cjgator

Thanks baby. I hope you get out of AP soon. Big kiss.

Chris

Chris, its always good to see you

So good to hear that she finally has her interview scheduled!

I'll send some super duper mojo directed there on 3/4

Lisa

Hey Lisa.

After 6 1/2 weeks, they finally got the packet info straightened out, and sent to the right embassy. Natasha's interview is next Wednesday (3/4). Ironic. Our one-year wedding anniversary is 3/1. She should have been home by now.

Big mix of excitement & bitterness going on. Happy to be here, but am completely disgusted at what it took to get here.

NOTE: For anyone who reads this, and wants to tell me that I should just be grateful to be at this point, and our government owes us nothing, keep your comments to yourself. Unless you know my story, don't even start.

I'll write back on Wed. & let you know how it went. Send all of our friends my love. I hope you are hanging in there. Lots of love to ya.

CJ

I want fast unification with my hubby!! Lisa, I don't know how you manage to do it and stay so strong after waiting close to 230 days for approval and another 50 for AP! Kudos to you

i have good days and bad,

Hey Lisa.

After 6 1/2 weeks, they finally got the packet info straightened out, and sent to the right embassy. Natasha's interview is next Wednesday (3/4). Ironic. Our one-year wedding anniversary is 3/1. She should have been home by now.

Big mix of excitement & bitterness going on. Happy to be here, but am completely disgusted at what it took to get here.

NOTE: For anyone who reads this, and wants to tell me that I should just be grateful to be at this point, and our government owes us nothing, keep your comments to yourself. Unless you know my story, don't even start.

I'll write back on Wed. & let you know how it went. Send all of our friends my love. I hope you are hanging in there. Lots of love to ya.

CJ

I want fast unification with my hubby!! Lisa, I don't know how you manage to do it and stay so strong after waiting close to 230 days for approval and another 50 for AP! Kudos to you

i have good days and bad,

I find your defense of your comments ironic, seeing your earlier admonition to me stated specifically the following..

"Maybe you should think before posting, and think of the stated purpose of VJ, "to educate and provide general information regarding family and marriage based immigration (K1, K3, IR-1 Visas, DCF, etc) for a spouse, fiance, parent(s) or other close relatives to reunite and bring together families."

But you now say, you can post whatever you want. The same thing you criticized me for. I'm not saying hypocrisy, but...

Hey- do dabyz a favor, because he's a heck of a guy, who's helped me out a lot. If you have an issue with me, being it straight to me via a PM. Leave it off of his thread. You have yet to say anything supportive or worthwile to this man, as he is going through his troubles, you are just trying to pick a fight. If that is your intention, find me off of this thread. I'll give you what you are looking for. This is my last comment to you on this. The next one will come straight to you via PM.

I could care less what you allow...I am exercising my right to post in whatever thread I feel like. AFAIK, I've broken no TOS in this thread. (A mod can correct me if I'm wrong.)

My input was not intended to give you any meaning, but rather it was geared towards making sure that a future VJ member does not misinterpret your glib little comment about IRS agents trolling this site and freak out. You brought condescension and called me names.

And BTW, I'm his wife, not Minya.

Daboyz-There's good mojo. It will all work out. Keeping fingers crossed for you.

Minya-please do all of us a favor and mind your own business. It is people like you that give this otherwise great website a bad rap. Pay attention to your own affairs, and and not anyone else's - stay out of harmless conversations that are not directed at you. YOU are the one that made the first negative comment. And, seeing how you don't know me at all, you also don't know that I don't allow people like you, who think they have some ownership over others comments, to dictate anything I say. So - your input is meaningless to me, go focus your efforts on something positive.

Thanks mom. I'll take it under advisement.

OK - that took about 5 seconds.

Anything else?

Yes, grow up!

Daboyz-There's good mojo. It will all work out. Keeping fingers crossed for you.

Minya-please do all of us a favor and mind your own business. It is people like you that give this otherwise great website a bad rap. Pay attention to your own affairs, and and not anyone else's - stay out of harmless conversations that are not directed at you. YOU are the one that made the first negative comment. And, seeing how you don't know me at all, you also don't know that I don't allow people like you, who think they have some ownership over others comments, to dictate anything I say. So - your input is meaningless to me, go focus your efforts on something positive.

Thanks mom. I'll take it under advisement.

OK - that took about 5 seconds.

Anything else?

Yes, grow up!

Thanks mom. I'll take it under advisement.

