Hello VJ Family,

So my husband has been here for 7 weeks and he still has not received his GC. What is the general time frame for the green card to be delivered? Is there any agency that I can contact to inquire about it? He has not received the Welcome letter and we are not entirely sure what is his A#. I have read that on the MRIV, it is the registration number. Is this true? We need his A# so that he can apply for Financial Aid for his degree programme, which starts in Spring.

Thanks for all your .

hi... at least 3 weeks, if he dont have the greencard yet its better to go to the immigration and ask what your concern....it happened to me....not for 7 weeks but for for 9 months...because i changed my address twice. i finally got it on nov.4,07....but before i got it , i had my biometrics again for the new gc. have a good day.

I came in on my IR1 exactly 4 weeks ago yesterday...

People on VJ who know, say the social security card tick box on the IV application does not work so I went to S Security office yesterday

VERY unsavory characters in and around there - flushed faces with heroin etc

anyway I AM on the 'save' system so thats good

I dont expect the green card for 3 more weeks as 7 weeks seems normal

It is worth going to SS office for a SS card as they will tell you if you are on the 'save' system - that is that your brown paper envelope was not lost at POE

I still do not have my Florida car plates after 3.5 weeks or my Florida driver's license after 3 weeks-only temporary bits of paper...-oh and no car title either

EVERYTHING is slow or fails or is lost

and now my UK bank is locking the money since they know my new address in Florida - I still have ongoing utility bills etc on my house in the UK to pay so its a problem


good isn't it ? Never mind, things can only get worse...

These folk who cheer when they get approved have no idea what is up ahead - this thing is NEVER over

PS yes the 'registration number' is the 'A' number (alien)

at POE they wrote an 'A' in front of my registration number using a black pen

alan

Hey Tamieka,

I'm sorry to hear your husband still doesn't have his green card. You should call the USCIS 800# to find out. Tell them that he came in on XX date with a CR1 visa and haven't heard anything, the operator will then transfer you to a "specialized" agent, you tell them the same story again, they will ask you for his A# and then tell you what is going on with his green card. I did it 3 times since he got here until we finally got my husband's green card in the mail 6 weeks later. Your husband can call himself as well but if you do, make sure he's present at the time you call because otherwise they won't give you any info.

Diana

Should be on its way -- took mine about the same time to come in, within a very non-descript envelope from Mesquite, TX that didn't even say "USCIS" or the like.
Good luck, L.

p.s. has he got the welcome letter yet?

Diana - it was hilarious - I thought I would take your lead and call the USCIS


They said they were unable to assist me until I had been in the country for 30 days and that would be tomorrow

So I have to call back then

Isn't it amazing how the bureaucratic mind works ?

Of course it wasnt her fault - its the person who made the rules and allowed NO flexibility and turned these nice people into rule slaves

alan

Thank you all for the replies. I am blushing, because as soon as I came in this afternoon, I saw that we had received the Welcome letter in the mail (snail mail indeed)! I anticipate that he will get the greencard within the week.

Diana - Thank you for pointing me (and others) in the right direction for inquiries on the green card. That certainly puts me at ease.

Alan - Thank you for answering my question and yes, the letter confirmed that the registration number is the A#. We had checked the section for the SSN to be issued on the DS-230 form and he received that within a week of POE. We had originally been told by the Immigration officer (bureaucracy is certainly rife with mis-information) at POE that we could go to the SSA office the next day to apply for his SSC and after sitting there for 4 hours, with pretty interesting characters, we were told that we should wait at least 3 weeks to see if it is sent in the mail. So it was a relief to get it the following week.

Ace3, that was a certainly long wait to receive the actual card.

Thank you all again

that's good news

I just found a massive thread for people who's green card is wrong ! There are trillions of em - well a lot

Ladies with their middle names spelled wrongly and some guy's photo on their green card !

Just shoot me if that happens as it is another nightmare to sort out and takes a loooooong time.....

If mine is right I will parcel tape it to my chest and never bathe again

If its someone else's photo and they are better looking than me I might just keep it

alan

That would certainly suck. One of my co-workers had issues with her greencard and how her name should be listed on her greencard. She sent it back and it took a few months for her to get the corrected card.
All these issues certainly are scary!

