AOS Morons II

[tywy_99]

My stepdaughter's receipt date on the I-485 was dated August 9, 2004, almost 3 years and no end in sight.
Just last week I received a letter from the CIS acknowledging my inquiry of Feburary and yesterday I got the same kind of notice acknowledging my letter of inquiry dated May 21, 2007.
Both are carbon copies of each other saying that the namecheck is still in process.
After 3 years you'd think the namecheck would be done! I never worried much about her greencard because she was young at age 13. But now she is nearing 17 and doesn't have one piece of ID of any kind except a little school ID.
It's funny that my wife got hers but it took 20 months and my stepdaughter is going on 3 years. They should realize that this young girl needs her ID in order to work. She's at that age but she isn't complaining,,,YET! I wonder what it will be like when she reaches 19 without any greencard or ID of any kind.

[Randy W]

I hate to bring up another layer, here, but have you thought about filing for EAD for her?

[xtal]

My stepdaughter's receipt date on the I-485 was dated August 9, 2004, almost 3 years and no end in sight.

Just last week I received a letter from the CIS acknowledging my inquiry of Feburary and yesterday I got the same kind of notice acknowledging my letter of inquiry dated May 21, 2007.

Both are carbon copies of each other saying that the namecheck is still in process.

After 3 years you'd think the namecheck would be done! I never worried much about her greencard because she was young at age 13. But now she is nearing 17 and doesn't have one piece of ID of any kind except a little school ID.

It's funny that my wife got hers but it took 20 months and my stepdaughter is going on 3 years. They should realize that this young girl needs her ID in order to work. She's at that age but she isn't complaining,,,YET! I wonder what it will be like when she reaches 19 without any greencard or ID of any kind.

 

Yeah - the namecheck process SUCKS. Honestly, I don't know what they do over at the FBI. Supposedly - 'Supposedly' they try to process the oldest cases first - then how come some checks finish after a year, while tons of older cases just sit there gathering dust? This frustrates me to no end. But something's gotta give - this thing is just getting worse and worse - I wonder what the FBI will do now that USCIS opened the flood gates for the H1 folks (they made all their priority dates current so they can apply for I-485).

 

GRUMBLE.

[tywy_99]

I hate to bring up another layer, here, but have you thought about filing for EAD for her?

The thought has crossed my mind after the fees have gone up. Go figure!...

But, I'm not going to do it unless absolutely necessary.

[bosco]

And the whole time they're "checking" to decide if she is safe to allow to be here, she's still here.......MORONS INDEED!

[LeeFisher3]

I hate to bring up another layer, here, but have you thought about filing for EAD for her?

The thought has crossed my mind after the fees have gone up. Go figure!...

But, I'm not going to do it unless absolutely necessary.

Why not try your congressman? It can't hurt and if it goes on too much longer there is the Writ of Mandamus to force them to show up in federal court which seems to get the matters resolved when the delay become absurd. I believe there is a link floating around that provides a non-lawyer the information on how to do this without the legal fees.

[Randy W]

 

Why not try your congressman? It can't hurt and if it goes on too much longer there is the Writ of Mandamus to force them to show up in federal court which seems to get the matters resolved when the delay become absurd. I believe there is a link floating around that provides a non-lawyer the information on how to do this without the legal fees.

 

Don't ask me to quote a source for this, but I think it's not possible any more. That is, I think a law was passed that prevents the court from ordering the USCIS to approve an application before the background check is complete.

 

If it's not a background check, that may be a different matter.

The Interoffice Memorandum by Michael L. Aytes, Associate, Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, dated December 21, 2006, at its very core, states that the USCIS will no longer expedite FBI name checks when an applicant brings a mandamus law suit against the USCIS. On the other hand, expedite request can still be made by an official when at least one of the following criteria for expeditious treatment are met:

 

1. Military deployment;

 

2. Age-out cases not covered under the provision of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) and applications affected by sunset provisions such as Diversity Visas (DVs);

 

3. Compelling reasons as provided by the requesting office (e.g. critical medical conditions); and/or

 

4. Loss of social security benefits or other subsistence in the discretion of the District Director.

Edited August 4, 2007 by Randy W (see edit history)

[tywy_99]

 

Why not try your congressman? It can't hurt and if it goes on too much longer there is the Writ of Mandamus to force them to show up in federal court which seems to get the matters resolved when the delay become absurd. I believe there is a link floating around that provides a non-lawyer the information on how to do this without the legal fees.

