Sad

Well the darn USCIS is at it again. I emailed them today because I wanted an update. We are at 76 days post homestudy received and 56 days post fingerprinting. I of course got an automated email reply from them. This is what it said:

PROCESSING TIME
1. We receive such a high volume of individual inquiries that to respond to each one would take significant time away from adjudicating orphan petitions, so we reply to email inquiries within three business days only if both the I600A and the home study have been in our office for 75 days and your question is not answered below. We are currently working on I600A applications that have home studies received by us between June 15th and June 30th.
2. Until we receive both the home study and the I600A Application and fingerprints, we can take no action and the “clock has not started ticking”. The average processing time after we receive both the application and the home study is now 75 days due to a huge number of applications filed recently (and the correspondingly high number of phone calls) . We are struggling to get the processing time back to 60 days, but temporarily it is 75 days.
3. We do not routinely acknowledge that we have received the home study, but we do acknowledge receipt of the petition by sending you a receipt for the fee. If the home study is being sent separately from the I600A, please send it registered mail return receipt requested, FEDEX, UPS, or some other carrier where it can be tracked, if you want confirmation that we have received it.
4. As soon as we receive both the home study and the application "the clock will start ticking" and we will quickly send you an appointment for each person who is required to be fingerprinted, that is everybody 18 or older who is living in your home. By doing this, the 15-month validity period of the fingerprints more closely matches the 18 month validity period of the I600A.
5. If we must request more information or documents from you, of course it will take additional time. It might expedite processing if you include your email address.

Okay my question to you, all 3 of you who read this :), please explain paragraph 2 and paragraph 4. They say 2 different things. Does your "clock start ticking" when you have turned in your application, homestudy and fingerprints or does it start ticking when you turn in your application and homestudy? The reason they are getting so many phone calls and email inquiries is because they are so freaking incompetent. How can bigger offices that handle more paperwork get forms out in 2 weeks? Why does this office not go in order like it's supposed to? Why did this office tell my congressman that they try their best to process SN adoptions in a timely matter? Why did this office tell me that the processing time is taking 60 days 2 weeks ago? How did there suddenly become more applications, homestudies and fingerprints that arrived between 6/15 - 6/30 (the period they are supposedly working on right now)in the last 2 weeks?

I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of incompetent people who can't handle the job. This person is paid by me with my tax dollars and she is paid by me with the money they used to process our form. I want answers. I don't want them just for me, I want them for everyone else who will be coming after me.

Oh well, enough whining for tonight. Here's a little humor and cuteness for you. Make sure your volume is on.