Yes, it sounds like I am trying scare everyone including myself, but I reckon it's best to be mentally prepared in case the next stage does go wrong. I find the most distressing experiences in the whole process is when something goes really wrong and it wasn't expected.

Then it's a mixture of disappointment, frustration, uncertainty and not least, shock.

At least the people on the IR1/CR1 forum will have an endorsed passport which is supposed to act like a 12 month greencard, unlike the adjustment of status people.

My mother is 93 and lives in the UK so I worry about being left high and dry without a green card. You hear about people taking 18 months to get a replacement card when their's is issued with a photo of someone looking like a member of ZZ TOP


Having suffered from the wrong name thing when I entered on a K1, I know that it can take months even to get a social security card when that happens

ok well fingers crossed - when/if the GC arrives I will careful check the name, sex, photo, date of birth and expiry date and then check em again and then check em again. If it is correct then all I have to decide is risk not carrying it with me and getting a fine and conviction, or carry it and lose the card. All decisions.


I was wondering about which forums this stuff should be on but the GC forum is really for AOS which is very different to us CR1/IR1 people so i reckon its best here and lets the people coming along after see what's up ahead and not get so cocky when they get their 'case complete'

The thing about this visa journey is that at each successful stage we breath a sigh of relief and think we have 'made it', only to realise a month further on, that it's far from over and there is another challenge to meet

I know that at naturalization stage there is a lot of worry as they take your GC from you and then you - yes you guessed it- you wait !

I reckon that only a U.S. passport will really take the lingering uncertainty away. My friend has been here 12 years and has not applied for citizenship , but he is running a risk because he loves a bit of 'moral turpitude' of a Saturday night.

alan

Does it really take that long? I am concerned...

about 7 weeks seems to be the norm at the moment..i am 4.5 weeks and certainly dont expect anything yet..

I would advise people to go get a social security card 14 days after immigrating if yours has not arrived. At least you will confirm that your details are on the system

what is scaring me is the percentage of people with incorrect cards who go into the agony of several months wait to have it corrected. I wonder what that percentage is ?

Both my 'classmates' from NVC stage have hit some problems and I had a wrong name at K1 and a neighbour in Wisconsin had her file lost and ended up flying to Australia and doing DCF !

I know of so many people who are having their paperwork lost or wrongly completed that I wonder if the percentage is ---40 or 50% or something ?

The fact that SS has regulations to allow people a card who 'only have one letter of their name spelled wrongly' or USCIS having a special form and department for GC's that are sent out wrongly, and that department is months behind, makes me think the percentage is high..

I have called the USCIS many times over the last 3 years and although they have charming people who say things like 'I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you to America', they do sound like they are on some sort of affirmative action program for people with learning or language difficulties and the chances of them getting all the pieces of information correct are slim.

Unfortunately, yes. As Alan said it's taking about 6-8 weeks on average when it used to take 4. The USCIS told me it's because they've had a large amount of paperwork to process.

Diana

hi

takes 30 working days.... = 7 weeks becos of high load.

Jigi

Tam my hubbys GC came about 7wks or so

High workload my middle aged bottom

they are creating workload by their own slap-dash errors

they have a department doing nothing else but sort out their self-generated messes and it takes months to do anything

they could not organize a good time in a brewery that lot

The whole crew sound like they have been selected for having attention deficit and/or learning difficulties and are then force fed tranquilisers and sleeping tablets before starting work each day

I used to manage a department of 30 who had a lot of data input and I would have strung myself up rather than run a shower of an operation like this...its not the number of immigrants, it's the pathetic, authoritarian, closed - minded, old-fashioned, robotic and error tolerant system - and that is management's fault.

The standards by which they judge themselves are lower than whale poo and that is the problem

I have toned this down as I dont want to sound too judgemental

hi,

I agree with you Alan, but we have to respect the law of the country
Lets keep it that way only.

Jigi

Don't talk total TOSH ! - it isn't the law of the country that government departments should be massively incompetant in their work systems

The USCIS are obstructing the law of the land being carried out quickly and efficiently as intended - not me !

