majel

Re. April 12th filers....I did happen to notice that whole week no one has heard anything. I agree...I think you all should bombard them with calls...hehe [/b]

HAHA thats awesome. this week is indeed a great week. I just called the NVC they shipped our petition to the Manila Embassy on Monday the 30th. :):)

yahoo wiombeen! that's terrific.

i am waiting to get my NOA2

hardcopy in the mail before

i call - i hope our case

passes through NVC as

quickly as yours!

what an exciting week!

also, there is still

room for approvals this

evening. i don't know

about the others, by my

approval email wasn't

sent until 6pm from VSC.

and seriously- 5 approvals

on the 31st!!! holy smokes!

keep 'em comin'!

hey there - thanksfor sharing the news.

i am still relatively early on in the process so it is nice

to hear stories of people getting through it successfully.

congratulations!

actually my timeline says 109 days...got a little ahead

of myself there. the one time i opened up my email

without any real hopes or thoughts of getting it and

et voila!

this is the week people. if i have finally gotten through

i'm takin' some of you all with me! so brace yourself

after 105 days we have

APPROVALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey thanks, sparrow. it's now day 105...seems like it can't really go on much

longer, right? it's really uncomfortable having *waiting* being such

a huge part of every day.

kinda feeling helpless. but also working hard to keep the ultimate

goal in mind.

hope you all are feeling strong . i think i will compose a letter. im not

sure if i will send it or exactly what i will say yet, but i think i will

feel better...and right now anything that makes me feel not os helplessr

is worth a try

seesh. it is such a gamble - who you get on the phone at VSC. today i got one of the

"procedure" ladies giving me the run around and nonsense, and just a week ago

i got the "let me check on that for you, just a sec" lady. bah!

i should probably keep my trap shut, but i end up calmly explaining how flawed the

procedure is and responding to every useless option she tries to give me with an

explanation of how they are completely useless. bah! she tried to tell me to write

a letter, and i told her i never revieved a hard copy of my NOA1 and had serious

doubts that would ever recieve any kind of response to a letter.

on the other hand, maybe i SHOULD borrow wiombeen's MO, he seemed to get

approval pretty quick after that letter went out

but DESPITE this, i feel optomistic about it all too:) the helpful last week said my case

was out for security checks after an initial review. that's gotta mean it's moving along, eh?

deep breaths and focus...come on good news for all!

BabyBlue, thank you very much for your support. I am at my wits end. Every waking moment I spend researching and appealing to every agency, person, entity anyone who will hear our pleas. I am soooooo burned out, depressed and stressed I need to take a leave of absence to go to Albania to relieve the pain of the separation from my fiance. I've exhausted my savings on travel and attorney fees. My last resort is to sell off all my belongings, pay off most of my debt and move to Albania. It's crazy and I don't want to do that. I can't work there, heck, there are sooooo many Albanians who can't find work. I don't even want to get into the personal and physical toll this has taken on my fiance (out of respect) who sits there in Albania with nothing to do but wait for this infuriating system and repeatedly ask me to come there. It's heartbreaking!!!! When I think about it, yes, I'll leave everything I have behind in the U.S. to be with the one I love (my elderly parents, my job, excellent medical care and political freedom-->or so I thought). What are 'things' if you can't share your life with the person you love, you know? I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, seriously!!!! I so hope you don't have any problems with your petition and from what I'm reading-->you are on top of your game so, "bless you".

Virgillionare,

I have contacted 2 senators and 1 representative. They say they will help and they make inquiries on your behalf, but they were not successful in keeping our 1st petition from being returned and they can not speed up the review of that case, which now languishes on the desk of some adjudicator who might get to it in one year or so. I so hoped this second petition would be approved quite quickly with all of the evidence I provided this time around....our first one was approved by USCIS in 12 days!!!!! With this H1B visa business, we are all in for a lot longer wait than I every expected. I'm trudging on but I'm afraid the writing is on the wall, for me at least. Life is soshort, you know? I could get hit by a bus or my plane go down and this precious little time we have is wasted....... and we all know once today is gone, you can NEVER get it back.

Thanks again for your support!!!!

Bzoom,

Please add me to the list.

This process is some serious Bulls***!!!! Really, I am soooooooooooo disgusted with USCIS and their cohorts--> these embassies under DOS. They really couldn't care less about us; we are nothing but nameless, faceless numbers to these people.

