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I have called a few times after hours and gotten the automated stuff which tells you nothing..  Tried a few times during the day but the line was always busy..  Well, getting ready for work this morning, I tried a couple of times just for the heck of it and after the third try got through to an actual live person (actually they were more like the walking dead.. meaning postal worker x 10).

The guy I spoke to sounded like he was just so bored and tired of talking to people like me calling with the same questions.  Here is what I got from the horses mouth-

I told him that they have had my petition for 85 days now and this was the first time I had spoken to anyone.  I wanted to know what the outlook was etc..  He told me that they were working on petitions from April 11th.  I told him that my first NOA and the automated phone line said that it took between 70 and 100 days of which I am now at 85.  He said "so you actually believe what they write or have on their recording?"  I said yes I did.  He said "I can see that you have never really worked with a government agency before?  I told him other than filing my taxes, that was correct.
He said "don't book any wedding halls or catering or flowers etc.. as you will likely not get your money back.  I told him that by law I had understood that petitions HAD to be either approved or denied by 120 days.  He said that this was not true, there was NO limit!  I asked him how it was possible that Nebraska could really be 4 months behind all other service centers and he said it was because they had the biggest work load by far.  Then he then threw me a bone by saying that they are required to say that the petitions they are working on are from April 11th but that those dates can change rapidly and that just because that is the date they say they are on, it doesn't mean they can't or don't skip ahead and do later dates etc..  I could not get him to elaborate.
So I asked him how much longer might I expect to wait for an approval now being at 85 days and he said I might look for it in the next 30 to 45 days!  So max from what he is saying would be a total of 130 days but I thought I had heard that they HAD to either approve or deny by 120 days so I think that this limit may indeed be correct even though he said there was no "limit".  

So to put it mildly, I'm pissed and disillusioned at this point.  I'm sure that by that time, we will probably be at war with Iraq and that will create even further delays somehow..

What a great way to start the day!  Sheet on a shingle...

Oscar

... in response to Well sheet, spoke to the INS this mornin..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

Hello. hate to say it but the batch of paperwork getting approved this week is 120-130 days old.

May 1 petition just got approved Sep. 9th. A may 3 rd petition got approved Sep 4th.

I know what you are going through. You can not depend on the reps that answer the phone. Expect a 120 day wait, make another trip if you can, and find something to pre occupy your time.

Good Luck.

MNKenR

... in response to Expect 120+ days wait....(update), posted by MNKenr on Sep 11, 2002

Thanks for the info.. But from what I can understand, where people say the sevice center is now working on X date can be misleading.  The guy at the service center I spoke to said that they jump all over the place forwards and backwards in processing...  So I don't know..

Oscar

... in response to Re: Expect 120+ days wait....(update), posted by Oscar on Sep 11, 2002

MY petition 1st NOA was dated May 1. I was Approved September 9th. A fellow Minnesotan I know 1st NOA was May 4th. He was approved September 4th. Both of these are over the 70-100 days the 1st NOA stated. There has not been a NSC approval in less than 100 days in a very long time.

MNKenr

... in response to Let me clarify., posted by MNKenr on Sep 12, 2002

I have no problem believing that 100 days is minimum right now thru Nebraska.  I am today at 91 days so I am doing all I can to make sure that 100 is the max I have to wait! LOL!
I contacted my Senators aide today..  I will post about this at top..

Oscar

... in response to Well sheet, spoke to the INS this mornin..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

Sheesh,

They really need to privatize this service.  Charge a fair price, and let everybody get on with their lives.

The consular filing method is an absolute luxury.  It's too bad all the embassys don't offer it.

I arrived on a Fri, married on Sunday, left for the Bogota Embassy on Mon.,  in the carribean the next day for a honeymoon for two weeks, back to the embassy for the Visa, in the states the following day, green card two weeks later in the mail.

20,000 illegals went under the barbed wire while they were messing about with my file.

I feel for you guys waiting around for the k-1.  It's like life is on hold.  It's a weird time in life.

Wayne

... in response to Well sheet, spoke to the INS this mornin..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

Why is Nebraska "by far the busiest???"

Anyone have any reason why this would be true?

I would have thought that Texas would be busier than Nebraska... with all of the immigration issues in Texas. (There are a LOT more issues than fiance Visas that the INS deals with, after all)

Why Nebraska???

... in response to Nebraska???, posted by MarkInTx on Sep 6, 2002

.

... in response to Maybe Nebraska center covers more states..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

it may cover more states but it is the population that matters. vermont covers from virginia to ( I think) ohio and the north east.

... in response to Re: Maybe Nebraska center covers more st..., posted by snowwego on Sep 6, 2002

To really get some idea of relative efficiency - you'd have to know number of employees at each SC, number of applications received each wk/mo/yr, average/target processing time for each category of application, etc. - in addition to population of the SC coverage area.

Right now the only thing we know for sure is that Vermont is blazingly fast on I-129 approvals - and Nebraska  - well, Nebraska is at the other end of the spectrum.

- Dan

... in response to Nebraska???, posted by MarkInTx on Sep 6, 2002

you'll find it here --  http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/nebraska/aboutus.htm

You'll see that only Nebraska processes several specific types of applications for the entire country. As well, they cover 20 of the 50 states. Admittedly, many are not very populous - but some are (IL, for instance).

Not defending them. In fact, it raises more questions for me - such as:

* How many employees does each of the 4 SC's employ?
* What kind of processing rate per employee/per day might be found at each SC, I wonder?

FWIW

- Dan

... in response to Well sheet, spoke to the INS this mornin..., posted by Oscar on Sep 6, 2002

In it, I cited the disparate and conflicting dates provided in numerous official documents submitted by the INS NSC, and the effects that misinformation is likely to have on the reader. I never received any replies.

Your best bet to gain some sense of reality is to visit this website --
http://www.marriagebasedvisas.org/visa/k-1/index.php and track how other people are faring. Be sure to put in your own information so that others are able to benefit by at least recognizing the reality of the situation.

Oscar, I have never heard anything at all about a 120-day period in which they MUST render a decision. I have always understood that it is purely a function of workload. In fact, if this sort of limit were enforced, my guess is we'd start seeing a LOT more rejections - just because they were unable to complete review of the petition in time.

Patience . . . .

- Dan