gracejilly

Last person posted approval dated 12/23.....anyone have any approvals since then? My receipt date is 12/10 and I was hoping to hear soon

robclews

Ive been waiting since the 17th of October and am getting pissed off now to say the least.

Rob

katesuiter1

I can imagine!!! It's so stupid that some people can wait for months on end, and some people can be approved in a few weeks. Where's the sense? Mind you, this is the INS. I really hope things speed up for you, Rob.
Kate. xxxxxx

robclews

Thanks thats a kind comment, good luck in London soon, my fingers are crossed,

Rob

Elizabeth Murphy

my receipt date is dec 10 as well...I will post as soon as I hear
anything. I will pray for all us "pending approvals".

elizabeth

Matthew Udall

Hi Kate,
If you are talking about difference in times for cases that are "at the same service center", one reason could be that one case got an IBIS hit and one didn't. I'm sure there are other reasons why this can happen too, but IBIS would be an obvious choice of reason why this would happen. If a case gets an IBIS hit, it "WILL" experience a delay (slight to significant) compared to a case that did not get an IBIS hit. And I would think if someone knows they have been arrested before, they should "count" on a delay and an IBIS hit. Likewise, the more common the names of the petitioner and beneficiary, the more likely it is that the case will have an IBIS hit even if they have not been arrested before (but someone with the same name has been arrested before).

If you are instead talking about one service center being faster than another service center, well... I'm not going to rehash that all again :-). Besides there are many factors that go into that, and I'd just be speculating.

M.U.

gracejilly

Hi Matt,

Sorry to seem ignorant, I have heard the term before, IBIs....what exactly does that mean?


My fiance is a Police officer in Scotland,....do you think that that will trigger some sor t of back ground check?

L D Jones

gracejilly wrote:
    >
[ ... ]

    > My fiance is a Police officer in Scotland,....do you think that that
    > will trigger some sor t of back ground check?

Not any extra ones. Everyone has a background check done as I understand
it. The fact that your fiance is a police officer will make no
difference in terms of the process.

Matthew Udall

IBIS is the interagency border information system. It’s basically a database that they use to see if someone has been arrested before or has other bad acts in their record that need to be looked at. They have been adding huge volumes of records/information to this database lately. This goes for U.S. petitioners too, and if they find a petitioner who happens to have a warrant out for his or her arrest, they turn this information (where to find the petitioner) over to the appropriate police authority.

When they run an IBIS check, those results are only valid for 35 days. After 35 days, they have to do it again (since someone could have been arrested within those 35 days). According to Terry Way (the director of the NSC), doing the IBIS checks (just the initial checks mind you, not the additional work needed if there is an IBIS hit) slows down the processing of cases anywhere from 25% to doubling the time it takes an officer to adjudicate a case.

Cases that get an IBIS hit (the petitioner or beneficiary had been arrested before "OR" someone with their same name has been arrested before) are taken "out" of the main stream of cases and taken to a special unit where they are eventually looked at by overworked INS officers. I say "overworked" because that's how it certainly looked to me at the MSC's unit that does this work (they call it "operations" at the MSC; at the NSC, they call it their “triage� unit). In operations at the MSC, they had 2 officers (1 of which was on loan from the Kansas City INS office since they are still understaffed at the MSC) sitting amongst "boxes and boxes" of files that had IBIS hits, doing that follow up work needed where there is an IBIS hit, one file at a time.

One of the first things they try to do is to see if they can easily determine if the person with the record that came up is really someone other that the petitioner, beneficiary or applicant (someone with the same name). If they can determine this, then the case goes back into the main stream of cases (this is what I would consider a slight delay... but of course who knows how long it will take them to get to that case). Often the database will only give information such as, "John Doe was arrested on 01/01/83 under Ohio criminal code section 1234". Well, the INS officer does not know what that means, so they then have to go do that research to see what the bad act really was. They would likely need to call the proper police agency in Ohio to get further information. They also group the more serious crimes together vs. the not so serious crimes. And again, if they find a warrant or want is outstanding, they contact the authorities to let them know where they can find the person they are looking for.