OK - that took about 5 seconds.

Anything else?

Good lord, woman, take a chill pill. I know daboyz, he and I have been talking off and on for months, and we often joke with each other. Just trying to lift the guys spirit's some.

Maybe you should spend some time away from the computer and stop trying to read so much into the words of people you don't know.

C

Did you provide details on the debt/payment plan you have for your IRS debt? The way I'm reading it is that they're wanting more detail, re. the IRS lean, probably to see how this affects your income to see if you're still above the poverty level as required.

-P

Big sorry, brother. I would offer a few choice comments about the IRS, but there may be agents reading these posts, for all I know. Best wishes man, I hope you all can find an avenue to get this finished successfully.

CJ-G

paranoid much? why would IRS agents be trolling a family immigration forum to catch people making 'choice comments' against them?

-P

If you were joking with the OP, perhaps you should have indicated that in your post or PM'd the OP directly? These threads are here for posterity, long after daboys has cleared up his issue. If someone has this happen to them in the future, and comes across your 'joking' remark, without any knowledge that it was jokingly meant, they may be alarmed for no reason.

Maybe you should think before posting, and think of the stated purpose of VJ, "to educate and provide general information regarding family and marriage based immigration (K1, K3, IR-1 Visas, DCF, etc) for a spouse, fiance, parent(s) or other close relatives to reunite and bring together families."

-P

Good lord, woman, take a chill pill. I know daboyz, he and I have been talking off and on for months, and we often joke with each other. Just trying to lift the guys spirit's some.

Maybe you should spend some time away from the computer and stop trying to read so much into the words of people you don't know.

C

Did you provide details on the debt/payment plan you have for your IRS debt? The way I'm reading it is that they're wanting more detail, re. the IRS lean, probably to see how this affects your income to see if you're still above the poverty level as required.

-P

Big sorry, brother. I would offer a few choice comments about the IRS, but there may be agents reading these posts, for all I know. Best wishes man, I hope you all can find an avenue to get this finished successfully.

CJ-G

paranoid much? why would IRS agents be trolling a family immigration forum to catch people making 'choice comments' against them?

-P

Thanks frali for the info and well-wishes.

CJ

Wish I could give you good news but you will have to wait out the transfer from Warsaw to Minsk. Usually, the diplomatic transfers are very slow. Expect it to take 4 - 6 weeks.

Good luck!

Big sorry, brother. I would offer a few choice comments about the IRS, but there may be agents reading these posts, for all I know. Best wishes man, I hope you all can find an avenue to get this finished successfully.

CJ-G

My wife was denied because I owe the IRS money. I have been paying them $400 a month on a payment plan since last August. She got a form 221g. They checked "other" and put this in there "Information related to IRS lien against the petitioner"

They also checked the box "Evidence of your relationship with petitioner" Having hard time figuring out why that is an issue. I sent everything. Phone bills, bills for both of us a the same address, copies of all my passport pages showing that I obviously lived in Thailand, photos etc. etc.

Seems like the IRS thing it what is killing me here.

Any ideas?

My situation may be too unique to solcit input, but I'll offer my story anyway:

My wife is a citizen of Belarus. She was approved for I-130 and I-129F on Dec. 22. For citizens of Belarus, they can process for a non-immigrant (K3) in the Belarussian capital of Minsk, the immigrant visa (CR-1) must be proceesed in Warsaw, Poland.

We chose the K3 route, because it's logistically easier for her. For her to go to Warsaw requires an additional visa. Residents of Belarus and Russia cannot travel to Poland without a visa.

So. NVC sends out the packet on January 6. They sent correspondence, verified by NVC operators, saying it was sent to Minsk. They did not send it to Minsk. They mistakenly sent it to Warsaw. It took me 3 weeks of figthing with NVC and the assistance of a congressional aide to get them to recognize their mistake. NVC contacted Warsaw on 1/28, and instructed them to forward the packet to Minsk. Warsaw acknowledged this was done on 1/29.

Here's the problem. 3 1/2 weeks later, Minsk still does not have this packet. Warsaw did not forward via DHL. they forwarded via diplomatic mail pouch, which, as I have now been informed, is a painfully slow process. These two embassies are approximately 350 miles apart. I have no explanation as to why this transfer is crawling along.

