biggish data

My cases wer both touched today.....they must be working early....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-02-11 11:59:00

my cases were touched tonight....but no text msg yet...i may have caused myself a little longer delay as I just moved and had to change my address .....used the online form....congrats to the approvals tonight....I think this is the start of all of us getting out of the texas black hole... :thumbs:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-02-09 23:04:00

For those of you getting email alerts whenever a post in this thread, I can hear you know, "Damn that SqdnGuns, not again!!"

Well, my persistence paid off, I just got an email from the Director of the Texas Service Center, this is a reply to one that I sent to her 20 minutes before getting this reply.

Mr. Grant,

Thank you for your email. I had received one over the weekend from you and your case was approved this morning. You should be able to see it on the case status online tomorrow or Wednesday. I would have to agree with you that the process was temporarily broken, but we have taken steps to correct this and we will have all cases processed within the next weeks. Hopefully your future experiences with USCIS and with TSC will be more positive. My apologies for your wait, and I hope that your son recovers soon and fully.

Regards,

Angela K. Barrows

I truly hope that hey have fixed their errors for the sake of the rest of you. I am waiting to hear back from her whether our case will be expedited @ NVC and the Embassy.

congrats ....hope everything else from here on out goes easy for you and your family

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-02-07 16:20:00

I was not planning it to be this fast after all the delay. Im a late August flier, so I figured to wait my turn behind all of you. Im so sorry for everyone here. Please forgive my excitement. Im still hoping and praying for you all.

even thous of us in the 7 and 8 month club are happy to see one of us get approved.......congrats..... :thumbs:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-02-04 19:31:00

:bonk:I'm now in the 7 month club...... :bonk:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-02-01 15:24:00

NEGATIVE....

According to the dude (man) at the IRS office yesterday.... you do NOT have to claim your [out of country] spouses income on your return if you are filing jointly (with ITIN). The reason being.... they didn't pay any money(ies) to the US Government (IRS). The exact example that I gave him was....

"My wife is in Brazil, we are currently going through the immigration process. She has not lived here or earned any money here (in the US). Can we file "Married/Jointly"? He said .... YES....
Next question... Do I need to include my wife's (foreign) income on our tax return? He said.... NO, she did not pay taxes to the US Government... so, NO... you do not include her income.

Makes sense to me.... but.... if you have different info... please let me know before I go through this lengthy pain in the butt process of ITIN...

Erick

for the tax question see if this link makes it easier to understand

http://www.aca.ch/brunaltx.htm

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-31 12:32:00

The whole idea of filing jointly was to take the 3K deduction. How can I take the 3K deduction if we file separately? I don't think thats possible is it? I still don't get why a person has to pay income tax twice. So I am still at lost at what I can do cause showing her income on my taxes would just make me pay more cause of her income. I know all about the ITIN and waiting 8-10 weeks for a refund thats not a problem. If my wife wasn't working than I could have taken the deduction easily. Than maybe I shouldn't even write her on my tax papers. Cause I read that there is no law saying you have to show your spouse on your tax papers.

to file married/Joint you will need the ITIN, the just list her income as foreign income made by her, she wont have to pay tax on it as she is not responsible for tax in US but will need to file in Canada. this can be sticky and can get you audited so be careful what you deduct, do not take a iffy deduction and be prepared to show that she filed same amount exactly with the Canadian tax service.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-31 10:03:00

It was a collective effort! Hope to see an approval for you today! I want to see a mass approval!

me to....for all of us, but i must say this group has made this journey easier to handle,,,I thank each and every one of you for helping me get through each day

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-28 15:01:00

I reported two of his posts

so did i, they were just mean and un called for

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-28 14:55:00

Another antagonistic post removed and user banned from thread.

Thank You

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-28 14:47:00

For all you waiting. Let me see what I can
do to HOLD YOUR APPROVAL UP EVEN LONGER.

All you with your comments see where it
get you soon and see if your approved any time soon.!
No treat just my comment for you to see how much more
you can talk hot air.

APPOVALS COULD BE LONGER AND GOOD IF YOU GET APPROVED
BUT THAN WHAT LATER IF YOU DONT ..REMEMBER ME. LATER
WHEN YOUR WONDERING WHY ...
HAVE FUN TALKING AND HAVE A GOOD BS TIME ABOUT IT

it's on your dime and your waiting time to be approved
NOT MINE

TSC they dont need to be approved they need to wait longer
maybe another few months alright Dont help them
until they clam down and had time to think better

TSC take your time make them wait longer
it no sweat everybody while im here with my wife and your
all farting bitchening and complaining when it your fault
for complaining to much.. The jokes on you really ! ! ! !

for waiting filers

these type of comments are not needed or welcome .....please take your approval and go enjoy yourself and dont torture the rest of us with these nast posts......

