Spoke to IO for 30 Minutes...very Interesting

J

jrrodrig

Registered Users (C)
This is my first post. And I want to start by thanking the whole community for their willingness to share and help each other out; you have been a great help to me.

I called USCIS and spoke to an IO located in Los Angeles, CA. He was extremely helpful and polite. My concern was whether my case could be stuck in name check because I have a very common name and every time I fly I am subjected to further scrutiny( has to do with the infamous FBI Watch list). He took a look at my case and all the information he said had checked out so far.
N-400 Sent - August 4, 2007
N-400 Rec'vd/PD - August 9, 2007
FP - Jan 24th.
IL - ?????????

He told me the next step would be to wait for the interview letter. This is were things got screwy...follow along..... He told me that USCIS really looks at my case as a December 2007 case and not as filed on August 2007, their reference point is actually the date my check was cashed for the application. My DO is New Orleans and since they are just completing May 2007 cases, he told me I had a long way to go before they hit my Dec. 2007(internal to USCIS) date. My NOA does state that I should be getting an interview within 365 days, but he said that was doubtful and just plain generic.
NOTE: He did mention that in the next few weeks USCIS will respond to the class action lawsuit field to expedite name checks. He specifically mentioned this lawsuit and said he was not at liberty to be more specific, but volunteered that it is being discussed all over USCIS by upper management (guess it caught someone’s attention).
Just wanted to share my experience and if anybody can shed more light on this issue, please do so.
 
jrrodrig said:
This is my first post. And I want to start by thanking the whole community for their willingness to share and help each other out; you have been a great help to me.

I called USCIS and spoke to an IO located in Los Angeles, CA. He was extremely helpful and polite. My concern was whether my case could be stuck in name check because I have a very common name and every time I fly I am subjected to further scrutiny( has to do with the infamous FBI Watch list). He took a look at my case and all the information he said had checked out so far.
N-400 Sent - August 4, 2007
N-400 Rec'vd/PD - August 9, 2007
FP - Jan 24th.
IL - ?????????

He told me the next step would be to wait for the interview letter. This is were things got screwy...follow along..... He told me that USCIS really looks at my case as a December 2007 case and not as filed on August 2007, their reference point is actually the date my check was cashed for the application. My DO is New Orleans and since they are just completing May 2007 cases, he told me I had a long way to go before they hit my Dec. 2007(internal to USCIS) date. My NOA does state that I should be getting an interview within 365 days, but he said that was doubtful and just plain generic.
NOTE: He did mention that in the next few weeks USCIS will respond to the class action lawsuit field to expedite name checks. He specifically mentioned this lawsuit and said he was not at liberty to be more specific, but volunteered that it is being discussed all over USCIS by upper management (guess it caught someone’s attention).
Just wanted to share my experience and if anybody can shed more light on this issue, please do so.
Click to expand...


Thanks for posting jrrodrig, this is all really interesting information, especially the part about what date they are using to put you in queue for interview. When I spoke to an IO, she said there really was no fixed system, but it generally corresponded to PD. I wonder if queuing practices vary by service center, or even for the DOs that the service centers schedule for. If they do, that raises the additional question: if you speak to an IO at a different service center or DO (LA in your case), can they really tell you how things are done with your case?
 
nyc_naturalizer said:
Thanks for posting jrrodrig, this is all really interesting information, especially the part about what date they are using to put you in queue for interview. When I spoke to an IO, she said there really was no fixed system, but it generally corresponded to PD. I wonder if queuing practices vary by service center, or even for the DOs that the service centers schedule for. If they do, that raises the additional question: if you speak to an IO at a different service center or DO (LA in your case), can they really tell you how things are done with your case?
Click to expand...

I've seen another post where the applicant was told that his case will be processed based on the NOTICE date, not the PD. In the case described above, the applicant was told that the check cashing date will be used. Meanwhile, it's been highly publicized last fall that the PD will be preserved. God only knows what the real procedure is. Come to think of it, this will be another question that I'll be asking at my next InfoPass: are the interviews in NYC scheduled based on PD, check cashing, or notice date?
 
jrrodrig said:
This is my first post. And I want to start by thanking the whole community for their willingness to share and help each other out; you have been a great help to me.

I called USCIS and spoke to an IO located in Los Angeles, CA. He was extremely helpful and polite. My concern was whether my case could be stuck in name check because I have a very common name and every time I fly I am subjected to further scrutiny( has to do with the infamous FBI Watch list). He took a look at my case and all the information he said had checked out so far.
N-400 Sent - August 4, 2007
N-400 Rec'vd/PD - August 9, 2007
FP - Jan 24th.
IL - ?????????

