cjgator

Thanks for the efforts, it says the number is not in service. Kind of like their staff.

-CJ

Wow, no way!! Congrats. Gives me some hope, my NOA 1 time frames are similar to yours. Thanks for the update.

-CJ

I keep hearing about this "number" for the Vermont Service Center too, yet when someone asks for it, I never see it offered. If someone has this number, I would also like it, because I have tried to get a direct contact for VSC and have run into a brick wall.

-CJ

I don't know if this interests anyone but I have noticed that the responces with the USCIS differ from when calling the National Customer Service line and the Vermont Service Center. They also gave me different instructions on the petition process. As far as the national customer service goes...they have never given me details about my case but the VSC has. The VSC took my name and number because they could not answer my questions about my case. The officer told me that there was a service center about 25 miles away from his office. Not sure if this means that there are 2 offices in Vermont or what...maybe one for customer service and one that actually reviews the cases...don't know. Thought that was interesting. Anyways...he did call me back. They had looked into my case but it never showed a touch for my cases online.

Where did you get the number for VSC? I was told that they have no outside lines???

I keep hearing about this "number" for the Vermont Service Center too, yet when someone asks for it, I never see it offered. If someone has this number, I would also like it, because I have tried to get a direct contact for VSC and have run into a brick wall.

-CJ

I don't know if this interests anyone but I have noticed that the responces with the USCIS differ from when calling the National Customer Service line and the Vermont Service Center. They also gave me different instructions on the petition process. As far as the national customer service goes...they have never given me details about my case but the VSC has. The VSC took my name and number because they could not answer my questions about my case. The officer told me that there was a service center about 25 miles away from his office. Not sure if this means that there are 2 offices in Vermont or what...maybe one for customer service and one that actually reviews the cases...don't know. Thought that was interesting. Anyways...he did call me back. They had looked into my case but it never showed a touch for my cases online.

Where did you get the number for VSC? I was told that they have no outside lines???

You have my support. 6-plus months with nothing is long enough for me. Kudos to you, I just e-mailed my congressman about this yesterday.

-CJ

10/14/08

As history has shown many times b/f, there is power in numbers. Those of us who are waiting and getting no news from the VSC can cry every day and do nothing or take positive action. Wouldn't it be good to draft a letter with blanks for name, address, receipt number, etc, and several of us who are being impacted now can print, sign, and mail it to at least 4 Congressmen who sit on that committee. Of course, each of us will have to send it to our own reps, too. When the committee of 4 or 5 sends an inquiry, they will repsond, I belive. If anyone else is interested, I can draft the letter by this Fri. Just let me know what you think.--Amor1

Yeah, I finally broke down & sent my congressman an e-mail about the situation 20 minutes ago. Don't know how good it will do, he campaigned on a "tough on immigration" stance - knowing my luck, he'll send it to VSC and they'll find my applications and come up with a reason to toss them.

-CJ

I swear this news is depressing. I've chatted with a few of you on some other threads today about the same subject. Seeing the Feb. NOA 1's that are still pending is enough to make me want a drink.

I wonder if USCIS is gonna put anything new about processing times this week. Is it just me, or does it seem like their posting on processing times gets more cryptic and less easy to comprehend with each update?

I tried to use the argument with the USCIS customer service reps that, because they were showing completions for K3 applications with a Feb 1 08 K3 application date, and it says clearly at the top of the chart that those dates are effective as of July 31, that equals a 6 month window - and shouldn't people who are beyond 6 months (e.g. myself, and many of us) have a right to request a status inquiry?

Well, you can imagine how far I got with that line of reasoning. I'm sure many others have tried the same before me.

NUTS!!

-CJ

I 130 NOA1 - March 28 08 (touched once, 5/9)

I 129f NOA1 - April 4 (touched once, 5/2)

nothing since

ANY one of the above (VSC March filers with last touches in May for I-130 and probably mid. April for I-129K) got ANYTHING at all yet? I mean, touches, approvals, info from an officer?? anyone talked to the wan#### recently?

PLEASE give us a sign that they are working on us! I'm starting to worry that not even this month we will see ANYTHING.

Monica/Isha & Robby Rob:

Feel ya both. My timeline is basically in the same ballpark as both of yours: (NOA 1 for I-130 on 3/26/08, NOA 1 for I-129F on 4/4/08, one touch each on 5/2 and 5/9, nothing since). To be honest, I'm getting a little burned out with the people who say "don't worry, it will happen, just be patient". I know they mean well, but having no clue on whether or not we're staring at another 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months is just short of insane.

