biggish data

5 Month Average Wait for K1 Visa at CSC No Longer??

I could have swore I checked the CSC average last week and it said 5 months. Maybe I was looking at the wrong thing..

That might be right on the "official" word. Their site said 5 months up until 02/05. They then updated the average to reflect what is really going on. Probably trying to reduce the pressure on customer service staff. It's all about managing workload.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-12 23:54:00

5 Month Average Wait for K1 Visa at CSC No Longer??

They have been saying July 18 since at least December. They are obviously under other performance measure pressure which has reduced K-1 priority. <cough><cough> Dream Act <cough><cough>

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-12 23:46:00

Reasons for K1 slow down

I'm complaining, and I'm at only 192 days...it really blows for you july filers. But good news Sahs, "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between January 11, 2013 and January 13, 2013"

hahahahaha. Sorry, Sahs, not laughing at your pain. But this made me laugh out loud.

I am only 88 days in and I feel the stress of each and every one of you July and August folks. Please contact your congress critters and the ombudsman. Make noise now. That way it will be easier for those of us downstream to pile on when it is time.

Mark

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-26 02:52:00

The latest news about CSC K1's

Payaso!!

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-25 00:49:00

i think CSC is dead, went on vacation or ....zombie apocalypse

Right, so, I understand the being patient thing, and think it's reasonable to be patient but seriously. It is not processing our petitions at all (at least negligible numbers of them).

It really bothers me that we're not even seeing any RFEs coming out of CSC - like, okay, maybe we're all amazing form completers and we didn't get anything wrong - but I seriously doubt it. Compare to VSC rates of RFEs. I am honestly at the point where being patient is not a suitable response to the situation anymore and there should be a way to make a more formal complaint. Being slow is one thing, but a lack of activity at all is another matter.

Yep. I fully agree.

This week might be the week!

Or maybe not!

Man, how long have we said this.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-18 12:14:00

CSC seems take longer to process

So what you are saying is that the Dream Act is an unfunded mandate. And so, it IS the Dream Act's fault because, it should have been funded by the foreigners/illegals who are applying for the benefits, not the taxpayers.

They are collecting fees to process the applications. The question is whether those fees are actually being used to fund the program. The talk is that USCIS is getting flooded with additional apps but no additional staff. What, then, are the fees for?? So, it appears to be unfunded by anyone.

400 dollars should buy a good day of an FTE. They got, what, 250,000 apps. 100 million dollars in fees. But no staff?? Hmmmmm

Oh. FWIW, everything is pure conjecture on my part.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-13 09:59:00

CSC seems take longer to process

Problem isn't the Dream Act per se. Problem is that it appears to have been an unfunded mandate, with added political pressure to provide performance measures. As a former government employee, I have seen this a lot.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-02-12 23:34:00

In these times where we are told to "do more with less", even those at Fortune XX companies have been forced to make those types of statements.

Except USCIS is doing less with more. They are raking in the fees. They have loads of resources and are failing to employ them. Just run the numbers...

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-24 20:14:00

Yes, and I still liked whatyou posted, so

Good luck and I am sure you will be together with your family very soon! I am VSC filler and my NOA2 took 7 months, after that time flies, gathering documents, buying gifts, looking for flight tickets, packing.......

Congratulations!!! I do so look forward to being at the stage you are at now.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-23 01:45:00

What is the problwm with you? If you don't like, don't say anything......I liked what someone else said and thumbs up for that.

P.S. your comment wasn't enlightening neither.......just attacking me for no reason.

Maybe he meant to bash me and you got caught in the cross-fire...

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-23 01:07:00

All i care about is being reunited as a family.. being together every day. I dont care how long the wait is for anything else. I just want to be with my fiancee and bring our baby boy home to his daddy. He is missing out on seeing him grow. I doubt he will get to see him learn to walk. And i doubt our son will remember his daddy by the time we get to be together as a family. My son is a U.S. citizen and i wish i could bring him home to be with his dad. I am trying to stay positive but its tough on the phone to my fiancee who is depressed and missing his son. I have to try and stay positive for them both, and i keep telling him we will be together soon.. just wish it was soon!

I am in the same boat. My little dude (also already got his CRBA and passport) is down in Peru growing up without me. He will be 1 next month and luckily I am able to go down and be with him on his first birthday. I don't know if you have the same luxury... I hope so... if not, I really feel for you loads.

I too hope this is over soon, but I won't stop at just hope... I am going to push as much as I am able to get my family up here with me.

Good luck fellow traveler

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-22 20:33:00

Is there any way to know WHERE your file will end up?? I live in Colorado.....

