foobaz123

A glimmer of hope, maybe? Just saw that a VJ member reported receiving their NOA2 yesterday for their I-130 application. Their NOA1 date was 7/18 and it was processed by CSC.

I wonder if they have been working some applications the moment they arrive to keep their average processing time below 5 months.

I'm growing more pessimistic each day that there will also be a longer than average wait between receiving the NOA2 and the NVC assigning a number to my case. It's obvious that they are dealing with a large number of applications and that is going to trickle down to the NVC as well. I understand they can only process so many applications in one day and that they are working a lot of different application types. I just wish they would process them in the order which they were received instead of randomly picking some lucky people while extending the miserable wait for others.

Just about every day a family member of a friend will ask me when my wife will be joining me here in the US. They are always shocked when they hear how long I have waited so far and that I have at least another 2-3 months before the process will be complete. I have heard a few accounts of people who simply couldn't wait any longer (in one case the wife was pregnant and they wanted to have the birth in the US) so they had their spouse travel to Mexico and cross the border illegally. I would never consider this because I don't want to have the fear that one day my wife and step-daughter might have to be deported. This just shows the desperation some people feel for having to wait so long to be reunited with their loved one when it is a man-made delay that is causing their extended separation.

Finally, I would like to wish all employees of the USCIS, NVC, and Consulates around the world a Happy New Year! I'm sure they are normal every day people like the rest of us who are just doing their jobs as best they can given the rules and regulations they have to work with.

You're giving them far more credit and being far kinder than I feel like being. Though, I did just get off the phone with a completely useless person whom I'm pretty sure was specialized, she was supposed to be a specialist, in making callers go away. Nothing but excuses and practical lies. Time to start calling congressmen and such I guess....

I just got off the phone with the call center... nothing but excuses and "16June"... got transferred to a "specialist".. i suspect she was a specialist in bullshit and making you go away. All she would tell me is that it isn't outside their randomly defined processing time and that there is nothing they can/will do. She suggested I make an infopass appointment. The soonest I can make one for is frakking 4January. Sure is awesome how non-July people are still getting approved.. no?

After 5 (calendar) months, just try calling agents until you trick one into putting in an out of processing time service request. Try telling them you know people who have been approved as late as the most recent approval you've seen on here. They will give you a confirmation # and tell you to call back in 15 days....

They did this to us, and when I called back 15 days later, they told me that I wasn't actually out of processing time, so a service request couldn't have been put in, but transferred me to a Tier II because they had put in a request for a duplicate NOA1 (not what I asked for). The next day we were approved (170 days from NOA1). Not sure whether it was coincidence, but it's worth a try.

I think some of the agents are more willing to put in any request they can just to quiet you down, and others are more willing to transfer you to a Tier II agent than others...just keep trying until you get one of those people.

Starting today I'll be calling them every day... we'll see if I start calling them as often as I check the website...

How is your NVC journey going?

So far our service request has not triggered a thing. It is an expedite service request. It is going to be denied for the 4th time. Isn't it?

Sad to say, probably will be. What reason did you give?

:bonk: :bonk: :bonk:

When calling for Expedite request, we have to give the operator "valid" reasons.

What are you guys choosing? Financial Loss to the individual?

If we don't have "Valid" reasons. Except maybe LONGGGGGGGG RIDICULOUS WAIT !

Do we simply then wait 5 months and then you don't need to present a "valid" reason? just ask for expedite then?

:bonk: :bonk: :bonk:

95% of us wouldn't be able to get an Expedite. "I want to be with my spouse", "You're taking too damned long to do a simple job" and "Hurry up!" aren't valid reasons.

The only valid reasons would be severe financial loss and certain limited family emergencies. So unless your spouse is about to lose a job here or something of that nature, any expedite request would be immediately denied. Unfortunately spending ####### loads of money to visit also doesn't count as a financial loss.

Moving real slow, they do not change their status much.

I'd be okay with their fuzzy... lets call it math... if it wasn't for the fact that they're using that as an excuse not to even put in service requests. It's like they want to say they're average is still five months, so presumably no one gets in trouble or bitches or something, but still be able to set it however the hell they want.

Although my fiancé and I are applying for a K-1, I'm glad to hear someone shares my pain, I completely think waiting for past 5 Months is BS. And the fact that there has been some September petitions approved pisses me off even more. And I know there are June petitions that are still waiting. Uggghhh. But I do hope you hear something very soon!!

If that annoys you, consider the people who somehow get approved in a week or so and didn't even expedite....

Everyone still waiting past the 150 day mark... When was your last 'touch' date?

August 8th

The 'deadly' 4August here. Hopefully some action results from your service request and the one I'll be putting in tomorrow.

I put it in December 21st o_O

What was your last touch date?

I put in a service request and got this :

The status of this service request is:

This notice acknowledges receipt of your status inquiry concerning an I-130 petition. We recognize your interest in a final adjudication on your pending petition and are aware of the difficulties caused by any delay in processing. The California Service Center is committed to processing this workload, and will be making every effort to adjudicate your case in an expeditious fashion as soon as available under our resource constraints.

