Need help from guys who contacted Congressmen

[Oscar]

I am wondering if any of you guys got your representatives involed and if you felt it helped or hindered in any way?  Do you go to the office of your Congressman or Senator?  Does it matter which??
On the INS web site it says it doesn't do any good to get them involved, is this the opinion here??

Any input appreciated..

Oscar

[MNKenr]

... in response to Need help from guys who contacted Congre..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

Here is a very recent example. My petition 1st NOA is May 1st. Charlie's Petition 1st NOA is dated May 4th. Nebraska has not approved one petition for at least 3 weeks due to various reasons last month. Charlie and myself are fed up. I understood that getting a Congressman would not speed things up, so I just waited and worked on having packet 3 ready. Charlie did not wait. We both live in Minnesota. Charlie contacted both Minnesotan Senators. After playing phone and email tag he was able to get an aid from both Senators office to help him. At first all the office would get from the INS were updates. Then Charlie explained no petitions were being processed. After about 3 weeks of dealings the Senators office finally contacted the liason at INS in Nebraska. 1 day later Charlie has his petition approved on Sep 4th (His was dated May 4th).

When I heard about his approvl I called Nebraska. My petition dated May 1st was not approved, but was given to an officer a day before. I did get approval 5 days after Charlie.

I believe that the Congressional office allowed the petition to get a 'flag'. Then the INS worked on that one first out of the bunch they grab to work on.

End result. The congressman did help. His petition was dated 3 days after mine, he got the congressional office to step in at day 115 or so. His petition got approved 5 days before mine. His petition got approved a total of 9 days sooner than mine. He saved 9 days by sending a number of emails and phone calls to two congressman's offices for three weeks.

I personally do not think that the congressional inquiry sped things up in this case, except for having his petition put on top of the pile of petitions they were working on for that week. However his did get approved before mine and his is a little older than mine, so it appears getting Congress involved certainly did not hurt anything, but I do not think you can expect shaving 20+ days off your wait.

MNKenR

[BarryM]

... in response to Need help from guys who contacted Congre..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

I read an article about a Houston area Marxist Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. The article stated Ms. Lee has the lowest rate of intervening for her constituants than any of the other Houston area Representatives. Evidently, statistics about assisting constituents for various matters and various agencies (such as the IRS) is public information. I have no idea on how to find this information but if the newspaper can aquire it, any citizen should be able to also.

If your Representative is a Marxist Feminazi Democrat, you're probably screwed if your fiancee is from the FSU.

-blm

[BURKE89]

... in response to It depends on your Congressman..., posted by BarryM on Sep 6, 2002

BLM,
The only reason I ask, it that I respect that man to no ends. He is the Patriot of the House, with or without Hunt $!

Regards,

Vaughn

[BarryM]

... in response to Is your congressman... Ron Paul?, posted by BURKE89 on Sep 8, 2002

nt

[tfcrew]

... in response to Need help from guys who contacted Congre..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

This depends on why you may need intervention. Your 129-F has been approved? Then they are pretty much out of it and allow the normal course of things to proceed. It will happen fast enough.
I got sick and tired of waiting for our petition approval after 72 days. So I called oh what's his name Johnson's laision in Richardson and 4 days later I got the word of approval. Coincidense?... maybe.
Karl

[Dan]

... in response to Need help from guys who contacted Congre..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

I found that only one of my congressmen would get involved - though I called and spoke to an aide from all of the offices.

Most will not get involved at all until your case crosses some threshold - such as failing to meet the outer bound on the timeline cited in the letter they sent you. At first, all they will do is make an inquiry as to status. If they then decide that the case demands intervention, they will initiate it at that time - usually not without some prompting on your part.

Unlike what has been written here about congressional intervention, I do not believe it harms or slows your case in any way. The INS doesn't have the time to be vindictive - at least on an institutional level - which is not to say some clerk couldn't get a little hacked-off and slow things for a day or two, but I doubt it.

