London - Speeding Up ????

[ChrisG]

I have spotted this elsewhere can anyone give more details?
Do we have anyone who is a member of AILA to look at the posting on the website?
If it is true then it could(!) be good news allround. It is an email from a VA to one of their clients.

Although I was unable to attend the meeting in Boston due to an emergency, it does appear that changes are underway in London. The following is a quote from the October 11, 2006 liaison meeting between the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the U.S. State Department:



London - Question: Please discuss E-2 visa processing. (text deleted)

Answer: London has recently made significant changes to their E visa application process with the goal of clearing out the backlog by the end of December and holding processing time to eight weeks thereafter.

( I) They have increased the staff devoted to E visa processing and instituted a policy of reviewing the case in advance and asking the applicant to bring any specific additional documentation to the actual interview. They have discontinued the use of the RFE form.

(2) Applicants are not required to re-register when they come for visas. In cases where a company's registration has expired and it has submitted its renewal forms,

post will do an expedited review of the tax returns and issue the visa so as not to hurt the company's interests.

(3) Post has begun triage of applications to deal with the most easily approved cases first.

(4) Changes are being made to the E website, streamlining the requirements and making the process transparent for applicants.

These are positive changes that will hopefully be reflected in increased issuance rates, particularly for renewals. I will let you know as I learn more how the changes in London are working in practice

[Emmalee25]

( I) They have increased the staff devoted to E visa processing and instituted a policy of reviewing the case in advance and asking the applicant to bring any specific additional documentation to the actual interview. They have discontinued the use of the RFE form.

My VA thinks this is the reason for the 221G interviews. Just like Redsox's case

Em x

[victoria]

I hope this is true & of course it's good news but can't help thinking huh just our luck to have applied this year....
Tried getting the minutes of the meeting to see who was responding on behalf of London but you have to be member - how annoying...

[Susie]

Hi Chris

This is fantastic news if the embassy keep to their word, thanks for caring and sharing

I will copy and paste to my IA who is a member and see if he knows anything

[ChrisG]

Victoria,
Think yourself luck you only applied this year. I applied May 2005 JUST as the timescales went up. Ater 15 weeks got an RFE (VA said don't worry RFE usually dealt with in 4 weeks) NO they changed the way they handled it around then didn't they to put them at the bottom of the pile.
21 Weeks later got my 221g - 5 weeks more for interview THEN got denied (for reasons I won't go into - but they could have been sorted if Meg had wanted to - seeing as she made some basic errors)
So I resubmitted told 16 weeks by Meg and of course it is now 24+ weeks so maybe just maybe I will get it all sorted in under 2 years from agreeing the purchase of the business.
I seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time ALL the way through.

[victoria]

Gobsmacked. You poor thing. Amazing staying power - I would def have given up by now if I was you!

[Susie]

Hi Chris

You must have the patience of a saint, all credit to you for hanging on in there

[Susie]

I have spotted this elsewhere can anyone give more details?
Do we have anyone who is a member of AILA to look at the posting on the website?
If it is true then it could(!) be good news allround. It is an email from a VA to one of their clients.

Although I was unable to attend the meeting in Boston due to an emergency, it does appear that changes are underway in London. The following is a quote from the October 11, 2006 liaison meeting between the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the U.S. State Department:



London - Question: Please discuss E-2 visa processing. (text deleted)

Answer: London has recently made significant changes to their E visa application process with the goal of clearing out the backlog by the end of December and holding processing time to eight weeks thereafter.

( I) They have increased the staff devoted to E visa processing and instituted a policy of reviewing the case in advance and asking the applicant to bring any specific additional documentation to the actual interview. They have discontinued the use of the RFE form.

(2) Applicants are not required to re-register when they come for visas. In cases where a company's registration has expired and it has submitted its renewal forms,

post will do an expedited review of the tax returns and issue the visa so as not to hurt the company's interests.

(3) Post has begun triage of applications to deal with the most easily approved cases first.

(4) Changes are being made to the E website, streamlining the requirements and making the process transparent for applicants.

These are positive changes that will hopefully be reflected in increased issuance rates, particularly for renewals. I will let you know as I learn more how the changes in London are working in practice


Hi Chris

Yes it is true ! and thanks for sharing

I e-mailed James LaVigne, my immigration attorney and he has confirmed.