My wife has all of her documentation together, has gotten her medical and police certificates, and is simply waiting for Minsk to get her info, in order to schedule the interview. Minsk consular staff have been very cordial and understanding, they have promised to schedule her immediately for he interview once they receive the packet. When I contact Warsaw about this, they say that they do not consider this gap in time for the delivery to be out of the ordinary, and are unwilling to run a trace on the packet. NVC refuses to help, they say this is now an embassy issue, even though they created the problem to begin with. Even my congressman's office, who has been of big help up to this point, says that their hands are tied with the embassy issue.

We have also initiated the paperwork process with NVC for the CR-1, as I no longer trust that this issue will be simply or quickly resolved.

Has anyone faced an embassy transfer problem like this, and if so, can you share with me how your situation panned out?

Thanks.

CJ-G

A few things:

I read your response, and have seen some, but not all of the responses, so if I am addressing something someone else has already said, sorry. Just trying to help.

First, his parents may be "seeking" an annulment, but they have no grounds to do this. This man (boy) is of legal age, he has to be the one to file a divorce or annulment petition, so although they (parents) may want it, and even tell him he should do it, he still has to be the one to execute the procedure, so if he really didn't want to do it, he doesn't have to. As painful as this sounds, you're better off. He's either lying to you, or he's either as weak and immature as they come, so after you get over this initial shock, you should say "good riddance", and know you are better off without him.

Annulments are very difficult to obtain from a legal perspective, it is more common as a social/religious act in this day and age, to prove gorunds for annulment legally, a person typically has to show that the marriage was entered into under some false legal pretenses (i.e. you really weren't single when you married your husband, you used a false name, address, etc.) So, his contention that "no-fault" annulments are easy to get without a legal basis is actually BS. It's next to impossible to obtain from a state without a legal predicate.

States differ on their laws as to whether a divorce can be obtained via "no-fault" or "fault", but an increasing majority have no-fault divorces. Not sure about your state. One way to drag out the process in a divorce, whether it is a "no-fault" or not, is to dispute the claims your spouse is making about assets. Sounds like a shady tactic, but it's done in a large number of divorce cases, and ususally, the claims of each person is subjective. You are at a little bit of a disadvantage because you were married for a such a short period of time. But, even uncontested, "no-fault" divorces take at least 8 weeks to process from the time of a petitioner's filing to a final judgment, and that's if both sides cooperate. You can do something as simple as refusing to sign paperwork he sends, or avoid receipt/service of his petition, and you can draw out the peition several months.

You should pay close attention to the input of push and several others on here very closely. You are in a difficult position, that will, in all likelihood, be decided on a judgment call by a USCIS official, but you should probably be prepared for an unfavorable decision.

I don't know if you can do the AOS interview solo, (push or others would know this better than me), but if you can, I would consider just going to the AOS interview and see what happens. Don't volunteer information that you are not asked. You're at the point where you have little to lose, and a lot to gain, by taking a chance and seeing if they will go ahead and approve you before the divorce becomes final.

I would not concern myself too much about the annulment. His chances of getting that are poor. I think your best bet would be to find a lawyer who deals both in immigration and family law to get some advice.

And, not to pour salt on an already open wound, but this guy sounds like a worm who is trying to manipulate you because he decided 22 is too young to get married. You're better off without him, whether it's here, or in your home country. Best of luck in your efforts.

Hello all,

I am in shock. I am sorry if my post won't have an easy to understand sequence of facts, but I am not recovered of what happened last week.

I lived in the US for 2 years in a work visa. I was laid off about 3 months ago. My boyfriend for 10 months then, who is a USC, and I decided to get married because he loved me and wanted me to stay - which we did about 2 months ago. I received my AOS interview notice one week ago.

He is 13 years younger than me. Due to his parents, he delayed a bit moving in with me. So, he just moved to my house last week. The day after he moved, his parents found out about the marriage and my age, and apparently obliged him to go back to their house. They "completely disapprove" of us and apparently he is not willing to fight them to be with me.

It seems his parents are seeking a marriage annulment. I asked him in what grounds, as in my state annulments are only by fault. He said this is not necessarily true, it can be done with no fault, but I think he's wrong and doesn't really know it.

What should I do? I don't want to leave the US. I married him because I loved him and wanted to be with him, not to get the green card!

Is there any way to still be able to get the green card if he is not willing to go to AOS interview with me?

He said he will talk with his parents and may go to the interview. Is this a good option?

What can I do about the annulment? Can they do it one-sided, or do I have to agree/sign?

