ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

My fiance got a "No Trace" on his form that he received yesterday, but he has NO criminal history. The only thing close was a failure to pay poll tax notice back when EVERYONE in the UK was protesting the poll tax, and a bankruptcy he filed a few years ago. (I say bankruptcy with criminal because he said it's nearly criminal to file bankruptcy in the UK.)

So how is this a signal of criminal history with nothing in the recent past if he has none? That seems a bit misleading and inaccurate.


"No Trace" is not the same as "No LIVE Trace", No Trace = No Criminal past on Record, No LIVE Trace = You have a criminal past but they are all deemed as spent in UK law. ie outside the statute of limitations for the types of offences committed.

I hope this clears up your mis-understanding

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-21 16:29:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you.

I have a question and I know you're the person to come to with it.
Derek just got his police certificate back. It says "NO LIVE TRACE"
Does this mean we wont need the I-601 or will the other check come back to bite him in the backside?

Again, CONGRATS!!! I'm thrilled for you!!!!

Dawn


Hi Dawn

Thank you so much for your Congratulations comment, it is much appreciated..

As you can imagine we are over the moon that the USCIS have eventually approved our case along with a few others here on VJ.

As for your question, "No Live Trace" means that your husband has had some offenses in the past that have elapsed due to the UK law of "Statute of Limitations" this states that any offenses that you have committed will held on your record publicly for a certain length of time, this time limit varies depending on what the offense was for, certain offenses never drop off at all, but most have a 5 to 15 year time limit.. They are always recorded and will never be removed from your husbands criminal record, however after they have dropped off they will not be publicly available for scrutiny and you do not have to declare them in the UK, however as you are dealing with the USA they want to know everything.

So as it states "No Live Trace" the US Embassy will know that your husband has a criminal record but will not know what he has done, so therefore they will require you to submit a copy of his full criminal record file, which can be obtained from the ACPO website, it is called "Subject Access" this is what he will require, and after he receives it he will then have to go to each Court office to obtain a copy of the court records for each offense listed in the subject access list (Criminal history).

Each of these things cost money and time, so you best be on top of it now, there is no point in just going ahead with just the police certificate, as this will give them grounds to slow the process down and request that he gets the Subject Access records and all the relevant court documents for each offense as well.. So be prepared and get these ASAP.

Once the USCIS or embassy staff know that your husband has committed crimes, they will see if any are considered (CIMT's) Crimes involving moral turpitude, which most are... They will then look to see how many times he has traveled to the USA, and if they deem any of the crimes as CIMT's and he did not disclose this on the landing card (Most people don't) then he will be told at the interview that he has committed Immigration Fraud, this has a denial for Mis-Representation, now only a waiver and an I-601 can overcome both of these.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any more info.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you.

I have a question and I know you're the person to come to with it.
Derek just got his police certificate back. It says "NO LIVE TRACE"
Does this mean we wont need the I-601 or will the other check come back to bite him in the backside?

Again, CONGRATS!!! I'm thrilled for you!!!!

Dawn


You can contact me personally by sending me a private message if you want to give me more details without them being public on here.

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-21 07:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

or, get married in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda...


I would rule out Mexico due to most flights from the UK have to stop off in the USA to Re-Fuel or pickup more passengers, therefore requiring the UK citizen to travel freely on the Visa Waiver Program which in this case he is unable to.. As for Bermuda.. I would not do this as I would want to know that my marriage certificate was valid for immigration and I am not sure if Bermuda is a valid location for this.. Canada on the other hand seems like a very good choice as you only seem to need to obtain a marriage license costing $130 Canadian Dollars and then you can get married at anytime.. well that was my take on the research i just did, I could be wrong.

But good suggestion.. note that if either of you have been married before then the Canadian authority will require a minimum of 4 weeks notice to check the marriages are dissolved along with documented proof.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 21:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

Andrew,

We had thought of getting married over there, but were given information that meant I would have to be in the UK for at least a month in order to have a registered marriage ceremony. I am a single mother of four boys (2 still live at home and attend school) as well as I have a full time job that pays the bills and I can't just drop financing our household to disappear for a month. Is there a faster, easier way to get legally married in the UK on the proper visa paperwork allowing me to marry Derek there?

Thanks,
Dawn


Hi Dawn

The way it works in the UK for marriages is as follows, you must reside in the area for a period of 7 whole days (Not including the day you arrive) then on the 8th day you can give notice which takes 15 whole days and then an available date must be booked at the registration office to carry out the ceremony. So this takes a minimum of 23 Days but maybe up to 30 depending on bookings. A link to a wedding procedure website is here: Wedding Procedure UK

There is no fast track way of doing this, and you must be present during this whole time as they check your passport for you leaving the UK during this period as well as looking to make sure you have the correct Wedding Visa in your passport.