Hopefully I will be able to post more info on Monday

[floridapete]

Victoria,
Think yourself luck you only applied this year. I applied May 2005 JUST as the timescales went up. Ater 15 weeks got an RFE (VA said don't worry RFE usually dealt with in 4 weeks) NO they changed the way they handled it around then didn't they to put them at the bottom of the pile.
21 Weeks later got my 221g - 5 weeks more for interview THEN got denied (for reasons I won't go into - but they could have been sorted if Meg had wanted to - seeing as she made some basic errors)
So I resubmitted told 16 weeks by Meg and of course it is now 24+ weeks so maybe just maybe I will get it all sorted in under 2 years from agreeing the purchase of the business.
I seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time ALL the way through.

You must have a VERY sympathetic vendor if you have been keeping them waiting for almost two years to buy the business from them ?

Most would have walked away from you by now wouldn't they ?

[Ron]

Hi

Lets all keep watching the embassy website for these changes to happen

Prize for first to post?

[Kitty]

Hi

Lets hope so, after all

When you are at a standstill you can only speed up

[DebbieM]

Hi

I'm new to this forum but it was me who posted the info from my attorney on another site.

Like a lot of people on here our E-2 is due for renewal and we were advised to just renew status and sit tight for the moment and from the proposed changes it may look like we were given excellent advice. Although, you will see that my attorney is being non comittal until he sees it working in practice.

I find this whole situation extremlely frustrating and have written to Jeb Bush (didn't want to know) and Mel Martinez highlighting mine and every other E-2 visa holders plight. I read through these forums and it scares me to death thinking that our whole lives could crumble around us due to a few pen strokes made by a total stranger.

I am curious as to what reason's are being given to people both new and renewals as to why their application is being rejected. Is there a common thread that runs through them all which people can focus on to bring their application up to the required criteria? I understand it is difficult to discose such private information but general subjects such as "didn't meet business plan" etc would really help.

I look forward to sharing and learning from others to hopefully give us all some sleep filled nights.

Debbie

[pegasus]

Hi,
For the vast majority who I have spoken to through the help desk this year, it has been failure to achieve the business plan, In the most they had an agent / immigration attorney write their plan for them. A couple even said they never saw the plan, so had no idea what the embassy was talking about!!!!!!!
As for writing to Jeb, martinez, Rice, Reynolds, Gingritch to name a few, I have written several letters over the past couple of months, and have had not even an acknowledgement apart from martinez, which arrived yesterday, who simply said, all embassy's treat everybody or group the same without prejudice or preference, and that the State Department have told him that the UK minor issues (if there were any) have been resolved, he has asked the state department to respond directly to myself on this issue. We will see if anything comes.

B rgds

Neil

[DebbieM]

Thanks Neil

It's a small world isn't it?

Debbie Mansell - we know each other via Carole Saunders.

[InnVic]

Hi,
For the vast majority who I have spoken to through the help desk this year, it has been failure to achieve the business plan, In the most they had an agent / immigration attorney write their plan for them. A couple even said they never saw the plan, so had no idea what the embassy was talking about!!!!!!!


Neil
That pretty much confirms what I had suspected. I suppose most of the folk who 'sail" the renewal never bother to post on forums like this so the "doom and gloom" seems worse than it actually is.

If what you say is right, then if you have stuck to the plan your business was approved on then you should be okay?

[ChrisG]

Interesting response from Martinez, especially when you consider I had a meeting with one of his reps in July who acknowledged the problem with London, and from the gist of the conversation we had I gather they had had a number of complaints about the way M.O. was handling the interviews her attitude etc.
I was even told as to why the problem had initially occured - apparently primarily due to a TV program saying you could sell your home in the UK, buy 2 properties in Florida and live in one and rent the other and get a visa. This lead to a big influx of applications and combined with the fact that they had had some fraudulant applications - well - things started to go belly up, they started to throw just about every application back asking for Further Evidence and in many case the evidence was included in the original app that they were asking for etc etc.
However she did also say she had not spoken to the Embassy for a few weeks but understood it was getting better.
She was very surprised on the 17th Aug when I asked her if it was true that processing was taking about 24 weeks. She did say she would bring it up at her next conference call - but so far has not been back to me with an update.