He told me the next step would be to wait for the interview letter. This is were things got screwy...follow along..... He told me that USCIS really looks at my case as a December 2007 case and not as filed on August 2007, their reference point is actually the date my check was cashed for the application. My DO is New Orleans and since they are just completing May 2007 cases, he told me I had a long way to go before they hit my Dec. 2007(internal to USCIS) date. My NOA does state that I should be getting an interview within 365 days, but he said that was doubtful and just plain generic.
NOTE: He did mention that in the next few weeks USCIS will respond to the class action lawsuit field to expedite name checks. He specifically mentioned this lawsuit and said he was not at liberty to be more specific, but volunteered that it is being discussed all over USCIS by upper management (guess it caught someone’s attention).
Just wanted to share my experience and if anybody can shed more light on this issue, please do so.
Click to expand...
Was the IO that you spoke to a male with a heavy Hispanic accent? That sounds like the exact answer I got last week from an such an IO in LA.
 
To answer some of the questions posted above:
a.) I was NOT told that my name check was complete. That part was actually confusing. He did say my FP had come back from FBI, but then said that the controlling factor for an interview is the Background check. That is when he proceeded to tell me about the reponse from USCIS to the new lawsuit challenging name check. What will happen is anyone's guess.
b.) If I had to guess, the IO was a middle aged African-American. It was never too clear about what he could see located in Los Angeles concerning a case being processed in New Orleans. I think it will be safe to assume that they all see the same thing since he advised me that INFOPASS would just repeat what he was telling me. Probably the only person with exact up-to-date knowledge would be the actual IO with the file.

I have also noticed that if you call USCIS and go through the English service....now... they are giving you a hard time to either escalate or get someone else on the line. Now I press 2 for Spanish and get connected to IO right away..... :)

Also, the question begs how they are keeping timelines for applications... by Receive Date? By Check Cashed? By Random selection? Throwing the dice?
 
He volunteered this information. In my case. I try not to be pushy as we are at their mercy!!!
:)
 
Vorpal said:
I've seen another post where the applicant was told that his case will be processed based on the NOTICE date, not the PD. In the case described above, the applicant was told that the check cashing date will be used. Meanwhile, it's been highly publicized last fall that the PD will be preserved. God only knows what the real procedure is. Come to think of it, this will be another question that I'll be asking at my next InfoPass: are the interviews in NYC scheduled based on PD, check cashing, or notice date?
Click to expand...
I find the information regarding the check cashing date to be a little dubious, although I have no doubt that the IO actually conveyed this. There are a myriad of examples all over these forums of IOs contradicting one another in terms of how the process actually works. One thing that the USCIS makes very clear is that applications are processed in the order in which they are received. Now, we know that there are many examples of this not being the case, but I think that receipt date (PD) does generally correlate to processing time.

Assuming that they do attempt to process the applications in the approximate order in which they are received, then it really should not matter whether they use the PD or the check cashing date, since the number of applications in the queue ahead of one's own is the same in either case. For example, my PD is 8/21/07 but my check was not cashed until 10/29/07. A date of 10/29/07 sounds much worse than 8/21/07 until you remember that there was essentially a work stoppage on processing new applications for several months back in the late summer of 2007. So, although my check cashing date got pushed out by two months, the cc date of all other applicants who applied after me did as well. In that regard, it doesn't really matter which date they use since my place is the queue is preserved. Again, this all assumes that they really do process applications in the order they receive them. If they don't, then all bets are off anyways.

The IO quoted the current New Orleans processing time of May 8, 2007. I am not sure if this date has retrogressed since the February 2008 update, but we all know that these dates are bogus anyway. Plenty of DOs publishing a processing date of June 30, 2007 are sending ILs to people who filed in September and even October of 2007, well past the crunch. I think the bigger issue here for Jrrodig is when the New Orleans DO will get past the July 2007 crunch. This is the same issue for many of us at the slower DOs, and the best source of information on this is this forum, not the USCIS official stats. When other people around your PD at the same DO start getting the IL then you will know you are (somewhat) close.
 
Great point yummyk. Is there a thread for New Orleans that is up-to-date or do I need to start one??
 
oh ok, i thought you spoke in person

BTW do you have this phone # to get in touch with an IO

thanks in advance
 
I called the 1-800 number, but I chose the Spanish option and they transfer me to an IO almost immediately. Kinda nice :)
 
Vorpal said:
I've seen another post where the applicant was told that his case will be processed based on the NOTICE date, not the PD. In the case described above, the applicant was told that the check cashing date will be used. Meanwhile, it's been highly publicized last fall that the PD will be preserved. God only knows what the real procedure is. Come to think of it, this will be another question that I'll be asking at my next InfoPass: are the interviews in NYC scheduled based on PD, check cashing, or notice date?
Click to expand...


When I spoke to an IO, I was told that cases are processed by the date they are entered into the interview queue and not by PD, i.e the date when FBI Namecheck is cleared.
 
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