for special favors, and if there is a legitimate reason for the delay we are willing to wait. I am simply asking for information regarding why my case is not being processed through. That there are no channels, and no accountability, those are the reasons why I would be considering taking on the significant hassle and financial burden of a lawsuit, if legal counsel would advise it (when appropriate) and if I see any first-hand testimony of success, rather than just case studies. Maybe I'm too much of an idealist, but at this point it's not just our case that would lead me down that road, but the increasingly obvious incompetence the department is demonstrating. Because no one (citizen or incoming immigrant/citizen to be) should have to put up with this.   

Hey, everyone!
 
Well, we are December 22 filers with an NOA1 date of 1/3, and we FINALLY have an update! We got an RFE at last, with the tracker stating an RFE mailing date of 5/23. We were pretty nervous because we really didn't know what it might be. But the paper version was delivered yesterday (5/27), and we were actually kind of shocked because it was only a request for a better passport style photo of me! We're going to try to take this opportunity to add some extra photos, though, and maybe some letters of support from friends (we already have some from my parents). We really, really hope everything will go smoothly from here forward! We are SO thankful something is finally happening after so much time! It is actually sort of surreal now that it's really moving!
 
Our thoughts are with everyone else still waiting in this process, and we are particularly hopeful for those who still haven't had movement on their cases yet. Keep going!!! We believe in you all! <3
 
I am also running the weekly scan now. If the internet doesn't do something crazy it should be posted in the next couple of hours.

Hey, everyone!
 
Well, we are December 22 filers with an NOA1 date of 1/3, and we FINALLY have an update! We got an RFE at last, with the tracker stating an RFE mailing date of 5/23. We were pretty nervous because we really didn't know what it might be. But the paper version was delivered yesterday (5/27), and we were actually kind of shocked because it was only a request for a better passport style photo of me! We're going to try to take this opportunity to add some extra photos, though, and maybe some letters of support from friends (we already have some from my parents). We really, really hope everything will go smoothly from here forward! We are SO thankful something is finally happening after so much time! It is actually sort of surreal now that it's really moving!
 
Our thoughts are with everyone else still waiting in this process, and we are particularly hopeful for those who still haven't had movement on their cases yet. Keep going!!! We believe in you all! <3
 
I am also running the weekly scan now. If the internet doesn't do something crazy it should be posted in the next couple of hours.

Hey, everyone!
 
Well, we are December 22 filers with an NOA1 date of 1/3, and we FINALLY have an update! We got an RFE at last, with the tracker stating an RFE mailing date of 5/23. We were pretty nervous because we really didn't know what it might be. But the paper version was delivered yesterday (5/27), and we were actually kind of shocked because it was only a request for a better passport style photo of me! We're going to try to take this opportunity to add some extra photos, though, and maybe some letters of support from friends (we already have some from my parents). We really, really hope everything will go smoothly from here forward! We are SO thankful something is finally happening after so much time! It is actually sort of surreal now that it's really moving!
 
Our thoughts are with everyone else still waiting in this process, and we are particularly hopeful for those who still haven't had movement on their cases yet. Keep going!!! We believe in you all! <3
 
I am also running the weekly scan now. If the internet doesn't do something crazy it should be posted in the next couple of hours.

Hi there! I dunno if your question has been answered already...I, too, was weighing my options about going home to PI (I work in Singapore) but yes she can go home to the Philippines after she gets her fiance visa in HK, but remember:
 
- she has to attend a CFO seminar in the Philippines if she is departing from the Philippines to the USA. The immigration check point will ask for a CFO sticker if she does not have a return ticket back to the Philippines.
- If she decides to go back to Hongkong after going home to the Philippines and book a flight from Hongkong to the US, remember that she will be asked for an OEC (if she still holds a work visa in Hongkong). Or else, she will be asked to have return ticket to the Philippines again if she presents herself as a tourist.
 
*they will always ask for a return ticket if the Filipino is leaving the Philippines as a tourist
 
Best thing is, just book a CFO seminar during her trip to the Philippines, then she can fly from there to the US, without question.
 

Hello all, 
 
We're just stopping through to say "hello". We've read from afar over the past few months and finally made an account. We're December filers (22), received a RFE on April 14, responded through our attorney, received May 15, now we're waiting for approval. The RFE called for passport photos. How long does it take to receive a response from that type of RFE?
 
