Matthew Udall

I've received new reports for the MSC, NSC and VSC. These reports are generated at a given service center and are given to AILA HQ as a courtesy by the Service Centers. If you are interested in seeing the reports, I've posted them to my page located at, http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/sctimes.htm

Keep in mind that these reports are not perfect. I occasionally even see typos on the reports, and the numbers are not binding on the INS. But since these numbers "do" actually come from the Service Centers themselves, they might be closer to reflecting reality than the fiction you will find printed on your receipt notice, the fiction you will hear on the phone system, and the fiction you will see on the status checking page provided by the INS.

The likely highly inaccurate processing time estimates that you see on your receipt notice, on the status checking webpage, and hear on the phone system come from INS HQ, not the service centers themselves and are more often than not, not reflective of what is going on at a given Service Center at any given moment in time.

Regards,
Matthew Udall
Attorney
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/fiancee.htm

saha

Hi Matt:

Why some of the case such as: I-130 for the immediate family of US citizen does not move a day over months?

I was watching the case status at Nebraska Service Center and the date for I-130 is fixed at 5/16/2002 for last several months.

Any idea?

Regards,
Saha

Matthew Udall

Your guess is as good as mine. My guesses are the Audit that started in early October that froze processing of all cases for who knows how long, plus the usual things like them being overworked and understaffed. They might have been directed by INS HQ to shift their staff that would normally do the I-130's to other types of cases that are processed at that product line, or perhaps shifted to cases processed on a different product line.

The report for the NSC on 09/27/02 showed a date of 04/19/02. The report for the NSC on 10/15/02 showed a date of 05/16/02 (they moved almost a month’s worth of receipt dates in a little over 2 weeks). Today is only 12/17/02, so its really only been stuck for 2 months (I always considered “a few� to be 3, and "several" to be 4 or more :-). I don't watch the I-130 numbers for the NSC that closely, however I don't think it’s too uncommon to see some of the I-130 numbers freeze up for any given I-130 category. The I-130 category for relatives of U.S. Citizens is usually one of the largest categories at any given service center (thousands and thousands of them waiting their turn).

But also please note that I'm not defending their slowness on I-130's. I think they should move faster on them. Just speculating as to "why" since you asked me to speculate.

Good luck with your case.

Regards,
Matthew Udall
Attorney
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/index.htm

Matthew Udall

Saha,
I had an additional thought about my Audit theory. We did hear reports that right before the audit hit, they were loading up their officers with files from the file room (so the officers would have plenty to do while all file movement stopped for the audit). And the audit started in early October. So maybe that is why we saw such a big jump (that's a heck of a lot of receipt dates when you consider how many thousands of I-130's that must represent) between the 09/27 and 10/15 reports.

So if they loaded up the officers with huge piles of I-130's between 09/27 and 10/15, that might be why we've not seen movement since then (as they might still be working on the I-130 shoveled onto their desks right before the audit hit).

Just a theory.

Regards,
Matthew Udall
Attorney
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/fiancee.htm

pondhopper

Hi

I would welcome some advice!

We filed an I 129F at TSC and were receipted on 17Sept, A request for further info ( my divorce decree! ) was sent to us on 5 Nov and we sent our reply back to the INS on 25Nov. which was receipted on 30Nov

Which date does our waiting time start from?

Any news on latest times from TSC?

David

Matthew Udall

None in particular. RFE's go by their own special processing, and there is not set rate although I can say that all of the liaison reports that I've read from the Service Centers, from the very limited RFE experience I've had with my cases, and from the RFE experiences from other do-it-yourselfers, I can say that they seem to process RFE's (with the underlying submission) pretty quickly once they receive the RFE. Of course, your definition of pretty quickly might be different than mine.

Curious, why didn't you submit the divorce decree to begin with?

M.U.

Matthew Udall

Funny you should ask. I just got that report a couple of minutes ago (after I posted the new numbers for the MSC, NSC and VSC). Just got finished uploading the modifiction (to show the new TSC numbers) to my page at, http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/sctimes.htm

M.U.

Khw

What are they doing at the NSC? Last report of November 15 said they are
working on petitions received up till August 8. Now, with the December 17
report, they are working on petitions received up till July 15?

Continuing the meditation....

pondhopper

Hi Matthew

We had sent a decree Nisi with the I129F as we were told by London to start the process while we were waiting for my absolute in November. They said this would get the ball rolling and save time. The have already sent the packet 3 and I have sent them all the info they asked for so they seem to have opened an interim file? I hope

Thank you for your valuable help. it is very welcome.
David

Folinskyinla

Hi David:

I am about to ruin your day and please accept my apologies in advance. Perhaps INS might be nice for once but I don't think so.

