PhillyNatz

27 minutes ago, jsilva89 said:

I'm going to assume if this is true its because they're trying to avoid being overrun with infopass appointments for passport stamps when everyones extension letters run out within the next few months. Not saying it's fair, its not,  this Covid issue probably backlogged them so bad the I751 will end up with a 24 month extension letter in the next few months.

That’s my assumption based on the limited data points I’ve seen.
 

Each and every one of those N400 interviews that have now been scheduled has a I751 attached to it. 
 

9 minutes ago, gregcrs2 said:

Where are you seeing this?

Look at all the posts across VJ. Look at this thread 

Look at the recent trends. 
 

If you don’t have a I-751 along with a  N400 you’re not prioritized for a N400 interview. 

1 hour ago, Georgia16 said:

Yes my interview  and no this is a new date. 

Also have to get a stamp in my son's passport so he has proof of GC so he will be able to get passport when I'm done with this.

Congratulations! and if you live that far away I suggest perhaps staying overnight near the office location to save you the hassle. I'm waiting on my interview too, and was curious what your estimated wait time, and timeline was just before you received the interview letter. Thanks!

1 minute ago, thetrademark said:

My interview has been scheduled for next months. Things seem to be moving post-Covid re-opening.

Congratulations! Is this a new interview or rescheduled? What is the estimated wait time in your account online?

14 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Any updates from any of those people who apparently got their n400 interviews waived?

On here and in other forums it ended up being a mistake. 

1 hour ago, cacolac323 said:

Hi All

 

despite months of Covid19, my estimated case completion time hasn't shifted at all (Oct 2020, I'm in Manhattan, NYC)

Does this mean some aspect of N400 cases was being processed by USCIS workers working at home? Otherwise, if everything came to a standstill, I'd assume all dates to have shifted in the same number of months as complete work suspension.

 

It will have been a year if Oct. 2020 for me, so clearly, I'm not looking forward to see +3 months added to this date, but I find it odd that these target dates don't see negatively affected by Covid19

 

Thanks!

That just gives you a sense of the accuracy of the processing time estimates in our cases, i.e. they are not accurate, as I am learning. They are updated though on the main USCIS page, you will see processing times have shot up.

3 minutes ago, justwaiting2018 said:

My Estimated case completion time is March 2021(9 months) and estimated wait time is 8 months. Since I am scheduled for an interview, I concur with many other members that the time on MyUSCIS is not entirely accurate....

Strange are the ways of USCIS

10 minutes ago, justwaiting2018 said:

Just wanted to share with you guys that I received a text message stating that my interview is scheduled today and a interview notice will be mailed to me. It is finally moving!!

 

My timeline:

I filed my N-400 on 12/21/2019 online. My biometrics was scheduled on 01/17/2020, but I walked in to have my biometrics taken on 01/02/2020. No questions asked. I hadn't heard from USCIS since then. Suddenly, I got a text message update from USCIS this morning telling me that my interview is scheduled!!

 

I filed my I-751 on 12/27/2018, got fingerprinted on 05/01/2018. I had not heard anything till 02/03/2020. It said my case was transferred. Then it was changed to new card is being produced on 05/21, case was approved on 05/22/2020, then card was mailed to me on 05/27/2020.

 

I will keep you guys updated once I receive my interview notice.

Clarification: I was not scheduled an interview prior to COVID-19 so this is my first interview

 

Nice! That’s encouraging to hear. What was your  case estimate time for the N400?

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2020/06/dhs-begin-sending-furlough-notices-15000-employees-next-week/166096/

What's really interesting is this : "A spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, however, said that as of Thursday the Trump administration had still not made a formal request for any emergency funding"

6 hours ago, PWB said:

When this is finally over one of the principle things that we can take away is the horrid responses of the Media.  They have created more problems than has the Virus.

I’ve edited my response and I wave the white flag now. I give up, I can’t be sucked into these conversations.

6 hours ago, PWB said:

When this is finally over one of the principle things that we can take away is the horrid responses of the Media.  They have created more problems than has the Virus.

Righhhhtt. The media is the problem 

Priority for oaths first, it appears.

https://www.wfae.org/post/charlotte-immigration-services-office-prioritizing-naturalization-first-weeks-after-reopening#stream/0

1 hour ago, user555 said:

Your title is misleading and false. USCIS did not lay off anyone. They talked about a potential layoff for some contractors and it did not occur. Those 1,000 contractors were not laid off on May 29. USCIS has around 20,000 employees and contractors with a budget of a little more than $4 billion per year. They were requesting a loan of $600 million per year. A bailout is usually used for a bankruptcy. Again, they are not in debt or facing bankruptcy. The article mentions that USCIS does not want to take drastic actions. What would actions be? Furloughing employees. They don't want to do that. If applications drop by a certain amount, they don't need as many employees. Once applications pick back up again, they can bring the employees back. They want a loan so they don't have to furlough some of their employees.

They asked for a bailout, which you are insisting they did not. In order to prove your point you're going into a diatribe that I am unable to decipher. If you think they did not ask for a bailout, OK.

5 minutes ago, user555 said:

USCIS and NBC aren't in debt yet. They don't need a bailout. If they kept these 1,000 contractors, then it's possible they would go into debt. If you read the article, it says it's a fee based organization. If people are applying and paying fees, USCIS is able to operate with employees and contractors. If applications drop, the money coming in drops, and they can keep the employees but have to let the contractors go. If applications start increasing, guess who is going to be hired again? The contractors that were just laid off. 