I really don't understand why we don't organize and protest or something. If the H1-B visa people can get action, why can't we? More and more delays, lies and needless red tape. You need a friggin' degree to navigate the immigration maze....dot your 'i's and cross your 't's and still you may get tripped up....and by 'tripping' us up, do they realize they forever alter the course of our lives? No humanity and no compassion....just the facts, the rules, policy and regulation. Okay, now they are charging more money for substandard services and we have no choice but to pay them and wait?

I am so ready to leave the U.S. and make a life elsewhere. Yes, I know, I know-->"the grass is always greener.......". Someone please talk some sense into me.

I don't blame you for being burned out on the process, once through it is bad enough! It seems unfair to me that apparently they dropped everything (our petitions) for these H1B visas. Should be first come, first served, but businesses come first nowadays ($$$).

FYI, not sure who your senator is, but I wrote an email to Senator Cardin (i live near baltimore) about my first come, first served idea and he wrote a nice letter offering to look into my petition. Maybe you could try that as it sounds like you have run into some serious red tape.

Virgil

i am so sorry to see you so upset. you have obviously been through the wringer, and have held up

your head and struggled the best you could. surely this will be resolved and everything that needs

to happen will happen.

sometimes it's really hard for me not to be bitter about everything while going through this process.

i have to work really hard to remember that others are suffering for a variety of reasons in the world

and that in the big picture i am lucky to have found someone i love this much, period.

maybe we need mantras that bring to our minds the sensation of this love we have.

something that doesn't just spark a remeberance of past moments, but really celebrates the

entire experience, and the reality that our fiances are out there in this world with us.

it is true! no government process or agency can take this from us. the very fact that you are

willing to change your life for this love you feel is a testiment to this! and how amazing this love

must be to fill us up so wholy with purpose and focus.

(hmmm this is reading like a sermon,

but honestly, this is how i feel... )

holy smokes, what a bad case of the mondays i've got...and no news yet from anyone.

i'm hoping tonight there will be some late emails from uscis and lots to celebrate tomorrow.

something's happened in the last week...the number of days has cause a shift in my

relationship- like suddenly we understand even better how much we really want to

be together and there's pockets of intense calm in knowing this . a quiet strenghtening of our

connection. and this is nice and all, love it really,

but most of the time i just...

WANT MY NOA2!

PS Steve's profile (user #1!): http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showuser=1

If you really want to see who runs VJ you should check out user #0 though!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showuser=0

cute.

charlesandnessa, because you have all the hearts and the last 2 are bigger, i must know how many posts you have. it must be over 9,000.

this one makes 13,353

HOLY SMOKES!!! but then, despite the fact that i have made

less than 10 posts so far, i can see where this road is gonna

lead...

Chapter 37 - The case of the phantom touches.

Ok, so I Called CSC again today and spoke with a amazingly kind woman. I told her I have had two touches one Mon and another on Tuesday but had not heard anything since. She said "There has been no action taken on your case yet."

Refusing to let this all so familiar dissapointment slow me down I asked, "Hmmmm, these touches are kind screwy things, are they not?" She laughed.

I continued, "But regardless, my petition has been touched, so I am assuming it has been given to a case worker?"

she said "Let me check." I can hear a choir of keys clicking and clacking in my brain as my future happiness is accessed via her keyboard. Then she says these sweet sweet words "Yes, It was assigned yesterday."

I the calmly asked "So, what is it now 10 cases per bucket."

She laughs again and asks, "Have you worked here before? You seem to know an a lot about how things work around here." And followed that each officer receives about three buckets with about ten petitions to each bucket."

I said "Nope, I have not worked there, Just been waiting about 104 days now. Thats a lot of time to learn how things work. haha"

So, Rambaldi my friend, I have been assigned to a case worker. Perhaps you have been too. How long now until I can become approved? It all depends on what bucket I am in i guess. So we wait longer, but at least we know some of the grease from someones Kentucky Fried Chicken/Burger king has dripped onto the gears over there.

Join us next week for chapter 38 - Attack of the NOA2 announcements.

congrats on being assigned!

now the anxiety of checking your email will be even more accute - but surely

good news in soooo close.

also - thanks for keeping this thread alive and kicking. i have gotten to the point where i

compulsively check this thread so frequently it's absurd, and it's nice to see your postings.

your sense of humor has calmed me down more than once!

HEHE we will see. I will call today to find out. I forgot I sent a letter in asking about my case. I now fear that might have caused my touches hehe. Oh well.

Wioombeen

Letter? What kinda letter?

