My visa nightmare

[Mengxin]

This week marks the 5th month of my Visa nightmare. My 129F grew feet after landing in Chicago and was never heard from again. I got receipt confirmation from the post office back in July and that was the last I ever heard about it. No notice good or bad, they didn't even cash the check for application fee. After I fired my lawyer and got copies of the paperwork that he sent, I think I know why. It was totally hosed.

 

The good news is that I did get an RFE back from CSC about a month ago. I was ready for it. They said I didn't have proof that I was an American citizen. My immediate thought was..."how bad could it be that somebody born and raised American, even a former service member and paid taxes for the last 20 years, could not prove that he's American?" Again, I reviewed the documentation my lawyer sent and shook my head in disgust. (It was really that bad.) I sent the requested docs in; along with a number of other issues the officer didn't catch and received my 130-approval notice last week.

 

If I wouldn't have fired my lawyer, I would still be oblivious to my continuing nightmare. DO NOT HIRE A LAWYER! The paperwork is as easy as filling out an application for employment at McDonalds ...well almost.

 

When I called about the 130 RFE a month ago, because I received an e-mail about, the lady on the phone told me I needed to wait for the letter to come in the mail. They couldn’t tell me over the phone. (It came the next day.) While I had her on the phone I also asked her about the status of my 129F. She told me she would send an inquiry to Chicago about it. If I didn’t hear back in 1 month then call them back. I knew already I would be wasting 1 month waiting for nothing, so I asked her if I should just resend the 129F? She said “Absolutely NOT!” I know that if I send the 129F that I will get a NOA2 back in two weeks, so why should I wait 1 month for them to tell me I need to resend it again? She rattled off a couple of reasons. So I listened to her, because the whole reason my visa is a wreck right now is due to the inability to follow instructions properly. If I was gonna get this ship steered back on coarse, then I will wait. I prepared my next 129F, ready to send it as soon as I got the word.

 

I have been watching the timelines and checking the application dates. K3 from CSC was the worst and getting even worser. I had the worserest luck than anybody on this board. (Only as far as the paperwork was concerned.) I watched 129’s from CSC jump 3 months while 130’s stayed stuck in the mud. When we started, 130’s were 3 months ahead of the 129’s. Now the 129’s were 3 months ahead of the 130’s. People on this board that filed 2 months after I did were already getting there 130’s back APPROVED! My lawyer had caused delays because he forgot to mail the app. and somehow totally managed to jack up my paperwork on top of that. I needed to wait 3 weeks for him to get back from vacation so I could fire him and get my paperwork back. All that was going on at the same time I went off in my post on the rumpus room, which ended up closing after that string. At the end of my 4th month I had an NOA1, that I couldn’t do anything with it because I needed to wait 1 month to get notice back about the 129F my lawyer sent prematurely because he figured we could cut in line without the NOA1 and the NOA1 could catch up to it. WRONG! Don’t do that folks, I think when they saw my 129f without the NOA1; they probably filed it in their circular cabinet under their desk. You know the one that gets cleaned out every night after everyone goes home? I’ll tell you it wasn’t a very good time for me at all. I was realistically thinking it might take two years for my wife to get her visa. Before I started this whole thing, I swore to myself I wasn’t going to be a victim. Just like that Heehaw line goes…if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. That’s me.

 

But then in the last few weeks the big guy upstairs has been looking out for my wife and I. The 130’s from CSC jumped 3 months to catch up with the 129’s. It was like a miracle to me, but I still new nothing about my 129 and I just replied about my 130 RFE. No clue how long any of this was going to take.

 

On the 7th I received my 130-approval notice. I called USICS back the other day to ask about the 129. She told me since I already had my 130 approval the 129 goes out the window. I didn’t need it. Squeaky already told me that, but I wanted to make sure. I was relieved. I asked the lady on the phone two more questions, since she was so helpful. I asked her why has CSC finally sped the processing times up so quickly? She replied…you know how the visas are separated 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th priorities? She said that they fixed that. The 1st priorities weren’t actually being handled as 1st priorities. 3rd and even 4th priorities were getting more attention than they should have. I also was wondering where she was located, thinking that as nice of person that she was she must be from CA. She hesitated and told me she was in DC. I was a little surprised by that since they always reference the hours to call are during the local business hours of our time zone. She’s actually 3 hours ahead. ??? I don’t get it. Anyway, I am happy now. My wife’s paperwork is on its way to NH. It’s going all the way across the country, to send it back to china. I wish we could get frequent flyer mile credit for our applications too.

 

So now I’m waiting again, but at least I’m going in the right direction now. Thanks squeak and ling for your help through this scrap.

[keelec]

Mengxin,

 

Are you saying that your I-130 flew through CSC in only 5 months? WOW You certainly have made it into the FASTLANE!!!! Good luck with the rest of your application. Remember, you won't need to wait for GZ to make your P3.