You will be CSC... I don't know where the dividing line is exactly, be we western state folks go to CSC... I have seen some midwest stuff come here too so if you are in the middle I don't know where you go. I think the USCIS website has this information on there. I am sure I saw it at one time.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-22 19:02:00

No, rather than about 5 months, they are running, in my limited experienced estimation at about 8 months.

There are many here who are so totally upset with the reality but they have little affect on the process, given the current state of our governmental affairs and budgets.

Once they obtain their NOA2s and their visa approvals...we will hear little from them (my prediction) until they encounter the USCIS later after they understand that their dance with this agency has just begun. Sounds very sad and should be a Hollywood movie but it's a reality.

They belittle our personal case because we've been through this and went through at a different time. Why am I to blame for that?

Ummm. Well, I can certainly imagine that I will be interested in different threads after I am done with this stage. So, you will probably hear little from on threads about this particular type of subjects. Look for me on Embassy topics and later I will be found on the AOS forum.

I don't know that I have seen anyone "belittle" your case. They simply have pointed out that you are making statements about how they should feel when they are waiting far longer than you had to. I see them more as pleas for a little empathy and understanding. Being only 120 days in myself, I can only imagine what July, August and September folks are feeling. My heart goes out to them. I have urged many to join me in applying whatever pressure we can to try and fix a broken system. Maybe its Quixotic, but if everyone maintains this type of attitude and pressure instead of displaying utter complacency, maybe things will change.

You talk about not being done with USCIS. Okay, fine. AOS will be a walk in the park. Why? Because I will be with my family. Maybe we will get a little frothy in the mouth if AP and EAD take much longer than is expected, but the AOS is just paperwork. The longer that takes, the more layers of proof of our genuine relationship we'll have. It will cause the gates for the other visa hurdles to stretch out a bit, but okay... we'll be together. We'll be living our lives. Much much different. Again, I think (and forgive me if I am mistaken) this shows a lack of empathy on your part. Of course, as I say it, my own words haunt me... maybe it is lack of empathy on my part... I constantly say everybody's case is different, and I suppose the same could be said for AOS... I admit that I don't personally see it, but I will reflect on this. Sorry if my hypocrisy has offended anyone. I will atone after a period of reflection on this aspect of the process.

Okay, back to USCIS-bashing

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-22 18:38:00

I agree that it looks like there is a little more activity, but due to the error of VJ data vs real data, it's kind of hard to determine for sure. It does look like it VJ CSC averaging ~1/day this month, as opposed to about 0.5/day in Jan/Feb. So if this is the case, it is a doubling of the effort, which is better than nothing, but is still less than the input of cases, and still means the lengthening of time to NOA2's. When I see ~ 3 NOA2's a day, then we are at least back towards normalcy.

Did you see that they updated the CSC processing times page? Update date of 03/22, still showing processing cases from July 18... We are going on 4 months with that date... a third of a freaking year. Grrrrrr

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-22 13:43:00

CSC is making people upset

Awesome. Thanks for brightening my day

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-24 12:18:00

CSC CLOSED DUE TO PLUMBING ISSUES

What would "action" look like exactly? My fiance is calling his congressman today. We are just under 5 months since application but he is calling about all the issues and delays. Is the that best "action" we can do??? Any thoughts?

Yes. That is the start. General complaint to all your congressional representation. Also to the USCIS ombudsman. Why not also to the White House while we are at it?

Beyond that, press releases to media outlets to see if any will take up the cause (very good idea for VJ'ers in the city/county where CSC is located).

Some have mentioned going to CSC and starting a protest. If we could actually get 100+ folks or so, we could actually get media coverage and perhaps get some dialogue started...

How about a class-action lawsuit? Any grounds for this? Hey you lawyers out there, any idea if this is a possibility? I am a techie, so this outside my area of expertise...

That is a start for some ideas.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-26 16:54:00

CSC CLOSED DUE TO PLUMBING ISSUES

This is another issue we need to raise in our long litany of complaints. Are they going to make up the processing days? How will the missed work be mitigated? It's not as if they are not already hopelessly backlogged. This is another example of the lack of accountability that we need to be urgently addressing in any way we can. That we just idly by and say "be patient" and "there is nothing you can do" are useless platitudes. Action needs to be taken and now.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-26 01:45:00

Political Help

No one can tell. They appear do be doing a rate of about 25% of the accepted petitions, so 4 months of NOA2 to get through one month NOA1s.

If that, my good friend. You are more than due.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-27 00:08:00

USCIS California Service Center Has Reopened

Yah... but didn't you hear.. they'll be sending everyone an RFE because now they cannot read the smudged papers...

