You are a U.S. Citizen or even a Lawful Permanent Resident and you are tired being treated the way you being treated by USCIS or NVC.  You have applied for relative, whether its your spouse, parent, sibling, or child, and you are just sick and tired of not getting a straight answer as to when your case is going to get approved or going to be set for interview. You look at the USCIS case status and its says "Actively reviewing" for the last six months. You wait 2 hours on hold to speak to a USCIS officer or an NVC officer, and mysteriously get disconnected. I have been there and many of my clients have been there as well.  The immigration process is slow and with Covid-19 it has become even more slow. I often joke about another U.S. agency, the postal service where they have two speeds of operations: Slow and Stop.  Well that pretty much applies to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State as well.  I know you are fed up with how slow your case is processing. I know its frustrating.  I hear it from my clients every day. Being of South Asian descent, I know what young couples are going through being separated from one another, while the community stares and wonders why its taking so long to get a case approved.  If you are having a difficult time getting an answer from USCIS or NVC, there are things that you can do without involving those entities. 

What am I referring to? Congressional Assistance. You may or may not know this, but you likely live in a Congressional District.  That Congressional District is represented by a Congressman.  That person represents you in the House of Representatives. He or She was sent to Congress because you voted for him or someone else voted for him. But, it doesn't matter if you voted for him or not.  What matters is that he or she is there to represent you. This includes getting answers for you and on your behalf from agencies of the executive branch of government. You also have two (2) U.S. Senators you can get in contact with.  Either one of them can help you out in your situation. If you are having a difficult time getting an answer about a loved one's case, find out who your U.S. representative is or who your (2) U.S. Senators are.  You can do that by visiting the following website and find out who your Congressman is by simply inputting your zip code.  You can look up your U.S. Senator by visiting the following link. The process of dealing a congressman's office or U.S. Senator's office is fairly straightforward, more straightforward than having to deal with being on hold with USCIS or NVC. 

What will you have to do to get help from a Congressman? 

1. Find your Congressional Representative or US Senator. 

2. Check their website to see what services they offer.  Look for options like help with Federal Agency. You can always contact the Congressman or Senator's office directly as well. 

3. Once you have made contact, you will likely have to fill out an authorization form, authorizing their office to contact USCIS or NVC on your behalf. 

4. Once you have submitted your request, follow-up with the Senator or Representative's office in a respectful manner.  Do not be annoying.  Do not call every day.  They are working to get you an answer.  So let them do their work. 

5. The Representative or Senator's office may request information from you.  That is your opportunity to get your attorney involved. Some offices will allow for the attorney to be involved while others may not. 

Ideologically, you do not need to agree with your Senator or your Representative. You may despise your representative or your US Senator or both. However, that does not stop you from asking for their assistance.  They are your representatives in our Nations Capital. They are another means to gaining assistance on your case. I strongly advise my clients to use their representatives to get information when information is not being provided by the agencies themselves. It is another vital source of information gathering available to everyone who has a case pending with DHS or DOS.