Remember, this applies to "all" petitioner's and applicant's too. That includes petitioners who happen to be LPR's or LPR's filing for naturalization. So not only might that LPR's I-130 or N-400 be denied (or at least significantly delayed), they might also find themselves being put in removal proceedings.

M.U.

dfcdfc

...And I am waiting since Sept24. Contacting Congresman helped little other than "the security check is taking now much longer and looks like your case needs more security check"...

I assume we got that famous "IBIS hit" , although we've never been arrested before(about 8 years ago my fiancee applied for a travel visa and was denied, so it may has something to do with that).

Does anybody know whether IBIS checks just the criminal record or it includes the INS database which keeps track whether the person applied for a visa(student/work visa) before?

Thanks for any help!
-DFC

angeles73

If he was denied for a travel visa, tehre must be a reason why. If he has a criminal history that is probably it. My understanding is that IBIS does not check the petitioner out. But rather, the beneficiary. So in that case, the congressperson was on the ball.

Ange

shaggy

My understanding is that IBIS only includes domestic federal databases, and any activities from outside the U.S. are unlikely to show up (unless, of course, you are on some kind of terrorist/organized crime watchlist). IBIS is also used by immigration officers at POEs when they scan/enter your passport number and name, and people have often been denied entry at POEs when a long-ago criminal act within the United States shows up on IBIS. It is unlikely---virtually impossible---that somebody will register a "hit" just because they were a police officer in Scotland (I don't think that's a Federal offence LOL), but if somebody with a similar name has been arrested within the United States, that might cause a delay while they verify whether you are the same person.

I remember reading somewhere that Canadian criminal records and warrants are also included in IBIS, but the same is not true for Britain, since British citizens are protected by the Data Protection Act which forbids the non-consensual sharing of criminal records with any foreign country (the exception being when Britain files a formal request for extradition, or if your name is known to Interpol). This is why you have to obtain your own police clearance within the UK when filing for a U.S. visa instead of the DOS or INS doing it independently.

At least that is my interpretation of how it works.

dfcdfc

Ange,
my fiancee is from a former Soviet Union and it's very common to get a denial of the travel visa if you are single young lady from Russia. Also, it's my understanding that the petitioner is getting IBIS check too, along with the fiancee...

Thanks

angeles73

THE IBIS check my understanding is that it is solely for investigation of the foreigner.

Regarding denial for being a single young russian lady, sounds a little prejudiced on INSs part, but again my intention was not to say she had a criminal history, but that if the person does have a criminal history and are now suffering a delay, that may be why.

Ange

Matthew Udall

Hi Ange,
The INS news release about IBIS a while back made it clear that they run the IBIS check on all petitioners, applicants and beneficiaries. I was also told this same thing while standing in Operations at the MSC, and while on my tours of the NSC, TSC and CSC (last time at the CSC, I actually watched an INS officer perform an IBIS check and affix her special stamp on the form showing the date the IBIS check was performed). At the MSC, Mr. Burzynsky gave an example of how this affects U.S. citizen petitioners and he flat out said that they contact the appropriate authorities to turn over information about petitioners when they find a petitioner with a warrant out for his or her arrest.

Heard the same thing (that petitioners were being arrested here in L.A.) by a couple of attorneys while standing around the attorney-filing window in the basement at the L.A. INS office.

While during a break at the NSC meeting (in Lincoln a couple of months ago), I was discussing IBIS checks performed on Petitioner’s with Crystal W., who is the AILA National head of all liaison activities, and she was the one who pointed out to me the fact that petitioner’s who happen to be LPR’s might find themselves in removal proceedings once their IBIS check is run.

As to what databases are accessed, I'm not 100% sure if Interpol or other foreign databases are accessed. I'll keep my eye out for that information.

M.U.