I've been meaning to write more about our immigration stuff, but nothing, absolutely nothing, has happened since my previous immigration related post, Immigration Limbo. It's now been over 5 months since we sent our petition and it hasn't even been looked at. Calls to USCIS have given us a variety of time estimates on how long it will take for them to approve our petition, the answers have usually ranged from a year to two years. So basically it could take about 2,5 years to get a spousal visa. USCIS customer service has been very inconsistent with their answers and their level of service has been extremely poor. Husband waited once almost two hours in line only to be disconnected. Lovely.
Ania approached me (as a blogger) on Facebook and asked if I could forward some info in my blog, so here it goes. I'm only copy/pasting this and have no further info in the matter. This is especially important for those who are in the same immigration limbo as we are:
"AS you probably know I-130 petitions are terribly backlogged. Also, Overland Park is not fully operational yet. That means that petitions have been piling up there since MAY.
Please, please read our VisaJourney forum thread. We are trying to make some noise and get noticed.
We need our Letter to be viewed and commented on many times before we sent it Pres. Obama and others.
We need it to be posted all over FB, Twitter and wherever else
That being said, I am asking you if you'd be willing to post the Letter on your blog and on FB?
The processing times for I-130 are beyond ridiculous.
I-130 petitions have the lowest priority right now.
The link to The Letter is here uscgreencardpetitionerscommittee.blogspot.com"
Wishing everyone, whose visa process is going nowhere, much strength while we play this extremely annoying waiting game!
7 comments:
Will post! This is ridiculous! Especially when considering how quick or at least predictable things were for spouses in the times of direct consular filing... It's not like you even had any chance to prepare for anything like this when you first moved to Finland.
Sending you tons of sympathy and patience...
You know, I have to come back to say that on closer read of the letter I don't appreciate its sweeping comparisons to illegal immigration. (I understand you're not active in their work so please don't take this as criticism to you posting this, just commentary on their work.)
Indeed, it is wrong of the government not to meet its obligation to one group when trying to better the situation for another. But the I-130 petitioners are not involved in illegal immigration not only through their conscious choice to obey the law but mainly because they are in a position that enabled then to have a choice in the first place.
Still, it's outrageous what you are having to go through.
Pilvi, this comparison had to be made.
We are not, and I can't stress it enough, against DACA and Provisional Waivers or any other program.
We are also not against K-1 and F2A visas.
However, they are all getting a preferential treatment over I-130s.
All we want is to either have our I-130 petitions to be treated EQUALLY and be adjudicated in a timely manner just like all other applications and petitions AND/OR fix K-3 visas . They were intended to shorten the physical separation between spouses. Unfortunately,the K-3 process is very inconsistent and very often not beneficial at all.
The unfairness of it all is just brutal..
Sugar, thank you again for posting the letter. Let's hope we will get enough attention! :)
Ania
Thank you for commenting Pilvi and Ania!
I totally see Pilvi's point and wish to in no way imply that DACA would be anything but a good thing.
Personally speaking though, I do find the current situation extremely unfair. It really seems like people are being punished for being married. If I was "only" engaged to my spouse, we would have probably gotten our NOA2 long time ago. Now, my husband and I are certainly not in a situation where we have compelling reasons to move. My husband has just lost job opportunities, that's all. It's just annoying, but not life threatening. But there are people whose spouses are for example in Syria and they are being told to wait 2 years, while others get preferential treatment for not being married etc. Seems really, really unfair to me. But what I do know, I've already understood that I'm a second grade human being (latter apparently also questionable, probably should compare myself to cattle rather) in the eyes of USCIS.
Weeeell... my immigration petition I-130 has been processed nearly 6 years now :D I don't think it'll ever be solved. If I had the energy, I'd go about cancelling it all, considering that Mike lives here in Finland now. Though, I'm already in a situation where I can't travel to USA without applying for a tourist visa, which means I'll probably never go there again. Sad, but true.
Jenni, yes I do remember your unbelievable experience! Do you remember how much you had to pay for the petition 6 years ago? They should really 'refund' you, but of course, they won't.
I believe we originally paid about 1500 dollars for the whole ordeal, but we've also paid them some 300 dollars for EXPEDITING the process.
...yes, you may laugh now.
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