-_______-

Er... that's it? How long did it take for them to come back with such an insightful and deep answer?

It's now been a week since a VJ user reported receiving an NOA2 for an I-130 application. I expected there to be a slowdown this week with a lot of people out on vacation, but not this slow. I'm well aware that VJ users only represent some of the applications that are pending, but it still is a good way to track actual processing times. 154 days have now passed since my NOA1. Once I hit 160 days I will contact my Congressman's office for the second time to see if they can be of any help. At this point I just hope that when I do finally hear from the USCIS that it is an NOA2 and not an RFE.

Sad thing is that after this we'll have to fight our way through NVC... and then hope that the VO isn't in a bad mood on interview day...

Called USCIS for the first time today and just asked them what cases they are currently working on. They stated that they are still processing June 16. I guess the data they are looking at is obsolete. Got NOA1 on Aug 19. With this being the case for a lot of filers, i wonder if i here anything by end of January.

While I realize this is what they're telling people, and have been for well over two months now, it is mathematically impossible that they could be working on a single day or even week's worth of petitions for so long. This must be a batch date, milestone date or something along those lines. Such that all petitions still in normal processing with NOA1 dates prior to or equal to 15June have been completed. Make sense?

Of course, that doesn't help any of us at all and in fact hurts us greatly since they seem to be generally insisting that they won't open a service request until that date is past our NOA1 dates. In other words, they won't do a damned thing.

Day 150 is tomorrow for me. Time to start calling daily or over other day...

Day 155 will be next week.. time to start calling Representatives and Senators..

Ok, clarification please, VWP (Visa Waiver Program?) and VO is??? I believe Belgium is a country with the Visa Waiver but from what I have read it is dicey for my husband to come here while deeply embedded in the immigration process so this is why I go there. Am I incorrect in thinking this???

VWP == Visa Waiver Program

VO == Visa Officer

Yes, I believe Belgium is one of the lucky countries. As to whether it is dicey, yeah you could say that. However, it's like this. Since you've flown internationally you know how it is when you get to the POE (Point of Entry) here in the States. You step up to the podium and may or may not be asked some questions. As a USC you probably wouldn't be asked much. He might or might not be asked what the purpose of his visit is. If he says "To visit my wife" they may or may not want additional evidence of why he'd go back home.

The thing is that on the one hand they have a person who can fly over here any time, being on VWP, weighed against whether or not he'd go back to Belgium. Given he can come back to the US, in theory, whenever he wants he probably doesn't have a powerful reason to stay here illegally. Also, since he'd have to return for the interview there is that as well. I further presume he has a job and a home and what not back in Belgium. Bring documentation of all that and I'd say your chances are fairly good they'll let him in. They're infinitely better than the chances of my wife being able to get a visa to come here. Simply because he will already be past the hardest part. He won't have to interview with a VO who will already have decided to say no before he walks in the door.

Is it a sure thing? No. Is it a risk and a gamble? Yes. Only you could say whether it is worth it. Given that all you really have to lose is the cost of a plane ticket and general frustration, why not? I know for damned sure if my wife had a Singapore passport, VWP country, instead of a Chinese one we'd damned sure have tried it at least once.

At least you have the option....

No, I didn't call you bitter but I wouldn't say you are bitter because you have the right to be frustrated and upset at foolishness.

I understand wholeheartedly. It sucks!

I was being sarcastic

Sigh.. nothing to do but wait... and wait.. and wait...

Whyy isnt there any new approvals latelyy??? ugh I know its holidays but still GRRR. Im becoming VERY frustrated!

Because they get to spend time with their families for the holidays... you didn't think they'd work extra hard so some of us could too, did you?

I understand your frustrations and CSC from my understanding has the slowest response rate than other service centers according to the people I know personally. They say that it can take up to 2 years before you can hear anything not saying it will happen in your case but it sucks though.

In the meantime, just prepare all documents that you think they will need to proceed to the next stage and continue visiting your partner if you can.

I even asked if one can get a tourist visa for their partner and they said no because family visa takes precedent over tourist visas. I think it is bullcrap but hey.

The real difficulty is that for those of us whose spouse isn't from a VWP country, we have to prove to a VO who doesn't give a ####### and just wants you to go away that they'll return to their home country. Given that it is more or less impossible to do that when you're coming to visit your husband/wife, trying for a visitor visa while married to a USC is pointless.

People from VWP countries can at least fly over here and roll the dice that the people at the point of entry won't even ask about the visa in progress or why they're there. Even if they do, I cannot help but think that the pressure to let someone in who is standing at the threshold after flying over here is far far higher than what it is on a VO sitting behind a window waiting to go to lunch while thinking of a way to say no. Given the proclivity for VOs to say no to visitor visas to people like us in the first place, it makes it damned easy when there is a spouse in the US to use as a denial reason, no?

Just to add more suck, once you say "I do" your chances of ever getting a visitor visa go to zero.. even if you've got family members which will die before they ever meet your wife... fun, no?

No, I'm not bitter at all. Why do you ask?

C'MON People at CSC !

