This is Fred Wahl the VisaCoach
Today's topic is: the Trump Effect, Immigration Slowdowns due
to President Trumps policy of Immigration Restrictionism
Visa Coach
Fast, Easy and Personal
I am Fred Wahl, the VisaCoach, I am known for the
personal one-on-one relationship that WE share, (that's you, me and your partner), as WE work
together, as a TEAM, to overcome the many challenges
of immigration,
Don't risk your happiness, Don't go this course alone.
Alone, it's far too easy to make mistakes that cause tears,
delays and expensive denials.
Do Pick up the Phone and speak with me directly, so that,
you and I, can get to know each other.
This is the free introductory consultation I talk about later.
If we are compatible, that's the beginning of our beautiful
relationship to get you the immigration approvals you need.
This is what two of my clients Jim and Karen, had to say:
Karen comes from Philippines and I helped her get her Fiance visa.
Their case was more complicated than most, as they had never
met face to face before her arrival to the USA.
And I helped them successfully apply for a waiver from the in-person
meeting requirement.
This morning, as my wife and I were driving to a social
event we began reminiscing about our courtship days across
continents and how supremely pleased and surprised we were to be together.
It has been 1.5 years since Karen flew here from Manila.
We knew we had more than a few "red flag" areas and
one which seemed nearly insurmountable, yet with your expertise
it did happen.
Karen and I want to once again acknowledge how good it was
to have you working on our side through every step knowing
that our best efforts to get a the Visa were being handled
with experience and consistency of process.
As the political focus continues to place downward pressures
on immigration here in the United States, we feel it is
even more important to have someone like you increasing
the odds of the desired outcome.
(to be together)
We feel sad for those who may not have the chance we do
and want them to know you are one of a kind.
With Gratitude,
You are most welcome Jim and Karen
Now, lets talk about the Trump Effect, how Immigration processing times
are getting longer due to President Trumps policy of Immigration Restrictionism
Fiance visa, spouse visa and adjustment of status applications all
first go through USCIS. last year about this time USCIS was
performing very quickly to accomplish their initial processing
of cases.
In general fiance and spouse visa cases consistently zoomed through the USCIS review in roughly
two to three months.
Green cards sometimes took 7 to 9 months and often the
Green Card interviews (especially front loaded VisaCoach applications)
were waived.
Now one year into the presidency of Donald Trump all cases
are experiencing huge delays in processing times, taking
2 to 3 times as long.
I call this the Trump effect.
President Trump has mandated that USCIS vigorously enforce and administer immigration laws, take
no short cuts.
The goal is to restrict Legal immigration while stopping illegal immigration.
"We have to get much tougher, much smarter, and less
politically correct," Trump said.
What this means is that they are very closely examining
and scrutinizing all cases looking for reasons to deny.
In addition cases that regularly had their interviews
waived now specifically there is an Executive order that no interviews
regardless of the strength of their evidences, may be waived.
The result is USCIS has more work to do, has more
bases to touch in the processing of EACH case.
And while President Trump has promised to hire more staff to handle
the increased load, so far no new staff has been hired, but the
workload has increased.
This is the Trump Effect.
More work, with same staff.
The result is that USCIS processing times for fiance
and spouse visas have stretched to take at least 5 to 7 months.
This compares very unfavorably to the 2 to 3 months processing times
we enjoyed in 2016 and early 2017.
Conditional and Permanent Green Cards that used to take 7 to 9 months for approval,
now often take over a year.
USCIS previously had the policy that fiance or spouse cases
should be completely processed through their system within
five months.
That was their official policy for complete processing.
In the case your case was delayed past 5 months you could
call and speak with an USCIS operator who would
take action once you reported your case as "past the policy for
processing time".
The operator would flag your case so that it could catch up.
Today that's not what happens.
Calling after 5 months one reaches a harried operator who is stressed,
whose polite professional manner has disappeared.
This is because the operators now are overwhelmed with calls
from people constantly complaining about delays.
And even if your case is over the 5 months official policy,
currently the operator takes no action except to tell you
"be patient" and "if you must call back, please wait 3 to 6
months more, before calling again".
There might be light at the end of the tunnel.
This is because at the same time that President Trump ordered
USCIS to work harder he also promised to hire 10,000 more officers.
Unfortunately for you, the Fiance or Spouse visa or Green Card
applicant, while the workload increased immediately, and because
of that the case backlogs started to grow, no new
staff was actually hired.
Eventually, perhaps USCIS Staffing may increase and when
this happens hopefully processing times will speed up.
That will help if the amount of work demanded does not also
continue to grow.
On the table are proposals for additional and more time consuming case review steps.
US immigration is seriously considering requiring for each
case a thorough review of the applicants social media presence,
via Social Media Data Mining as well as "EXTREME"
Vetting such as surrender of cell phones and user ids and
passwords.
These proposals of course would add for more tasks and actions
for USCIS to accomplish and could easily wipe out gains made
by a gradual hiring program.
Sorry, but I don't imagine that processing times will improve
any time soon.
We have three more years of the Trump Presidency I anticipate he will continually mandate more
work to be accomplished in vetting all visa and green
card candidates.
While a promise has been made to hire adequate staff to accommodate
the increased demands on Homeland Security, there is already
opposition in Congress to delay and hinder the hiring efforts.
More work, same staff, means more delays.
And as the in-box of each USCIS reviewer gets piled higher,
the processing times will increase.
This probably won't materially improve until a new President is in office, and the official
policy of "immigration restriction ism" is changed.
What can you do?
Well it will get worse before it gets better.
Until then, your best path is to work with me to submit your
well crafted, "front loaded" application, just as soon as
you can.
Then follow the advice of "a watched pot never boils"
by ignoring the calendar and patiently waiting for your visa
or green card to be approved.
This was Fred Wahl, The VisaCoach
Please "like" or add your comments to this video.
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Finally, when you are ready to get started, call for
your free introductory consultation and speak with me directly,
Before starting on your immigration adventure, before
entering an arcane maze of rules, regulations and procedures,
before committing yourself to a risky path that could
mean an end to your happiness, speak with the VisaCoach
and ask for his Free Consultation.
He listens to you to learn the red flags and strengths
of your case, your eligibility and goals.
He will suggest which visa is right for you, the best strategy
to get it, and how soon your love could join you.
The friendly advice and wisdom he'll freely share with you,
might make the difference between approval and denial, and
could save you months, or years, of loneliness and separation.
What have you got to lose?
Book your free consultation today.
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