As you will recall from my last posting, I had been expecting the visa form DS-230 to arrive weeks ago. It is partially due to bad timing, and partially due to the incompetence of the National Visa Center.
The bad timing is because we received the bill for $380 (what they charge to process the DS-230) at the end of December. We mailed it in promptly upon receiving it. Mail to the US normally takes two weeks from here, but the post office was closed for the entire first week of January. Still, the National Visa Center should have received the fee by mid January, but their records indicated that it arrived on the 25th.
I waited weeks more for the form to arrive. As I reported in my last message, I called the National Visa Center on February 15th to find out what the hold up is. At that time, I was told by Kira that the forms were mailed out the week of the 29th. I now know without a doubt that this was a complete and utter lie.
From my recording with Kira, the direct quote from her is "The forms were mailed to your spouse in the Philippines the week of January 29."
If that is so, then how is it that when the forms finally arrived, the post mark was stamped February 16th, the day after my call??
What a bunch of liars. I would have much preferred it if she would have said, I'm sorry but there was an oversight, but I promise it will be mailed out first thing tomorrow morning. I would have still been upset over the oversight, but not nearly as upset as I am about being lied to. What the hell is wrong with these people?
Now it's just a matter of gathering all of the supporting documents before we can mail it in. We had anticipated the original birth certificate and marriage license, so those are good to go. We also knew in advance that we would need clearance certificates from the NBI (National Buruea of Investigation), as well as from the police in any foreign country she has lived. Those are no problem, we have them ready to know.
What we did not expect was that we also must have local police clearance from every individual town my life has lived in (for more than 6 months) here in the Philippines. Honestly, what sense does that make? If the NBI shows no deragatory records, then why go through this? Just to send people chasing their tales?
Again, this is one of those things that it would have been good to know about in advance, because my wife did live in Manila for a year, which is a very long way from here. Unlike most countries in the world, authorities in the Philippines are apparently unable to manage clearance by mail, so she is there as we speak getting these documents. She went alone because I am pissed at having to waste $100 for a single piece of paper, and did not want to double that with both of us going. Yeah, I know, I sound like a sour puss, but wait until you've been dealing with these knuckleheads for a year and see how you feel about it.
The good news is that this will be the last form to fill out. Once this is sent to the National Visa Center, they will review it for completeness. When the interview is scheduled they will send it all back to us as part of a kit to take to the interview.
On a side note, I have also been receiving mail related to the 129-F Fiance visa (all this other stuff is related to the spousal visa). I've received two letters stating that the Fiance visa is approved and that they are mailing some kind of a kit to my wife. Honestly though, I don't see what the point in that fiance visa was except to bill me an extra $170. The point was suppose to be for her to get into the US faster while we wait for the spousal visa to be processed, but the spousal visa is being processed faster, so honestly, what's the point in the other one?
Your tax dollars at work.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Still Waiting For Form DS-230
Since the time I last wrote we have gone all the way to Singapore and back, and still no news from the U.S. At least I have a Balykbayan stamp in my passport now, so I don't have to keep going to immigration every couple of months to buy an extention.
I had called the National Visa Center a couple of weeks ago to make sure they received the $380 visa fee. At that time they confirmed that it was received on January 25. It should have been there a little sooner, but as long as they had it in the system I was happy, despite the fact that the lady on the phone was unnecessarily cranky and deliberately rude.
The Merlion is Singapore's mythological protector.
I had expected to have surely received the DS-230 Visa form by the time we returned from Singapore, but was disillusioned. When we got back there was nothing, so I decided to endure the painstaking process of trying to call the NVC.
Considering that they charge a small fortune and do next to nothing, you would expect that they could at least hire an adequate number of operators to answer the telephone. Instead, I had to run up my phone bill calling every 20 minutes for 3 days before I actually got to speak to anyone. The recording says to call back after 6pm for better results, but I've never been able to tell any difference calling at that time, so I just keep dialing for as many days as it takes to reach someone. That is just completely unacceptable, and emailing them is not much better.
After dialing constantly for 3 days, I finally had my call answered by Kira. She was at least friendly, unlike that cranky old witch I got the last time around, but it was still a complete waste of time to talk to her.
A River Taxi shuttles passengers down the Singapore River.
According to Kira, the forms were mailed out sometime the week of January 29th, but she did not know what day, so it could have been January 29th, or it could have been February 3rd, there is just no way to know. If the 29th was the date it was put in the mail, then my guess is that it was misdelivered, because I have mailed boxes 4th class book rate from the U.S, and dozens upon dozens of back and forth packets from here to my dad in Arkansas, and I've never had anything take more than 2 weeks.