I WANT the law to be carried out whereas you are happy to see the legislation frustrated by the administration because you are scared to criticize in case they pick on you and you think that sucking up to them will help you

By being submissive to this you perpetuate the problem

Don't worry, they are not reading this and they won't throw you out for not being servile

Well that is good to know! I personally don't do well with servile. Alan is right Jigi, I don't think there are any laws on the books for this particular mess. It is a common thread in most (not all, there must be some good ones out there) government departments in all countries.

What I see with USCIS is a system that is getting more and more maze like as it grows. They keep throwing cups of water on the fire - like having you exchange this fee for that form, then another fee for another form - who in their right mind would ever imagine, let alone implement, a system like that?

I'll answer that myself - a person who is trying to think of a way to slow everyone down (instead of thinking up a solid way to make the process work right).

I was a bit hard on Jigi there - taking out my frustrations - sorry

But Trailmix I came to the same conclusion today - it's deliberate and piling up a one year queue works once only - then it stays an expensive mess

They should be more honest about it and impose a quota on family visas or a points system and then administer it right. At least we would know where we stood then

alan

Thanks Kimmy

5 weeks today and no sign of green card - expecting it in the name of hillary clinton with george bush's photo on it at the end of next week...

taking my temporary driver's license to the DMV today as it is expiring

they would not give me a proper license until the USCIS confirm that my IR1 visa is not a fake ! we VJ people know how long that is going to take .... that could be years but the DMV hinted that they would just issue a license if the USCIS dont respond in a month... we will see today

still no car title

still no SS card

still no 'real' driver's license

but i have received real car license plates with a little yellow peel off date sticker that would not survive the vandals for one evening in the UK

My wife's green card finally arrived last Friday, about eleven weeks after she entered the US. I guess anything within three, four months is to be considered normal these days.

That is pretty dire..

As they are all issued from Mesquite Texas, I wonder why the big disparity in 'time to issue' times ?

I know there will be a few days difference in going from various POEs to the USCIS, but one would imagine that they all proceed along a conveyor belt..

I saw 3 or 4 VJ folk who were reporting spot on 7 weeks - so 11 weeks is undenkbar

NOTHING would surprise me... don't even think I will apply for citizenship as that means handing the green card in and WAITING.. Think I will just hope to die before the 10 years is out on the green card

Let me join the club of those who still do not have the physical green card.

For me, it has been close to 6 months - I arrived on 5/31, first welcome letter 7/6 then another one on 7/19. Called the useless info line first in October as I wanted to give them time since they had the fee increase in July. Told me the same thing I can see on case status online - it has been approved but they do not know why I still do not have it and they will do the "service info request" or whatever that is called and that I should call back on 11/29. I call on 11/29 no news, but the guy tells me call tomorrow maybe we will have news then. I call on 11/30 only to be told by a lady that since I called the day before I now need to wait another 30 days before I call them back.

Now I am just going to make an Infopass for next week and go see should I just apply for a replacement of the card I never received.

I hope no one else has to go through anything similar to the above!

That's tough it really is...

Yes info pass sounds the way to go

As soon as they confirm it was sent out, you can just do the 'lost greencard' thing which is very common and should work.

If they say it wasnt sent out then you want it NOW

Its one or the other...

If mine is not here by the end of next week (7 weeks) I will do an infopass because that is scary..

We all think the 12 months temporary endorsement on the visa is plenty of time to deal with the USCIS and receive the green card but I always thought that limit could be bumped easily

You have my sympathy with this but now you are doing infopass I think the problem will be solved

very good luck

alan

How long after the welcome notice did she get her greencard?

I hope the Infopass will work this out for you. When I had to replace my 10 year GC, it was the year that Fort Lauderdale got hit by Hurricane Wilma. The USCIS Application Support Center had roof damage, but was open within a month. They did my fingerprints and by that afternoon, they had my GC ready for me. Hopefully they will be able to give it to you same day. I am not sure if that is a regular occurence what happened with me or if it was because we had a natural disaster.