Congratulations on your approvals and upcoming marriages.

I know your patience is running low, to be honest when I called the first person I talked with knew less than I did about the whole process. I was not completely honest and said I was moving soon, and wanted to know if my approval paperwork would arrive before I moved. She sent me to a tier 2 officer who was able and willing to look at my case. That is when I found out I had already been approved. You may have to sound desperate and make up a story, but it should work. It is absolutely ridiculous for you to wait this long, think of something and try calling again, and again, and again

Hi Everyone, Just a few minutes ago Malen got her NOA3 packet delivered! She's so excited I couldn't read anything on video! Just a few more steps now!! Wishing everyone quick approvals! 
Jon & Malen

Got my approval! PPHHEEEWWWW! Biggest relief of my life! Received the letter on 20th, but was approved on the 12th. My USCIS tracker never changed!! You just have to wait for hard copy in mail, or call and ask for tier 2 officer to possibly get any real information.
I have met the most sincere people on this site, and heard the most profound stories of Love. All the people on this site are deserving of quicker atention, but it comes eventually, and beelive me the feeling is amazing, I got my first god nights sleep in ages!! Thank you DBMATHIS, GEO, AKES and everyone that has helped make this process easier, and Good Luck to all that are still waiting, it will happen!!

OK we are finally approved!! YES!!  And thank you all for the kind well wishes too! 
 
Grace is going to complete the process in Hong Kong where she has lived/worked for like nine years.
 
My question is this, after she gets her k1 visa in her hands in HK.... Can she go home to visit her parents for a week in the Philippines before flying to the USA flying out of the Philippines? 
 
I feel for her in that who knows when she might see her parents, it might be years or something... they are getting older too.  We do plan to go back to the Philippines to visit after a few years,  but who knows 100% anything in the future?   
 
We we certainly do NOT want to start over In the Philippines, (there are extra classes in the Philippines like CFO and things move like pond water slow..)  
 
Any past experiences or rules?  I have no clue. Just looking into it now.  I do know she has  a set time after getting the k-1 visa to fly here to be with me in the USA,  or the fiancé k1 visa is invalid. 
 
Anyone know the rules? 

Hey, everyone. As you may have read above, due to the fact that the scanner is almost not working at all now and the margin of error is very high, I will now be running the scans weekly instead of daily. I feel it would actually cause more confusion than good to post every day, but I want to at least post something rather than nothing. If/when the scanner is fixed, I can go back to posting daily scans for December if they're still needed. More details can be read above in a conversation with Geowrian.
 
So here is the first WEEKLY scan:
 
Data as of 5/20/2017 at 1900:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1usxwYGVMXuLv3_04soI0U7iyRRBiRLS1Ja9__Ol7__Y/edit?usp=sharing
 
December Cases Untouched as of 5/20/2017 at 1900: 241
 
Total Cases Touched in WEEK 5/15 - 5/19: 203
 
Approvals: 4
RFEs: 25
Other: 174
 

FINALLY APPROVED!!
after 5 months and 4 days...
thank you all for the support! 
Was approved may 15th, and we got the notice in the mail today.  
Just like @Roger & Grace said, We are praying For those who still waiting 🙏
 

Cenomar has been processed and the message when I checked was " No marriage records found for this person." Now that it is done just waiting for the packet to arrive so we can go get the Singapore police clearance. Baby steps. Things are moving pretty fast now. Wishing everyone luck! Jon & Malen

WE HAVE FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!
WE ARE APPROVED!!
 
Just got the notice in the mail, Was approved May 12th, Arrived today May 18th.
 
Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes... For those still waiting, your next, and in our prayers too!  “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches
 
While time and doubt can be our enemies.... Keep the faith to what is right! 
We work hard to get our fiances and put our hearts and lives into this k1-Visa dream.
It can happen to each of us, if we just "Never give in........"
 
 

Thank you so much for your input. You know this scan and the way it works so much better than all of us, so it's really valuable for us. I will follow your advice and post a weekly scan for some time, because it's becoming rather absurd posting daily with such a large margin of error in play. Hopefully posting it weekly will bridge the gap between delivering too much unreliable "information" and scanning nothing in expectation that USCIS might correct the issue soon. I'll shoot for posting Saturdays about the data from the previous five days.