I understand a divorce would be in my best interest? Can they do a one-sided divorce?

I am afraid cause I don't know what happens if I have to leave the country (my money is vanishing)... and leave an open annulment-divorce case.

Also, I don't know what the best option would be - withdraw the application and file for an annulment myself so they can't do anything that will jeopardize my future US entries. My state does not have no-fault divorce and you have to be legally separated for one year to file for divorce.

I can't file for VAWA - he never abused me. He is a great guy who's going through this cause he's too young.

Is there a way I can stay here? Is it worth it? I really don't want to leave.

Bless my girls. Take care, I pray for the best for you..

CJ-G

Ahh yes, we know when we're being ditched for the husband coming online!

Have fun!!!

I think I'm gonna go watch some TV and just relax.

Aruba, I added you to myspace friends. I tried setting up facebook, but the application froze. I'll try again later.

Transfer issues from USCIS to NVC and NVC to the embassy are a bigger problem than many may be aware of. My wife's approvals from USCIS blazed through NVC, but then got shipped to the wrong embassy, and I had to call my congressman's office in after almost 3 weeks of going back and forth with NVC and the embassy. They helped, they finally got NVC to admit their mistake, and got the process rolling again. The problem I'm facing now is a drawn out and totally avoidable wait, because the embassy to embassy forwarding was not done with DHL, it was done through diplomatic mail channels, which can take up to a month to get from point A to point B. When I asked NVC if they could just ship out a duplicate packet to the correct embassy via DHL, their response was, "we can't do that because duplicate packets are not made. There's only the original information packet we get from USCIS". Amazing, huh.

My two pieces of advice: With your approvals being in trasnfer limbo for so long, the time for waiting patiently for something to happen has passed. Get your congressman's office involved, and be relatively persistent with your inquiries for information. Also, confirm with USCIS and/or NVC that when you call to inquire, that they are automatically extending the dates of your approval. That is supposed to be their protocol, but, for your own peace of mind, make sure that is happening. Remember, those approvals have a shelf life, so getting the extension for the approvals is important to ensure than any screw-ups on their point don't cause them to expire.

Good luck

CJ-G

I got my NOA2 on December 19, 2008. It's been almost 7 weeks and I have called NVC way more that I care to count. They keep telling me that they have no record of my petition and to contact USCIS. I have contact USCIS also and they tell me to wait 45 days for a response. This does not seem normal at all. Has anyone out there had this problem before? Please let me know if something like this has happened to you before and how long did it take to resolve.

you go baby

Narnia in this instance I would really hope that the congressman's office would be willing to step in and provide some assistance. If nothing else, because your stepchildren aren't fluent in the native language, and were coming over on the expectation that their father would be with them, I would think these are at least halfway decent grounds to take a shot at an expedite, although you really don't an expedite, what you need is a "find my m-ther f--king husband's file and let's finish this thing" request.

Good luck. I am happy for you for at least this news, hopefully the ball will keep rolling, but I definitely do think you've got some real basis now to make noise. Be a pest. A diplomatic pest, but a pest nonetheless

Best of luck, baby..

CJ-G

Yes, I guess we'll see. I just have a feeling that USCIS is going to say something like they process each case separately. I just know they're going to give me generic answers and it's already making me stressed out, before I even get to do anything LOL

Thanks. All the best to you too.

C

I hear you...no good deed goes unpunished...I guess. We went about it the right way, and in the end we had to wait longer. I hope your wait is not much longer, and you and your wife will be together soon.

You're right, but it makes a huge difference once they get over here. My friend locally got his wife (then fiance) from Moscow approved in 58 days, into the states within 4 months of I-129F submittal, they completed her AOS paperwork and in-county medical quickly, she's got work authorization and a social right now, and she's one interview away (in about 2 weeks) from having full conditional perm. res. status.

The irony is, my friend and I submitted our paperwork for our gals within about a week of one another (in March). She's almost done, and has been here for nearly 6 months, while I'm still waiting.

And, even though his fees may have been a little higher, it's swamped by the fact that I had to support my SO overseas for six more months than he did, not to mention the 4 plane fares in the past year.

I'm not sure his way created any more "true" obstacles. On paper, he's looking pretty golden relative to me.

BUT - I hear what you're saying. Take care.

C

For those that get K-1 approvals, they will have to go through USCIS again, so they may complain now, but they are in for an even longer wait later on.

Congrats to those recently approved, and to those still waiting (especially those at 7, 8, or 9 months), I wish you better than what you're having to deal with now.

