Waiting for I-601 Waivers in London US Embassy

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi

Both Traci & I have had our fair share of waiting, first the K1 process, then the K3/CR1 process and now the I-601 Waiver process, and so far this has taken 2 1/2 Years !!

So I thought to help other VJ users that our in our position as well as the other VJ users that will be in our position in the near future, I would produce this sub-topic to give some helpful information as I have been keeping movement activity on a spreadsheet Since October 2009 to date, this makes for some very interesting reading, with this info at your fingertips it will be as helpful as knowing there are 49 balls in the lottery ;o)

Seriously the info shows some patterns, but holidays have got in the way of making the data show any true trends, the only thing I can say for certain is that they try to update the online Status form every Friday, sometimes they miss the deadline and update it on a Monday instead, however they can also skip an update and produce an update which falls on the on the Friday two weeks later.

I have also found a fault on the website and communicated it to them as the I-601 Status Web form was not linked correctly and was bringing up an older status form from a couple of weeks prior to the last update, the webmaseter was very helpful and fixed the problem within a couple of days and thanked me for my help, but he also communicated to me that they try to update every Friday if possible, so this should take a lot of the guesswork out of knowing when to check the site. I-601 Status

I have made a spreadsheet which I update regularly and I will put the link here for you to look at, it may not be the worlds best and I may have been able to do it better, but I am doing this for everyone to get an idea about the time lag between applying and getting completed and am not too concerned about the look and feel.

I-601 Waiver Timescale Spreadsheet

Anyway enjoy posting questions or helpful comments on here about LONDON US EMBASSY I-601 cases both past and present and lets try and get through this difficult time together.

And for a bit of a Laugh, check out my wife in this YouTube video of a slight mishap ;o)

Regards

Andrew McJannett-Smith

Edited March 16, 2010 by Traci - Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi All

18 March 2010 Update

Well the USCIS/DHS decided to update us all with a Thursday release of the I_601 Status PDF file , I thought it would have been tomorrow, however I guess they were rushing to tell us all that they had actually completed one easy case and has added one more to the Pending list... . Not bad when you consider they have not updated us for the last 10 days? They must of been so pleased with the progress they made to announce it one day earlier than the normal Friday release.

This was far from what we were all expecting, seeing as they have not completed any cases since the 12th Feb 2010 other than City2CountryGirl's easy admin error case, I thought that after 5 weeks they would have released a status update that would have cleared some of the ones under review and let some more pending cases move up to under review to be worked on.

Anyway rant nearly over now, I am just very dismayed at the progress that they are making, after me compiling a spreadsheet to monitor this, it just highlights how bad the service actually is, I guess I should have stayed in ignorant bliss and just hope and pray like everyone else, anyway if anyone wants to see the past performance and the status of all cases since October then just click on this link. I-601 Status Spreadsheet

Well I guess we will have to wait another 8 days until next Friday for them to release the next update, let’s hope they can please us all on the next one and show that they have done some work and moved a lot of us forward.

Good luck to all.

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

I-601 Waivers - CIS Ombudsman Teleconference, August 26, 2009

I just found this article on the USCIS website, it tells you a bit more about the process for waivers and timescales.

I-601 Waivers - CIS Ombudsman Teleconference, August 26, 2009

Let me know if this helps or not?

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

OK here we are on Monday 29th March 2010 and the USCIS have decided to update the I-601 Status PDF file (I-601 Status PDF) however unlike what we were hoping for, they released a pretty ####### update again.

1 New person joining the waiting list

1 New person going straight to under review

1 Person going from pending to under review

1 Person going from under review to completed

1 Person removed from the list altogether

It takes no work at all to add to the list, it takes no work to remove someone from the list, so what have they really done this last 10 days.. take two files from the pending pile and put it on their desk and work on one of the under review files on their desk and complete it... well done USCIS at last some progress.

However some of the longer pending cases like say my one is still being passed over for newer cases, 2 cases jumped in front of us again this update, so we are still the longest pending case out there.

I have updated my spreadsheet so you can see all this activity ;o) I-601 Status Timescale Spreadsheet

Anyway I doubt if they will update us again this week as Easter is upon us in a few days and they will have the Friday & Monday off so my guess will be another update on Friday 9th April 2010.

Sorry guys... but this is my way of venting frustration, I know we are all in the same boat and that this will end eventually, however I thank everyone for their comments and support.

Take care

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

I have 121 Views but no replies?

Hey if you find this information of interest drop a reply, as I seem to be the only one posting on this subject.

Anyway if no one shows any interest in this subject then I will have to stop updating it and remove it, as I do not want to waste my time on trying to help others if nop one either reads my posts or comments on them.

Andrew

[treehugger 23]

I read your posts, and they certainly are interesting, but as I'm in AP and not on the waiver list, there's little that I can add, sorry!