 

Don't ask me to quote a source for this, but I think it's not possible any more. That is, I think a law was passed that prevents the court from ordering the USCIS to approve an application before the background check is complete.

 

If it's not a background check, that may be a different matter.

The Interoffice Memorandum by Michael L. Aytes, Associate, Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, dated December 21, 2006, at its very core, states that the USCIS will no longer expedite FBI name checks when an applicant brings a mandamus law suit against the USCIS. On the other hand, expedite request can still be made by an official when at least one of the following criteria for expeditious treatment are met:

 

1. Military deployment;

 

2. Age-out cases not covered under the provision of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) and applications affected by sunset provisions such as Diversity Visas (DVs);

 

3. Compelling reasons as provided by the requesting office (e.g. critical medical conditions); and/or

 

4. Loss of social security benefits or other subsistence in the discretion of the District Director.

In other words...I'm just SOL!.

[LeeFisher3]

 

Why not try your congressman? It can't hurt and if it goes on too much longer there is the Writ of Mandamus to force them to show up in federal court which seems to get the matters resolved when the delay become absurd. I believe there is a link floating around that provides a non-lawyer the information on how to do this without the legal fees.

 

Don't ask me to quote a source for this, but I think it's not possible any more. That is, I think a law was passed that prevents the court from ordering the USCIS to approve an application before the background check is complete.

 

If it's not a background check, that may be a different matter.

The Interoffice Memorandum by Michael L. Aytes, Associate, Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, dated December 21, 2006, at its very core, states that the USCIS will no longer expedite FBI name checks when an applicant brings a mandamus law suit against the USCIS. On the other hand, expedite request can still be made by an official when at least one of the following criteria for expeditious treatment are met:

 

1. Military deployment;

 

2. Age-out cases not covered under the provision of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) and applications affected by sunset provisions such as Diversity Visas (DVs);

 

3. Compelling reasons as provided by the requesting office (e.g. critical medical conditions); and/or

 

4. Loss of social security benefits or other subsistence in the discretion of the District Director.

In other words...I'm just SOL!.

That is not a new law, but a USCIS Press Release, saying they are not going to be bullied into doing their job no matter how incompetent they have been in processing a case. The assumption is made they did their job correctly.

 

So let the USCIS spend the money to have their lawyers show up with the case file. It said nothing about the Federal court ordering the USCIS to present evidence showing they have taken all the proper steps to follow up with the FBI or follow the policy of re-ordering after the 15 month expiration has passed.

 

The basis of the press release is that the USCIS did everything possible and followed their internal policy and directives to follow up with the FBI. They will not show up in Federal Court with "the Dog ate my homework defense".

 

Hit your congressman's office and see where that goes, while they officially state they will not expedite a name check, you aren't asking for that, you paid for it and after 15 months they were required for request another.

 

They are good about telling everyone the name check is pending, but you are not asking that. You want them to have the procedure followed in your daughter's case reviewed for correctness in processing. You want to know the method used for requesting the name check, according to the Aytes Memo it should have been the spreadsheet method. You want to see they spelled her name correctly and provided the correct A# and Date of Birth and the date requested.

 

You also want to know the date they requested the 2nd and 3rd name checks as there is only a 15 month validity from the initial request. Take them a copy of the Aytes Memo, Dec 21, 2006 as it will help them understand the process and be able to ask the correct questions.

 

The case has obviously fallen in the pit of despair and you need something to get it out of there or at least make them knock the dust off it.

[tywy_99]

 

Why not try your congressman? It can't hurt and if it goes on too much longer there is the Writ of Mandamus to force them to show up in federal court which seems to get the matters resolved when the delay become absurd. I believe there is a link floating around that provides a non-lawyer the information on how to do this without the legal fees.

 

Don't ask me to quote a source for this, but I think it's not possible any more. That is, I think a law was passed that prevents the court from ordering the USCIS to approve an application before the background check is complete.