A message to Narnia: I was poking around on the K-1 forums, just for yuks, and I found myself just shaking my head and laughing about all of the K-1ers who are on the verge of a meltdown because they have been waiting an "impossible" 4 months and they haven't received their NOA-2.

You know, even though Natasha and I are inching closer to her embassy interview, when I read those posts, it still makes my blood simmer (OK, boil), knowing how many of us K-3ers went through (or are going through) USCIS waits approaching 9 or more months for the NOA-2. I find myself sometimes wanting to write those people back and say, "4 months? Get a life - call me back when you pass 7, and I'll give you your permission slip to be stressed", but then I remember it's not their fault that USCIS makes an I-129F NOA 2 for a K1 as easy as getting a day ticket to Disney, while getting the same for a K-3 is only moderately easier than getting a ticket on the Space Shuttle.

The older I get, the more I realize that the concept of "logic" is in the eyes of the beholder.

Good luck to all you K-3ers. I'd offer it to our K-1 brothers and sisters, but, they already got theirs.

CJ-G

I would definitely contact your congressman for help. I faced a similar situation, but instead of the problem being from USCIS to NVC, it was from NVC to the embassy. There's a thread I started last week about this, you can see the posts there. I began to suspect early on that NVC had made a mistake in forwarding, I spoke to them about this multiple times, they were not helpful and even rude when I would speak with them. I finally got my congressman's office involved, they got an answer within one day. And, I was right - NVC did make the mistake I had suspected. The process got moving again, and if I had contacted my congressman, I would still be waiting.

I would encourage you to get them involved. Your approvals are only valid for a limited time, so there is little benefit to sit around and wait for them to determine if there's a problem. You may be waiting a long time. Get your rep's office involved. That's what they are there for.

CJ-G

Hi All,

So my I129F was approved on Dec. 19th 2008. Today would be the 6 week mark. I have called NVC at least twice again since the 3rd week. I have talked to a live person (just covering all the questions people will ask) and every time I am I told, my petition is not in the system and that means they haven't received it. They say it normally takes 2-4 weeks but could take up to 90. My NOA2 says if you haven't received notice from the NVC after 4 weeks to start calling. Can I use that to send to my Senator or Congressman to get them to start looking for my petition, or do I have to wait the full 90 days?

Both CSC and NVC say they don't have my case, I am afraid it is lost somewhere and I don't want to wait 90 days to find this out. I already have a church reserved for April 25th (yes, I know stupid, I can change it but there are sentimental reasons we wanted to get married on this date). If I wait the full 90 days to find out they lost it, then I really doubt we will get to get married on this date.

Has anyone contacted a senator before the 90 days, what has been the result? Any other advice would be appreciated.

My point is, it may be the info those reps can provide, but it's the info they can provide based on the system that is in place. And the system is weak, borderline pathetic. You do not need NASA engineering to do a few basic upgrades of inventory management that would improve the system, which would allow CSR's and adjudicators to exchange data and provide it to customers. It's been happening since the 1970's.

And, you shouldn't take all of this personally. Your debate is interesting. I am sure if any of us spoke to a USCIS rep behind closed doors, they'd tell you they would like to provide more help, but they operate within a system that is hopelessly flawed and behind the times. The system has to be changed. And, in fact, with this administration, I think it may be.

Your argument makes no sense. We have to provide information to the reps to disclose our relationship to the case. That is the the level of security. Putting a barcode on a file does not compromise the security of that file. If it did, companies like Lockheed and Harris would be in a lot of trouble for coding their military ordnance in the way that they do. And, I have news for you. It is a federal offense for anyone to provide information on financial data (banks, credit cards) without authorization. You've got to to better than this. Don't be an apologist for a broken system. Hope for improvements. If our legal immigration system worked better, maybe we would not have the crisis we have today at the Mexican border. THAT is a national security issue.