What are you doing? or What are you Not Doing ! thats a better question.

How can applications take over 4 months to process?

That is probably the most frustrating part. They don't take months to process. They take months to finally get on someone's desk for 15 - 30 minutes. How bloody fast would this process be if it was online and 80% - 95% automated?

You have to remember that cases land on officer's desks and the officers process cases at their own pace. So if there's one slow officer and one fast officer, then it's "normal" for not all applications to be approved from the summer, and some that have been approved from November.

Or the other possibility is that they don't process them in the order they receive them at all? How else can we see CSC seemingly randomly spit out approvals in 7 days flat? Even if what you say is true, then it still shows abysmal management on their part. Though, that should hardly be surprising...

Our case has been touched 1st of August and nothing happened after that. No RFE or whatsoever. If you get RFE you should get it right after they looked at your case right (TOUCH)? Correct me if im wrong, I would be very dissapointed if I wait 5-6 months and will get RFE after. It sucks

I would imagine it would depend on what the potential RFE was for. However, as far as I know no one knows exactly what they do with our packages when they receive them beyond generating the NOA1 and then tossing it in a box (aside from the lucky ones that get processed right then for some reason).

I would like to think that they at least check your basic forms and such so that they could catch an early RFEable issue. Yet, this are the same people who have been telling us '16June' for more than a month and a half now...

Actually you all need to try expedite requests once you reach 160 days.

An interesting thought. I doubt they'd approve many of them though. That said, I do plan on starting to call them every day starting tomorrow with calls to my Congressman and Senator starting at the 155th day.

Anyone with August 04 touch approved yet?

Only one that I know of...

It is total #######! I am mad.

It's also absolutely impossible. The math cannot possibly support that.

Hello. My wife called today as we are pending 155 days and counting. They say they will not do a service request because they are working on June 16 right now. She demanded to speak to a level to and explained her health conditions and everything to look into the case. More than likely they will still deny the request but we have waited over 5 months now.

Amazing that they've been working on the same bloody day for more than two frakking months, no?

That's odd that they told you that because I called last week and the guy told me that "I see you passed the current processing time" and put in a service request for me and said I should get something in the mail in 15 days.

They just told me the same thing as the other poster.. "they're working on 16June... so we can't do anything"

Thanks guys! I don't know what I would have done through all this without vj and I'm praying yours comes through soon.

As to complaining, well, I may never know if it had any effect on the outcome. Curious though that 15 days after I put in my apparently fake service request and one day after I called to complain about my apparently fake service request it arrived....

It's been nearly two weeks now... how is your NVC journey going?

Direct Consular Filing : when the USC is residing abroad, in a country that has a local USCIS office, it is possible to file the entire I130 application through the consulate/embassy instead of sending it to the USA. The processing is a lot faster than using the regular route through the lockbox, service centers, nvc, then to consulate.

It used to be possible in any country, but on Aug 15 this year, the rules changed and it is now only available in countries with a USCIS office.

In my case, if we had filed prior to 08/15, we could have done a DCF. I have noticed that most members in a similar situation (would have been DCF cases previously) are being processed super fast by USCIS.

And unfortunately leaving the rest of us on the side of the road...

148 Days with no action (and others even longer)

Besides sending the required civil documents and forms, as part of the bona fide package I sent:

- Color printed photographs (on normal paper, about 4 per page) taken since we met (lots of pictures from before and after marriage).

- Several bank account receipts showing joint account and transactions since account was opened.

- A letter from bank confirming active account and both of us as account holders.

- Letters from three friends and one from family explaining how they met us, activities and events shared together, confirming bona fide marriage.

- Wedding reservation receipt.

- Wedding rings purchase receipt.

- Copy of airplane tickets from trips made together.

Besides the main cover letter, I divided each section into different categories, inside transparent pocket folders. Within each folder I included another cover letter with the contents. Such as: This section includes photographs dating back to... and copy of airplane tickets, This section includes joint bank account receipts and letter from bank confirming active account..., This section includes etc...

I made it as neat and easy to follow as possible. Maybe some of the proof we sent was unecessary, but I preferred send extra material than risking more delays. Everything was also rigorously translated, even to the last detail (including seals, etc.), I spent months with all the translations.

Now, this doesn't mean that the speed of our approval was due to the above mentioned documents and methodology, but maybe it helped. I still don't know what criteria influence the duration of the process.

Hope this helped. Best of luck and don't give up hope, it's the only thing that keeps us moving ahead!!!

Your answer covers a lot but it was likely none of that. It probably all came down to one of three things: 1) Pure luck. Instead of filing your petition for later processing like they should have done they processed it right then for some reason. 2) Your beneficiary is coming from a "lucky" country. or 3) You, the USC, are living in Spain and they processed it either as a DCF or with DCF priority (for lack of better words).

Beyond trying to expedite there is no known method to make the process take anything less than forever. Some people just are very lucky.

APPROVED!!!!!

NOA2 (I-130) December 20, 2011

A great Christmas gift!!!!

Congratulations

The 160ish day pattern is continuing to hold. yay!