I know it is a pain in the backside, however trust me when I say that it will knock several Months if not a Year off of your time apart.. another factor is that if you were to get married in the USA with Derek travelling over on a Tourist Visa, he will face a far greater problem as this will also become another Mis-Rep charge.. so be careful.

I would try and make it a holiday and honeymoon all in one, 2 weeks holiday and 2 weeks honeymoon.. I know that financially it will hurt, but it depends on what you want at the end of the day, a faster way to be together or save some money/pain.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 20:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

Thank you so much for the advice Andeee. I have told Derek his first step should be to get a police certificate and see what shows up on it. I also told him that during a background check, ones not listed might possibly show up in other ways, so he needs to be willing to be completely honest and admit freely to any bad behavior he's responsible for, so it doesn't trip him up worse by not disclosing anything.

I myself have a question concerning Derek's situation.

I have had a glance at the form I-601 and it's instructions. If he does have to file this, can he tick the lines for his crimes as well as him having ticked NO on his travel documents? It does say select all that apply. Does this mean he can do it all on one I-601 or will he have to file separately for each?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.
Derek's fiancée'
Dawn


Hi Dawn

First of all the Police certificate will only tell you one of three things, 1 = No Data (No Criminal Past on Record) 2 = No Live Trace (Criminal Past but Nothing Outstanding or Current) 3 = Live Trace (Ongoing charges to be made or Criminal history not yet exceeded statute of limitation date).. This will inform the embassy that he has a criminal past, but if he has done nothing illegal in the last 10 years as per his post, then he will get a "No Live Trace" which indicates he has a history... The embassy will then expect to see his Police Records which is different from the certificate as it lists all the crimes from the age of 15 to date, he can then disclose all the crimes listed on this report, after all this is what the US Embassy is going to work from, if you do know of something else that is not listed then it would not be a good idea to mention it as the Embassy will require documentation for the offense which will be hard to get if it is not listed on the official police report... All the court records then need to be collected for Every Offense. This takes time and money as all these reports and court records are chargeable.

Only 1 I-601 is required to cover both the Criminal history and the potential Mis-Rep that he will be given at the interview, it is a 90% chance that he will get the Mis-Rep charge in London as this is most common.

Police Certificate Link: Police Certificate

Police Criminal History Check Link: Subject Access


Wishing you all the best :thumbs:

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 20:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

Hi Andrew,
Yes, all my offenses come under the larceny umbrella, and also I am guilty of the mis-rep with visa waiver. All the crimes on that part suggested it was serious crime only.
Thanks for all your help
Derek


Hi Derek

In that case I would do what I said in my previous post regarding collecting all your past criminal history files, like police records, police certificates and your court records and make an appointment with a good I-601 Waiver lawyer and he/she will be able to tell you your chances based on whatever hardship criteria you may have.. I urge you to get this under way now as it will take some time for your Lawyer to put together a good waiver package and to save time you will want to present this at the end of the K1 interview when they deny you entry or alternately you could drop the K1 Visa and get married over here in the UK and then apply for a K3 married Visa as the hardship waiver is stronger on a K3 rather than a K1 because you will have a US spouse and in-laws/step-children, but a K1 you will only have a Fiancée which is a far weaker position to be in.

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I was in exactly the same boat as you when I started this 2.5 years ago, we got denied on the K1 so we decided to get married over in the UK which took 2 days for my USC wife to get a visa to enter the UK to marry me, after this we filed a K3 visa, got denied again which we expected but then filed the waiver and we are still waiting, but I did not have the support of this forum which would have saved us the K1 waiting period as we would have gone straight for the K3 if we had known.

Anyway good luck and if you need any pointers just ask.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 19:56:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

Offenses were for petty theft. I have around nine charges for this and one case of drink driving going back many years. My life was in tatters at that time and I am not the person I was then. I would hate for things to be held up because of a reckless past.


Hi Derek

Now that you have listed some of the types of crimes you have committed it is a bit clearer, as petty theft is considered as Larceny in the USA as a misdemeanor and grand theft is considered as Larceny as well but as a felony.

