So myself (applicant) and my husband did the walk-in at St. Albans last week (a few days before the window was scheduled to close permanently) after reading this thread (http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?p=893023#post893023) as we were at our wits end.
Our RD is 2/13/2002, well past the current processing times. The people there, as reported earlier in the aforementioned thread, were pleasant, but have absolutely NO perspective on what the GC process does to applicants' lives. They think it is just some paperwork that they will get to eventually.
This is what happened:
It was a very rainy morning, we had driven 8 hrs straight. You almost are at the Canadian border. Welden lane is very unassuming, the building non-descript. The guards checked the car (we had bicycles, etc as we combined the trip with a holiday) and after a brief check, we went in. The walk-in window women were friendly. We presented our IDs and receipts and asked why our cases are not being processed despite the published dates having passed. We have done senator requests multiple times, ombudsman emails, etc. but to no avail..having received the standard 30-day answer, and after the said 30 days have passed we have contacted them again, only to receive 30 day responses again... they have no meaning.
So she checked the computer and said that our case is all set and has been placed on an officer's desk for adjudication since April of 2004! She said all checks (2 FPs, name check, etc) have been cleared and now all that has to be done is for the officer to get to it. So we asked how long that would be, she saidd it depends on the type of cases the officer has before us! If the cases before us on his desk are simple, it will take less time to get to ours, if the cases before us are complicated, he will take longer to get to ours (talk about a redundant answer!!). We said well, but we have been waiting for so long and their own published dates are well past ours and she said that there is nothing that can be done as it has already been "pulled from the shelf and assigned to an officer". She also said that if it was still "on the shelf" or if it was pending some checks she cld have done something, but since all checks are cleared and it is already on an officer's desk, there is nothing she can do. So we asked if we could speak to the adjudicating officer and she said no. We tried to politely insist, but she checked the office's phone book to see who the officer is and then consulted with another man sitting near the window and said that the person who has our case is in fact an officer who handles "these type of 485s" so it is with the correct type of officer, but we cannot meet him. So that was that. She finally said, and i quote, "dont worry, he will get to it EVENTUALLY and let you know if he needs anything more"!!!!!!!
EVENTUALLY! HAH! they have NO idea! So thats it, we know now that it is with an officer (and the right kind of officer!!) and he will get to it EVENTUALLY, but thats it.
And then we left and went to main street St.Albans to get breakfast. It is a rural town like any other, politically very liberal (went to some of the bookstores - very liberal/left books, which suited us fine!). The trip was not super helpful, but for us was somewhat satisfying to know that the place exists, the people are human and it is an office like any other (while we were there we saw a cube next to the walk-in window that had a sign on it saying "expidite requests" and a fax machine in it - so we guessed that was the expidite request cube!!). The people who work there have a totally different perspective of our cases - to them it is just some paperwork that they will get to EVENTUALLY... they dont have the perspective that we do, and understandably so, of the effect that the GC process, the uncertainties, the restrictions and the obligations it creates in people's lives.
So for us it removed the mystery and was a pleasant enough drive. So, having done everything in our power, the wait continues as we have applied for our fourth APs and EADs ....lets see if that triggers anything. If not anything else, this whole process has been one long lesson in patience and enduring resolve.
===========
RD: 2/13/2002
2nd FP: March 2004
Applied for 4th EAD, AP
No RFEs to date
Several Senator enquiries, USCIS enquiries, ombudsman emails of no help; generic 30 day responses.
Our RD is 2/13/2002, well past the current processing times. The people there, as reported earlier in the aforementioned thread, were pleasant, but have absolutely NO perspective on what the GC process does to applicants' lives. They think it is just some paperwork that they will get to eventually.
This is what happened:
It was a very rainy morning, we had driven 8 hrs straight. You almost are at the Canadian border. Welden lane is very unassuming, the building non-descript. The guards checked the car (we had bicycles, etc as we combined the trip with a holiday) and after a brief check, we went in. The walk-in window women were friendly. We presented our IDs and receipts and asked why our cases are not being processed despite the published dates having passed. We have done senator requests multiple times, ombudsman emails, etc. but to no avail..having received the standard 30-day answer, and after the said 30 days have passed we have contacted them again, only to receive 30 day responses again... they have no meaning.
So she checked the computer and said that our case is all set and has been placed on an officer's desk for adjudication since April of 2004! She said all checks (2 FPs, name check, etc) have been cleared and now all that has to be done is for the officer to get to it. So we asked how long that would be, she saidd it depends on the type of cases the officer has before us! If the cases before us on his desk are simple, it will take less time to get to ours, if the cases before us are complicated, he will take longer to get to ours (talk about a redundant answer!!). We said well, but we have been waiting for so long and their own published dates are well past ours and she said that there is nothing that can be done as it has already been "pulled from the shelf and assigned to an officer". She also said that if it was still "on the shelf" or if it was pending some checks she cld have done something, but since all checks are cleared and it is already on an officer's desk, there is nothing she can do. So we asked if we could speak to the adjudicating officer and she said no. We tried to politely insist, but she checked the office's phone book to see who the officer is and then consulted with another man sitting near the window and said that the person who has our case is in fact an officer who handles "these type of 485s" so it is with the correct type of officer, but we cannot meet him. So that was that. She finally said, and i quote, "dont worry, he will get to it EVENTUALLY and let you know if he needs anything more"!!!!!!!
EVENTUALLY! HAH! they have NO idea! So thats it, we know now that it is with an officer (and the right kind of officer!!) and he will get to it EVENTUALLY, but thats it.
And then we left and went to main street St.Albans to get breakfast. It is a rural town like any other, politically very liberal (went to some of the bookstores - very liberal/left books, which suited us fine!). The trip was not super helpful, but for us was somewhat satisfying to know that the place exists, the people are human and it is an office like any other (while we were there we saw a cube next to the walk-in window that had a sign on it saying "expidite requests" and a fax machine in it - so we guessed that was the expidite request cube!!). The people who work there have a totally different perspective of our cases - to them it is just some paperwork that they will get to EVENTUALLY... they dont have the perspective that we do, and understandably so, of the effect that the GC process, the uncertainties, the restrictions and the obligations it creates in people's lives.
So for us it removed the mystery and was a pleasant enough drive. So, having done everything in our power, the wait continues as we have applied for our fourth APs and EADs ....lets see if that triggers anything. If not anything else, this whole process has been one long lesson in patience and enduring resolve.
===========
RD: 2/13/2002
2nd FP: March 2004
Applied for 4th EAD, AP
No RFEs to date
Several Senator enquiries, USCIS enquiries, ombudsman emails of no help; generic 30 day responses.
) and when you applied for 485, the files got transfered from NVC to VSC. My case is like this