RFE means my case is be adjudicated. I will take it.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 00:44:00

Have you heard anything about priority service? I was asked if I had that, then asked how much I paid for petition. Told the person on phone it was 340.00. The guy said that was the normal processing fee. Left a big ??? mark on my face.

There is no priority service fee. You were misinformed.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 12:31:00

I don't want DACA under any bus either, and certainly not under this K-1 short bus In one of my phone conversations with USCIS. I was lead to believe there's a fee I could have paid, for premium I-129f service. Is this true anyone?

I do not believe it is true. If there were a expedite fee that I could pay, I would have paid it long ago.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 12:17:00

I think those on the DACA, are on that program. Is it possible, fair is fair. They should have some type of separation as well?

I am not willing to throw DACA folks under the bus. I am 100% behind DACA. Personally, I think DACA should be easier for them... Just imagine that you are some little immigrant kid who was brought here when you were 2. You are now 21. You have only ever known being in the USA. You are an American in my opinion. Period. I don't care about the administrative issues that caused you not to be a citizen... you are a citizen of the USA. We need to fix that. The issue is that they shouldn't fix it at the expense of people in my position. I am also a citizen. My little 11 month old son is a citizen (I have the CRBA and passport to prove it). My fiancee and I are doing everything the "right" way. Our petition should be processed timely. The agency processing our petition should be transparent and accountable.

They knew that there would be a massive influx of DACA petitions. They assessed a fee to process them. At the time they assessed that fee, they should have begun assessing their personnel needs and acted accordingly. They appear not to have done that. That is failure. That is mismanagement. That is NOT DACA. This is about the USCIS being an ineffective, mismanaged agency. And that is where the focus of our ire must be placed.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 11:17:00

So it's clear, Reason for marriage now. Is to come and go freely in Belarus on yearly visa. Oddly that sounds a bit redundant. Something I can get in Belarus, But Nadia can't get in America.

Yep. I am in the same boat. I could marry my fiancee and just start my life down in Peru. Right now. There would still be waiting and red tape, but we would at least be together. If we were together, I wouldn't care at all about this idiocy.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 10:01:00

Hi all those with NOA-1's starting in August. I have been calling for the last 4 months to CSC. First call back in Dec. right after Xmas, I was told they were working on July 16th. Ours NOA-1 was July 19th. Now 4 months later they tell me they are working on JULY 18th. All I can do is sit here, and say over and over again WTH

Now I look on and see those that had petitions go to VSC, They are married, working green card, and living the American Dream.

I want to see my lovely Nadia, miss her so very much, but what do I do. I wanted to get visa to Belarus to see her, but also wanted mult 90 day visit, open for a year. Have to be married for that type. All we can get is a 90 day, and must give dates to be used.

Question, Can we get married mid-stream in this K-1 129f process? We want to visit Belarus and marry, Would we still be able to get married here after approval?

Don't do it. You will have to start over. Look at CR-1 timelines, they are doing no better. We K-1 folks should be reaching out to CR-1 and making a concerted effort at change.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 00:39:00

I-129f processing , what we all need to do to bring this to someones attention.

It is very common and has been for may years for the service centers to handle one type of petition at a time. "Priority" may be the wrong word, rather "focus" may be more correct. I suggest you read the pinned topic at the topic of the K-1 forum where I had an interview with a director at USCIS VSC. Nothing has changed except possibly the workload. The man is an acquaintance of mine

You are going to learn a lesson in civics that you learned in 8th grade but forgot. It is called "Separation of Powers"

USCIS is an administrative branch department. Obama is the head of this branch ultimately and the cabinet member in charge is the Secretary of Homeland Security. Janet Napolitano

Congress is the legislative branch, they are not "the boss" of USCIS and cannot make them do anything except comply with the laws that congress passed. They are. Rubio can do nothing but make an inquiry, he already has. He can answer your question if he wants or ignore you if he wants but he cannot change anything at USCIS.

It takes as long as it takes. The time it takes varies depending on a lot of factors. As many people that would complain about their K-1 would complain about the CR-1, the I-751s and the I-485s, everyone is more important than the next guy.

The people being processed by USCIS ARE doing it "legally". You are never in line behind "illegal aliens" because if they are illegal they do not go through USCIS.

One should be careful what one asks for as there have been several internal suggestions to speed up processing and they include...

1. Eliminate K-1s and have only CR-1s meaning you can only petition a spouse, not a fiancee.
2. Eliminate RFEs, if you cannot read and follow directions your petition gets denied and you start again, RFEs require the petition to be adjudicated TWICE and that is not fair to those of us that read instructions

Doing this would be easier than hiring new employees and cheaper. Your Senator may just ask USCIS for its suggestions and this may just be the answer.