I don't know if they changed their policy or are having system issues or what else it could be. There's definitely more data in past days than in the current day's scan. This has always been true, but maybe by a couple records whereas this seems to be large sets of data lately.
 
The future dates are really a just a bug...some statuses don't list the actual date that it popped up, but instead lists a different date (i.e. when a response is due by or when a document should be received by), and the script is picking up that instead. I'll likely update the script in the future to detect those cases and try to filter them out or do something else with them so they aren't being caught as future updates. There's been a bunch of those recently...many of them being undeliverable documents from USCIS to the petitioner, or denials (not to worry anybody...denials are still extremely uncommon).
 
Honestly, I think a weekly scan may be more appropriate, especially for Dec. cases. The original idea behind the daily scans was to detect the average processing speed since it was almost nothing for a few weeks back in early Jan. The couple scans being run were in just small subsets of dates, so we had no way to know if there was a lot of progress or just a certain subset of dates was getting hit. The full daily scans would sort of even out the numbers a get an idea of relative processing speed. At this point though, daily scans are probably not too predictive on a day to day basis, and the possibly-delayed database updates are just exacerbating the issue. at least that's my $0.02.

I ran a quick Dec. filer's scan and here's what I see for the month of May so far:
 
Cases Touched: 659
Approvals: 23
RFEs: 92
RFE Responses Received (no decision yet): 509
Other: 35
 
While not a whole lot, it's averaging 41 cases being touched per business day. So it does look like they are updating the data...albeit maybe not the same night as often?
 
Data: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8es4j04tzi2Mzk5WGQyeDBlNUk
 
Row Labels

Approved

RFE

Response To RFE Was Received

5/1/2017

1

1

75

5/2/2017

  3

50

5/3/2017

  16

44

5/4/2017

  10

22

5/5/2017

  6

43

5/8/2017

12

4

36

5/9/2017

1

12

41

5/10/2017

3

1

21

5/11/2017

1

16

20

5/12/2017

1

1

37

5/13/2017

      5/14/2017

      5/15/2017

  3

49

5/16/2017

  13

46

5/17/2017

4

5

25

5/18/2017

  1

  Grand Total

23

92

509


 

Also someone from January said they called USCIS yesterday and were told they got an RFE May 11th, but the system still shows the case as received. So no, the tracker is not working, not for Approvals nor RFEs, just for a few cases randomly.

There are a several Jan and few Feb filers who have received their NOA2 hard copy by mail but their USCIS online status still shows as "recieved" only.  There is something going on where they are not updating all records in the online system. 

So it's a matter of the website not updating. Awesome. =.= I'm not sure what to do there if the data just isn't available. I'll do a bigger scan tonight and see what shows up. What I have been noticing is that past days have been showing more data after my scans than normal. I've even been running them closer to midnight (ET), but the next day I see new updates from the prior date. But like I said before, I'm working with such a small data set (~100 still pending records), that a couple records here and there is all I see.

@hy2016 @geowrian I haven't stopped working; the tracker has stopped working. I am running them and posting them when the tracker is functioning, which unfortunately, as others have said here, it isn't. User data confirms this. If you or someone else would like to run them while the system is down you are more than welcome, but I would not recommend spending your time that way, as the data you get will be wrong.

@hy2016 @geowrian I haven't stopped working; the tracker has stopped working. I am running them and posting them when the tracker is functioning, which unfortunately, as others have said here, it isn't. User data confirms this. If you or someone else would like to run them while the system is down you are more than welcome, but I would not recommend spending your time that way, as the data you get will be wrong.

We got our approval letter finally!! The website still say case received but we got approved on 5/10. This is such a relief after waiting almost 5 months.

Scared crappies  LOL ... Which, of course, it means probably will hear soon.. Thank you for asking!! 
 
Come on now..USCIS, you have had the returned RFE since May 3rd.... Pretty please soon!!!! 
 
Grace is going nuts, all they needed were updated pics and her letter of intent to marry ...  
(Which I made a copy, and framed it.. It's soooo cute!!!) 
 
Please pray for Grace's sanity she is sooo nervous something is up and we should be fine.. 

I had my interview this morning and was APPROVED! I should get my visa per mail within a week.
That means I can now move forward to the AOS section of the forum. But I just wanted to say thank you for all the support and information that was shared in this forum. I don't know what I would have done without this