keelec

Granted, the ACLU probably went a little overboard calling this a "trap". However, I would wonder how much effort has been spent (or will be spent) on trying to contact those individuals that will be expected to re-register. And, I did like the description of why many problems had occured a year ago: Anybody else notice any "inept bureaucracy" at the INS? Of course, this is partly due to the INS, and partly due to regulations put forth by Congress. ----- Clifford ------

Ok, I was looking at this yesterday, but managed to confuse myself about numbers and got myself 1 month off. It appears as if the MOS/GUZ numbers are assigned fairly early in the processing by the NVC. So your MOS number or GUZ number is of the format like: GUZ-yyyydddnnn Where the first 3 letters stands for the Embassy. yyyy - stands for the year. ddd - is number of days since January 1, or the number of days since January 1 Plus 500 (1-365) or (501-865) nnn - is the specific case number. I.E. If the middle number is bigger than 500, subtract 500. Use the following table to calculate the exact month / day. (assume 28 days in February, otherwise add a day) January. . . . 1 - 31 February . . .32 - 59 March . . . . .60 - 90 April . . . . . .91 - 120 May . . . . . . 121 - 151 June . . . . . .152 - 181 July . . . . . . 182 - 212 August . . . . 213 - 243 September . 244 - 273 October . . . 274 - 304 November . .305 - 334 December . .335 - 365 Ok, for the day number, someone was saying that small numbers (001-365)are assigned by the Embassy, and large numbers (501-865) are assigned by the NVC. I don't know. Moscow has both ranges too, with about 20% below 365 and 80% above 500. As far as the last 3 digits. Looking at the Moscow interviews, they appear to be small numbers (generally less than 50), and thus are most likely specific to the Embassy. However, I am not certain what classifications of visas applications use those numbers (and thus, why they look so sparse on the interview schedule). ----- Clifford -----

True, It helps to post some online info. Except, they don't post info about the cases that don't have interviews scheduled, and there is no explanation why some applications are apparently scheduled immediately on receipt while others sit for months without an interview being scheduled. And, perhaps too much information is a bad thing. I am now wondering why they are scheduling interviews for October (Oops, that should have been November) MOS numbers, and seemed to have skipped mine which has now been sitting at the Embassy for 2.5 - 3 months. ----- Clifford ------

Go to the USCIS website: USCIS.GOV In the right column, you will find "Case Status Online". That will take you to a link: https://egov.immigration.gov/graphics/cris/....jsp?textFlag=N Put in your receipt number. It should have your case info. ----- Clifford -----

I just noticed an interesting article today on the ACLU website: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFre...?ID=14256&c=206 .... ....

Yes, I check the schedule almost daily. Sometimes more frequently. Unfortunately, they only update the list a couple of times a week. http://www.usembassy.ru/consular/wwwhcisk.html Unfortunately, there are applicants with higher MOS numbers than me. Ok, as discussed before, the MOS numbers appear to be: MOS-yyyydddnnn where yyyy stands for the year ddd is a number, either 1-365 or 500-865 corresponding to the number of days since January 1. (actual day = ddd mod 500) nnn is the specific case number. This does seem a bit odd because BCIS Nebraska was not supposed to have finished with my case until July 14. However, the MOS number (MOS-2003710nnn) would indicate that the number was assigned June 29, before BCIS was supposed to have sent the packet to NVC. (oops, all is ok. I was off by a month. It should be July 29 (about 2 weeks after BCIS finished)). Anyway, looking at Moscow's interview list: Over half of the interviews scheduled have a MOS number greater than mine (and almost 2/3 of the 2003 interviews have greater numbers than mine). The "Latest" MOS numbers with an interview scheduled are: 2003-808 - (October 4), and 2003-314 - (October 10) ?????? Of course, the oldest are 1996 numbers, There are also 62 from 2002, It is hard to see 200 people with newer (larger) numbers than me ahead of me in the interview schedule. I guess it is time for another letter to Moscow about my wait for P3/P4, as well as trying to verify my MOS number. I would hate for Irina to miss her interview because of a small clerical error. ------ Clifford ------

I interpreted that the letters should be from each individual. Thus, I asked my Fiancee to write one (she wrote it in English. I proof read it for major gramatical errors without commenting much on the content). Actually I had e-mailed her my letter, and I must admit that there are some similarities between the two. However, I have heard that several members of the "Candle" have sent in a single combined letter with both people signing it. As I understand it, those people's applications are still progressing forward in the system without hitches. ----- Clifford -----