Who in "London" told you to do file in advance?

There is case law that the petition must be approvable on the DAY OF FILING. Now this case law deals with situations where visa petition filing gives priority dates in numerically restricted categories and IMHO, should not apply to finance or immediate relative I-130's. But I am an immigration lawyer who, unlike INS, does not have the power to adjudicate visa petitions. In my experience, INS applies the rule requiring qualification on date of filing across the board.

I would not be surprised if your petition is denied for lack of qualification on date of filing. You might want to consider filing a SECOND petition.

Matthew Udall

David, I believe Folinskyinla has a valid point, however let me state that you will just have to wait to see if that first submission gets denied. My hunch is that it will, but you never know.

I recall taking on a new fiancée client sometime within the past year. I can't remember who it was, so I can't remember what Service Center he used the first time on his own (I could try to figure it out, but I don't see how spending the time to nail down the identity of this client to find out which service center is "that" important... but I think it might have been the TSC).

Anyway, he was a do-it-yourselfer who had received bad information (or perhaps on his own simply jumped to an incorrect conclusion) that he could file his I-129f before his divorce was final. He figured it would be final by the time the case hit the consulate (and I honestly can't remember if he submitted a Nisi decree at the outset, or simply provided the final decree with his RFE). Yes, he too received an RFE for the divorce decree, and when he sent it to the Service Center they flatly denied his I-129f because he was not legally free to marry on the date he signed his I-129f and sent it to the Service Center (the date on the final decree clearly showed that).

He came to me after his case was denied, and I helped him get the next one approved without an RFE.

There are not "that" many qualifications a petitioner must meet, but being legally free to marry is definitely one of them.

And not to rag on you here, but why did you rely on the Department of State to give you advice about Department of Justice processing? I doubt anybody at that Consulate has ever worked for INS and adjudicated an I-129f in their lives. I'll concede that it would be logical to assume that since the Consulate and the INS both deal with "immigration", that it might be reasonable to rely on the Consulate for your INS advice, but as you now know that was a foolish decision.

The INS and/or Consulate are "not" your immigration law advisor any more than I am or your Congressman is (or anybody on this news group, or your barber or accountant). In fact, in a very real sense, the INS and Consulate are on the "opposite" side of the fence of immigration as its their job to enforce immigration law when it comes to approving petitions and visa applications.

Even though both the Bank of America and Wells Fargo deal with banking, I would not go to Well's Fargo to ask them about the B of A's policies or the best way to structure my B of A accounts.

Sorry for ragging, and relying on the wrong people for your immigration advice is a very common do-it-yourselfer's mistake so don't beat yourself up too much about it (hey, even a beginner attorney might make that same mistake). Nothing you can do about it now anyway.

Good luck with this case. I'm afraid there is a pretty good chance that you are going to need it.

M.U.

saha

Hi Matt:

Thank you for your detailed elaboration on my question. Yes, it is moving as you mathematically showed it but perhaps bit slower than we would like to see. Anyway, it is always wonderful to know your analyses and thoughts on such a complicated and often most mysterious matter such as dealing with INS.

Always appreciate your continued support and service to the thousands of people we rely so much on this forum for immigration matters.

Best wises and regards,

Saha.

angeles73

David, before you get too upset about what you've been told... let me describe one scenario:

In Argentina for example, divorces are retroactive to the separation date. Don't know about London, but in my fiance' s case, his divorce FINALLY came through in November 2002 but the divorce date is December 18, 2000 so when we filed in TSC he was actually divorced teo years, even though the judge had just signed the document two days before. According to the document we submitted which is a type of NISI divorce decree since Argentina does not give Final Divorce Decrees until several months AFTER, he was divorced two years ago. (Yes, it doesn't make sense but that's Argentina for you...)

A lawyer here in the US told me the same thing, and the consulate in Buenos Aires corroborated what you were told: submit the petition with the NISI decree and get in the loop until the final decree arrives which shows the original divorce date as way before the 1rst NOA date. Of course, they knew how Argentina works... and that is not applicable to everyone. If your divorce date is after your NOA date... you are SOL...

poli

Hi Matthew, do you think the I-130 IR at NSC will move to apps received 09-16 by 08-15-03? What is your opinion?

Matthew Udall

I read your question a couple of times, but I still don't understand what you are asking.