Americans Wait - While Foreigners Get Their Visas.

The Congress of the United States of America
Secretary Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security
Mr. Eduardo Aguirre, Jr, Director, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
Mr. Terry Way, Director, BCIS Nebraska Service Center

The heartland is without heart. Right now thousands of American families are being kept at oceans length while waiting for their K-1 fiancй(e) visa applications (I-129F) to be processed at the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS). The waiting times are getting longer and longer for American citizens trying to reunite with their loved ones while foreign workers' visas, foreign students' visas and asylum cases are processed with little or no waiting time.

These unfair practices within the BCIS (formerly INS) occur simply because of geography. The outlandish waiting times only affect American citizens unlucky enough to live within the 20 states served by the NSC. While other BCIS centers approve K-1 fiancй(e) visa applications in around 30 to 60 days, the NSC is now heading north of 200 days for K-1 fiancй(e) visa petitions submitted by American citizens while their emphasis is placed on speedy approvals of foreign workers' visas, foreign students' visas and asylum cases. We believe this is wrong!

At a minimum, American citizens should receive the same level of service at the NSC as the citizens of other countries. Everyday we watch the other BCIS service centers around the United States approve K-1 fiancй(e) visas in as little as 15 days (Vermont Service Center), while the NSC slows to a crawl on all but the processing of foreign workers' visas, foreign students' visas and asylum cases. While we have no problem with visas being granted to people from other nations that wish to come to our country to work or study, we believe that families of American citizens should receive the same priority at the NSC as they do at other BCIS processing centers.

We, the undersigned, hereby request that Secretary Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Eduardo Aguirre, Jr, Director, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and Mr. Terry Way, Director, BCIS Nebraska Service Center, end the suffering of American citizens and reunite them with their loved ones by taking all steps necessary to immediately reduce the processing time for K-1 fiancй(e) visas at the NSC so that it is in line with the other BCIS service centers and the premium processing times for foreign worker and student visas.