Oh well, today is Thursday, let's hope CSC will work hard and crank out more approvals today, for you, for me, and for everyone else!! PLS PLS PLS!!

I had written a letter about a week ago to the email address the USCIS provided for those who felt they have been approved but have not receive their hard copy due to there recent system problems. I told them I have seen some people who have a later NOA1 date than my own become approved. And that other USCIS personal have assured me that they process them in the order they are received. I wrote "So either the USCIS processes the petitions out of order or I have already been approved but have not been notified. I asked which one of those two where true. Have I been approved or does the USCIS indeed process out of order? since only one can be true." hehe.

That was about a week ago. I am now thinking that is why I have received my touches. I called today and the man said nobody has been assigned to my case yet. of course he tried to give me the "we are only working on January petitions." line, and I always love that one haha. I asked him if you are only working on JAN petitions then why have at least 80+% of JAN,FEB, and March filers already been approved? as well as some April filers. haha he had no answer. only said he has to go by the date given him there. hahha. OH well. back to waiting. haha.

wioombeen

hey - good on yah, wioombeen. of course, i suspect, unfortunately, you won't get an answer, but maybe they'll update their scripts

and we can hear some new runaround. something a little less insulting in terms of being blatantly false .

ah well.

well i finally worked up the courage to do another call (i get nervous,

that i'll get bad news so...) after a franticly sad call from my fiance yesterday.

i did my best to work the system for even the tiniest morsel of information...

and she told me that someone has been looking at the case...so it's on

someone's desk somewhere.

then she came back with the scripty:

" you should receive some kind of notice within 60 days."

BUT WHATEVER! she didn't hesitate or act funny at any point

in the process so i am taking that ridiculously small detail to

mean nothing is wrong with the case and i will get approval soon.

i also figured out (you all already knew this i'm guessing) that ,

although they give you the line that they cannot check your status

on the RFE line, protocol says if you have done a change of

address they can then access your file to double check that,

if they are nice, also tell you if everything is alright.

oh man! the excitement! and still a couple of more days to

go this week-plenty of time for a healthy FLURRY OR

APPROVALS!! i dont know about you guys, but

im really feelin' it!

Ya know, I was looking so forward to being a spoiled VSC'er, but Im afraid Im having a real bad "OMG VSC WHATS TAKING SO LONG!?!?" day.

Arrrrggghhhh!!!!

Thank god for you my fellow VJ'ers otherwise I think my head would explode.

Good Luck to us all!!!!

CM

i have times when i feel a little ridiculous about being in the process period; about finding

someone i love so much, and subsequently flying away from him and...waiting. part of it makes

me want to run off to europe and just be there with him.

the amount of paperwork and waiting we have in store for us even after he arrives is just

crazy and silly and, well, an unavoidable reality. but it feels sacreligious at times,

translating love into beauracracy.

i'm whining (!). i realize that in the big picture this is an extremely minor amount to suffer,

but i guess i'm having a "moment."

thank goodness for the NOA2 posts. whenever i see one my heart does a little skip and a jump

(am i next????). let this be the week for all of us!!

I hope VSC goes back to spoiling petitioners and goes back to being its fast self!!!

bszoom42, thanks for posting your email that you got from CRIS--when I saw it in my email I knew what it was right away and immediately started freaking out

It's nice to be off the K1 list and onto the other list, but by the end of next week I better not see myself on it, I want to see the rest of you there

The ex-cheerleader in me is like GO VSC GO!!

wow. i have been trying to keep busy as not to feel disppointment, but this new slew of approvals has me all pins and needles again! i've got to get it next week, right? but then my mind keeps jumping to the next round of paperwork and preparation and i get a little tired again that we're doing this process at all.

congratulations on the new approvals - sparrow, it's bound to be smoother sailing from here on out.

alright - off to the beach or SOMEWHERE away from the computer (i'd be checking VJ and USCIS every other minute otherwise.

well this is my first posting, but i thought i would finally jump in as i'm on here daily gathering strength from you guys.

after weeks of nothing (NOA2 April 4/17), i finally got a touch listed on saturday (assuming it was updated late on friday).

a couple of weeks ago, having no touchs and stressed, i tried the RFE trick and was told that my petition didnt have any problems thus far. so i am, hoping to hear something concrete soon! (NOA2 this week!?!?). it'd be great to get it tomorrow; it's my birthday:)

in fact, i want to see flurry of approvals on VJ again like a few weeks ago, so that is what i will concentrate my hopes on - let's see

alot of dancing smiley faces this week, eh??