I hear you, but I do not buy the argument that a rep can't look at a computer screen and see 3 lines typed from an adjudicator regarding the status of a case. "ON HOLD BECAUSE OF BACKGROUND CHECK". That took me 6 seconds to type. One bar code placed on a file could provide a queue status of the file, just like our groceries going past a scanner. Banks, credit card companies, utility companies, they perform this service every day. And, these reps are not all Ph.D's making 100 grand a year. Our government can develop a Blackberry for our president that is totally impervious to cyber-spying, but they can't do some of the same things that a $10 an hour rep at a back-office call center does every day? No, I don't accept that.

sure, applicants should be entitled to the reason why they are waiting so long, however when you call USCIS you are speaking with a rep, not an adjudicator, and they dont know anymore than you know why your case is taking so long. They have basic info, if its been recieved...bla bla, but they know hardly more than that. Also, expecting adjudicators, or even CSR's to send out correspondence to EVERY applicant on why its taking longer than 6 months, is causing a longer delay, as that is extra work (that would be sending over 1 million letters of explanation, its not do-able). Because they do say its an estimated time, that is what it is, its an estimation, not a promise.

If they could tell you....they would. I know all of you think the CSR's are evil lil trolls out to ruin your lives hopes and dreams, they're not, they are giving you the info they can give you. Your case files also are delicate....they are not going to let any Tom, ####### or Harry having a looksie at it. Compare USCIS reps to lets say, your electric company reps....your electric bill isnt half as confidential as your immigration case forms. Therefore your reps at (ill use mine) GRU can give me just about any info i ask for....but when your dealing with USCIS...and such again delicate information, they are not going to give reps that kind of information on you. even if its just to say " your in AR process" even that comes directly in the snail mail or to your email address thru a highly secure email server.

It is a level of security for the info they can give you. and as i sd AGAIN AND AGAIN....the info they can give you .....is not much at all. its not their faults...but i guess its just easier to blame them then understand this is the process and we chose to go thru it.

Your argument makes no sense. We have to provide information to the reps to disclose our relationship to the case. That is the the level of security. Putting a barcode on a file does not compromise the security of that file. If it did, companies like Lockheed and Harris would be in a lot of trouble for coding their military ordnance in the way that they do. And, I have news for you. It is a federal offense for anyone to provide information on financial data (banks, credit cards) without authorization. You've got to to better than this. Don't be an apologist for a broken system. Hope for improvements. If our legal immigration system worked better, maybe we would not have the crisis we have today at the Mexican border. THAT is a national security issue.

I hear you, but I do not buy the argument that a rep can't look at a computer screen and see 3 lines typed from an adjudicator regarding the status of a case. "ON HOLD BECAUSE OF BACKGROUND CHECK". That took me 6 seconds to type. One bar code placed on a file could provide a queue status of the file, just like our groceries going past a scanner. Banks, credit card companies, utility companies, they perform this service every day. And, these reps are not all Ph.D's making 100 grand a year. Our government can develop a Blackberry for our president that is totally impervious to cyber-spying, but they can't do some of the same things that a $10 an hour rep at a back-office call center does every day? No, I don't accept that.

sure, applicants should be entitled to the reason why they are waiting so long, however when you call USCIS you are speaking with a rep, not an adjudicator, and they dont know anymore than you know why your case is taking so long. They have basic info, if its been recieved...bla bla, but they know hardly more than that. Also, expecting adjudicators, or even CSR's to send out correspondence to EVERY applicant on why its taking longer than 6 months, is causing a longer delay, as that is extra work (that would be sending over 1 million letters of explanation, its not do-able). Because they do say its an estimated time, that is what it is, its an estimation, not a promise.

If they could tell you....they would. I know all of you think the CSR's are evil lil trolls out to ruin your lives hopes and dreams, they're not, they are giving you the info they can give you. Your case files also are delicate....they are not going to let any Tom, ####### or Harry having a looksie at it. Compare USCIS reps to lets say, your electric company reps....your electric bill isnt half as confidential as your immigration case forms. Therefore your reps at (ill use mine) GRU can give me just about any info i ask for....but when your dealing with USCIS...and such again delicate information, they are not going to give reps that kind of information on you. even if its just to say " your in AR process" even that comes directly in the snail mail or to your email address thru a highly secure email server.

I hear you, but I do not buy the argument that a rep can't look at a computer screen and see 3 lines typed from an adjudicator regarding the status of a case. "ON HOLD BECAUSE OF BACKGROUND CHECK". That took me 6 seconds to type. One bar code placed on a file could provide a queue status of the file, just like our groceries going past a scanner. Banks, credit card companies, utility companies, they perform this service every day. And, these reps are not all Ph.D's making 100 grand a year. Our government can develop a Blackberry for our president that is totally impervious to cyber-spying, but they can't do some of the same things that a $10 an hour rep at a back-office call center does every day? No, I don't accept that.

sure, applicants should be entitled to the reason why they are waiting so long, however when you call USCIS you are speaking with a rep, not an adjudicator, and they dont know anymore than you know why your case is taking so long. They have basic info, if its been recieved...bla bla, but they know hardly more than that. Also, expecting adjudicators, or even CSR's to send out correspondence to EVERY applicant on why its taking longer than 6 months, is causing a longer delay, as that is extra work (that would be sending over 1 million letters of explanation, its not do-able). Because they do say its an estimated time, that is what it is, its an estimation, not a promise.