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-28 14:26:00

CONGRATS to our three latest approvals....starting to get hope as your timelines are all closer to mine than most of the previous ones..i still think they are working the stack backwards.....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-25 13:49:00

Ill be ordering two of those shirts as soon as I survive the TSC, and will wear them with pride....lol....by the way Texas is this actually a representation of your idea of service......

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-24 15:15:00

I also think you need to factor in the fact that a percentage of the 35,000 cases will be I-129F applications, which, like ours are cloned with the I-130. I'm not sure what the percentage would be, but judging by people on here, it may be as high as 10 to 15%.

I also heard there are two rounds of approvals per week - Wednesday & Friday, which is why I expect nothing today. Do we have any evidence this is correct. Has anyone been approved on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday?

not sure how to figure out the 129 vs 130 but that would lower the time :dance:

I cant remember any approvals other than wednesday and fridays which would make sense ...work cases monday and tuesday then approve then work cases wednesday and thursday and approve rest on friday...and if i rember lots of govt offices have some kind of revolving 4 day work week with so many people being off on fridays after working 4 10 hr days.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-20 15:30:00

Congrats to the latest approvals.... :wow:

I notice that by the time lines they truly seem to be working backwards through the files by my estamate we (this group) are about .29% of the 35,000 cases which means that 2.94% of us just got there approvals which would translate into 1029 of the 35,000 cases should have just recieved there approvals, at that rate it would take about 34 rounds of approvals to get through all 35000 cases, if there are two rounds of approvals each week ( wednesday and friday) then all 35000 cases should be done with in 17 weeks....all numbers are assumed.......

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-20 15:03:00

a service request because my case was past the processing time...it was about 6 months at the time I put in the request. They expect me to wait another 9-12 months? I have terrible luck.

listen that letter is a bunch of #######, just a delay tactic, dont listen to it my SR told me exact same thing and stated 7-9 months......

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-18 12:38:00

Oh, we placed SR exactly in the same day! and got the same response word by word but only with 6 monthes timeframe. I cryed whole that night

so did I....but I'm sure it was only a delay tactic....there way of saying we are working on it please don't bother us we are very important government employees and cant be bothered truly helping you pleblians....then when we get approved in 60 -90 days they can feel like we think they have worked hard for us poor saps...being in IT i am very used to this longer than needed time estimate....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-14 12:40:00

Hopefully, we got service request response in the beginning of december that our case required additional review (what is this??) and I am worried is it something wrong with our case or is it common.

I did my SR on Dec 7th and I got same letter:

"Based on your request we researched the status of this case. We are actively processing this case. However, we have to perform additional review on this case and this has caused a longer processing time. If you do not recieve a decision or other notice of action from us within 7-9 months of this letter, please call customer service at the number provided below."

I think this was jsut a delay letter as I havent gotten a RFE or anything, but the 7-9 month thing was a heart breaker.....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-14 11:48:00

skynaut, congrats!!!
guys, did you notice that no beginning of July at all?

i have been noticing that my recept date is July 2nd and according to my 1st I-797c priority date is June 28, but I go with the recept date, but though I am happy for every approval my heart crushes when I see they applied a month after I did....i think the stack came in with oldest on the bottom and they just started picking off the top till they get stack done....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-14 11:19:00

I hear ya.

I swear my family and friends think I'm a terrorist!

They just can't believe it takes this long for a normal person.

The efficiency of goverment.....please Washington give me more government to run my life I'm not screaming an agony yet....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-13 15:56:00

OK here is the scoop I got from the Congressional Liason from TSC a reply
to my congressman now at 11:00 Pacific Coast Time

Cameron, Matt Caseworker for Congressman Henry A. Waxman

Hi Ron,

I received an update from my Congressional liaison at TSC regarding
the inquiry that was made on your behalf. According to my liaison, they
have ordered your I-130 file which will be forwarded to their exam unit
for further processing. They have asked me to inform you that this step
in the process usually takes 45 to 60 days before you will receive a decision
or a Notice of Action, to completion or sooner. So contact me around the
last week of February, and I will do a follow up to my liaison than for you.

Matt Cameron
Office of Congressman Henry A. Waxman
Los Angeles

that is amazing so basacially your being told that now someone might look at your petition, so what have they been doing since august????????