 

If it's not a background check, that may be a different matter.

The Interoffice Memorandum by Michael L. Aytes, Associate, Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, dated December 21, 2006, at its very core, states that the USCIS will no longer expedite FBI name checks when an applicant brings a mandamus law suit against the USCIS. On the other hand, expedite request can still be made by an official when at least one of the following criteria for expeditious treatment are met:

 

1. Military deployment;

 

2. Age-out cases not covered under the provision of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) and applications affected by sunset provisions such as Diversity Visas (DVs);

 

3. Compelling reasons as provided by the requesting office (e.g. critical medical conditions); and/or

 

4. Loss of social security benefits or other subsistence in the discretion of the District Director.

In other words...I'm just SOL!.

That is not a new law, but a USCIS Press Release, saying they are not going to be bullied into doing their job no matter how incompetent they have been in processing a case. The assumption is made they did their job correctly.

 

So let the USCIS spend the money to have their lawyers show up with the case file. It said nothing about the Federal court ordering the USCIS to present evidence showing they have taken all the proper steps to follow up with the FBI or follow the policy of re-ordering after the 15 month expiration has passed.

 

The basis of the press release is that the USCIS did everything possible and followed their internal policy and directives to follow up with the FBI. They will not show up in Federal Court with "the Dog ate my homework defense".

 

Hit your congressman's office and see where that goes, while they officially state they will not expedite a name check, you aren't asking for that, you paid for it and after 15 months they were required for request another.

 

They are good about telling everyone the name check is pending, but you are not asking that. You want them to have the procedure followed in your daughter's case reviewed for correctness in processing. You want to know the method used for requesting the name check, according to the Aytes Memo it should have been the spreadsheet method. You want to see they spelled her name correctly and provided the correct A# and Date of Birth and the date requested.

 

You also want to know the date they requested the 2nd and 3rd name checks as there is only a 15 month validity from the initial request. Take them a copy of the Aytes Memo, Dec 21, 2006 as it will help them understand the process and be able to ask the correct questions.

 

The case has obviously fallen in the pit of despair and you need something to get it out of there or at least make them knock the dust off it.

I think I will contact my congressman.

Thanks, Lee.

[Randy W]

Yes - the whole issue with the FBI background check/mandamus thing was that people were suing their way to citizenship. That is, after so many months/years of waiting, they could bring a mandamus suit and get their citizenship without waiting for the background check. Completely ignoring their own responsibilities there, the USCIS blamed the FBI.

 

If there is a new law, I hope someone can find it. Either way, we're increasingly in between and rock and a hard place with these delays.

 

The USCIS has a legal layer in place to deal with the courts. Unfortunately, they don't show us the same courtesy.

[chilton747]

Ty I think that they have probably lost it. As much bungling as they do with some cases I would think it is somewhat common for them to lose cases. 3 years for a namecheck? Gotta be lost.

[LeeFisher3]

Ty I think that they have probably lost it. As much bungling as they do with some cases I would think it is somewhat common for them to lose cases. 3 years for a namecheck? Gotta be lost.

That is where a congressman is helpful, the USCIS is supposed to locate and review the file before responding in a timely manner. They may give a BS answer but in many cases where there has been a long delay the process gets back on track.

[tywy_99]

Ty I think that they have probably lost it. As much bungling as they do with some cases I would think it is somewhat common for them to lose cases. 3 years for a namecheck? Gotta be lost.

That is where a congressman is helpful, the USCIS is supposed to locate and review the file before responding in a timely manner. They may give a BS answer but in many cases where there has been a long delay the process gets back on track.

I guess it was back in Feburary when I last talked to a USCIS representative about my stepdaughter's case because I just received a letter of response from them just last week stating that date, (5 mos.).

I remember asking if her case was still "online" and active. The lady said it was. That's about all you can get out of them. They can't tell you anything more then the case is still going through the namechecks.

It has been an aweful long time. When I wasn't concerned with it in the past, I am starting to feel the heat since the child is nearly 17. She was barely 13 when I first filed!

I guess I'll do the "congressman" thing next week and see what happens.