Also can you tell us if you have visited the USA on the Visa Waiver Program since you have committed these crimes, and if so did you say YES or NO to the question regarding "Have you ever committed a crime involving moral turpitude" as this will determine what type of waiver you will require? and from what you have stated so far it looks like you will be denied the K1 visa based on just the crimes alone, but a mis-rep charge may also be added if you have been to the USA without declaring your previous criminal history.

Please read this text that we have found to explain the meaning of theft:

"theft n. the generic term for all crimes in which a person intentionally and fraudulently takes personal property of another without permission or consent and with the intent to convert it to the taker's use (including potential sale). In many states, if the value of the property taken is low (for example, less than $500) the crime is "petty theft," but it is "grand theft" for larger amounts, designated misdemeanor, or felony, respectively. Theft is synonymous with "larceny." Although robbery (taking by force), burglary (taken by entering unlawfully), and embezzlement (stealing from an employer) are all commonly thought of as theft, they are distinguished by the means and methods used, and are separately designated as those types of crimes in criminal charges and statutory punishments."

I would also recommend reading the following document produced for USCIS staff to determine grounds of inadmissibility: http://www.state.gov...ation/86942.pdf

Here are a couple of relevant passages:

"9 FAM 40.21(a) N2.2 Defining “Moral Turpitude”
(CT:VISA-753; 06-29-2005)

Statutory definitions of crimes in the United States consist of various
elements, which must be met before a conviction can be supported. Some
of these elements have been determined in judicial or administrative
decisions to involve moral turpitude. A conviction for a statutory offense will
involve moral turpitude if one or more of the elements of that offense have
been determined to involve moral turpitude. The most common elements
involving moral turpitude are:

(1) Fraud;
(2) Larceny;
(3) Intent to harm persons or thing."
and

"9 FAM 40.21(a) N2.3-1 Crimes Committed Against Property
(CT:VISA-1318; 09-24-2009)

a. Most crimes committed against property that involve moral turpitude
include the element of fraud. The act of fraud involves moral turpitude
whether it is aimed against individuals or government. Fraud generally
involves:

(1) Making false representation;
(2) Knowledge of such false representation by the perpetrator;
(3) Reliance on the false representation by the person defrauded;
(4) An intent to defraud; and
(5) The actual act of committing fraud

b. Other crimes committed against property involving moral turpitude
involve an inherently evil intent, such as the act of arson. The following
list comprises crimes frequently committed against property, which may
be held to involve moral turpitude for the purposes of visa issuance:

(1) Arson;
(2) Blackmail;
(3) Burglary;
(4) Embezzlement;
(5) Extortion;
(6) False pretenses;
(7) Forgery;
(8) Fraud;
(9) Larceny (grand or petty);
(10) Malicious destruction of property;
(11) Receiving stolen goods (with guilty knowledge);"

We are here to try and help you, so the more you tell us the more we can help point you in the right direction, however you must also be truthful otherwise you will get incorrect information and waste your time as well as ours.

Good luck

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 19:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHelp with bad past

We are now waiting for our NOA 2 and all the fun that brings when everything goes to London.
My problem is with my past and whether it will catch up with me.
I was arrested for various offenses that were petty and only involved fines and community service, the last offense being over ten years ago.
Will I have to go for a pre-interview to discuss this, or do I discuss this at the main interview in London?


Hi Derek

Ok I am in a similar position however my last offense was 25 years ago, what you need to do is the following:

1 - Obtain your police records, you can download the form on-line and take it to a police station for them to forward to the section that will pull off a copy of your entire police record going back to when you were 15.

2 - Obtain a police certificate, this can be ordered and received within 10 days, this will state if you have a record, if you are clear of convictions or if any are outstanding, (Get 2 copies).

3 - Look through your police records which can take up to 30 days to arrive, now you need to go to each court that you will have attended for each offense and obtain the court records for the offenses listed on the police records. (These must tie-up otherwise problems will happen in your case)

4 - Get as many people as can to write personal references and if you have any Police or Magistrate friends then these will be even more supportive of case, employer reference is also a good idea to show that they were aware of your previous history and yet still employed you and put you in a trusting position, this helps show rehabilitation.

Normally the USCIS like to see 15 years since the last offense as this can automatically show rehabilitation in their eyes, however with a good lawyer and a very good I-601 prepared in time for your interview date, you will have a good chance of showing that you are rehabilitated.

I am sure that your case will be denied initially due to the crimes that you mentioned, however a waiver will be available to overcome this issue.. Please note that it will take several months to go through the K1 process, and if you have the I-601 prepared before the Interview then there will be no delay in submitting a waiver at the Interview, this cuts down on the delay and then be prepared to wait several more months for the adjudication of your I-601 waiver.

