Why Not Pilot Program In Other Countries?

[Klame1983]

I was wondering: how come there's no "pilot programs" in other countries? I know that Mexico has a ton of demand, but still, they should implement that pilot program in other countries as well. It's not fair for other immigrants to have to wait for so long! What's everyone's opinion on this? :blush:

[Laura]

I was wondering: how come there's no "pilot programs" in other countries? I know that Mexico has a ton of demand, but still, they should implement that pilot program in other countries as well. It's not fair for other immigrants to have to wait for so long! What's everyone's opinion on this? :blush:


It's a new program. Until March of this year, Mexico had a big-a$s backlog like everywhere else, probably worse. That's why there are some people still waiting and others who have been approved through the pilot program. Theoretically, if the pilot program works well, which is appears to be, for a year or more, they will institute it at other Consulates.

[MendozaQH]

The pilot program is exactly that, a pilot program. Before they dedicate money to every consulate, they need to make sure the program and its organization will work. So they are testing it at the consulate that not only reviews the most cases per day, but also deals with probably the highest number of I-601 waivers per year: Mexico. Probably their thinking is "if it will work in Mexico, it will work anywhere"! Laurel mentioned that past pilot programs generally run about 1 year before they are determined to be benficial and at which point they will determine if they are worth expanding to other countries. Probably around the middle of next year they will start to expand because the news so far is that the pilot program is working well in Mexico.

[corazoncita]

What exactly is the pilot program? I know my husband wouldn't qualify for it because of his CIMT, but I am just curious at to how it works...

[MendozaQH]

What exactly is the pilot program? I know my husband wouldn't qualify for it because of his CIMT, but I am just curious at to how it works...

What country are you filing through?

The pilot program is a program that currently is only at the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Previously and in other US consulates, those that are required to file the I-601 waiver of grounds of inadmissibility would submit the application with the hardship letter and evidence to the consulate who would forward it to the local DHS office to adjudicate. The wait times vary depending on the DHS office. In Mexico, the wait time was around 1 year, for Canada, I think it is more than 1 year. During this time the intending immigrant would have ot wait in their country until approval of the waiver upon which they would receive another appointment to pick-up the visa to be able to come to the US.
However, with the pilot program, those submitting the I-601 would make an infopass appointment where they would submit the waiver and packet and if the hardships outweigh the reason for denial of the visa (their term is "clearly approvable"), then the intending immigrant would receive the visa right away and would not have to wait. If the waiver is not approved, the waiver will be sent to the local DHS office for further reveiw and will be eligible to submit more evidence, however, meanwhile the intending immigrant will have to wait in their country until a decision is made.

[corazoncita]

WOW!!! That is a wonderful idea! It would be great if it is actually working. :) So is everyone going through Juarez elegible for the infopass appointment? I bet criminals are always denied visas at the infopass... even so, I think it is an awesome program for everyone else! I really hope they start implementing this more in the future. Are the spouses allowed to attend the infopass? So you just bring your HS letter and evidence with you right then and there? Is the infopass directly after your I-130 interview? For those who are denied at infopass-- is the processing times for those who submit extra evidence still happening faster than the normal I-601 process would have?

[MendozaQH]

Are you going through Mexico? There have been people who have CIMT that have been approved through the program, they just needed more hardships than someone who has just unlawful presence. Only those that submitted a waiver after March 6, 2007 are using the pilot program. They are still processing the waivers from those that submited prior to that date the old fashion way. Anyone whose waiver is not "clearly approvable" gets put beind those waivers that were submitted prior to the start of the program.

You make your infopass online. Ususally people try to make the appointment 2 days after their scheduled I-130 interview.

[Klame1983]

I will be going through Honduras. Our I-130 is still pending, so my guess is we won't get an appt. in TGU until mid to late next year. Hopefully by then they will implement this program there! Thanks for everyone's responses! :)

[MendozaQH]

I will be going through Honduras. Our I-130 is still pending, so my guess is we won't get an appt. in TGU until mid to late next year. Hopefully by then they will implement this program there! Thanks for everyone's responses! :)

I was looking at your timeline, but since I am not familiar with wait times for other consulates other than CDJ, I wasn't sure if it would be around the estimated time of your interview. It sounds like it just might be!!!! Good Luck!

[corazoncita]

I will also be going through Honduras! This is very exciting... I really hope they can get this going in other places next year. I am pretty confident that my hardships are strong enough to get my husband despite the record. This has been a very informative thread. :)

Are you going through Mexico? There have been people who have CIMT that have been approved through the program, they just needed more hardships than someone who has just unlawful presence. Only those that submitted a waiver after March 6, 2007 are using the pilot program. They are still processing the waivers from those that submited prior to that date the old fashion way. Anyone whose waiver is not "clearly approvable" gets put beind those waivers that were submitted prior to the start of the program.

You make your infopass online. Ususally people try to make the appointment 2 days after their scheduled I-130 interview.

[Klame1983]

I guess the only thing we can do is pray this pilot program gets implemented in the rest of the world. I know it's unfair to those who are backlogged, but at least not everyone is suffering as much. It seems it makes life much easier! Thank you everyone for your responses. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if this gets implemented next year or not! I really hope so! :)

[Luckysprite]

Mendoza - I dont know if you'll see this - but I've missed ya (and all of your great wisdom :wink: ) on the forums. I have not seen you around in quite a while - I hope all is well and 'welcome back!!'