This is nothing more than an academic debate, so please do not take offense. You make very good points, and they cannot be debated. But, I think the argument is incomplete. This is the biggest problem with USCIS and their approval process:

If it's going to take 9, 10, 11 months to get an approval, fine. No one is saying that we are entitled to a 60 day approval. I will even go as far to say that, although I think the logic is strange, I accept the fact that K-1's get approved faster than K-3's. What is completely wrong about this process is that the applicant has no idea as to whether it will take 5,6,7, or 12 months to receive their approval, and the date their application is received has little to no relevance in the order in which things gets processed. Explain to me how a person who has submitted their paperwork in April and who is still waiting, while people who submitted in July and August, for the SAME visa, are approved, with no explanation as to why. OK-so some cases take more time than others, based on individual circumstances. I understand that. Fine - USCIS should be able to explain to an applicant why they are having to wait 4 additional months for the same visa that someone else got approved for in 4 fewer months. But, that does not happen. USCIS offers no information, and often times offers misinformation, in order to NOT deal with the inquiries of applicants. That defies almost every construct of basic customer service, and a private sector company who engaged in that sort of practice would be out of business in six months. But - USCIS employs that as their modus operandi.

I think any applicant, including K3, K1, whoever, would say that they could live with the wait, if they got honest and reasonably accurate information regarding the HOW and the WHY of the wait. If USCIS told me it would be a year, great, I could plan for a year, and adjust my visiting schedule and financial affiars accordingly. But, when they tell us a 6 month wait today, a 9 month wait next week, and a year wait next month, while others who get into the system after us are being approved before us, is that acceptable?

A question: If you were in line to be seated for dinner at a restaurant, and you had waited patiently 30 minutes to be the first in line, and then people who were behind you started cutting in front of you, and the hostess seated them instead of you, with no explanation as to why, would you be happy? No, you would probably go to another restaurant. But, these people don't have the choice to go to another restaurant. There's only one diner in town. If another restaurant opened, this one would go out of business, for the way they treat many of their customers. And remember: Any American Citizen who pays taxes and pays the fee for this service is a customer. Not cattle waiting to be slaughtered.

By the way, I have been approved already. A month ago.

CJ-G

The more I think about the inequalities in this system, the more I am thinking this is a Civil Rights issue. As USC's, we are supposed to have equal rights. Where is the equality when geography (CSC vs. VSC disparity) and luck of the draw is determinant on the order in which a gov't application is processed?

While we are petitioning for non-USC's, we, USC's, are the ones filing and we have rights to be treated equally and fairly. I understand that this system will never be an exact queue, but disparities of more than 4 or 6 months in processing is not acceptable. If a petition is "complicated", than the applicant should at least be notified that they will be subject to a longer processing time and the reason. Those applications should then be sent to a group of specialized adjucators and not kept in the queue to hold up the rest. That would be reasonable. Instead, we are all left in limbo and castigated for making inquiries.

I am going to contact the ACLU and will keep everyone posted. It's time we make some noise.

But where are our rights being ignored? They have allowed you as a right to go and meet your spouse, and marry in another country. They have then given you the right to come home and petition for your non US husband/wife to come to america, and then they give you the right to have an approval, if you get denied they give you that right to appeal it. Just bc it takes time for the process, doesnt mean your civil rights have been removed...or ignored.

It was 9 months until the NOA-2 for us, and we've still had BS to deal with at NVC. If we beat the 1-year mark for the visa, it won't be by much. I know it sucks for you, but be strong, there are others who have suffered longer, and just remember, we all hate the system as much (if not more) than you do.

Everyone on the K3 sites at this point should offer a prayer/mojo for Narnia. That girl's an angel, and she and her husband continue to get passed over.

Good luck.

CJ-G

wow!

I am really new here, I have not filed a thing yet. I must say I admire all of your patience!

Someone's signature says 3 YEARS!

Big-up to all of you for supporting each other through a long and emotional process!