Hopefully you have not traveled to the USA on the Visa Waiver Program and stated on the landing card that you have never committed any crimes involving moral turpitude, because if you said NO like I did, as I thought that it did not pertain to my minor crimes when young, then you will have committed immigration fraud which will carry a penalty of a Mis-Representation charge which will require a waiver (I-601) to overcome this other more important issue.

My advice is seek out a good lawyer that specializes in I-601 Waivers... Sorry to put a dampener on your exciting new journey, but it is better to be prepared and know what is in store so that you and your Partner can set your expectations.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-07-06 05:27:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Sorry guys :(

It looks like the good old USCIS adjudicators are on holiday :whistle: as it seems like they have reached hometime on Friday without updating us.

Well I hope you all have a great weekend, I guess we will have to wait and see if they are good enough to update us all on Monday instead. :crying:

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-16 11:03:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everybody

My wife Traci came across a very imformative PDF file whilst searching the web for more I-601 information.

This is the official PDF file from the USCIS sent out to Adjudication Officers in remote offices like the London US embassy

You can find this form here > I-601 Adjudication Officer Guide PDF

This handbook enables you to see exactly what they are looking out for as well as all the paperwork processes they have to follow, it is long but rather interesting and my guess would be that after reading this you would have a greater idea of what the adjudicator does his his/her time.

If it manages to help anyone then great, it will have been worthwhile posting.

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-16 05:04:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi C2C

I was searching some other websites to see if I could find out what could be causing the delay in your I-212 application, I found this info:

"We were told by London that if we just had the I-212 to submit then it would be processed differently and London would have to send it to the United States and it takes much longer to process. Since we filed the I-601 along with the I-212, both are processed in London and therefore they say the waiting time is 6-10 weeks"

So it depends on if you just filed a I-212 in which case it will be longer to process as it has to go back over to the USA, however if you also filed an I-601 at the same time it should all be dealt with in the US London Embassy?

I don't know your circumstances, but I hope this helps explain the delay you may be experiencing if it was just the I-212 that you filed.

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-16 04:42:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Hi Todd, thanks for taking the time to respond.. No I have heard absolutely nothing, I've called several times and the very nice Scots operator can see nothing to tell me, and my numerous e-mails have also gone unanswered. It just seems like I've been forgotten or am at the bottom of a very big pile that they'll get around to sometime. meantime life goes on without me. I really would like to hear from someone who has gone through this but it would seem like anyone who has got their deal done and could enlighten us further have abandoned us :(


Hi C2C

Are you calling the premium Megabucks helpline number up in Scotland, where the operators have no access to any information or files, or are you calling in on another London Embassy phone number?

The reason I ask, like you I called up the Premium rate line and was told zip, they had no idea about my case, the only thing they could tell me was "that they could not tell me anything" as I was not on the system?

However when I aquired a phone number for the embassy, I asked this rather busy sounding Chinese woman who answered the phone if our case has been processed yet, she asked me for my case number and after about 5 minutes returned to the phone told me "they have found it on a desk of a worker who is on holiday and will now be processed goodbye... and then they hung up"... no sorry or explaination as to why it had been overlooked. anyway after this call we got notification about a week later that our case was recieved and being processed.

So I think it may be worth a call to see if you can get any info at all, even if they say go away it is worth a try. :thumbs:

Regards

Andrew

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 15 April 2010 - 05:58 AM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-15 05:56:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everyone

I hope USCIS can update us again this Friday, even though they updated us again last Monday and they had the Easter break.

They should be able to update us tomorrow (Friday 16th April) because last Friday's update contained the same PDF document from the 1st April 2010 (April Fools Day) but with the date changed? :whistle: and the update on last Monday added one more case to the pending pile.. :thumbs:

So no movement of cases since 1st April 2010 which means that it will have been 16 days since any movement occurred with the exception of the one addition.. Now if the USCIS stick to the 1.3 case average (Cases from Pending to Complete) per week then they should owe us in the next update 3 completed cases, based on 16 days = 2.3 weeks times by the average of 1.3 cases = 2.99 cases or rounded to 3. :bonk:

I am trying to make this a science, :wacko: but as we all know this is far from science and not even logical, so my best guess would be that USCIS should hopefully post tomorrow (Friday) as normal and have at least 2/3 completions or some more movement of cases from pending to under review.