Bottom line...the person you want to marry requires government action to remove a barrier that the government created and they take their sweet time about it. And this is just the start...you have another four years after the visa, minimum, of dealing with this until they become a citizen

And see my previous posts about empathy. In your case you only waited 2 months for NOA2 and a whopping 6 months until your fiancee was with you. You are patronizingly making your statements to people who have now waited 8+ months and still no NOA2 in sight. And nothing seems to indicate any type of change soon.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 10:57:00

I-129f processing , what we all need to do to bring this to someones attention.

It is very common and has been for may years for the service centers to handle one type of petition at a time. "Priority" may be the wrong word, rather "focus" may be more correct. I suggest you read the pinned topic at the topic of the K-1 forum where I had an interview with a director at USCIS VSC. Nothing has changed except possibly the workload. The man is an acquaintance of mine

You are going to learn a lesson in civics that you learned in 8th grade but forgot. It is called "Separation of Powers"

USCIS is an administrative branch department. Obama is the head of this branch ultimately and the cabinet member in charge is the Secretary of Homeland Security. Janet Napolitano

Congress is the legislative branch, they are not "the boss" of USCIS and cannot make them do anything except comply with the laws that congress passed. They are. Rubio can do nothing but make an inquiry, he already has. He can answer your question if he wants or ignore you if he wants but he cannot change anything at USCIS.

It takes as long as it takes. The time it takes varies depending on a lot of factors. As many people that would complain about their K-1 would complain about the CR-1, the I-751s and the I-485s, everyone is more important than the next guy.

The people being processed by USCIS ARE doing it "legally". You are never in line behind "illegal aliens" because if they are illegal they do not go through USCIS.

One should be careful what one asks for as there have been several internal suggestions to speed up processing and they include...

1. Eliminate K-1s and have only CR-1s meaning you can only petition a spouse, not a fiancee.
2. Eliminate RFEs, if you cannot read and follow directions your petition gets denied and you start again, RFEs require the petition to be adjudicated TWICE and that is not fair to those of us that read instructions

Doing this would be easier than hiring new employees and cheaper. Your Senator may just ask USCIS for its suggestions and this may just be the answer.

Bottom line...the person you want to marry requires government action to remove a barrier that the government created and they take their sweet time about it. And this is just the start...you have another four years after the visa, minimum, of dealing with this until they become a citizen

There is such a thing as congressional oversight. And pressure from elected officials does have an impact on administrative agencies. I have worked for administrative agencies and know this first hand.

You are incorrect about them complying with law. K1 visa type established under the LIFE act was to avoid family separation. They are not in compliance with this aspect of the law.

On your final point about this only being the beginning: WHO CARE??? The two of you are together. You are living your lives. So, the process is long and annoying... WHO CARES? The problem is this stage where undue separation is being imposed on families of US citizens, arbitrarily. Whether that arbitrariness is law or prioritization or what have you, the separation is outside of K1 filers hands (and CR1 filers, and K3 filers, etc). These statements about this only being the beginning, are straw men.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 10:54:00

Idea to draw attention to our plight

No reason not to try putting together a video and seeing if we can make it go viral. Why not? What do we lose? I'm in. (As you can see, I am willing to take ANY action to see change happen)

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-28 00:36:00

Is CSC moving again?

I totally get the IT thing. Yes unexpected impact quickly gets you fired or at least everyone looks down their nose at you.

Sorry guys, I forgot to include a WHERE clause on my DELETE statement. Did someone remember to make a backup???

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-02 12:38:00

dear CSC...my biological clock is ticking....

she looks way younger! i though she was in her early-mid 30`s.

I relayed that to her

Made her day. Thanks.

I just want to be able to try making one. Hard to do from 6000 miles away.

Dude! I thought we were a super power!! What's the matter? Man up

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-02 20:36:00

dear CSC...my biological clock is ticking....

I'm 37 and I have no kids. I don't consider myself old at all. Young at heart and body.... with an extra grey hair.
You'll be fine.

That said, it sucks CSC is taking too long. Keep the faith and patience. Everything will be ok.

My fiancee had our little dude at 41. Not even CSC can take that long for you

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-02 12:36:00

I waited 18 months for my wife to get here. I visited her 3x in China while waiting. I had to call the NVC and USCIS several times to get my case moving.

And that is wrong. The system should not be this way. Especially for you; she is your wife. Good for you to keep rattling the cages. Glad she is finally with you

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 14:29:00

I said no such thing.

I am well aware of his plight. I know many people who waited months, years even. My AOS took months. A friends file was "lost" and he had to contact people to get it located. My K1 actually took longer than people after me and people before me. I felt it took forever at the time (and of course now it's a drop in the bucket).

