foobaz123

There has been little to no known movement out of CSC since June... We're in the same boat

You can try... and I wouldn't discourage you however, as far as I know no one has ever gotten anything useful from the Ombudsman and usually just get the same "Wait 5 months, then wait more" answer...

That said, why not.. it can't hurt anything

August here, no NOA2 yet. Filed for expedite on the grounds of personal safety, with 8 pages of supporting evidence, and they replied back the next day with a "No". If only they processed visa applications that fast. So frustrating =(.

Amazing how fast they can crank that answer out, no?

This process is so strange,they barely sent i130 to thr vsc...and they process fiance visa so quickly....you would think it would faster fot those who have married

The key part isn't married vice engaged, but VSC vice CSC. VSC is still working on family based visas (K1/IR1/CR1) but it seems that CSC has basically stopped all processing of family based visas presumably in favor of some other type.

159 days, and two months to our anniversary.

Have they said anything at all to you yet?

There continues to be no evidence that CSC is processing anything aside from VWP countries, and only those seem to rarely get processed. According to Igor's list there have been no more than 11 NOA2s for IR1/CR1s out of CSC each month since June.

Today is:

126 Days since NOA1

123 Days since Last Touch

All is quiet on the Western Front... no news.. no word... all is silent...

Never in a million years did I ever imagine I would be spending the first year of my marriage like this....

I was afraid that it may go like this... but I was hoping I would be wrong... So much for that. The Igor list estimate says my NOA2 may come tomorrow... yeah right...

It also says 1February as the latest... I don't put much faith in the list at this point but that is none the less scary.. If it really went that way, our interview probably wouldn't be until April or even May... More than a month past our first anniversary...

Meanwhile, those lucky enough to get sent to VSC will, for those who had normal processing, be nearly celebrating their sixth month together in the States.....

I'm June and still waiting...

Not quite as far down.. but in the same boat..

I want my wife here...

In my opinion, they just process "USC residing in a VWP" cases as soon as they receive them. I haven't seen any USC living in the middle east getting approved within a month in Igor's list...

Why? Certainly not for humanitarian reasons! I guess they just take them out of the batch to check for completion and avoid additional costs(what they say in their warning), and once they're on top of the pile and someone is looking at them, why not approve them when they're "easy" cases (=VWP)!

You don't sound bitter, just very frustrated, and oh I understand you!! Don't lose hope though, in spite of the unfairness of the process! Late June filers are being approved nowadays, so your turn IS coming. Go CSC!

<-- kicks CSC in the butt

You're probably right about them just approving them on arrival. I also wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that VWP countries have a different workflow than the rest of the world. As annoying to the rest of the world as that is, it would make sense after all. They really ought to be less work.

If it does have a different work flow, it would also explain why we've seen a total shutdown of all other CR1/IR1s. However, it wouldn't account for why other people who are VWP are at or past 5 months. So, you're probably right is that the only CR1s/IR1s they are processing are what would have been DCF and they're ignoring all the rest. As to the reason for that.. who can say... CSC/USCIS certainly isn't telling us anything.

My great fear is that they'll decide to transfer the cases to VSC/TSC and the accompanying extra delay that would likely cause....

Hi, I'm one of the lucky few who got an incredibly speedy approval. I'm not here to bragg AT ALL, and I can tell you I feel your pain, and I find you situation terribly unfair

My husband and I did not request an expedite for our petition, it just happened.

I'm a statistical data analyst in real life so I studied Igor's list to understand what is going on with CSC, and why they're not dealing with cases in order of arrival like they say.

I came up with a theory on why some folks get approved in days while others are still waiting beyond the 5 months limit :

- if you look closely at the members already approved who filed after September, you'll see that the vast majority of them have the beneficiary in a VWP country.

- for a very high percentage of these lucky members, the USC resides abroad (it is true for most November filers who already got their NoA2 from CSC, including me).

- on August 15, the DCF process changed, and all the cases from a number of countries, which would have been DCF under the previous rules, are now sent to the lockbox.

- in October, USCIS added a warning notice on the I-130 form download page, stating "Recognizing USCIS and overseas petitioners incur additional costs when forms are rejected and returned to the filer, it is our goal to reduce rejections to the extent possible. USCIS offers the following reminders when filing Form I-130 with a USCIS lockbox facility: blabla" So they've had a few problems adjusting with these new filers and they're trying to deal with it.

Taking all these facts into account, I presume that at some point, CSC has assigned workforce to process these special cases where the USC is residing overseas.

That doesn't bring you guys your approval, so it's not particularly helpful, but I think it's a reasonable explanation for the adjudication of October and November petitions, while you are still waiting.

I really hope you're gonna receive your noa2 very soon!

You're right on all counts. However, I'd go further to say that they only seem to be processing only some of even those from VWP countries given the extremely low volume. Of course, and nothing personal against you, it is extremely annoying to us whose loved one isn't living with us getting processed while the rest of us are stuck and waiting for months. It's like starving to death watching millionaires win the lottery again and again.

I think you're closer to the mark when you say that they are only processing what would be DCF work out of the IR1/CR1 pool. That would explain the few that are actually getting processed and give some reason as to why only VWP countries seem to be in that list as well. It is ironic though to seemingly prioritize DCF/VWP petitions during an otherwise total shutdown of a category since in most cases they are the ones who need it the least.

I'm glad things are going well for you and I'm sorry if this sounds a bit bitter. It is hard not too be in such a situation...

