IMPORTANT UPDATE: As many of you know, I am the most straight shooting promoter on the planet. If there is an issue that could affect you, I'm going to tell you about it as soon as possible.
There are two USCIS visa application centers: California and Vermont. Historically, the petitioner's state residence dictates where to file the application. The rule of thumb is Vermont takes 2-4 months to process while California can take up to 6 months. As a result, I went from applying in March to January. The process changed last year as now all applications go to a distribution center in Texas first that in turn, assigns them to either processing center based on their own private criteria. However, I still managed to get all of mine to Vermont last year and had zero stress. We repeated the exact same steps this year and I just received notice today the first application went to California.
California recently raised their processing time to 10 months. Vermont's current processing time is 2 months. I still have to play Russian roulette 7 more times with the application center assignment. Per my attorney, a small portion of approvals have come from California within 3 months. However, if you don't hear within 3 months, then you can expect it to go for the full 10 months. Needless to say, even applying in January is not early enough now for routine processing. In other words, I played by the rules, planned accordingly, and then the rules changed mid-game.
The additional cost to expedite a single band is $2,800. If all 8 bands I petitioned for go to California, that is an additional $24,000 that is not in the budget. I will take the loss on one or two bands, but not eight. The brutal reality is I cannot pay 28K and would have no choice but to cancel bands. I ran into this similar situation once in the past and the general public came to the rescue via a Go Fund Me campaign. I may need your assistance again come April after I know the exact situation of all bands. For now, all we can do is hold our breath. Regardless of the outcome, I'm 100% committed to giving you the best roster I can this year and next. You just deserve to know the truth in advance of whatever happens.
Glenn
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