She has received two welcome notices, with identical wording, but different mailing dates, both basically just saying that the paperwork had been forwarded to USCIS from the POE, and that further communication would follow within 30 days. The first one (dated Nov. 1) arrived on Nov. 16, i.e., about three weeks before the Green Card arrived. The second one (dated Dec. 1) arrived one day after the Green Card. I guess the purpose of the second notice was just to keep the promise made in the first one since its mailing date is exactly 30 days after the first one, and somewhere along the line they actually managed to produce and mail out the actual Green Card.

We entered on a K-1 followed by AOS. Filed AOS in October and received green card 12/1/07.

Thank you so much . That simply means the wait continues....


Wow that was fast, congratulations .
One of co-workers did the AOS interview in Palm Beach and his wife got her GC within a week. I can't understand why it takes so much longer for those of us that interview out of the country and POE.

You know, if 99.9% of GC's were sent out correct then we wouldn't really bother would we ?

As long as we were certain to get it within 6 months we could just relax...

It's the knowledge that we might have 6 months plus of horrible mess and fighting and struggling and being blocked and told wrong information that causes the anxiety...

I know it takes a couple of weeks for the POE stuff to get on the 'SAVE' system whereas a K1 is already on it, so it might be that extra leg

I am assured by Florida DMV that my 'immigration status' has been verified and so my driver's license has been issued - I look like an emaciated dog which is no wonder after 12 months of this stuff...... also the Social Security people can see me on the 'SAVE' system though they have sent the case off for verification anyway

So I am that far but no further which is more than some poor people get.

I will read that green card 6 times before I believe the details are all correct - and get a second opinion from 'her indoors'

Then I will check it again the following morning

alan

Alan,

the POE officers made sure I was immediately in the 'SAVE' system (as I was the only CR1 immigrant at that hour) and it turned out to be true since I went four days after we arrived to update my SS card status and there was no problem with that. It's the misinformation line people who are giving out wrong information that gets to me. Oh well, I have made an infopass appointment for 12/19 so will let everyone know what happens.
Do you suggest coming with a filled form for replacement of the card and check book ready?

That sounds a really good idea - the 7 P's .......

perfect planning and preparation prevents p... poor performance

I think calling the USCIS could actually make things worse. I said my initial address would be in Milwaukee but put my friend's address in Georgia as the place to send the green card to. Then 2 weeks after arriving i changed my address at USCIS online so that it is now Florida.


I am tempted to ask em where the green card will go now but I fear they will just put a block on it if they cannot comprehend

The Milwaukee address is Carolyn's mother's and is still valid
The Georgia address is my friend's and is still valid
The Florida address is current

So I really don't care which address it goes to, and as it does not have to be signed for, it won't be returned to them hopefully

Yes let's keep in touch us IR1/CR1 people using this thread because the other forum for GC is really about AOS folk who get theirs quickly (usually!)

alan

I can't believe you have been waiting 2 months since the welcome notice to get your greencard. That is crazy. I understand that they are overworked over at USCIS, but my Lord, the AOS GC's are being received within days and we are waiting months to get something this important.
I hope you get that little piece of plastic soon.

UPDATE: When I got home this evening, I realized that we received a second welcome letter and in a separate envelope was my hubby's GC. Everything is correct; his name, birthday, picture, expiration date...

I pray that everyone else who is waiting on the GC will receive it soon and with no mistakes!!!

WOW !!! read it again and again !!!! it's all correct ? - the deliberate error department at USCIS must have made a mistake and sent it out correct !

thats wonderful news - right first time !!!!

big relax now eh ? congrats - now dont lose it !!!!! and no 'moral turpitude' ok haha !

I am 6 weeks on Monday so another week or two might do it !

hooray ! alan

God's willing, they will surprise you too!

ok 6 weeks today since POE at Chicago.. expecting another week before GC

I am researching what do if it is not received 'just in case'

One of the eventualities is if I changed address and the GC is returned as 'undeliverable'


I have changed address (from Carolyn's mother's house) but as I understand it, the GC just arrives in the mailbox as a plain envelope postmarked 'Mesquite, Texas' and I dont have to sign..

How can it be 'undeliverable' ??? would that mean the person at the address takes it to the post office and says the subject of the Green Card has moved ?

