PedroDaGr8's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Jeffrey Beneficiary's Name: Khuyên VJ Member: PedroDaGr8 Country: Vietnam Last Updated: 2022-08-19 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Jeffrey & Khuyên:

USCIS I-129F Petition:       Dept of State K1 Visa:     USCIS I-485 Petition:   USCIS I-765 Petition:       USCIS I-131 Petition:       USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

K1 Visa Event Date Service Center : California Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Bangkok, Thailand I-129F Sent : 2016-09-24 I-129F NOA1 : 2016-09-26 I-129F RFE(s) : 2016-10-27 RFE Reply(s) : 2016-11-02 I-129F NOA2 : 2016-11-09 NVC Received : 2016-11-21 Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned : 2016-12-09 NVC Left : 2016-12-12 Consulate Received : 2017-01-10 Packet 3 Received : 2017-01-16 Packet 3 Sent : 2017-02-28 Packet 4 Received : 2017-03-05 Interview Date : 2017-03-30 Interview Result : Approved Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : 2017-04-26 US Entry : 2017-05-02 Marriage : Comments : Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-129f was approved in 44 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 185 days from your I-129F NOA1 date.

Adjustment of Status Event Date CIS Office : Seattle WA Date Filed : 2017-07-03 NOA Date : 2017-07-06 RFE(s) : Bio. Appt. : 2017-08-02 AOS Transfer** : Interview Date : 2018-12-11 Approval / Denial Date : 2018-12-12 Approved : Yes Got I551 Stamp : No Greencard Received: 2018-12-19 Comments : The Seattle Office is notoriously slow at processing AoS due to the sheer high case load. As for our interview: Arrived at the USCIS office 30 min before our scheduled time, went through security, and got in line at the Triage Desk. Got a number like the DMV and went upstairs to the waiting area. FYI, based on my experience, sit in the waiting area on the right if you can, not the portion on the left by the restrooms. Most interviewers come from doors on the right side and a couple people on the left side didn’t hear their number being called. Our number was not called until around 45 min after our scheduled time. Our interviewer asked us a few basic questions and confirmed our IDs. He then asked for a few basic documents: birth certificate from my wife, passport or birth certificate from me, and a certified copy of our marriage certificate (he also asked if he could keep it). At that time, I also volunteered the certificate and divorce documents from my previous marriage. He said that while he didn’t need them, it was a nice to directly confirm the submitted copies in our case file against the originals. From there, he then put us under oath. His first question comment was “The validity of the relationship was clearly established during the K-1 process, do you have any additional evidence to submit?” Based on my research online, the USCIS seems to use a few different categories of evidence to demonstrate validity; as such, I organized all of my evidence into these categories: comingling of finances, cohabitation, communications, co-mingling of personal lives/pictures. We submitted evidence from each of these categories. Interestingly he only wanted a few pictures stating, “I try not to overwhelm the case file with loads of pictures”. Of the pictures we provided, he focused in particular on ones containing each of us with the others parents and pictures from our parents meeting each other, again asking if he could keep the pictures (we agreed he could). As for other evidence provided, we communicate regularly via Google Hangouts, so I provided a number of chat logs and screenshots from Hangouts showing us communicating regular boring typical relationship stuff. I also included some screen captures showing the sheer number of chats. For finances I provided insurance documents, shared credit cards, utility bills, etc. Lastly, for cohabitation, we provided leases with both names on them and evidence that we both receive mail at the same address (USPS Informed Delivery). For comingling of lives, besides the pictures, we also provided a bunch of FB posts where my wife tagged me. Once this was complete, he asked some more basic questions: why did I split from my previous wife, how we first met, he asked my wife what is the name of a close friend of mine who lives here, etc. As we finished up, he asked if there was anything else we wanted to provide. When I asked if he wanted my current tax return, he stated it was not necessary as the financial evidence was more than enough. Additionally, my wife did not need to provide anything related to vaccination or medical exam. When finished, we were not told whether we were approved or not. He gave us a sheet indicating that USCIS was issuing a continuance for additional processing. Frustratingly, this sheet had been printed out before the interview started. He stated that this is pretty much standard right now and that they had all of the documents needed at this time. If they discovered a document was missing they would issue an RFE. He said from there, if approved then we would be notified via mail and in the unlikely event we are denied, the letter would inform us on how to appeal. Furthermore, the continuation gave them up to 120 days to render a verdict. He said truthfully it is seldom that long, but that sometimes they do need that entire time. I was a bit crestfallen at this news, as being on hold indefinitely sucks. I asked him how things went and he stated “Honestly, this was a very basic and straightforward interview”. I interpreted that as either a very good thing or very bad thing. We were rather blah about it afterwards, more worried about the wait. Turns out this wasn’t necessary! Last-night, about 13 hours after the interview, between 12:50am and 1:30am we received no less than SEVEN SMS messages letting us know that our case status has been updated. Checked on egov.uscis.com and sure enough we were approved! The status now states “New Card is Being Produced” I expect the “Welcome to America” Letter to come in the next week, with the card a few days behind it.