What are you talking about - they literally just asked congress for a bailout.

17 minutes ago, DSOTM1973 said:

I am not disagreeing with you in the essence, however, those 1000 layoffs are not solely immigration officers, it is more likely mostly are front office people, and few officers considering how hard it is for them hire and train officers, so there is no way to know how those layoffs impact processing time as we don't know who left. 

 

Processing time is subjective and depending on the person. There is no such thing as 4 years unless you are the black sheep. That one person who get lost in the system. If you call, they will tell you 36-42 months, but if you flip through the sections, you will see people getting approved everyday in HOU within normal processing time. USCIS tracking and processing time is a myth, no one knows how it works. 

 

IMO, delaying I-485 might be the best thing to happen to USCIS since the invention of PC. Let them take longer to process, get more people unrestricted cards, and reduce the burden of I-751. 

 

N-400 on the other hand, It will always be priority for them, but then again, most of the adjudicating happen in local offices, so service centers layoffs shouldn't be that impactful ( I am assuming)? Local offices are already backlogged and with the closure, it make sense that we will see more wait for interviews unless they go back to pre 2016 and cancel some interview requirements to get everything going

 

Then again, we are just guessing, neither them nor we can estimate how everything will play out once we get back to normal as again in their books, immigrants are not important, you know .

 

Yes, I do think we are saying the same thing, but there's certain nuances I think we have to consider.

Yes, 4 years in the upper end, but it's not the for the 'black sheep' - remember everything up to the upper bound is for 93% of the cases - not jut the person who gets lost in the system, That's where the remaining 7% fall, which is more than 4 years.

So 43% of the cases take 2 years and upto 4 years in Houston - that's not normal and certainly not the person who gets lost in the system. Even if you argue that 4 years is an anomaly, which it certainly doesn't look like it because Dallas is 3 1/2 years, 2+ years is not normal.

It can't be an anomaly - it's not a count of average processing time to skew the data.

Even if the 1,000 people were not adjudicating, there's so much other work that goes on, and these are the people working in the office while the employees work from home. Think about your office and you had 80% of the staff reduced, even for lower level resources.

40 minutes ago, DSOTM1973 said:

Maybe clerks, maybe admin work, maybe officers? maybe Interns? maybe all?  It is not clear since USCIS hire more than immigration officers. Maybe they are government contractors too? Since layoffs full-time require some pension. It is not clear if they were full or part time. Either way, everyone is getting layoffs, or furlough. From a business stand point, they had to layoff people to save money. It is not nice, but then again, there are +30M lost jobs, and way more than that got pay reduction, including myself.

We are just angry because it impact our immigration process, but generally, It is not surprising, and it is really what they had to do to keep going. Nothing is normal, nothing is okay, the economy is falling, so it is what it is.

We don't agree with the USCIS but they are not ran by some idiots, I am sure they know what they are doing, and they think they can keep everything going with less people so they can afford they payroll

I don’t think the debate here is why the layoffs happened, assuming the 61% projection holds true (and it remains that -a projection for which there seems to be no explanation). 
 

The conversation is more around the delays, and a reduction of 80% of the staff at the most important processing center for N400 and 485 Applications will absolutely cause delays.  
 

I think someone posted that the processing times at Houston is almost 4 years! That’s how Ludicrous the situation is today. 

35 minutes ago, DSOTM1973 said:

Interview are scheduled automatically in the system based on offices. laying off people has nothing to do with that. Also, if it is said to be true that they are having less applications, less people should not really change the processing time, considering we all in peace now with the long wait time

 

What do you think these 1,000 people did then. 
 

They are responsible for scheduling, file movement and more. They were also the people on site in the offices because regular employees were working from home. 

This means also means any interview scheduling will be halted, and this will have a domino effect with other offices cutting back on contract staff.

34 minutes ago, Zsazsa said:

Oh, I can’t see it being fully functioning if the mass layoff proceeds. Crushing. 
 

As for the 61%, are you referring to a 61% decrease in applications or staff? 

The applications, which is what they projected. 

48 minutes ago, Zsazsa said:

Well, while it may not bail them out completely, any reduction in labor costs would relieve financial strains. Also, if there is that much of a reduction in applications, there’s no room for redundancies. 
 

I’m in no way condoning their strategy or supporting it - I am in desperate need of a fully functioning NBC right now. 
 

They did say that the additionally funding would not be paid back by American citizens, that the deficit would be recouped by raising immigration fees. I certainly hope the NBC receives the funding they need. 

I agree with you I’m just not sure how cutting 90% of the staff will enable a fully functioning NBC. A thousand staff, that’s a lot. 
 

Also the projected 61% decrease is by September. As I remember it there was a surge in applications till January. 

8 minutes ago, Zsazsa said:

Omg you’re right. Unless you’re enduring any form of immigration process, you’d think the NBC was a television network. 

I think people who even use USCIS don’t understand what the NBC does. 
 

I also think there’s two different issues. 
 

1. Threatening furlough for employees if the government doesn’t bail them out. 
 

2. In this case they have served notice to the companies to terminate the contract workers. And they confirmed “scope is reduced”.  The last date is in a week’s time which means it’s definite. This is a cost cutting exercise 

1 hour ago, Zsazsa said:

I read it as “if congress fails to provide them with the necessary funding, layoffs will commence on May 29th”. This is devastating news. Ugh. 

It’s possible and I hope you’re right.
 

I don’t think many people understand the important of the NBC. This isn’t some regional field office.