Traci & I just hope we are one of these completed cases, as we have been waiting the longest under "Pending" 140 days, and so far we will have been at "Under Review" for 16 days tomorrow and the average is 22 days for "Under Review" to "Completed". :wow:

Anyway lets hope we get an update tomorrow & good luck to everyone. :P

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-15 05:45:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi everyone

I thought I would share some facts and figures with you calculated from my spreadsheet, USCIS give out a timescale of 15 Weeks or 105 days from start to finish. :help:

USCIS at the London Embassy have completed an average of 1.3 Cases per week since I started collecting data back in October 2009 until today 12th April 2010. :wow:

40 cases go to under review in this timeframe with an average timescale from under review to complete in 22 days. :yes:

40 Cases go from Pending/Under review to Completed in this same timeframe which averages 52 days from start to finish.
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-12 19:40:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
JustJ

I know it is hard coming back home after spending some time with your husband, but time will pass quickly, just keep busy.

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-12 06:44:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everybody

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

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 :bonk:

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 - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-12 05:51:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
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. :crying:

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 :wacko:

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 :wow:

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-09 11:02:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
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. B-)

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

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

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 08 April 2010 - 02:43 PM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-08 14:42:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
So no update so far today (Thursday 8th April - 3pm) and that is 1 week after the last update... I know doesent time fly when we are having fun :lol:

Anyway if USCIS are not going to update us once or twice a day like the end of March then I hope they go back to the the old routine of updating us every Friday at least... Which would mean that we are due another update tomorrow (Fri 9th April).

I hope that they will not make us wait any longer than that for some more updates on our cases as 8 days is long enough even with a 4 day weekend/bank holiday thrown in the mix, come on USCIS if you can update us daily or twice daily like at the end of March I am sure every Friday would not be too much to ask for :thumbs:

Well I hope everyone on here had a good Easter break, but I know we are all looking forward to getting more regular updates and movement in our cases so we can all start to plan our lives like Graeco (well done again)...

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-08 08:55:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Well Easter is now officially over :crying: and the USCIS Embassy Staff will be back to work in a few hours from now !!! :thumbs:

Lets hope they can continue the level of case movements that they achieved during the last few days of March, I will be out for most of the day (Tuesday) but I will check in on my mobile from time to time to check if any changes occur.

Anyway I hope everyone enjoyed there Easter and lets look forward to lots of movement and good news all round :dance:

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-05 19:11:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
:thumbs: Well Congratulations to Graeco :thumbs:

As you are all aware by now the USCIS have decided to try and pack as much in to March as possible, so even though the update today was April 1st they are still claiming March 31st, anyway I do not care what day they call the updates as long as they keep them coming thick and fast or maybe it was an April fools joke :devil: ..

Today we were all suprised by yet another update, I was out shopping at the time when I saw the flurry of emails coming in to my mobile phone, this is why I am a bit late to update VJ... anyway I have updated the spreadsheet already > I-601 Status Spreadsheet 1st April and have the following 4 changes to report: :wow:

1 case went from Pending to Under Review :yes:
1 case went from Under Review to Completed (Well done Graeco & Approved) :dance:
2 cases went from Pending to completed in 34 days and 54 days (Hope for JustJ yet) (F)

Anyway it seems that either USCIS are trying to clear as many cases as they can before the end of March 2010, I just hope that they continue this level of movement of our cases in to April onwards as this would be real progress.

And thanks to all those people whom contribute to this post.. it makes it good for everyone involved in this process.. I guess I can now rest for the next 4 days from my spreadsheet duties as I doubt USCIS will work over the Easter holiday.

Take care all.

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-04-01 12:19:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

AWRIGHT!!!!!! Congrats, you two!

Oh crud. I'm gonna be stuck here alone AGAIN. :crying:


Never mind... your turn will come soon and we will still be around on this site to give our support...

I bet you are looking forward to your Ireland trip though... ;)

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-31 11:23:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Even better... it is MY CASE that was moved up to "under review"!!!!

Andrew... we might end up racing eachother to Hawaii.


Well done !!! :thumbs:

I am glad that you have also moved up to under review, because now we can have an online wager to see who's case is going to reach completed first :D

Thanks for letting me know which case was yours.

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-31 11:16:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Another Update !!! 31st March (Wed)

Hi everyone

I think JustJ & Graeco have a point, USCIS have again graced us with another update, this time spotted by my wife Traci whilst we were talking on the phone today...