Did like her sign off to me though - is it just political empathy knowing that they Embassy are a law unto themselves/
Please keep in mind that your investment is wanted in the United States, it’s just a matter of clearing up things and getting your case approved.

Oh and if all embassies treat the same why did Australia recently interview an E2 applicant 3 days after receiving the app and had everything issued within 2 weeks?
Why do Spain regularly fax for RFE?
Why does Paris post a document showing all E applications and their status?
WHY DOESN'T LONDON use their upto date database to at least put current processing date on their web site - it is so easy to do.
Oh just one more thing - London treat everybody the same- hah. I know someone who applied for a new E2 visa Aug 05, it was in his own words "very marginable" and he was granted his visa within 2 weeks, while many people who applied May, June, July etc were just getting ther RFE's? (in fact my VA did not believe him when he phoned her to say he had got his letter saying it was granted in under 2 weeks).

Well thats me done again for now.

[DebbieM]

I agree whole heartedly with you InnVic that the majority of people who post on this and other forums are having difficulties. Whilst I acknowledge that there is an issue with the Embassy surely not every case is being rejected and there must be a high proportion of cases that go smoothly but we never hear about them.

It would be great to get some of those people to share their experiences and give some hope instead of us only reading negativity. I went to a seminar held by Neil at the beginning of the summer and he was quoting annual figures of around 3000 (sorry Neil if this is not 100% accurate) E2's issued. I'm not sure whether this included renewals though.

Neil, any chance you would share these with us on this forum?

Debbie

[Susie]

Hello Debbie and Welcome

I know Carol Saunders, well if it is the same Carol. My Carol used to work for a very popular airline, is it the same person


So glad you found us and partaking, with every member doing their upmost to recruit 10 people we should make 1000 members by the time our site has been live for a year. I do hope so, we are doing so well, touch wood

I feel one of the reasons for delays is that the American Embassy is overwelmed with applications. This coupled with too few staff soon makes for delays and backlogs.

I can understand the very first E application being done in home country embassy but renewals should be processed in the USA. It makes no sense to give all business people the upheaval to travel thousands of miles and depart the USA only to end up inside an American embassy !

It would not be so bad if renewals do not have to have an interview ! Surely the immigration officers can verify all documents and applicants could fed ex their passports if necessary

[Susie]

Hi

I did recieve a confirmation e-mail for James LaVigne (my immigration attorney) but I have had to get permission from AILA to post and waiting an answer, due top copywrite issues

[DebbieM]

Hi Sue

Many thanks for welcoming me to this site. I hope I am able to make a worthwhile contribution.

Yes, we have a mutual friend - what a very small world it is. We actually look after Carole's home over here and she has become a very good friend and business ally.

Whilst our renewal has not been submitted (see previous posting for reason) I believe that you should start planning for it as soon as you arrive. It took us the most part of 2004 to jump through all the hoops to get here so I sympathize with those people stuck in the UK desparately waiting to start a new life but it is equally frustraiting for those of us who are either stuck in the renewal process or about to embark. The thought of going back to the UK for the interview and getting stuck there is unthinkable. We would lose the business, our home and the kids education would be ruined - so in a way there is even more on the line for renewals than for initial applications.

I know of someone who came over on a B1/B2, bought a business, changed status to E2 via Texas, got his interview, went back to the UK in November 05 and is STILL there waiting for London to grant an E2 - how scary is that? A lesson here I believe, is not to try to 'cheat' the system, do things by the letter, as frustraiting as it is, I don't think the US Embassy take kindly to someone who tried to 'jump the queue'.

Another piece of information I have learned and would like to share is that my understanding is that your E2 is depentant on the business you bought when you applied. Your business plan is built around that business and if you sell it then you are no longer entitled to stay here. I have heard of some who sold the original business and bought another immediately, again they have fallen foul to the Embassy by thinking they could take a short cut.

This is why I think a site like this is fantastic, if we can all share information and experiences good AND bad we can be so much better informed. I'm no expert but believe that information is power and that planning is critical.

I have an 18 year old and already we are trying to think of ways in which she can stay here.

I have a couple of questions that someone might be able to answer:

1) our visa is due for renewal in December 06. We have extended our immigration status until Sept 2008. When (fingers crossed) we get our visa renewal will this be backdated to December 06 or will it be x many years from the date of renewal?

