Those of you who were waiting on your K-3 Spousal Visa Petition at National Benefits Center in Missouri this past Summer and early Fall 2004 know that the processing times at that time had slowed to an ungodly crawl.
Two reasons were reported for this slowdown. One was that a glitch cropped up in NBC's software to deposit filing fee payment checks which backed up check processing.
At the same time, a critical internal problem reportedly developed regarding incoming responses to "RFEs" (Request for Additional Evidence). A large number of K-3 petitions were submitted by self-filers or do-it-yourselfers who failed to attach necessary documents such as certified copy of marriage certificate and approved translations, which resulted in numerous RFEs sent to them by NBC.
When the responsive documents came in, some NBC personnel choose to pile the responses on a "back shelf" rather than process them as they came in as they should have. Some 3500 cases stored up on the "back shelf". NBC management then ordered that this backlog be given top priority for completion ahead of all other cases. This naturally caused the pace of processing current petitions to slow to a crawl.
On September 15, 2004, NBC management released an E-mail to the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. (AILA) to the effect that NBC had implemented a plan to reduce the backlog and and that the results should be seen soon.
Here is the E-mail from NBC
Citation: Posted on AILA InfoNet at Doc. 04091564 (Sept. 15, 2004):
"I just wanted to share with you that NBC is currently implementing a plan to significantly decrease our backlog of I-129F K3 Petitions. NBC management held a special meeting last week to discuss this issue, and our adjudications staff has already begun to redirect resources to address the large number of pending I-129Fs. More specifically, we have calculated how many petitions need to be adjudicated and how many adjudicators are needed to complete this work in a reasonable amount of time. AILA members should see the effects of this initiative soon."
End of E-mail.