You know, I almost think I could deal with being told it would be another 3 months, if it was actually a date we could rely on. It's the uncertainty that's the worst. My wife is going cuckoo over this, and she blames herself because I tried to talk her into going the K-1 fiancee route, and she insisted doing it this way.

Anyway, good luck everyone. I'll definitely report if anything happens on our case

Chris

Jim & Carol:

Thanks for the spreadsheet. It really tells a story. For the most part, for us K3 filers who submitted their I-129F in the early months of 2008, if the application was not approved within the first 90 days, it's basically still pending. I am in this boat (although not on the spreadsheet). Here are my stats.

Name: Chris - Petition for Wife, Nataliya

Country: Belarus

I-130 NOA1: 3/26/08

I-129F NOA1: 4/4/08

Touches: Once each, on 5/2 and 5/9.

No action since then.

The data on those who are still waiting for an approval after 200, 220 days, is quite telling. Gloomy, but quite telling.

For all of those who continue to write, "be patient, it will happen before you know it!" Your optimism is appreciated from all of us, but the stats don't lie. And these stats show that it's NOT going to happen soon, most are NOT getting serviced in under 6 months, and many should probably prepare for waits approaching a year.

Again, although depressing, the information is terrifically valuable, and does a great service for all of us trying to psychologically navigate these waters with little support from the government. Best of luck to all, and keep up the good work, Jim & Carol.

-Chris

This thread is in response to a thread I saw requesting the Delicia add K3 filers to her spreadsheet. I understand the reasoning behind keeping CR1/IR1 and K3 separated. Therefore, I have started this spreadsheet for K3 filers, like myself, who are waiting for their NOA2. I am a numbers person and I like to see when people near my filing date are getting approved.

You can find the spreadsheet here.

So, thank you Delicia for showing us how Google Docs can be used. I have never tried this before but am always interested to learn new tools. So I figured I would give this one a shot...

1. For all the California filers, I plan to add those spreadsheets tomorrow.

2. Both California and Vermont filers can send me their updates/changes and I will be happy to update the spreadsheets.

3. Cells highlighted in GREEN refer to approvals that have occurred over the last month.

4. Cells highlighted in YELLOW refer to recent touches. (Disclaimer: We all have seen that approvals sometimes happen with or without previous touches. But this is just another indicator that I was curious to track.)

5. If anyone has any suggestions for changes to the layout of the spreadsheet or additional columns, averaging wait times, etc... I will gladly take those suggestions also.

5. Lastly, If anyone would like to volunteer to share the updating responsibility, you are always welcome to do that also.

Ok, Best of luck to everyone and wishing you all speedy approvals.

I hope this news about VSC continues. NOA 1 on I-130 March 28. NOA 1 on I 129-F April 4. Touched once each, on 5/2 and 5/9. Nothing since then.

I see in these posts that someone has been calling VSC directly for help, as opposed to USCIS customer service. Are they more helpful at the service center? It's not hard, I'm pretty sure a corpse could be more helpful than those customer service reps. I have yet to try a call directly to VSC.

-CJ

If your I-129F is for a K-1 (true fiancee status) you're probably in better shape than those in my situation. I just posted on another thread about this topic. My I-129F is for a K3 (we're already married). NOA 1 for my I-130 was 3/28, NOA 1 for my I-129F was 4/4. Both were touched once in the first week of May. After that, zip, nada. 6+ months and counting. Wife is in Belarus.

My friend across town, on the either hand, filed an I-129F for the K-1 fiancee visa. He got his NOA1 two weeks before I did, in mid-March. His fiancee was Russian. Took 58 days to get NOA2 approval, interview was six weeks later, she was in the States by the end of June. Amazing. They got married three weeks after she got here.

My wife is dumbstruck by this. Needless to say, I have no answer for her, but I feel like I am more helpful than those yahoos at USCIS customer service. And, it is just me, or are the posted processing times for VSC becoming more and more cryptic every time they update?

Good luck to ya.

Any time, Hollis. Good luck.

Feel your pain. I'm being handled at VSC too, waiting for a K-3 approval on my spouse (in Belarus). As of 10/4 we were at 6 months wait. My friend, who submitted an 129-F for a K-1 on his Russian fiancee, submitted 2 weeks before I did (mid March), and she was approved in 58 days! She had her interview 6 weeks later, and by the end of June she was in the States. I just returned from my 3rd trip to Belarus since March and have no answer to tell my wife when she says "why is it taking so long - I thought we would have an approval by now."

Don't have a specific answer to your question, other than to let ya know that we're in the boat with ya. I'd give my right arm just to have some sense of how much longer we have to wait for the approval. I hear everything from "any day now" to "maybe as long as 3 to 4 more months". The process is BS, and customer service at USCIS is just short of useless.