Oscar, you are probably looking at at least 2 months from the time you receive approval. This is the time for the approval to travel to Warsaw (you didn't pay for cabling - right?), and then for Warsaw to schedule the interview. If it takes NSC another month, you are still looking at 3 months.

On the bright side, she should be here in time to celebrate Christmas with you.

- Dan

[DJD]

... in response to Re: Need help from guys who contacted Co..., posted by Dan on Sep 6, 2002

Oscar,

I agree with Dan's comments.  I used my congressman to assist with some "missing" files earlier in the year.  Our local INS officer in Albany actually commented that it was a good idea to get him involved.  Somewhere on your congressperson's staff is a person who is responsible for INS issues.  I would suggest calling your local office, find out who this person is, describe your problem over the phone, and then offer to write a letter to the congressperson describing the problem, and what you would like him/her to do.  Whatever you do, don't rant (I'm not assuming that you would).

I also agree with Dan in that only request this help if you really have a problem, and not just impatience with the process, such a a missed deadline.  The whole process, though the green card, is long, and seems to have gotten longer since 9/11.  You may find yourself in a situation a year or two from now where you will really need the help.  Best of luck.

By the way, my wife, son and I "passed" our interview last week, and they received their green card stamps!  The interview was uneventful, Marina answered a few basic questions that sounded like those the NYS DMV routinely asks when you apply for a drivers license, or to register your car.  The interviewwer asked for copies of anything that jointly had our names on it.  We gave him bank statements, life insurance documentation, and a couple of bills.  The entire process took 15 minutes, and was actually pleasant.  Overall, we submitted our I-485 on January 5th, 2001, and were finally approved on August 27th, 2002.  Also, the conditional status will run for 2 years, starting August 27th, 2002.  We were given a letter at the end of the interview with instructions to re-file for adjustment of status 1 year and 9 months from that date.

Dan (another Dan)

[Oscar]

... in response to I agree, posted by DJD on Sep 7, 2002

.

[Oscar]

... in response to Re: Need help from guys who contacted Co..., posted by Dan on Sep 6, 2002

Thanx Dan-

I have heard many say that once approved, your petition can be in Warsaw in 4-5 days by courier.  I am not messing with cabling because I have heard a lot of guys have gotten fouled up doing that somehow (like Rags) and that the consulate will not actually set an interview date until they have the hard copy in their hands anyway, so I'm not bothering with the cabling.

So I am hoping that once approved, I will wait 4-5 days, then email and call Warsaw.  I will be able to tell them that my petition is fully complete, police report, financial stuff (I-134), physicals are done etc..  From what I understand, they should be able to give me an interview date right over the phone.
Hopefully it will be no more than a month out! (Yeah right!)
That would be my hope.  
I will check on the 120 day limit because I am sure I saw it on some web site like Doc Steens or something..  Maybe I will be able to find it.

Later

[Dan]

... in response to Re: Re: Need help from guys who contacte..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

Oscar,

I don't want to bet 'against' you on something so important - so please don't consider it an affront - BUT - I'll bet you a steak dinner (at Morton's - if you have one there in SLC) that her arrival is closer to December 6th than it is October 6th.

If you're vegan, we'll find some other suitable venue.

I hope you're right and I am the one paying up --smile--.

- Dan

[Oscar]

... in response to One Month vs Three Months . . ., posted by Dan on Sep 7, 2002

No, I don't anticipate October now, not after that lovely phone call! I think (hope)it will be sometime in November though.

And unfortunately there is no Mortons in SLC, BUT I understand there will be soon..

Oscar

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Re: One Month vs Three Months . . ., posted by Oscar on Sep 7, 2002


When you say: "SLC" do you mean Salt Lake City?

If so, you don't need a Mortons... just go to The JW's in the Marriott.

It's the best steak I've ever had... And this comes from a someone who's had a steak at Mortons, Ruth's Chris, Del Frisco's, and Sullivan's...

Since Marriott is based in SLC, I think the JW's there is better than most...

[Oscar]

... in response to You don't need one..., posted by MarkInTx on Sep 7, 2002

.

[Griffin]

... in response to Need help from guys who contacted Congre..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002