Since nothing ever takes more than 2 weeks, and the dates she gave me were already 3 weeks out, I figured why wait any longer, request another form and be done with it. So I asked them to send out another form. She put me on hold for a few minutes and then came back and said that I have to wait at least a month before I can request a new form. Rubbish, I said, the form you said was the week of the 29th either wasn't sent or was lost, or it would have been here by now. All she could say is that she can't help it and to call back in a week or two.
Why must it be so difficult to get a simple form? Why can't they just send it when I request it, considering I've paid for it long ago? Why can't they even email a PDF when the one they send doesn't arrive? Or why can't I just print the one that is on their web site?
It makes no sense to me that they put it on their web site but tell you that you aren't allowed to send that one. It also makes no sense that first they mail a bill, then you mail payment, then they mail a form, then you send it back. That's just retarded. Why not send both at once? Whoever wrote these procedures should not only be fired, but should be held financially accountable for all of the wasted time out of people's lives and the inflated costs that the procedure created.
I had called the National Visa Center a couple of weeks ago to make sure they received the $380 visa fee. At that time they confirmed that it was received on January 25. It should have been there a little sooner, but as long as they had it in the system I was happy, despite the fact that the lady on the phone was unnecessarily cranky and deliberately rude.
The Merlion is Singapore's mythological protector.
I had expected to have surely received the DS-230 Visa form by the time we returned from Singapore, but was disillusioned. When we got back there was nothing, so I decided to endure the painstaking process of trying to call the NVC.
Considering that they charge a small fortune and do next to nothing, you would expect that they could at least hire an adequate number of operators to answer the telephone. Instead, I had to run up my phone bill calling every 20 minutes for 3 days before I actually got to speak to anyone. The recording says to call back after 6pm for better results, but I've never been able to tell any difference calling at that time, so I just keep dialing for as many days as it takes to reach someone. That is just completely unacceptable, and emailing them is not much better.
After dialing constantly for 3 days, I finally had my call answered by Kira. She was at least friendly, unlike that cranky old witch I got the last time around, but it was still a complete waste of time to talk to her.
A River Taxi shuttles passengers down the Singapore River.
According to Kira, the forms were mailed out sometime the week of January 29th, but she did not know what day, so it could have been January 29th, or it could have been February 3rd, there is just no way to know. If the 29th was the date it was put in the mail, then my guess is that it was misdelivered, because I have mailed boxes 4th class book rate from the U.S, and dozens upon dozens of back and forth packets from here to my dad in Arkansas, and I've never had anything take more than 2 weeks.
Since nothing ever takes more than 2 weeks, and the dates she gave me were already 3 weeks out, I figured why wait any longer, request another form and be done with it. So I asked them to send out another form. She put me on hold for a few minutes and then came back and said that I have to wait at least a month before I can request a new form. Rubbish, I said, the form you said was the week of the 29th either wasn't sent or was lost, or it would have been here by now. All she could say is that she can't help it and to call back in a week or two.
Why must it be so difficult to get a simple form? Why can't they just send it when I request it, considering I've paid for it long ago? Why can't they even email a PDF when the one they send doesn't arrive? Or why can't I just print the one that is on their web site?
It makes no sense to me that they put it on their web site but tell you that you aren't allowed to send that one. It also makes no sense that first they mail a bill, then you mail payment, then they mail a form, then you send it back. That's just retarded. Why not send both at once? Whoever wrote these procedures should not only be fired, but should be held financially accountable for all of the wasted time out of people's lives and the inflated costs that the procedure created.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Update On Visa Application
I know that it must appear that this site has been abandoned, but that truly is not the case. There just hasn't been much to report on.
As you will recall from my last post, at the end of December I mailed in the $380 fee for visa form DS-230, which I believe is the last form before the visa interview in Manila. Actually, I sent the bill to my dad in the US, who already had the money order ready and waiting, since it has to be drawn on a US bank.
Unfortunately, the post office here was closed for the entire first week of January. Then there is the standard delivery time for overseas mail. I finally got an email from my dad on January 16th saying that he had received the mail and would be sending everything out the following day.
