L D Jones

sphyrapicus wrote:
    >>Your 30-34 items may be wholly relevant and necessary for your
    >>circumstances. I'm not saying six documents is appropriate for all. It
    >>was for me taking into consideration my circumstances...
    >
    >
    > Perhaps your I-751 arrived on a Wednesday and that's why it was
    > approved?
    >
    > You have no idea why your petition was approved. Your statement "The
    > main reason for my I-751 application being approved so quickly is mostly
    > down to the minimal number of relevant documents sent". There is
    > absolutely no way for you to know this. We could all guess why it was
    > approved but without speaking with the adjudicator, it is all idle
    > speculation. And, I also find it highly unlikely that all adjudicators
    > are clones of one another. What one may find satisfactory may have no
    > bearing on what another finds satisfactory to approve the I-751 without
    > interview.
    >
    > It would be best to frame your response as "Here's what I submitted and
    > my case was approved" rather than trying to speculate on why it was
    > approved (i.e. stating it was because you submitted only six documents).
    >

All true. No one has any idea.

Sometime last year (or in 2003) Matt Udall visited one or more service
centers and was literally told my a CIS employee that "large" packets
are sometimes set aside while smaller ones are adjudicated (presumably
because it's faster and decreases the backlog more quickly).

Does this have any meaning? Arguable. Perhaps it's just human nature...
Will I review the 2 page document before the 50 page document. Sometimes

NC Penguin

That is true but I can make an educated guess about the speed of approval for my application better than you because I know exactly what I sent, and you don't. You're entitled to your opinion, of course.

You clearly are nitpicking here. My post is based on my personal thoughts. That should be clear from the way I wrote. I do not imply having any hard facts.

Johndoe

I think Mr Udall just did a very kind explanation that is very helpful to some of us who at times wonder whether its real people working those USCIS offices.

At times it appears to me like USCIS offices are all located in the elusive Area 51, for those familiar with stories about this secret facility.


=========================================

Rete

Actually your timeline is within the processing date range on the USCIS for the TSC. They are currently processing December 19, 2003 and you filed on 1/24/04. Only a month's difference which is the give or take leeway for most application processing.

Johndoe

I think since I sent a box of documents, it must be seated somewhere on the floor, maybe someone punishing me for sending too much evidence.

As for NC penguin, I think she/he got approved a while back. The 12/19/03 date was updated just yesterday and before that it was 10/31/03.
======================================

NC Penguin

To clarify, at the time I received my approval in December, the processing date for TSC was October 2003! I sent in the application In Jan 2004 so that's three months later than the processing date posted by the USCIS themselves...

sphyrapicus

Penguin,

Looking at your timeline, you state that you received an I-797 NOA notifying you of your approved I-751. I-797s are usually not used (at least they haven't been for the last couple of years) to notify a petitioner of a successful I-751.

Here's what my approval letter said (on plain white paper - no letterhead, no color):

United States Department of Justice
Immigration and Naturalization Service

Notice of Removal of Conditional Basis of Lawful Permanent Residence

File Number: ***-***-***
Date of Decision: 06/23/2004
New Classification Symbol: IR6
Admission Date: 07/16/2001

Your request for the removal of the conditional basis of your permanent resident status has been approved. You are deemed to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States as of the date of your original admission or adjustment of status.

You must obtain a new alien registration receipt card (Form I-551). To do so, appear in person at the Service Office shown below. Bring your passport and three recent photos of the same type as on your present alien card (if needed, exact specifications may be obtained from the Service office shown below). Your new alien registration receipt card will be mailed to you within six months. You should not travel outside the United States before receiving your new card unless you have first received a passport endorsement from this Service indicating that your new card is being processed.

INS OFFICE:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
U.S. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION
JF KENNEDY FED BLDG
J.F.K. FEDERAL BLDG.
ROOM E-160
BOSTON MA 022030000


Sincerely,

Evelyn Upchurch
DIRECTOR

Matthew Udall

Processing time reports are useful for two things. One is to help one determine if "their particular case" is likely with an officer, and second, whether or not it's "overdue". From the sound of it, your case was processed "before" it became overdue. Congratulations.

Processing time reports can't be used for cases that get an IBIS hit. And I'm sure some get their case expedited so that would probably not fit within the timeframe listed on a report. Heck, I've seen speculation by some that perhaps a case gets yanked from the shelf ahead of time for training purposes. I'll bet there are also times when an older file has been found and placed at the front of the shelf (and if the data is collected that day for the processing time report, that older case would be reflected in the new report), which may explain why a report might go backwards or seem to be off from other cases (such as yours) that seem to be processed earlier than the report would indicate. Processing time reports are not perfect, but are a good general gauge as to what is gonig on most of the time.

It is also understandable human nature to assume that what happens is someone's case will be reflected in someone else's case. But to do that is to set yourself up to have unrealistic expectations.

Did you know that at the NSC, they have a shelf set up in their "quality control" unit with bins labeled for each case type? Random cases are selected "AFTER" an officer has approved the darn thing, and placed in the appropriate bin. Then sometime after that, someone in quality control will go over those cases to double check the work. Those cases might not have received an IBIS hit, and would likely seem to fall outside the processing time report as well.

NC Penguin

I haven't got my letter to hand but your point is?...

sphyrapicus

Just curious if they've changed their protocol?

I did receive an I-797 welcoming me to the United States when I filed an address change while my I-751 was pending. There is a glitch in the system that produces an I-797 NOA welcoming letter saying your I-551 card is in the mail if you file an address change while an I-751 is still awaiting adjudication. Don't ask me why it happens but it does. I noticed you also filed an address change while your I-751 was pending so it got me wondering about your I-797.

Ray

But I think there is more than one I-797 ..dont they run from A thr D

sphyrapicus

My point is that you don't usually receive an I-797 when conditions are lifted on an I-751. Normally, you receive the letter I quoted above as a computer printout on a piece of blank white paper. The fact that the Penguin received an I-797 NOA made me think he might have received the erroneous NOA that is sent out when an address change is filed while an I-751 is pending. We've seen this glitch reported numerous times on BE over the past year (myself included). The NOA welcomes you to the US and says that you have been granted conditional status and your I-551 card should arrive in 3 weeks.

So, it doesn't really matter if there are numerous types of I-797s - the OP should not have receive any kind of I-797 (unless, like I said, there has been a very recent change in their policy).

Matthew Udall

If there has been, I've not heard about it. I received the approval for an I-751 from the CSC just yesterday, and it was on white paper just as you describe.

Bluegrass Lass

Are the processing times for I-485s the exception to the rule?? I ask because for those of us still pending, most of us had our applications forwarded to MSC from the local office. So most of us, I believe, are going by the processing times listed for our local office, since the MSC does not publish any processing times for the I-485s (as yet).

So how do you explain that I watched the processing times for our local office jump from May 2004 back to Nov. 2003 and at this time they are still only processing Dec. 2003?? However, we filed in June 2004 and our interview is next week. That's 6 months ahead of the processing and not within that 1 month window. With that type of inaccuracy, how can any of us even dare try to guess when we think our case might be overdue?!?

Or should we only treat the Service Center processing times as being accurate and not the local offices? I suppose our local office could be an exception in that it isn't very accurate publishing processsing times.

ian-mstm

All processing times are the exception!

Ian