Carl, WAIT AT LEAST A MONTH BEFORE GIVING NVC A CALL I know that 6 months in Nebraska is a LLLLOOOONNNNNGGGGG wait. However, if you read your NOA2, it says that NVC takes between 2 to 4 weeks to process the application. That means a minimum of a month. It would be nice if you could talk to a person that is actually informed about your case. However, they will just explain to you that your case is being worked on, and that there are several agencies that it has been sent to. They won't give you any answers until all agencies have reported back. I never got any clear answers about which agencies the application was sent to. The one answer that I got was that the receptionist answering the calls could do absolutely nothing to speed up the process. Sorry, I know that patience is very hard..... We are all going through it. I had hoped that my fiancee would be here by my birthday in April..... or her birthday in May.. Or after the end of the school year and beginning of summer in June/July.... or labor day ..... or Thanksgiving ... or Christmas ... Well, heck, I had no idea that I would be sitting here today, nearly a whole year later, and still not have any idea when she will get her visa. ------ Clifford ------

Ok, I was looking at Robhon's timeline. Those applications that arrived in GZ in August were averaging about 70 - 100 days to process. Some older data might confirm this. Also, remember that someone said that GZ requested us to wait up to 120 days for the P3. Those that arrived in GZ in September were probably assigned a "normal" caseworker by late October. Some of them were finished, but most were not. GZ then distributed many (or all) of the remaining applications to "Special Caseworkers" during the early November Push. Since all of the September cases had already been assigned to a caseworker, they started assigning October cases to the "Special Caseworkers". They efficently plowed through all of the October cases, generally on a first in, first out basis. The problem occured that the September cases had already been assigned and are being processed in the same way there were being done prior to the 1st week of November. They will get processed when the "regular" caseworkers get around to doing it. By looking at the timeline, these September cases should get processed sometime in the next 30 days...... Thus, one can also anticipate that although GZ is caught up to the first week of November processing the P3 pakets, they will fall another month behind before they finish up the old cases from September, and start in on the November cases. Of course, we are all tired of waiting. Now, the big question is when will Russia get around to sending out their P3/P4 packets? And, why does one person report (www.k1k3.com) having their packet leave NVC after mine, and getting their P3 a month ago while mine is still waiting? ----- Clifford ------

Rob, I think your case worker was sent off to Iraq to fight a war!!!!! They will get back to your case once he returns from Iraq.... Of ccourse, hoping that he hasn't been killed...... Hang in there. Your time will come. ----- Clifford ------

Interesting article I am not sure that it is such a bad sign. I am glad that the USA is proactively putting notice out that they will not look the other way towards bribery. I just hope the officials convicted of accepting (or soliciting) the bribes get dealt with HARSHLY. Of course, the need to resort to bribery may be part of the problem too. Lotteries and quotas are just too complex of a subject for me to think about this late at night. Earlier I saw questions about whether bribes which are accepted as being almost "normal" in some cultures would be appropriate at the INS...... Don't try it. ----- Clifford -----

4 months is a LONG time to wait. But, hopefully they can try to keep to that as an absolute maximum. They will probably never admit to processing cases out of order. But, perhaps by asking someone at the top they will encourage finding the oldest cases and processing them first. That is smart. What if your fiancee robbed a bank between the time the NVC finished their name check and the packet passed through Chinese customs and is processed by GZ? This could obviously be a point of delays. I assume the namecheck is done by the same FBI processing center that did the first one. Perhaps they would keep some of the information that they learned and make the check shorter the second time. In a sense, it would be good to be tied into the local police system, but I doubt the US has that kind of power (thus they require you to bring a police certificate). SOMEBODY NEEDS TO SIT DOWN AND THINK ABOUT WHAT POSSIBLE BENEFIT COULD BE GOTTEN FROM REQUIRING SO MUCH REDUNDANCY. Of course, there are visas that don't originate in the USA and would require different processing. Was ths a K1 - K3 difference? Perhaps that could account for some differences. Do the K3 applicants go directly to P4? ----- Clifford -----

I am not sure what the exact charges are. As far as interviews, based on the 3,000 or so K1-K4 visas issued each year in China, I can only account for about 10 to 20 interviews per day being K1-K4. An equal number is likely V1-V4 (Alien sponsors). GZ claims to do around 150 interviews / day. The remainder is likely the tourist visas, student visas, and business visas. Overall, I presume they bring in $3 - $5 Million a year in visa and passport fees (paid in GZ to GZ). I would imagine this only a fraction of the consulate's total operating expenses, but it has to come close to supporting the visa section. If it doesn't support the visa section of the consulate (without subsidizing the rest of the consulate), then it would be appropriate to adjust the fees within reason. Of course, I wonder if "Denial" applications should be charged the same as "Approval" applications. What about funding for the FBI activites in relation to Visas? ----- Clifford ------