2) if we were to get 5 years (very slim chance I know but for the purpose of this question) this would take Holly past her 21st birthday. Would this affect all our visa's or would would her's only carry a date until she is 21 or could she possibly get one in line with the rest of us?

Would ask my VA but time is money, so if anyone can help I would appreciate it.

Good luck everyone - after everything I would still do it all again in a heartbeat.

Debbie

[charliesmum]

Debbie

As far as I know the visa will be renewed from the date of issue, not from when it ran out. I suppose it also works that if you put in your renewal early and it is approved quickly, you will have it renewed from that date, again not from when it runs out.

The 21 question, I'm afraid I don't know.

Our kids are 15 and 13 but we realise how quickly time goes and Melissa will be 21 in no time. Our hope is that things will change, or we will have to put her through her last year of college on a F1 Student visa and then hope she is offered a job that will sponsor her for a Green Card. We feel that as long as the kids are ok, we don't mind staying on E2 and eventually retiring somewhere in the Carribbean or wherever.

We have been waiting for our renewal for 13 months now and don't know what to expect when they eventually get to our 4th lot of paperwork. Looks like a trip to London is on the cards, but what the outcome will be and how we will return to Florida, who knows!!!

Zoe

[pegasus]

Hi Debbie,
this is from data posted on the USCIS web site from arround April if I remember, is for E2s and figures rounded by me

year Total UK E %
2000 36500 3500 9.5
2001 36900 3600 9.75
2002 33400 2300 7
2003 32000 2700 8
2004 36800 3300 9
2005 37000 3500 9.5

the point of the slide was to illustrate my belief that there really is a quota system.

b rgds

Neil

[victoria]

urgh, do you think they exhaust their quota system by a certain point in the year - in the same way that they do with H1Bs?

[Emmalee25]

Hi Debbie,
from what i understand your daughters visa will run out on her 21st birthday, yours will run to the 5years (if granted).
horrid isnt it?

Em x

[Sharon]

Hi

I as sure your daughters visa will expire on her 21st


She maybe able to buy into your busiesss or go to uni, but you will need to do something ready for her 21st

[Sharon]

Hi DebbieM

You may want to get you daughter to contact Nioami on this site

She is setting up a younge adult section and would like to meet other teenagers

[DebbieM]

Thank you all for your input.

Because Holly was 16 when we came over and had completed her GCSE's she was denied a Florida High School education as she was seen to have graduated already - no one told us that before we came. As a result she started college earlier than her peers and has been on the Dean's Honor Role since her 2nd semester. She is now receiving information on internships and scholarships which may lead to something -although knowing our luck I doubt it. Hopefully, she will graduate before we incur the anstronomic international student fees. The possiblity of her buying me out of the business is something we are investigating too, but like everyone else this whole situation with kids causes me huge concern.

She has also had one marriage proposal from a guy who is a US citizen and whilst this is the perfect way to go - not at 18 and not with him. She is now single and enjoying every minute.

Neil - with regard to the stat's do you know how many were new applications and how many were renewal's?

Thanks again everyone, you have all made me feel very welcome.

[Sally]

So here I am looking at what is required for my E2 renewal and it feels like a mountain that even if I climb I wont see the view from the top.

Does anyone have the exact numbers of the forms for renewals as I seem to find different answers, there appears to be 2 different sets and I dont really want to employ a VA as time is MY money. I am also staggered that we have to return to the Uk for the renewal process and at short notice.

We got our visa relatively easily in the first instance and I didnt expect it to be this complicated to renew.

Advice and help would really be appreciated guys, I used to think I was a smart cookie, I am not so sure now

[DebbieM]

Hi Sally

I know exactly what you mean, the renewal is almost worse than the original application. Now a life has been established over here there is so much more on the line. The hassle of going back to the UK not knowing if you will be able to return to your home, your business and your existance is terrifying. We are being advised by our VA to hold back on the renewal application until things quieten down so I may be asking you for advice in the not too distant future.

Stay positive and never doubt yourself.

Neil who posts as Pegasus might have the answer re numbers you are looking for, he is really helpful.

If I can help in any way don't hesitate to get in touch.

Debs