Interview Waived for K1 adjustment of Status?

[weezerlso 1]

My husband arrived to the U.S. on August 12 on a K1 and we were married on August 19th.  In September we submitted all paperwork for AOS and he received his EAD 60 days later.  On December 20th we received a letter in the mail requesting us to send the Medical From I-163.  I just saw on the USCIS link that immigrants that come on a K1 visa and marry in 90 days can be exempt from an interview and can get their green card directly if enough proof that the marriage was legitimate was given during the K1 process.  The reason why I am hopeful of this waiver is that they dont usually ask for the I-163 until the interview, but in our case we were asked even though we had submitted the sealed envelope from the doctor's report at the US embassy in Brazil --needed to obtain the K1 visa.
.

Husband had a biometrics appointment with the local USCIS office in Iowa back in October to process his EAD.  Submitted fingerprints and photos.

 

Has any K1s out there had their interview waived and got their permanent green card in the mail without needing an interview?

Edited February 17, 2017 by weezerlso

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

Not everyone gets an interview.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Not everyone gets an interview, but note that getting an RFE for this is absolutely normal.


You were suppose to get a copy of the DS-3025 that was in the sealed envelope that you gave to the embassy.

If you don't send a copy of a completed DS-3025 with your AOS application, OR the I-693 they will RFE and ask for a I-693.


Note that it does say in our guide as number 11, that you don't have to send the I-693 if you had your medical within the last year, but what it doesn't mentioned is that to prove to them you've had it, you have to send the DS-3025. I think people may have had success making a statement on when they did their medical and basically tell USCIS to look it up, but sometimes the systems don't line up, and if your response to them is to tell them to look it up and they can't find it, they can just deny the case because the RFE wasn't satisfied.

In the case you don't have an DS-3025 to send, it's safer just to go do the I-693. But it isn't optional until interview.

 

With that said, plenty of K-1ers get their interviews waived, but note that this RFE is normal since a copy of the DS-3025 wasn't sent with your application.

If you have your copy of the DS-3025 and it's marked as completed and signed, you can send that.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Ash.1101

[weezerlso 1]

Yes we did submit a copy of the DS-3025 but still got a letter in the mail requiring the I-693 and had to send this I-693 within 45 days or the AOS would be dnied

[blooms 63]

42 minutes ago, weezerlso said:

My husband arrived to the U.S. on August 12 on a K1 and we were married on August 19th.  In September we submitted all paperwork for AOS and he received his EAD 60 days later.  On December 20th we received a letter in the mail requesting us to send the Medical From I-163.  I just saw on the USCIS link that immigrants that come on a K1 visa and marry in 90 days can be exempt from an interview and can get their green card directly if enough proof that the marriage was legitimate was given during the K1 process.  The reason why I am hopeful of this waiver is that they dont usually ask for the I-163 until the interview, but in our case we were asked even though we had submitted the sealed envelope from the doctor's report at the US embassy in Brazil --needed to obtain the K1 visa.
.

Husband had a biometrics appointment with the local USCIS office in Iowa back in October to process his EAD.  Submitted fingerprints and photos.

 

Has any K1s out there had their interview waived and got their permanent green card in the mail without needing an interview?

Me. but some have to go for interview. 

I did get an RFE though for something we already sent in the inital AOS packet. Weird but it happens. After we responded to the RFE, I received the Conditional green card not long after. I was not invited for an AOS interview and did not receive an interview waiver letter either. 

The status on uscis changed to approved and that's about it. 

Check my timeline for deets. Good luck to you

 

Blooms

[weezerlso 1]

Thanks Blooms!  Hopefully that happens to us too, It has been over a month since I responded to the RFE, so who knows.....maybe we will get results soon.  Finger Crossed

[pantonia 39]

This is just my guess, but I think getting the interview waived is tied to two factors. One, how backlogged they are, and two, how much evidence you provided at the K1 process or if you sent a frontloaded package when you applied for AOS. In my case, the Dallas office had a year waiting time, and I had frontloaded my AOS package (and had plenty of evidence at the k1 stage), so I think that's a good combination that got me approved without an interview. I don't even think my case was sent to the local office, I think it got approved by the National Benefit Center once I replied to their RFE, but that's also just a guess.

 

Either way, after thousands of people getting their GC approved without interview, I don't think anybody has been able to pinpoint the exact reason for this happening, so you'll just have to wait and see if one day you get the beautiful, magic notification that your status changed and got approved! good luck!

[Ash.1101 1,755]

1 hour ago, pantonia said:

This is just my guess, but I think getting the interview waived is tied to two factors. One, how backlogged they are, and two, how much evidence you provided at the K1 process or if you sent a frontloaded package when you applied for AOS. In my case, the Dallas office had a year waiting time, and I had frontloaded my AOS package (and had plenty of evidence at the k1 stage), so I think that's a good combination that got me approved without an interview. I don't even think my case was sent to the local office, I think it got approved by the National Benefit Center once I replied to their RFE, but that's also just a guess.

 

Either way, after thousands of people getting their GC approved without interview, I don't think anybody has been able to pinpoint the exact reason for this happening, so you'll just have to wait and see if one day you get the beautiful, magic notification that your status changed and got approved! good luck!

I agree with this. While our K-1 process wanted another cosponsor, it was really smooth other than that. We also front loaded the AOS pretty heavily (joint car insurance, renters insurance, joint bank accounts, added him as someone that can pick up my daughter from school, added him as someone who can take my daughter to the doctor, pictures of the wedding and family, cards sent to both of us, etc), and San Antonio was about a year waiting time as well. We got our GC in 77 days from sending out the application, they ended up canceling the EAD and AP apps since the GC came first lol.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Ash.1101

[Fr8dog 312]

I was and I front-loaded a little.

Both front-loaded and not front-loaded have received cards without interviews.

 

Nobody is able to give you the "magic formula". My personal thought is that is based on country of origin, field office served, workload and luck of the draw.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

Anyone who fits this MIGHT be waived..

 

"A. Interview Waiver Criteria

1. Waiver Criteria

USCIS has the ability to waive an interview. [2] Adjustment of status interviews are generally waived for applicants in the following classifications:

•Applicants clearly ineligible;

•Unmarried children of U.S. citizens, if not filed as part of a family pack;

•Parents of U.S. citizens;

•Fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens who married within 90 days, and their children;

•Asylee and refugee cases in which the applicant has previously been interviewed by an asylum or refugee officer; [3] and

•Unmarried children (under age 14) of lawful permanent residents."

 

And these reasons can cause someone in that group to NOT be waived.

 

"Cases in the general interview waiver categories [5] may be relocated to a field office for interview. Reasons for relocation may include:

•Need to confirm the identity of the applicant;

•Need to validate legal status;

•The applicant entered the United States without inspection or there are other unresolved issues regarding the foreign national’s manner of entry;

•There are known criminal inadmissibility or national security concerns that cannot be resolved at a service center;

•There are fraud concerns and the service center recommends an interview;

•The applicant’s fingerprints have been rejected twice;

•The applicant has a Class A medical condition that the service center cannot resolve through an RFE;

•The applicant answered “Yes” to any eligibility question on the adjustment application and the service center cannot determine eligibility through an RFE; or

•The service center has not been able to obtain an applicant’s A-file, T-file, or Receipt file (when the applicant has multiple files)."

 

According to their policy manual.  https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume7-PartA-Chapter5.html#footnote-2