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-13 14:29:00

I am going to make copies of my two 4 I-797c notices ( I have two petitions in for wife and stepson) and the SR letter and a long letter explaining everything in detail to the top guy. I will also mention all of you guys also, but sometimes you just have to go to the top to get a fire lit under mid-level mamagement butts. But the big joke is that we are all just waiting for our petition to be approved, which actually only allowes us to get into line to apply for a visa where the real decisions are made. This part of the process should actually be the easiest as long as we or spouce are not in govt databases as being bad people. they should only be looking to see if we paid monies needed, all paperwork required, and dont show up on some database search if all those are in good standing stamp it approved attach next steps paperwork and ship on to NVC.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-13 13:48:00

yes i did, i think im calling uscis and cussing out who ever answers the phone!!! lol

just got off phone with uscis, after requesting tier2 sat on hold for an hour got someone that immediatly told me the computers were down and to call back in a few hours.........

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-12 14:02:00

sorry for the rant but this is just a pile of #######......Im tired of waiting tired of life being on hold, I have to pay for Insurance but cant use it on family because they dont have SSN, she is now homeless, stepson's schooling is getting screwed up because they start new school year in begining of year we start in september....all of us are getting different reasons and statuses and it all sounds like we are just getting the lie of the day....my SR letter sayd they needed to look at it further...what is there to look at...this is just for the petition so she can apply....and yet the government wonders why people dont trust of beleve in them to do things right......UGhhhhhhhhhhh :blink:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-11 13:10:00

Yeah we got a ticket already gonna try vwp hope all goes well, she doesn't have a ton of ties to Australia so i hope it goes smooth at poe. She will have return ticket and everything.

My wife brought cell phone bill, I downloaded a standard rental agreement from the VIC Gov web site and a frend of hers filled it in showing she is renting rooms from them, she was a casual employee and they wrote her a letter, copy of rego for her car and no paperwork that looked like she would be staying. In the end because of this status we are in which is just us USC petitioning for them to apply she was not asked anything but why she was coming to which she told them to spend christmas with my husband and then how long are you staying she had a return ticket for Jan 10 so she stated that and then she was on her way. I find the people at LAX nicer than those at San Fran plust the flight from sydnay is early so they are still in good moods. Once her we had ticket changed to Feb 27 which is still under the 90 day mark cost an extra 100$. Also not many Aussies sneek into the US so they dont get looked at to hard.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-11 12:12:00

Yeah but even if i did get it expedited she would still be there and it scares me the flood hit fast and wasn't expected and the rain is still coming down =/

i brought my wife and stepson here on a 90 day tourest visa, ill send them back at end of feb and if it goes longer than i like ill fly them back again, she doesnt have a place to live anymore as her house is sold and we just couldnt stand being apart with no end in site. it isnt a violation as long as they leave before visa is up......if you can afford it just apply online for a 90 day visa and get her out of there.....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-10 13:15:00

just when i thought we had all planned out, huge roadblocks thrown up. feeling pretty hopeless and major depression has set in.
my husband made plans for me to come there rather than deal with massive wait time for visa then AP (months or even possibly years). he was looking for land to build a home there and we thought everything would be fine.
then the family factor kicked in... his family hates americans, he says he can protect me so i continued to plan to sell everything to move there. he made promise we would be living FAR from them. then the threats start. i've been documenting it in case something happens to me here and know without a doubt i would never be safe there. he is not safe there, they threaten him and taunt him "who is gonna protect you? you think the usa police are gonna come to save you when you call the police on us?" the humiliation and threats and manipulation is just too much.
i've also had some crazy thoughts and ideas ... it would be so much more easy if there wasnt love... it's ripping my heart out and making me crazy

WOW....your story just brought me to a complete stop.....that is just so sad that people still have to be so hateful...I come from a very mixed family...white...black...hawaiian...chinese...and now I have added australian into it...i have always been raised to judge people on there character not race skin color or country of origin and it just makes me sad that the bigitory still lives in this world.....but i feel that the hate comes from little minds that insted of looking to figure out how to improve themselves hate others for haveing improved there lot in life

FULL OF ####### POSTERIOR CAVITY

i could never wish someone to be black listed even as a joke....the thought of not being with my wife is so terrable id just want to curl up and die...........we should be trying to help and encourage each other not ridicule and belittle i agree with the above........"FULL OF ####### POSTERIOR CAVITY" for that statement

Edited by TheSahlis, 28 December 2010 - 03:02 PM.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-28 14:58:00

Have you had any luck contacting your senators? I'm sure all of us who made service requests are going to receive that exact same letter. What a bunch of idiots. I don't know why I had higher expectations.

didn't contact senators as I actively campaigned to get them both tossed out and I'm afraid that might make my case go even longer.....