I can't see any other way that it would be returned as undeliverable ? can anyone else ?

alan

Great thread, it's given me a more realistic time frame of when to expect my GC. I'm flying back to the UK for Christmas so had hoped that it would come before then but hopefully it just means that it'll be waiting for me when I get back in the New Year (provided immigration let me back in )

I'm a bit confused about the 'SAVE' system that people are mentioning. Am I correct in thinking that if I wasn't entered properly on that I would have had problems when dealing with the SSA office?

Yes when I first came in on K1 I was told not to go to the SS office for 10 days or so as I would not be on the SAVE system and they would send a form off which would take 6 weeks to verify


I went after about a week and risked it as I was going to say dont send a form i will come back in 3 days...

ok round 2


Anyway I went to Clearwater SS office 2 weeks ago today and they could see me on the SAVE system as entering November 5..he said they still had to verify now, but that is electronic and takes 2 days instead of the 12 weeks it used to take (it says 12 on the form)

So he reckoned 2 weeks max I would have the SS card (I want a new one coz the original k1 is restricted - no work)

anyway 2 weeks today and no card

but at least the SAVE system means they didnt lose the record of you landing which is a bit of a help


I am researching what happens if the GC does not turn up and I dont want to go there !

Ir1 and CR1 folk have a 12 month GC in their visa wording (551)so its not crucial just now - but in another week i will get edgy coz a year or 18 months means nothing to the USCIS and they are getting worse by the day


I changed my address but my old one is my mother in law's so that should not make a difference and it should not be returned to them unless there is something i don't know - the GC's still don't have to be signed for as far as i know...

Guess, I've been lucky with the SS card. When it didn't arrive after a couple of weeks I went to the main SSA office here in Philadelphia - being a bit of a foppish Englishman I really did stick out like a sore thumb there. I got someone who didn't have a clue about getting me a number and card so thankfully her supervisor - who was far more competent - did all the donkey work and my card arrived last week.

The Green Card situation is just plain daft. Like you Alan I don't want to think about it if it doesn't turn up. We're living in a global age where people cross national borders as a matter of course for work, holidays, etc; I think USCIS still thinks it's the 1920s and once we get through Ellis Island we're not going to need to ever leave the US. What I find confusing is the need for the Green Card period. Why can the physical visa in the passport not replace it? Conditional residents get stamped for 2 years on entering POE; 10 for those who have been married 10 years. Does the Green Card contain any information that is not included in the visa?

Great minds think alike - I was just thinking tonight - why does it say one year instead of 10 - as you say it has the date of entry and the alien number and a photo etc etc..actually i bet the visa has a lot more info than the green card and is a lot harder to fake....

I still have my SS card from K1 so i was able to get bank accounts/credit card and a driver's license - so I am only getting one that doesn't say 'no work' in order to kill time and boost my morale and kid myself I am getting somewhere...

When I came in 2 years ago I thought Americans were bureaucratic Neanderthals but then Carolyn came to live in the UK and once she landed it was actually harder for her to get bank accounts etc and a NI number, even though she has a UK 'green card'.
Certainly the U.S. system needs a massive axe taking to it for the sake of America even more than the immigrants. The USCIS has just taken on 1500 more staff when they could halve their existing staff EASILY if they ran the show properly. In the case of a lost or wrong GC, a phone call from the immigrant should cause a new one to go to a USCIS office to be collected in person by the immigrant - a swap in the case of a wrong one. 2 minutes at the USCIS end and 5 minutes at the USCIS field office. Not a 12 month nightmare.

I could halve the USCIS AND improve security and vastly improve service in 4 hours...

the GC's are sent out in plain envelopes and don't even have to be signed for !!!! then if it doesnt arrive there is a huge kefuffle to get another. Idiotic. They should send em to field offices for collection at the front desk on full proof of ID. 2 minute job. If they are wrong they could fix it there on the system and then and get you to call back in 5 days to pick up the amended one

Anyway, given all the info they have on us, why isn't there a program which says 'print green card'...obviously there isnt and some bored office slave is slamming it all in manually AGAIN to produce the card....with predictable results

I read that naturalization is even worse and they take your GC from you and then..... oh i can't even think about it...