[Mintchip 0]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your posts and for the spreadsheet. If we are to continue with the Visa process, in all likelihood, we will need to apply for a Waiver. So, I am interested in how the process works. It's all quite disheartening, isn't it? I can't understand why it takes such a long time. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall in their offices to see what goes on day to day? I know I would.

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your posts and for the spreadsheet. If we are to continue with the Visa process, in all likelihood, we will need to apply for a Waiver. So, I am interested in how the process works. It's all quite disheartening, isn't it? I can't understand why it takes such a long time. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall in their offices to see what goes on day to day? I know I would.

Hi Mintchip (Interesting name?)

Thanks for the reply, I have just posted a new post on this subject as I came across a very good document written by an immigration attorney for other attorneys... it gives a very good insight as to how to prepare a very good waiver and the sort of things that the USCIS look out for.

I have added the link here, but it is also available via Visa Jouney under my post.

Hope to speak to you soon and if you need any advice just ask we have been through quite a bit so I may be able to help in some way.

Direct Link > I-601 Memo Document

Regards

Andrew

I read your posts, and they certainly are interesting, but as I'm in AP and not on the waiver list, there's little that I can add, sorry!

Thanks for the reply anyway Treehugger

Regards

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi everyone

I was doing a bit of research and came across a very good document prepared by an immigration attorney based in Texas for other immigration attorneys, it gives a very good insight to the whole I-601 process as well as what USCIS considers good or bad grounds... it is worth the read as it even tells you the process if the I-601 fails also how many hours an attorney should charge for, to put together a good I-601 case.

You can look at the PDF file directly here > I-601 Waiver Memo

Anyway, if you find it helpful just drop a quick comment back to help others decide if they need to bother looking at it, in my opinion I wish I could have read something like this before submitting our I-601 as it highlighted a couple of areas that we could have improved on.

Take care

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

No update today (Thursday 8th April 2010) after 1 week, however we have had the Easter bank holiday in between but I hope they will update us as they used to every Friday.

So lets hope tomorrow (Friday 9th April 2010) sees an update with lots of movement

If you do find any of these posts useful, reply as it will let others know that maybe just browse.

Many thanks

Andrew

[Traci - Andrew 14]

OK as predicted the USCIS have done another update for us this Friday 9th April 2010...

However they made NO CHANGES? No not even a tiny one, no cases added, moved or removed.

They must have done it just to please us with an update on the Friday as we expect, lets just hope they are going to update the list again soon with some changes this time, maybe it was too much to expect when only 4 working days had past since the last one

So other than they updated the I-601 Status PDF file with todays date, that is all I have to report... Sorry guys, I guess we will have to wait yet another week until next Friday.

Here is the link to my updated spreadsheet containing the addition of a new date > I-601 Status Spreadsheet

Regards

Andrew

[jnurse68 0]

I have 121 Views but no replies?

Hey if you find this information of interest drop a reply, as I seem to be the only one posting on this subject.

Anyway if no one shows any interest in this subject then I will have to stop updating it and remove it, as I do not want to waste my time on trying to help others if nop one either reads my posts or comments on them.

Andrew

Thanks for all your updates Andrew I do read all your posts and im sure theres plenty of us out here who keep an eye and are totally interested.sorry for not replying earlier.

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Hi Everybody

USCIS has furnished us with another update today 12th April 2010, this time instead of just a date change they have added 1 more case to the Pending pile

I hope they continue on with this new trend of updating the I-601 Status PDF file when changes actually occur as it makes it better for everyone involved in this long winded and emotional process, as we all like to see changes occur when they happen so it shows some movement at the adjudicators end and therefore we can hope that our case will be the next one updated or moved.

I have also found some software that cost $49 for personal use that can tell you exactly when this page gets updated and send you an email with 3 attachments, before, current and one with the changes highlighted. anyway if you are interested in this software they do a 30 day evaluation from : Website Watcher Software Link

This should help me stay on top of the updates before anyone else

Anyway I have updated the spreadsheet > I-601 Status Spreadsheet

I hope you are all OK and hanging on in there...

Regards

Andrew AKA The Spreadsheet King (Thanks JustJ)

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Thanks for all your updates Andrew I do read all your posts and im sure theres plenty of us out here who keep an eye and are totally interested.sorry for not replying earlier.

Thanks jnurse68

I appreciate the comment... I have had enough people contact me now so I will keep this going, even if I manage to help one more person through this process I will feel good that I have helped someone else in my position.

I just wish I had someone furnish me with a spreadsheet and updates & info when we started we may not have spent so long making some wrong decisions.

Anyway thanks and I hope all goes well with your case.

Regards

Andrew

[Andrew-Traci 5]

Let's hope that the USCIS continues with these daily updates and we all hear good news soon!!!

Take care everyone,

Traci