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-28 14:35:00

Are you kidding me??? They said to call back if you don't hear from them in 7-9 months?? Or do you mean 7-9 months from the NOA1 date?? Even that is not acceptable! California is approving September cases. Why in the heck did they transfer them to Texas if Texas is not going to work on them? Now I am thinking we would have been better off staying in a long line in California rather than going to Texas (twilight zone).

dont know if it ment from noa1 or not as it was not very clear just stated if you havent heard anything in 7 to 9 months please call customer support..........

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-28 14:28:00

hello
I called and put in a request to have them check into my cases earlier in december as my 5 months were up Dec 5th and I was transfered to texas from CSC, today i received the letter from them.....

letter stated they were working on case but had to look into it more and if I didn't hear anything in 7 to 9 months to call back......this just goes to show how useless a government bureaucracy is.....i sure hope we never actually end up with government run health care.....dear sir,you have cancer please call back in 7 to 9 months if your not feeling better. but anyway i digress ...letter looked like a form letter though and I'm hoping they are just incompetent and telling me a line...either way this is very frustrating.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-27 22:41:00

Hey guys I wanted to share with you what we have just got:

Post Decision Activity On January 13, 2011, we mailed you a notice that we have approved IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN.

We ARE APPROVED!!!!!

Good luck to all of you and things have really started moving at TSC, you will get good news soon too! Thank God!!

i am so happy for you sky.......hope rest of process goes smooth.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-14 09:53:00

So...my husband called USCIS on Friday and spoke with someone who said that basically they are currently working on July 17th filers and that they have been really backed up which is why they even transferred our case from California to Texas. She said to call back in two weeks to see what the status was. So, really we are no where further along, and didn't gain much more knowledge. I'm frustrated beyond belief. If they are sooo behind, why are August filers getting approvals? I'm crossing my fingers for news within the next few weeks for us all, this has been such a waiting process, patience is an understatement.

I'm a July 5th Filer and still have no news, just a letter from my SR that told me absolutely nothing but "we have your case and call customer service if we do not do anything for two or three months" this is a paraphrase but the gist of there reply.I'm sorry to say but they seem to be a bunch of fibbers because if they were on June 17 i should have my NOA2 by now.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-10 09:46:00

Just bumping this up Is anybody still here?

hello sky, how are you guys doing. things have been quiet because the last half of our group are in this stuped holding pattern...... :crying:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-08 22:24:00

Sahlis, Happy new year to you and family!

The trip was good and we all came back on 12/26. Life is good.

Is your wife with you or did they go back to Aussies? I think she and you had nice time for 37 days.

Loto

Glad to hear you have your family together. My wife got here on Dec 3rd we had a wonderful christmas and new years. she was going to go back on Jan 10 but since TSC is taking so long she has extended it to Feb 27 as she has a 90 day visa. We have just gone ahead and started our life together, we found a house and are in the process of buying it, should go to colusure on Jan 31. and we are just enjoying being together. wife and stepson are loving the US though and he has already made some friends.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-06 19:40:00

Congrats black butterfly, that's a speedy one

To All here, Wish you all the very best for speedy immigration process

Happy new year to all!

Loto

hi loto, how was the trip? did family come back with you? have a great new year.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2011-01-05 21:07:00

Did she say that she was married? What info did she give them? My wife has come to visit me several times and she just doesn't mention the fact that she is married to a USC. Makes it so much easier. But my wife is from Canada and Canadians vist U.S. often. She is still nervous each time she crosses though.

when asked reason for visit....she told them to spend christmas with my husband, he then asked how long she was staying and that was it. didnt even ask if she had return ticket.....which she does :angry:

......

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-13 10:44:00

Called USCIS yesterday, friendy enough but not much helpful information. I didnt ask for Tier 2 but they say that I was past 5 month and put in a queury. But the automatd message said to wait another 180 days. Then transferd to tier 1.

but on a good note my wife is here visiting and she had no issues with customs in LAX, asked her why she was coming and how log she was staying and that was it, didnt have to provide any proof of ties to australia.

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-08 12:42:00

Thanks CanuckChick, Loto.

I hope that post can help others figure out where in the process they are and how much longer they may have to wait, so I included my dates.

Can some one tell me how I can get my timeline in my posts, is there some option you have to check, I have filled it in as each deadline arrived, but do not know how to get it to automagically appear in my posts.

we just put it into our profile signature by hand under settings>profile>signature

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-07 14:40:00

Thanks ThomasJones to let me know. Updated the sheet. Will post here tomorrow.

Good luck!
Loto

loto congrats on the approval, have a good vacation. Im right now waiting to hear if my wife has cleared customs in LAX to be able to stay with me for the month of December..... :whistle:

TheSahlis

Male

Australia

2010-12-03 14:00:00