Highlights are:

1 Under Review case has moved to Completed
1 Pending case has moved to Under Review

The pending case that went to Under Review is only 52 days old so they are now starting on the 2010 cases... :D

Lets hope this is a new leaf in the USCIS guidebook about updating us more often and completing and moving cases sooner. :thumbs:

Come on USCIS there is still one and a half days before Easter break, make me update my spreadsheet some more :dance:

I have updated my spreadsheet again... not that I am complaining... keep it coming > I-601 Status Spreadsheet 31/03/2010 Update

Take care all...

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-31 07:16:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
A helpful service/application

Hi all

I know what it is like to be away from my wife, as she is in Hawaii and I am in London 8000 miles away, anyway I thought I would share this service with you that has helped us send files to each other and keep things organised.

It is called Dropbox, this service installs a small application on your PC/MAC/iPhone and provides you for FREE a 2Gb shared space, I know there are other file sharing applications and web based drives available, but where this is different is it allows you to install it on as many machines you want to using the same username & password it then updates every other location in the background so that you have a local copy everywhere and a copy in cyberspace (Web)... so Traci and I use this for photo's :whistle: , video's :innocent: and immigration documents :help: , but we also use this for the spreadsheet that we use here for tracking the I-601 Status Updates... we just put it in the public folder of the Dropbox and copy the external link...

Anyway I make no profit from telling you this, but if you do register for free using my Link > Install Dropbox you will get an extra 250Mb of space and so will I. :thumbs:

I recommend this personally and we use it all the time, it is faster than email for sending attachments and you have only a 2Gb limit which would kill most email servers.

If you like the sound of this you can go direct to the website and sign up from there, but you will only get 2Gb, if you use the link above to sign up you will get 2.25Gb.

I hope you enjoy this free service like Traci and I have, it keeps us organised as anyone can update the file and you all have the same latest version to work on, it helps the sharing side of things that we have to do so often because of the distance between us.

Anyway take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-30 06:36:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
AT LAST we have moved from pending to under review

Good news at last, we have moved from pending to under review after 140 days.... as Graeco said, it may be that USCIS is reading this and trying to make me work hard updating my spreadsheet... all I can say to USCIS is "Bring it on" I am more than happy to work as hard as it takes to update the spreadsheet as long as they keep doing the work and updating everyone and moving cases along.

Well USCIS if you are reading this, please update us all as soon as possible and keep the work flowing as the droughts in information updates and movements make us all very unhappy.

This is a most unusual event USCIS posted an update on Monday 29th March, then they ammended it on the afternoon/evening on the same day to complete one more case, then they decided to post another update again today Tuesday 30th March, this update moved one person from under review to completed and us from pending to under review.

Lets hope that the Under review time gets cut down from the average time that the rest of the under review cases are experiencing as we have already waited 140 days at pending, so a few days at under review would be appreciated and not a few weeks... :thumbs:

Anyway thanks for those people that post here and help spot the updates, as I was waiting until Thursday 1st April or Friday 9th of April for the next update, but it shows that USCIS can still suprise us.

UPDATED SPREADSHEET > I-601 Spreadsheet updated Tuesday 30th March

Good luck everyone..

Andrew & Traci

Andrew,

I can't believe I missed that! Only able to take cursory looks at these things while at the office.

It used to be that once "Under Review", there was only a week or so wait out of London. While, that hasn't been the case in recent months, I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get a quick turnaround now. Hopefully, you are just a short time away from your wife and a new life in Hawaii together.



Thanks we appreciate the comments :thumbs:

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 30 March 2010 - 05:50 AM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-30 05:46:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Hey all,

Believe it or not, we have another update this morning (Tuesday, March 30th) after getting two updates yesterday.

Not much additional movement; but, the poor soul with the 2005 case who has been "Under Review" for the last nine months has had his case finally completed.

I have to say... although the number of completions could make this seem like Chinese water torture... I'm remarkably happy seeing movement.

Perhaps the USCIS is just looking to get Traci-Andrew to go mad updating his spreadsheet on a semi-hourly basis from now on :no:


Hi Graeco

Thanks for the update about the update :D

I have updated my spreadsheet to show the two changes that they made today.... 1 was the old 2005 case that was under review and the other case was our one !! :dance: which has gone from pending to under review...