Hey Alan and others,

here's an update on my green card: we went in yesterday to Infopass in Chicago. Showed up half an hour earlier and were immediately let in. There were very few people there and we were at the counter in no time after they checked in our appointment and gave us a receipt with a number to watch for on TV screen. A lady working there checked my papers and then read from the computer that my card has been sent off in July '07 and that they have no idea why I did not received it, but that it happens all the time! At that point my husband started inquiring how come no one has to sign for the card when it is delivered either to the post office and then to the immigrant. She said the same thing we all know - that it is being sent via regular mail with no protection and no signature required.

My only option is to e-file I-90 and she says the good thing is you can print your NoA immediately once the payment is processed (CC). So I guess we will have to go that route as she clearly said I won't be getting a stamp after May 2008 unless I show proof of filing.

My husband is now thinking of writing to his Congressman and Senators about this matter.
Also brought up is class action suit for all those people whose green card never showed up (happens all the time) and they had to pay another $370 to get a new one (also happens all the time?).
Does anyone here have any idea what number of people who have never received their green cards and had to refile I-90 (and pay $$$) are we talking about?

End ranting...

That is seriously horrible and nasty

How you keep your cool I do not know - you must be a true lady - classy

Well I am 7 weeks on Monday which was my target date but I think I will call the USCIS today and if I get the 'wait 5 months' or whatever, I will schedule an info pass now - I can always cancel it end of next week if the GC arrives

I didn't know you had to pay for the I-90 if it never arrived... that's not nice

It's nuts that you don't have to sign for a green card - so important for US security as well as the immigrant. It's like they are all robots with no initiative or management skills at all. If I was into conspiracy theories I would say they do it for the I-190 fees but I go with the stupidity theory.

I once worked in Government for 3 years and it popped my skull - they sent me typist who had never typed and who spent 6 weeks on sick because she had disturbed sleep and was too tired to come to work. I spent a month drawing up a statistical report - my top manager said it made him look bad as he wasn't achieving his targets - so he ripped it up in front of me. Yes I know government.

I wish you the very best of luck with all this and keep at em and don't accept promises or 'come back in x months'

alan

Good to know about these dates. It's been about a month since we arrived. The SSN tick option worked fine for us. She got her SSN about 2 weeks after. We received two identical welcome letters about a week ago. I think both sent dates were the same. I hope the GC is on it's way.

I definitely have issues with the fact that it's sent with no mail protection or that it's in some unassuming envelope. I get spam snail mail all the time and got into a routine of ripping it apart without inspecting too much.

For those that received the GC already, was it addressed to the alien spouse or the USC / PR?
Our welcome letters were mailed in USCIS marked envelopes with my wife's name in care of me (the USC).

wow you got a letter after 4 weeks or so - that is definitely quick compared to 7 weeks or so for others right now. Some get 5 letters and no card - some get one letter with the card inside. It's a lottery..
I am getting distinctly edgy - I would call them but I am told that I am then barred from calling for another 30 days - is that true anyone ?

Three weeks on Monday since the SchutzStaffel card interview I asked for. They said I would get it in 2 weeks as they electronically clear it with USCIS in 48 hours max

Ignorance was bliss for me since I didn't really do any research for what should happen after the CR-1 entry other than the fact that she'll get an SSN and GC after. We were lucky with the SSN and the two letters that came about 3.5 weeks later was nice. Now we'll see if that GC arrives. I guess the reason I didn't stress was because the visa stamp serves as a temp GC, good for a year. However, after reading all this lost mail possibility I am almost as anxious again when I hung out in the NVC forum LOL.

BTW, fancy meeting you here Alan.

I remember reading your entertaining diatribes just a few months ago in the NVC forum when we were all wating for that elusive case complete. Now we're doing the same thing again with GCs heh.

Same poo poo different day (forum)...when it comes to the immigration depts.

I won't deny that I feel MUCH better being together with my wife and stressing vs. being apart and stressing.

If I were to do this whole DS-230 all over again, I wouldn't have checked the SS# box on there. That was the worst because I didn't know if we had to wait or go to the SSA office to get his number. Turns out the USCIS hadn't notified the SSA about him coming to the US so we had to file again and wait another 4 weeks.

Diana