 

Proving that you are a USC... I thought it only needed either a copy of your birth certificate or your passport. You mean that your lawyer missed that??????

 

Of course, I am also amazed like you, you have a social security number, you have been paying taxes all your life, paying into social security, and the US asks for more proof that you are a USC. I guess you could be an illegal alien who is paying taxes... but then again, how do illegals get legal social security numbers in their own name?

 

Obviously you should be able to produce a copy of your passport, but I hope the government uses the resources that they have available to them.

 

----- Clifford ------

[Mengxin]

I have an alias name. So the birth certificate and the passport didn't have the same name on them. I told my lawyer about it when he told me to fill out his questionare. (which I later found out had all the same questions as the 130 and the 129.) I wrote both names down for him in the questionare and gave him a copy of legal proof of name change.

Between the time that I gave him the paperwork originally and the time I got back from my wedding, my passport had changed. My old one was full and within 6 months of expiration anyway, so I needed a new one. (frequent traveler). I told him this news also, before he submitted the 129 and the 130 at the same time.

 

Both documents to support my proof of citizenship were invalid. On the copies of the 325A, where it asks have you used any other names? he wrote NA. Where it asks if you are married, he answered No and wrote NA where my wife's name should go.

 

Also a note about the 325A...If you fill out the form electronically, (using adobe acrobat) check all 4 pages for completeness. My wifes adress was complete on the 1st page, but not on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th pages.

example: The 1st page would read 325 Washington avenue, Anywhere China. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pages would read 325 Washingto and stop because it reached the end of the box. The officer never caught that either. I thought, how will my wife get her paperwork. He didn't even include the dates lived at the adress from and to, just left them blank. not even NA on both my copy and hers. Along with the requested evidence, I wrote all the descrepancies down that weren't caught on the cover letter in a list. Then put the supporting documentation behind it in the same order. I gave them a brief description of my misery. I pointed out that I already corrected my problem and to remove my lawyers name and adress from any documents with this case. I also attached a photo sheet with 9 wallet sized color pictures behind the cover letter so they could see that my wife and I look pretty darn happy together:P I also included my web adress next to my signature so I was sure they could see it and they could view it if they wanted to. I followed the instructions in John G's website to a T (I gave them a copy of every single page of both passports) and even added a few bells and whistles of my own to add a personal touch. I have a scanner with a color printer. I made color copies of everything. You couldn't tell the originals from the copies. (The copies may have even looked a little better.)

I really thought I was screwed. Waited 4 months for nothing. I had a NOA1, RFE and a 129F that caught a ride on a space ship headed for the black hole. Then find out the paperwork was so terrible to boot. If I still trusted my lawyer I would have gave him only the documentation for the RFE and been waiting again thinking everything was still cool.

I still haven't recieved a reply back about my 129F inquiry. It's been 5 weeks now. (doesn't matter anyway.)

 

What do you mean flew by in 5 months? There is at least 1 member of CFL that had there 130 from CSC APPROVED!!! in 1 month. Nobody could believe it. Then other people started saying the same thing, "hey! my CSC 130 is approved." Then it happened to me too. We have been blessed by the sweet I-130 fairy. The CSC 130 has gone from worst to 1st. It even beats the VSC 129 now. Amazing. I am praying the fairy is speaking chinese and on her way to GZ now. I knew this approval was good news, but I didn't realize how good it was until I surfed candle tonight. Talk about a change of luck.

 

You brought up another good point, why not spread the love around? Why should a CSC 130 take 6 months to reach an IO's desk and a VSC 129 takes 6 weeks? I'm married and geographically closer to China, but the time is the longest? Doesn't make sense. The gap between 6 months and 6 weeks is pretty considerable. They are just now fixing it? Don't get me wrong, this works out to my benifit completely. I was a little sour hearing some of my east coast friends complaing about the VSC.

 

Even going back tonight and reading everyones timelines for 1000th time, I see I am not so bad after all. Even before getting the approval notice. I'll keep my mouth shut now. I don't want to jinx myself with some bad Ju Ju.

[keelec]

Quite a while ago I did a poll about how long the visa process should take...

 

24 hrs, a few weeks, or a few years.

 

I was somewhat surprised by the consensus that 6 months for the whole process would be appropriate.

 

My K1 - I-129F was 6 months at NSC (including a RFE for putting N/A in for names of previous wives.... I've never been married, and am not currently married). The total time before the scheduled interview was 18 months.

 

Unfortunately, I am not the only one on the Candle with 1+ year wait. Mark (hypoclear) did a CR1 (I-130 only) through VSC, and still had over a year and a half wait for the visa.

 

Apparently prior to fall 2002, there used to be a practice that if the FBI namecheck did not produce negative results within a month or so, the visa process was pushed forward. Now there is no time limit on the step. Essentially the limitless wait now affects the whole process.

 

Good Luck for a speedy visa.