I thought they were giving 1 DHL shipment number per day. This could account for some of the variation in some P3 packets being sent out, and some being skipped. Some of the files could get stuck in customs for a little longer, and not show up with the tracking number being looked at. Of course, I can't imagine that all of the skipped P3 packets would be late because of extremely long times in customs..... The tracking numbers that you have don't suggest that any shipments stay in customs for more than a month or so. ------ CK ------

Jim & Mei, Welcome back to a new group of faces (and a few of the old ones), Good Luck with a speedy application. Yes, everything seems to take a little extra time, but it is good to have everything complete now, rather than waiting until later to find out something was missing. It took Irina and I about 2 months to get our application finished and turned in. It seemed like a very long time at the time, but now it is so long ago that it only seems to be a brief moment in the process. It is a little too late now, but when I met my fiancee, I had her pencil in all of the information for the I-129F and the G-325A forms. Actually I had hoped to just use those forms, but we hopelessly botched the writing. Anyway, with her notes, I was able to fill out the forms using Adobe Acrobat which I e-mailed to her. All she had to do was sign the bottom line and mail them back. If you are filling out the forms using Acrobat Reader, download pdf995 (www.pdf995.com), and print to that to get a copy that you can e-mail (but no longer edit). ----- Clifford ------

Funding? It probably does play a part, although I do wonder if they could do better with the money that they get. Or, perhaps they could try to be more efficient and thus do more in less time. In many domestic government funded jobs, a very high percentage of the money is wasted. Oh, and I've lost track of how much the visa is costing us. We pay (no dependents) $110 for the visa application to BCIS, $100 for the interview, and an additional $400 for a visa status change later. How much does it actually cost to process each application? Can the fees be modified to better cover the costs? If GZ does 150 interviews per day, then they would be bringing in over $15,000 per day in visa processing fees (only counting the $100). Multiply that by 250 days and it is about $3,750,000 per year in visa processing fees. If we divided that by $100,000 per employee, one could hire 37 employees at a decent wage just to process those 150 applications per day (4 applications per employee per day, start to finish (approx 1/2 hr for visa, and 2 hrs other work)). Of course, if the fees would be increased to $400, that would reduce it to about 1 application per employee per day. The mother in law story makes a lot of sense. I could imagine the mother in law seeing a cute baby and then wanting to take the roll of babysitter, and just want to stick around here. I still think the sponsor should be able to take more responsibility for the sponsored person returning home at the end of the visa. Few mother-in-laws would risk their daughter being deported or their son-in-law being thrown in jail (unless, of course, they didn't like the son-in-law). But, I have also read a few horror stories on this website of women coming on K1/K3 visas, then completely disappearing shortly after arriving in the USA. I would hate to be harassed by the government for the unscrupulous actions of one of those women. ----- Clifford ----- (sorry I originally goofed on the number of work days per year in my initial estimate)

Yes, They may do it a box at a time, or perhaps even a group of boxes at a time. Rather than LIFO, I think it is more that they don't really care to find out what is next in line which is nearly as bad. As far as I can tell, the major step before P3 is the data entry and mailing out the letter. Not too much work there. Of course, they have a limited number of interviews to do too so they don't want to get the P3's too far ahead of the P4's. It is possible that NVC groups some of the K1-K4 applications in some boxes (so many are done in groups), but then randomly interdisperses the rest with other visa applications (V1-V4, business/labor, & etc). ----- Clifford -----

Jkobman, I believe there are a list of forms and etc in previous posts. Carefully read the I-129F instructions. I am doing this from memory that is 10 1/2 months old. Each person needs to submit a "3/4 frontal picture" You need to fill out the forms. G-325a in 4 copies FOR EACH PERSON (different codes on the bottom). g-325a also has the Fiancee's name in her native language. I-129F is just 1 copy, and only needs to be signed by the American Beneficiary. However, it has the address that should be written (or typed) in the native language. I don't think you need to supply the fiancee's birth certificate or passport at this point, but it can't hurt. Read the instructions carefully about sending either a copy of your passport or birth certificate. Also add a letter of intent. Some people wrote a letter for each person. Some wrote a combined letter. Probably either method is acceptable. You should have a cover letter listing all attachments (which can probably be part of the letter of intent). I don't remember any specific order of forms, but some people may advise a specific organization. EVERYTHING SHOULD BE TYPED IF POSSIBLE. PROFESSIONALISM IS IMPORTANT HERE. -------------------- IMPORTANT: I would recommend putting N/A on all lines that don't apply EXCEPT. G-325A HAS THE QUESTION: HUSBAND OR WIFE, (if none so state) FORMER HUSBANDS OR WIVES (if none so state) DO NOT PUT "N/A" IN THESE FIELDS. YOU MUST WRITE "NONE". THAT LITTLE MISTAKE COST ME OVER A MONTH OF PROCESSING TIME AND TREMENDOUS FRUSTRATION!!! IT LOOKS SO CLEAR NOW THAT I LOOK BACK AT IT, BUT WHEN I FILLED OUT THE FORM, NOT APPLICABLE SEEMED TO BE THE APPROPRIATE ANSWER. Best wishes for a speedy application

