[This message has been edited by Red Clay]
Some of you may have noticed that the TX. Service Center has dramatically shortened the processing times for some of their petitions. How did they do it? Apparently by DUMPING THEIR WORK LOAD on other CIS offices. A little background.......
.....My wife filed for removal of conditions in April of 2004, Texas Service Center. Of course soon after that we received the "notice of receipt" letter telling us that it will take awhile to process. TWELVE months pass and we hear nothing. (that brings us to April of 2005) We check online to see how processing times are running there, still running over a year behind. We call the "national customer service hotline" to inquire about her case. The person I speak to checks and tells us that her case has been transferred to the Memphis, TN. Regional office from Texas. (never heard of that happening before) He suggests we contact that office, of course no telephone contact available, so we send a certified letter and wait six weeks, no reply of course. SO......
....we make an Infopass appointment online to speak with an officer there in person. We both take a day off work and drive down to Memphis. We are called up to speak with the officer right on time. We explain the situation to him. He checks the records and confirms that her case has indeed been transferred to that office. Since her status has now technically expired, he stamps a TWELVE MONTH extension into her passport with a rubber stamp, along with a few hand-written notes beside the stamp. We ask when we can expect her case to be processed. He has no idea. He tells us, "we only get around to processing those particular petitions a couple of times a year at this office". I ask him why our certified letter was not answered, he tells us, "someone will probably answer it sometime". (Of course the whole purpose of the letter was an attempt to save driving to Memphis which has been shot to hell already)
I ask him to confirm that his easily-forged rubber-stamped extension will allow her re-entry into the country, he assures me it will. (believe it when I see it, not to mention the grief you can get from Peruvian airport officials when you're trying to depart the country with questionable-looking docs.)
The real clincher was our last question, what happens if we don't hear anything within ANOTHER year? He says, "just drive back down here and I'll stamp ANOTHER TWELVE MONTH extension into her passport."!!! As if we're all going to live for 300 years, what's the hurry?!! He's actually speculating that it could take OVER TWO YEARS to have the case processed!!! And doesn't see any problem!!!
What a gross injustice. My wife has now actually been a resident long enough to apply for/receive her US citizenship, but I suppose that's not an option until the conditions are removed, maybe Gary B. can advise?
And what about those Texas Service Center processing times being shorter? Remember I mentioned that at one time they were over a year behind with I-751 petitions? Now the current processing date for those petitions is April, 2005. Only a 3-month wait. Amazing how they caught up, isnt it? My wife's petition would be approved by now if they had only not sent it elsewhere.
If Gary or anyone has ideas, we're open for suggestions. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
p.s.-You think the proposed illegal alien guest-worker program would involve two year processing times for each illegal? The CIS would be tripping over itself to expedite THOSE applications....