Been looking through the Igor's list data... and while realizing it is user reported data it points to a fairly clear indication... all (at least within the data set) standard IR1/CR1 processing ceased at CSC on or about 29June... the only ones processed after that data appear to be either expedites or otherwise favored.

Bear in mind this is with user supplied data but the trend is undeniable...

Presumably this is because all the processors who would normally be working on IR1/CR1 petitions have been reallocated for the last few months to some other category.

Don't fret too much guys.. at least there is movement on the K1s.. there's been no significant reported movement on CR/IR1s out of CSC since June

No, you don't want them to do anything about the balancing issue as it concerns your petitions, all you have to do is read through the forums regarding CSC sending petitions to TSC and the huge fiasco that turned out to be (a well known CFL member got caught in that).

I also admit, though I'm a bit scared to say it, that with the recent near complete stop of approvals out of CSC since June I've started to wonder if they may be thinking of transferring that large lot of July filers who they supposedly moved to a storage building to TSC.......

No, you don't want them to do anything about the balancing issue as it concerns your petitions, all you have to do is read through the forums regarding CSC sending petitions to TSC and the huge fiasco that turned out to be (a well known CFL member got caught in that).

How long did it take for that to finally get sorted out?

When our case was routed to CSC in early Aug, we were told we were lucky since CSC is 'fast'. Lol

Are other centers as bad as CSC in last few months? It sucks, doesn't it?

Your profile says VSC, is that correct?

As to the others, it does tend to switch around from time to time.

Hehe. With our luck, our service request will probably result in "Oh no, we have no idea where we put your file!"

"Oh, a file... that's what we're supposed to be looking for..." *rummage.. rummage...*

*Yelling up from a deep well* "Found it!"

*Tosses it up... right into a trash bin...* "Damn... oh well.. nothing an RFE can't fix!!" *starts paperwork...*

Murphy's law, right? It's easy to feel a little resentful of the people for whom things happened so fast, they hadn't even thought of how to prepare for the next step or the few who were actually *hoping* to be separated for close to a year because of a lease or a job or something.

I'm trying to save my resentment for the government who must at some level be aware of the vast discrepancy between service center times and yet, who does nothing...

I know exactly what you mean. I read a post the other day from someone who's beneficiary is in Canada practically lamenting that they were approved in a mere month or so. There was another one, also from Canada, who actually rescheduled their interview because they got approved so fast and the interview was going to interfere with her Christmas plans.....

Meanwhile, here I sit waiting months on end just to get out of USCIS with a wife in China and absolutely no chance of her being able to come here for a visit... unlike someone from say.. oh... I don't know.. bloody Canada who can just hop a plane (or get in a car) and come on down whenever they like.

Yeah, awesome to read people in those situations lamenting and/or bragging that they got processed so quickly....

Almost as awesome as DCF people lamenting that it was taking more than 3 months to process for them. It should be noted that for them those three months are the entire process (i-130 to Visa) and of course they're together through the entire process.

I'm not entirely sure I want them to do anything about the balancing issue, at least as concerns our applications... I've read far too many horror stories of looping transfers and such when they decide to "rebalance" by transferring a bunch of petitions from VSC to CSC or TSC.

122 days... And all is quiet on the Western Front...

I was looking at Igor's list earlier, for what it is worth, and there appears to have been pretty much no movement out of CSC since June... (aside from a few lucky people every month thereafter)

Hardly no known approvals since June...

For however accurate it is... According to Igor's list VSC is now a staggering 4 months ahead of CSC

That said, also according to the same data it is beyond annoying seeing so many NOA2s for months after we filed... maybe it's not right being annoyed at others extreme good fortune.. but i admit I cannot help it either...

For the NOA2? Yes it has. There are people up to about July 16th who've received their NOA2s.

I suppose I should be more specific... there has been no reported movement of IR1/CR1 visas... I forgot this is in the K1 forum.

Vermont just approved the 02 August petition

Figures...

At least VSC is moving... CSC isn't known to have approved a single July petition

I've spoken to four agents, plus a good friend that used to work at the call center, and have concluded that they are just totally out of the loop in terms of what's going on at the service centers, how this process actually works and what it means to the people going through it. The agents exist in order to keep us away from the supervisors by providing the same information we can get on the website and the automated calling system.

I've been told they were working on June 16th (as were several others, for several weeks running). I was told the process was currently taking 5 months, or 5.5 months, or 6 months depending on who I spoke to, and each time some variation of 'just go away and be patient, ok?'. Twice I was told the supervisors were busy, or would tell me the same thing, and no I couldn't hold to speak to one. The first guy I spoke to told me they were working on June 16 and to try back in about 15 days. Now that I have a service request I'm to 'try back in 15 days', which is actually 18 days later than when I was first told to try back in 15 days. I can't help but think a 'service request' isn't even an actual thing, but a means of placating us so when in 15 days, nothing has been done, they can assure me again that they're looking into it.

A convenient way of saying wait another half-month and see.

Sounds about right...

In other news.. if any one is familiar with IRC I've created a channel for people with our problems on freenode.org. If you want to join and have an IRC client you can go to:

Server: chat.freenode.org

Channel: #candleforlove

If you don't have a client and don't want to download one (there are several good free ones) you can click here and get to it. So far it seems I'm the only one who is ever in there...

someone just got approved from the 2nd of August so yours must be due any day now

From which Service Center?