And yes, i have every belief that emailing someone you shouldn't could result in an unexpected slow-down. OR they could move your file out to get you to back off. I didn't call NVC, I didn't nag anyone. I just waited. That said, I spent the time working to save up money because I knew it would be months before I could work. As it turned out I didn't work for a couple of years and had to return to Australia for 2 months because my dad was sick and we had to put him in a nursing home.

ROC took 6 months for me, used to take 3. For VSC it was 9 months. Citizenship for my local office says it's taking 5 months, some take only 3.

The K1 petition approval takes months, but then the rest depends on your country. Australia used to be quick but now it's taking a while to get the interview letter (and there's only 1 office to interview), Canada it can take months to get an interview, other countries get months/years of Administrative Processing after the interview.

I would not have emailed that person. I would have contacted my congressperson/senator. I would contact newspapers about the slow-down (and WHY it's slowed down). But the petition approval is just the beginning. For some people that will be the shortest part... that's hardly fair.

Sorry about the accusation. I am guilty of conflating issues at times. That was wrong on my part.

Now, if you really think that the director of an agency is going to take time out of his schedule to have your file tracked down so he can take some type of retribution, you have no understanding of how government agencies work. This simply does not happen. Now, if you repeatedly contact him. And you are rude and offensive. Well, in that case, maybe. But that is not what we are talking about at all.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 11:10:00

Mine was years ago. You can't compare mine to yours.

Oregon Bound is not comparing his case to yours. He is putting your reaction to his plight in perspective. That is quite different.

I am only 4 months in, and I am amazed at the lack of empathy I see from people who got their NOA2 in that amount of time or less, for those who have waited double or more. Please think about this before you pop off about being patient and getting to know your fiancee. It is very patronizing.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 10:46:00

Worst case scenario he moves your file to the black abyss...

It is ludicrous to assume that someone would take such retribution because they received an email. Do you really think this way? I can only say "wow"

Officials in the government are not going to try and take retribution because you are a pain in the butt. They don't have the time or the inclination. And the fallout if it were revealed is not worth the risk. The worst case scenario is that you will be ignored. Period.

When I worked constituent relations, we knew who the real pains were. They called all the time, about everything. We rolled our eyes when they contacted us, but took care of them and answered their questions immediately. Aside from the instant contact from my team, they were given no other preferential treatment. Their cases were not expedited. They were simply told what the process was, and where their cases were in that process. We only did this because we knew they had to be dealt with. But there was no retribution.

Our biggest problem with USCIS is not that we are being singled out. Our problem is that we are just some faceless case number among millions of others. That and they are a big black box that refuses to be responsive to us about anything.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-03-31 10:40:00

What if we...

Not really. CSC isn't processing period, they haven't been giving out many rfe's as well.

Yep. That is the wonderful part of this... you could sit around and wait 8 or 9 months, only to be told that they want something else... something you could have given them months ago.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-03 21:55:00

Today on Barak Obama FB page. Let's Storm it!

It's more like getting to know how to live apart from each other. Getting to know period ends when her status changes from gf to fiancee.

We are awesome at living apart. We have been doing that for 2.5 years. How much more practice do we need??

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-04 15:50:00

Today on Barak Obama FB page. Let's Storm it!

How do we know this case involves DACA? Am I missing something?

From the site, it would appear that it is not. It seems to be an example of one of the problems that Mr. Obama intends to address with his executive orders:

"I migrated to the U.S. with my parents in 1986. We were lucky to have had the opportunity to enter the U.S. legally. However, my now husband did not have the means to be able to migrate in the same manner. He migrated to the U.S. in 1993 and remained illegal until 2008 due to advice by lawyers that there was no way he could fix his status. When we finally decided to apply for his U.S. residency, his visa was denied and he has been in Mexico for 5 years now...and in the meantime we continue to be separated."

So, 5 year separation? They have my sympathy.

I am definitely not opposed to DACA and other types of deferral actions. I am just opposed to them being made a priority at the expense of other, more legitimate, visa petitions (and, yes, I consider family visa petitions to be more legitimate, as they are not intended to correct some past, let's say "inability", to follow the law. At most, they should just queue up along with the rest of us.

But what do I know? I am apparently supposed to be spending my time getting to know my fiancee.

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-04 15:38:00

legal action

True, but often because you involve the local US attorney in your jurisdiction they don't want to defend the USCIS if it would apear to be a long time to the average person.

So, how long do you have to wait to file a mandamus?

pachacuti

Male

Peru

2013-04-07 20:40:00