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-30 05:28:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

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 moving from pending to under review
2 People moving from under review to completed ** (Updated Monday 29th March moved 1 more case from under review to completed making a total of 2)
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. :thumbs:

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 :wow:

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. :dance:

Take care

Andrew


Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-29 16:59:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Another Dublin case was just added to completed. Now they're just playing with us. :lol:


Thanks Julie for being so eagle eyed... I have never seen them update it twice on the same day before, maybe bonuses are paid soon :lol:

Anyway the Spreadsheet has been updated to include this case movement from under review to completed bringing the total to 2 going to completed this update.. :wow:

I have also added to the spreadsheet the average number of cases they are completing based on the time I have been monitoring it in Oct 2009, the average is 1.2 applications per week and this is not in order, so you have just as much chance going from pending to completed as you do from under review to completed. :wacko:

Lets just hope I am wrong and they do another update on Thursday.... just don't hold your breath now :blush:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-29 16:48:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
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. :thumbs:

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 :wow:

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. :dance:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-29 07:05:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Well thanks USCIS.... No Friday update for us as expected, so this can only leave us with two possible outcomes:

1 - They missed the Friday deadline and will post an update on Monday 29th March.

2 - They purposely made the last update on a Thursday one day earlier than the normal Friday release so that they can miss this week altogether and post on the Thursday before Easter making it an exact 2 week update from the last one.

So we will know on Monday if they were just late in posting the info together ready for Friday, which would indicate that they are very busy and this should then reflect this in the number of changes on the next posting of the PDF file, or they will leave it to the Thursday 1st April (April Fools Day) to release two weeks worth of work, which will probably result in less movement of cases otherwise they would have posted weekly and not make us wait two weeks until they have some positive news.

I am really sorry if this post sounds negative, but I hate the way USCIS control so many people's life and we have no way of knowing if it is going to be days, weeks or months before we will know the outcome of their adjudication, when I was told at my interview it is taking 12 - 15 weeks this set the bar, and we are beyond the bar by weeks and still "Pending" the same as we have been since the begining... in fact since I have been recording the movements on my spreadsheet our Pending case has been the longest Pending case so far, others have been waiting longer overall if you add the amount of time Pending to the Under Review time, however at least some have moved from the Pending list to the Under Review list, this is progression.

Lets just hope and prey that when USCIS do release the next update that all the Under Reviews have moved to completed and that a lot of Pending including our case have moved from Pending to Under Review or even Completed like they have done in the past... Come on USCIS you can do it if you want....

OK rant over for this update.

Everyone try and have a good weekend and we will catch up on Monday/Thursday

Good luck everyone

Andrew

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 27 March 2010 - 11:55 AM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-27 11:51:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
I guess we have to be thankful for the small mercy that we are applying here and not in Mexico, as it stated in the report " In Ciudad Juarez, Form I-601 receipts grew 570% from 3,280 in FY2005 to almost 22,000 in FY2008 " so if you divided that by 52 that means they have to process about 423 cases a week and we are in the London system whereby the receive about 4 new ones per week on average?

The main difference is that in Mexico they are speading the load to other offices and trying to turn around simple cases in 2 days which is 50% the other 50% take up to 18 Months, so if you took that ratio and applied it here in London they should process about 2 cases per week within 2 days (easy)the other 50% only God and the USCIS know?

The thing is, they are not even completing the 2 cases a week on average? so far.... We will have to see if they grace us with an update today (Fri) as the last update was 8 days ago now.

If anyone reading this is on my spreadsheet as pending or under review I-601 Waiver Spreadsheet, would you give me your case number & VJ Name so I can put your VJ name against your case so it makes monitoring it better for everyone.

Many thanks & good luck to everyone.

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-26 08:31:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
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 - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-25 19:26:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Traci-Andrew,

The situation is probably worse than what you are thinking. I've been going over the london tracking list for over a year now, and they have been particularly slow going back to October. Dreadfully so over the last couple of months. It's noticable enough now that my attorneys are trying to discretely find out if there have been any staff changes, etc... amongst the adjudicators. I used to see about 15 cases a month out of london with updates to the list twice a week.

Also, what part of Hawaii are you from? I'm looking to move back there if I can ever get my wife's inadmissibilities waived.


Hi Graeco

I am Andrew from London and my Wife Traci is from Kaneohe on Oahu.. We have been through the K1 process and I failed due to a couple of CIMT over 25 years ago, but of course at the time of the interview I was also told that I had committed fraud as I did not declare this on the visa waiver entry form, so I was denied entry and my wife Traci decided to then come over here to the UK to get married to me and we had to cancel the Hawaiian wedding. We then filed for a K3 visa and had our lawyers prepare a waiver for both the CIMT & Fraud, again at the interview I was denied which we were expecting but I was told that the application was no longer a K3 but a CR1 which is much better as you do not have to go through the adjustment of status later and pay more money, anyway the waiver was filed at the interview back in September 2009 and I have been maintaining a spreadsheet ever since, but what grim reading it makes.