CaNdiD wiTcH, it seems like you are almost there!! Be strong!

BTW: those are some of the coolest smilies I have ever seen

where did you get them?

Yeah.. This is such a great site with lots of good people. In here we could vent and rant all we want.

It is a good thing to know that you have all the support you need in this painful and emotional journey.

I am trying to be strong..

The IM's? It is from sweetim.com..

Welcome to VJ and goodluck on your upcoming journey..

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. The members on VJ are worth their weight in gold, and although I have given a lot of help too, I have received more than I could ever give from this site.

It is quite pathetic that we have to do things like call our congressmen in to get our own government to competently complete basic administrative tasks. I will say, though, this experience has given me a new appreciation for our elected representatives, to see that they actually will make an effort to work for your benefit. My congressman has my vote in the next election, it's the least I could do.

And, even though we're one step closer to the end, I won't breath easily until she has her visa in hand. We've had so many problems and issues arise during this 10 1/2 month process, I'm not betting the farm that we're totally clear just yet. My congressman's office is on speed dial.

Thanks for the thoughts.

CJ-G

Glad to see you got this sorted!! Why is it we have to be so aggressive in order to get anything done? It's sad that they system seems to fail over and over again! We end up doing it ourselves anyhow! Thank goodness for Congressmen and Senators that help!!! And thank goodness for VJ!! It's nice to know you can post and get help/suggestions right away from people like waithatter and everyone else on here! I (L)VJ!

You bet dear..

C

Yaay CJ,

Im so glad you got them involved and everything is heading in the right direction. Good for you for being aggressive

Keep us posted

Lisa

Well, it turns out I was right. My congressman's aide phoned me about 10 minutes ago, NVC DID send the package to the wrong embassy (Warsaw), so the NVC supervisor told my rep's aide they would be sending a wire to the Warsaw embassy to forward the packet to Minsk immediately. She said if Minsk did not receive by mid-week, to phone the congressional office back.

Thumbs up to Congressman Bilirakis' office (especially Sonja Stefanadis, you rock), and a thumb to the nose of you arrogant and rude NVC reps who treated me like an idiot and would not help me when I explained to you last week that this is what I thought had happened.

Hopefully there will be no more screw-ups prior to the interview. We've had enough to last a lifetime.

Knock on wood.

C

For any of you NVC vets who may have experienced something like this....

My wife's I-129F and I-130 was approved just before Xmas.

She is Belarussian, which means she has 2 potential embassies to deal with for the exit interview. Minsk for the K3 (non-immigrant), Warsaw for the IR-1 (immigrant).

We're going K3. We have our reasons for going this route, which I won't spell out here, but a lot of it has to do with her logistics.

USCIS got the info to NVC on January 5. Checked with NVC later that week, they said the 129-F packet was sent to Minsk on Jan 6. Then, I get two identical letters from NVC over the next week, one dated 1/7, and one dated 1/13, saying the info would be sent to Minsk within a week. I called NVC to ask about these, but again, they said it had been sent on 1/6.

Been calling the Minsk embassy since 1/6, up to and including today (1/23), they say they have nothing. Every time I tell NVC that, they say the same thing. They sent on 1/6.

From a tip provided by another VJ'er, I checked DHL's website for the packages sent from NVC since 1/6, up to today. Over 700 packages, sent to all embassies around the world, including some close to Belarus (Warsaw, Moscow, Kiev), but not a single one to Minsk. I decided to call DHL and speak to a rep, he confirmed this. Nothing to Minsk sent from NVC.

So, I call NVC back today, tell them Minsk still has nothing, and DHL says nothing has been sent. My suspicion is they may have mistakenly sent this to Warsaw. I tell the agent that. She was terse, and told me, no, it was sent to Minsk, on January 6, you just have to be patient. I ask her, wouldn't it be unusual for a DHL package to take 17 days to get to Minsk, especially when DHL shows no record of a transmittal, not even one that is in transit. She said there is no way I could get that info from DHL. I told her that I most certainly did get the info, from two sources - their website, and a DHL agent. She said to continue to be patient, and if it didn't get there by the end of the month, to call back.

I think this is BS, and it has me concerned, because there is obviously a time-ticker on the I-129F and I-130 approvals. I'm thinking about calling my congressman's office to see if I can get them to look into this.

Any thoughts? I would really appreciate the perspective of those who have experienced something similar.

Thanks.

CJ-G