lpdiver

Exactly my friend. But in the case of airlines you have the choice...usually of going elsewhere. The prices you paid were based on supply and demand and planning ahead. We don't have the choice of going elsewhere to shop for competitive prices with immigrations.

Thanks for helping me to make my point!!!

CalgaryAMC

I have had another wondering, a rather incomplete thought I should say.

As it stands, where you live has a tremendous impact on your access to immigration benefits. 3 months AOS in Alaska, 3 years in other places.

What if the Alaska office auctioned off a certain number of out of state adjudications each year on ebay. Assume for a moment that USCIS policy did not prohibit this.

Would that be wrong? Yes of course - it violates our principle of citizens being equal before the law. Except that that equality principle is already violated based on where you live.

lpdiver

I do think the USCIS is trying to address this issue. Look at the recent movement of cases from the TSC to MSC. Also they; in my opinion took the intelligent approach recently to improving services. They increased the prices for everyone across the board. Whether they are good stewarts of this money is a matter of opinion. Maybe they should just charge everyone $10,000.00.

Just Jenney

Mark, you are right on target. It essentially means people who can pay more would be able to receive preferential treatment. And that is simply not right.

It amazes me how the term RELATIVE does not seem to exist in Zeo's brain. He seems to equate affordability with fairness -- but fails to understand that what is affordable to him ($1000) may be completely out-of-reach (and therefore unfair) to someone else.

Also, Zeo chooses to emphasize the fact that if one can afford the proposed $1000 fee, then one deserves faster service. What he fails to do is turn this statement around to say, if one CANNOT afford the $1000 fee, then they deserve slower service. That is discrimination in its simplest form.

Ironically, when the proposed fee is changed from $1000 to $10,000, Zeo STILL fails to understand this point!

This debate reminds me of a question I'm often asking in my job as a customer service rep at a credit card company. Time and again cardholders will say, "I always make huge payments, way beyond the minimum due -- so why won't you give me a credit limit increase? I deserve it, because I make such big payments!" To which I say, "Look, that's great that you can afford to make large payments. But we cannot use that as a basis for awarding credit limit increases. Not everyone can afford to pay more than the minimum payment due. Just as we cannot penalize those who can't pay more than the minimum, we also cannot reward those who can pay more. Otherwise we'd be discriminating against those who cannot afford to make large payments."

Sound familiar?

~ Jenney

jeffreyhy

lp,

I like your examples - the 'line' at the USCIS does indeed work exaclty like the lines at the bank, and the post office, and the airline counter. The petitions or applications wait in a line (on a shelf) until there is an open 'window' (case worker) available to take one (or a few).

And as I posted earlier, you may finish at the bank ahead of the guy who was ahead of you in line because, when you split off and go to your separate tellers, there was something more complicated about his transaction than there is about yours. Or the guy behind the 2 of you may finish before both of you because a new window opens up that he reacts and moves over before the 2 of you ahead of him do.

People complain that answers are recieved out of order from the USCIS, where there are a number of different officers working on different sets of cases once the cases have finished waiting in line on the shelf and are sent - first-in first-out - to a case worker like the teller at the bank window.

Please explain why you find the process at the bank or the post office to be acceptable but the same process at the USCIS is not. Is it because of the greater magnitude of the time that the process takes (which magnifies the time diferences for completing the business at hand from minutes to days or weeks)? Is it because one can see what is going on when in line at the bank or post office, but one cannot see what is going on in the line at the USCIS? (And therefore people speculate, and make assumptions that may or may not bear any resemblence to reality?)

Regards, JEff

lpdiver

Never have I said it is unacceptable. I do think there is room for vast improvement. I personally have had very few glitches to date. I do feel that the gross disparities could be addressed relatively painlessly and they seem to be trying to do just that currently. My seven month wait I feel was reasonable. Two of those months we caused.

I have either been lucky to avoid some of the problems others have experienced, or have done my homework and avoided most of them or a combination of the two. I believe the last to be the case.

I have heard of horrible things that have occured but don't know of any first hand.

I always choose the wrong line anyhow!!! I found a way to beat this in my personal investments though. My father and I always do the opposite. He sells and I buy or vice versa.

Mrtravelkay

lpdiver wrote:

    > WTF? Who said anything about a government operated airline? Are you
    > thinking about Airforce One perhaps?

The previous post talked about the price difference in prices between
traveling by bus or by plane. My comment was to point out that the US is
NOT a for profit business, so this pricing difference is not relevant to
whether the US should charge more.

lpdiver

My point exactly!!!

Hypertweeky

You are WELCOME!!
I can't believe this thread is still on fire!!

Hypertweeky

Isn't it?

Hypertweeky

Thanks!!

Matthew Udall

Funny you should bring this up. While hiring an attorney won't get your case put in front of another person's case, hiring someone with experience "can" get a case through the system faster if beginner mistakes can be avoided (that would trigger an RFE). Funny how people would gladly pay 1K or more to get their case moved in front of their neighbors (who filed before they did) however if someone suggests they might want to hire an attorney to make sure the job is done correctly at the outset (for under 1K) other DIY'ers scoff at that idea.

Hypertweeky

That is true.. but you can't compare MSC's work system with VSC, CSC,NSC,TSC or NVC
They handle different types and volumes of applications.

Matthew Udall

Actually, they already have "expedite criteria" that one can use to get "premium processing" if warranted (if the USCIS buys the argument that one deserves expedited processing), and it does not cost the person one penny to ask that their request for expedited processing be evaluated.

Now "that" is a more fair system (well, at least its not based on paying extra money that not everybody can afford).

Hypertweeky

Hey there Mathew

That was a very good point
If a case is not straight forward or don't want to screw it up Hiring an attorney is very well spent money, but from there to the premium service that was initially suggested.. there is a BIG difference
May I ask what do you think about this whole "premium processing" suggestion??
Thanks!