Rob, Actually, one of the boxes leaving USA on 8/8/03 and arriving 9/11/03 was opened (P3 on Oct 25). I have to say that I don't really see the FIFO correlation. If you read down the collumn on the 001 page, it goes more or less in the same order that the NVC shipped and GZ received columns go. There appears to be strong correlations of clustering of P3 dates around NVC shipped/GZ receipt dates. Look at GZ date 10 Oct. 3-P3 packets were shipped out within a day of each other. NVC dates of Sept 15-18 had 6 P3 packets all done within a couple of days of each other. The problem is that there seem to be several big holes. Why did only half of the Oct 10 group receive their P3 packets? Why did only 1 person in the 9/11 group receive a packet? They definately seem to be clustering their processing (1 box at a time), but also seem to add a random element to keep everyone guessing. I still wonder what processing is being done at the Embassy before the P3. Are they just filling out paperwork for the P3 in which case they should process the cases one after another? Or, are they doing name checks and additional processing (which should have been done at the NVC before sending the info to GZ). I think they just don't really care which box of applications they or which ones they process.

:o : :angry: Thanks Carl for the notes on HR 2235. I hadn’t noticed it earlier. Hopefully you don’t mind me moving this note to a new topic. There is some scary immigration legislation that is bouncing around Congress. I can’t believe some of the short-sighted Congressmen that we have. I am not sure if the K1-K4 visas are included under HR946 and HR2235. But, I would hate to imagine the effects on our applications as the US would try to decide what to do with us. It would certainly affect all of us in one way or another. I can’t imagine that the USA couldn’t figure out how to fix their problems without stranding millions of visa applicants. HR 2235 “temporary suspension of issuing “non-essential” visas http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.2235: HR 946: Moratorium on issuing many visas (until less than 10,000 illegal aliens enter the USA per year) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.946: HR 488: Restrict visas so that visas from Countries that are “not fully cooperating with United States antiterrorism efforts.” will require review from the PRESIDENT to be issued. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.488: Interesting site about Current Immigration Legislation where may of the links above are from. I certainly don’t agree with many of their recommendations: http://207.188.212.158/Legislation/Legisla...onList.cfm?c=57 ----------------- Letter from “International Families in Opposition to HR 2235” with a place to sign if you do not agree with the bill. http://www.petitiononline.com/hr2235/petition.html Letter from “International Families in Opposition of HR 946” http://www.petitiononline.com/hr946wto/petition.html

Rob, My info is in my signature. Unfortunately, my application is collecting dust and growing cobwebs in Moscow rather than GZ so it probably won't do much good for you. I really am not concerned about using my name. My relationship with Irina is now a part of who I am. Friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers all know about it. ----- Clifford ----- Oops, it is in the signature if I bother to post it ... I have a habit of leaving it off of most of my posts as I assume you all have seen it too many times. Hmmm, K1 if you need.

LEAST favorite! Oh Don...don't be so bitter your wife made you sign one. Where is she anyway? This could be a job for Scoooby Doooooo............. I was thinking about starting a thread on the topic Don. Whaddya think? NO! NO! NO! Can't you guys argue about anything more than why you shouldn't argue about a subject!!!! Fortunately, most people were very expressive of their thoughts earlier, and I assume that anybody reading the history can get the idea of the discussions. Perhaps we should let this one rest a little longer. ----- Clifford ------

Vermont? That should save you at least 4 months in processing time With any luck, you might even be able to pass up some of us who have been hanging around the "PIT" B) Sounds like you should strap yourself in ----- Clifford -----

Hmmm, Make sure you read some of the lively discussions from the past. Apparently many Chinese women feel that the idea of a prenup is insulting so weigh the decision carefully. But, of course, the ultimate decision belongs to what you and your fiancee feel comfortable with. Review the following discussions. Some of the discussions border on being quite colorful http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....=ST&f=13&t=3606 http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....0&hl=prenuptial ----- Cliff -----

Best Wishes for a speedy end to the process...... Where did you mail your application? Nebraska? Texas? ----- CK -----