Could you let me know if you kept a spreadsheet for the last year, if so could I have a copy... As for your case, if you let me know your case number we can watch out for your movement... when did you submit your waiver & how long have you been waiting for your wifes waiver to go through?

Regards

Andrew

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 22 March 2010 - 06:33 PM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-22 18:32:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Thanks, Tree. I hope your own wait is a brief one.

My husband is planting his garden as well. We hope that it will go unharvested, but in case we don't get the visa, he'll have food.

I am going to see him in 2 weeks, so that is certainly something to look forward to. I'm sure you all know, though, as soon as you get there, the joy quickly turns to dread at counting days until you part again.

Tomorrow's Monday. Since the list was updated Thursday, I suspect we won't see anything happen with it tomorrow. :sleepy:



Hi Julie/Tree

I estimate that we will not see any updates until Friday based on the past updates that the USCIS have issued, here is a link to my spreadsheet I-601 Waiver Updates and you can see when they have updated, since October 2009, I hope the next time they update a lot more movement occurs, as they have been rather slow of late.

Anyway all the best to everyone, and Julie enjoy your meeting with your husband ;o)

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-21 20:22:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi All

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, but 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. :crying:

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. :bonk:

Anyway rant nearly over now, I am just very dismayed at the progress that they are making, after taking the time 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 prey 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. :thumbs:

Well I guess we will have to wait another 8 days until next Friday for them to release the next update, lets 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. :dance:

Good luck to all. :P

Andrew

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 18 March 2010 - 05:56 PM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-18 17:51:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
By the way anyone who wants some advice that is reading this particular Forum subject may be interested in one that I have started at I-601 London US Embassy Updates this also provides a link to a spreadsheet where I have been monitoring all the updates on the I-601 Status form since October 2009.

If you think this will help you please drop by and visit and leave any comments about the spreadsheet or ask any questions.

Regards

Andrew & Traci
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-17 08:07:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Hi Guys, well I'm here to re-iterate what I just said about having faith and hope and patience, I have just been notified that my case was looked at and completed 6 days ago, so they're being looked at all the time and your case can be too and good news could be just around the corner


Hi

Would you be able to tell us how they contacted you, ie email/letter etc and also were you pending or under review, if you could give us your case number I can look at my spreadsheet and it will allow us to gain more of an insight as to what progress they are making on moving us all forward before they publish their next update.

Also if you could tell us how long in total it has been from start to finish, by the way I hope that completed in your case meant that it was a positive outcome... as i do for all our cases.

Many thanks

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-17 08:01:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

No update. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zilch. Zip. Zed.

:wow:


Looks like it will be this coming Friday then? it seems to be mainly Fridays or Mondays if they miss Fridays deadline but occasionally any other day of the week ;o) depending on how they feel..:bonk:

Well we will just have to wait some more, lets hope the delay is because they are busy :rofl: getting through the cases and not because they have nothing to update.:whistle:

See you on here Friday. :no:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-15 13:29:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everyone I have listed below some info that may help some of you take the guess work out of how many cases are they completing?

We are also in the same I-601 boat as the rest of you, we are waiting for our waiver to be processed at the London US Embassy for a CR1.

I have a couple of Crimes of Moral Turpitude against me as well as a case of Immigration Fraud for not ticking the box on the Visa Waiver slip when I have entered the USA several times over the years.

Our Waiver was submitted on 10th Nov 2009 and we have been waiting for updates to the I-601 Status Web PDF, however even after 18 weeks we are still pending? even though we were told 15 weeks at the time of submitting the I-601, however I have been keeping an up to date spreadsheet since this time showing how many new cases get added and tracking them all from Pending to Under Review to Completed...

http://spreadsheets....q...lVZHc&hl=en

This shows that the department who deals with the waivers have done very little work in between 27th November 2009 and 1st Feb 2010 in fact only 3 Cases were completed during this time and only 3 went to Under Review, which begs the question as to what they are working on? however in a sudden rush we see during Feb 2010 a lot more activity with 11 cases being completed and a further 5 moving to under review... But it has been nearly a month now since any changes have been made? they release updates with no changes or just adding more to the Pending area??

Lets hope they start to move forward again on the next update which should be either Monday 15th March or Friday 19th March...

I hope this helps you and any others that are in our situation to understand the complex nature of this process.

Good luck to everyone.

If anyone wants the entire spreadsheet email me at andymcj@googlemail.com

Andrew & Traci
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-03-13 22:32:00