Then last week, on the 25th, we got a letter in the mail from the National Visa Center in New Hampshire (although it was post marked in Manila). I was so excited because I thought that it was the forms, and was even amazed at how quickly they arrived. To my surprise, it was a letter to inform us that the $380 fee had not arrived. The letter was post marked January 19th, so it was obviously sent about the same time the fee was received by them, so it was just in passing, although I did call just to confirm that they had received it. Kind of funny really. I could have taken my sweet time mailing in that fee - there is no time constraint, yet here they are bugging me about it already. You'd think the national economy depended on my $380.
I am still quite bugged about the way they do this though. First they mail a bill, then I mail in a payment, then they send the forms, which I mail back, all of which takes more than a month. I know how much the fee is and the form is available online - wouldn't it be more efficient if I just send everything together at once, since it all goes to the same address anyway? But they say do not do this because it causes a delay. Geez, they already delay it enough, how confusing could that possibly make it? It's such a waste of time and money (in terms of extra printing and postage), and just generally inefficient. What ever happened to the paperwork reduction act?
Then today I got an email from them. It was to inform me that they have mailed out a notice that my Form I-129 F Fiance petition has been approved, and to follow the instructions on the form. That's great, but this also doesn't make sense to me. The purpose of the 129F fiance petition is so that your wife can get in the country while you wait for your 130 spousal petition to be processed. But if I am already paying for the form DS-230, then that means that my Form I-130 is almost complete, ruling the 129F obsolete. What was the purpose in submitting that other than to bill me an extra $170?????
One thing I have learned is that this entire visa process is a joke, an inefficient one, and that whoever is in charge of this has no idea what they are doing other than to over charge citizens and make it a headache for them, rather than rewarding them for not being your average border jumper. It provides an incentive for illegal entry, if anything, which I would have probably opted for rather than going through these headaches. 5 years ago this process took less than a month - now it takes more than a year, all in the name of national security, but without providing extra security. The entire homeland security department should be dismantled, and the immigration system reformatted into an efficient system without the beurocratic bullshit.
Ok, that's enough of a rant. Whew.
As you will recall from my last post, at the end of December I mailed in the $380 fee for visa form DS-230, which I believe is the last form before the visa interview in Manila. Actually, I sent the bill to my dad in the US, who already had the money order ready and waiting, since it has to be drawn on a US bank.
Unfortunately, the post office here was closed for the entire first week of January. Then there is the standard delivery time for overseas mail. I finally got an email from my dad on January 16th saying that he had received the mail and would be sending everything out the following day.
Then last week, on the 25th, we got a letter in the mail from the National Visa Center in New Hampshire (although it was post marked in Manila). I was so excited because I thought that it was the forms, and was even amazed at how quickly they arrived. To my surprise, it was a letter to inform us that the $380 fee had not arrived. The letter was post marked January 19th, so it was obviously sent about the same time the fee was received by them, so it was just in passing, although I did call just to confirm that they had received it. Kind of funny really. I could have taken my sweet time mailing in that fee - there is no time constraint, yet here they are bugging me about it already. You'd think the national economy depended on my $380.
I am still quite bugged about the way they do this though. First they mail a bill, then I mail in a payment, then they send the forms, which I mail back, all of which takes more than a month. I know how much the fee is and the form is available online - wouldn't it be more efficient if I just send everything together at once, since it all goes to the same address anyway? But they say do not do this because it causes a delay. Geez, they already delay it enough, how confusing could that possibly make it? It's such a waste of time and money (in terms of extra printing and postage), and just generally inefficient. What ever happened to the paperwork reduction act?
Then today I got an email from them. It was to inform me that they have mailed out a notice that my Form I-129 F Fiance petition has been approved, and to follow the instructions on the form. That's great, but this also doesn't make sense to me. The purpose of the 129F fiance petition is so that your wife can get in the country while you wait for your 130 spousal petition to be processed. But if I am already paying for the form DS-230, then that means that my Form I-130 is almost complete, ruling the 129F obsolete. What was the purpose in submitting that other than to bill me an extra $170?????
One thing I have learned is that this entire visa process is a joke, an inefficient one, and that whoever is in charge of this has no idea what they are doing other than to over charge citizens and make it a headache for them, rather than rewarding them for not being your average border jumper. It provides an incentive for illegal entry, if anything, which I would have probably opted for rather than going through these headaches. 5 years ago this process took less than a month - now it takes more than a year, all in the name of national security, but without providing extra security. The entire homeland security department should be dismantled, and the immigration system reformatted into an efficient system without the beurocratic bullshit.
Ok, that's enough of a rant. Whew.
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