Employment Authorization Document Event Date CIS Office : Chicago National Office Filing Method : Mail Filing Instance : First Date Filed : 2017-07-03 NOA Date : 2017-07-06 RFE(s) : Bio. Appt. : 2017-08-02 Approved Date : 2017-11-04 Date Card Received : 2017-11-13 Comments : It took us 124 days from AoS received to notice of EAD approved. Still no info about AP, but I have heard this is not uncommon. Processing Estimates/Stats : Your EAD was approved in 124 days.

Advance Parole Event Date CIS Office : Chicago National Office Filing Method :   Filing Instance : First Date Filed : 2017-07-03 NOA Date : 2017-07-06 RFE(s) : Date Received : 2017-11-13 Comments : Processing Estimates/Stats : Your AP was approved in 129 days.

Lifting Conditions Event Date CIS Office : Nebraska Service Center Date Filed : 2020-11-20 NOA Date : 2021-01-09 RFE(s) : Bio. Appt. : Interview Date : Approval / Denial Date : 2021-08-04 Approved : Yes Got I551 Stamp : No Green Card Received : 2021-08-11 Comments :

Citizenship Event Date Service Center : Online CIS Office : Seattle WA Date Filed : 2021-09-15 NOA Date : 2021-09-15 Bio. Appt. : 2021-09-15 Interview Date : 2022-08-10 Approved : Yes Oath Ceremony : 2022-08-10 Comments :

Member Reviews:

Consulate Review: Bangkok, Thailand Review Topic: K1 Visa Event Description Review Date : April 26, 2017 Embassy Review : The process was truly chaotic. My fiancee is Vietnamese but interviewing at the Bangkok US Embassy, because she lives and works in Bangkok. The day before my fiancee's interview at the US Embassy, her interview appointment disappeared from the embassy website; it was wiped entirely off the schedule for that month. Surprised and unsure what to do, I posted on here if anyone had any experience with this. Nobody had encountered this happening before but the general consensus was to go to the interview anyways because we had not heard anything from the embassy. So she went to her appointment as it had been originally scheduled. Once there, they took all of her documents as if she was having her interview and there was no indication of anything wrong. She was asked the usual first round of questions when she gave the documents and then she waited 5 hours for her name to be called up for her interview. When she was called up, the officer simply said that they wanted to independently verify ALL of her official Vietnamese documents (the ones that she got directly from the Viet government) and as such there would be no interview today (his words). He gave her back her passport and a 221G with the only thing checked being "Other:" and it is filled in with "Administrative Processing of Vietnamese Documents". He refused to giver her any time frame, estimated time, or honestly any other details at all. This left us wondering how long it would take. The horror stories about 221G and Administrative Processing abound. After a couple of weeks she sent an email to the Embassy and they responded back: Dear Sir/Madam: Thank you for your email. It is our pleasure to inform you that your visa has now been approved. We are working with the preparation of your visa package at the moment which takes approximately ten business days. Applicant should refrain from making any irrevocable travel arrangements until he/she receives the visa package back in hand. Once the package is ready, we will mail it to the applicant's mailing address in his/her GSS profile. All of the original documents will be returned to the applicant with this package. The tracking number of the package will not be available until it is sent off. You are welcome to check back with us in the next ten business days for possible update. Best Regards, Immigrant Visa Unit US Embassy Bangkok This is strange, because she was literally told that she would not have the consular interview before, implying there would be an interview at a later date. Now here is where it gets even more weird: at this point, THEY DON'T HAVE HER PASSPORT! Wondering how they can process the packet without her passport, she emailed back. They responded to send it to the same address she sent her Packet 3 before. So she does this and it arrives there the day before the Songkran holiday. A couple days after the holiday she emails them and they said they are still working through the backlog from the holiday but will get to it shortly. Suddenly, two days ago (8 business days from the email) her CEAC status gets updated from Immigrant to Non-Immigrant and a new case date is submitted. Within 12 hours of this status change, her status flies through Ready-->Administrative Processing-->Issued. On top of that, checking her passport status yesterday shows that it has been submitted for shipping. Today when she came home from work her passport was there with the visa included! So they literally hit their 10 business days (if you ignore the days off for Songkran Holiday) Rating : Moderate

Local US CIS Office Review: Seattle WA Review Topic: cis_topic Event Description Review Date : December 12, 2018 Embassy Review : Our interview process: Arrived at the USCIS office 30 min before our scheduled time, went through security, and got in line at the Triage Desk. Got a number like the DMV and went upstairs to the waiting area. FYI, based on my experience, sit in the waiting area on the right if you can, not the portion on the left by the restrooms. Most interviewers come from doors on the right side and a couple people on the left side didn’t hear their number being called. Our number was not called until around 45 min after our scheduled time. Our interviewer asked us a few basic questions and confirmed our IDs. He then asked for a few basic documents: birth certificate from my wife, passport or birth certificate from me, and a certified copy of our marriage certificate (he also asked if he could keep it). At that time, I also volunteered the certificate and divorce documents from my previous marriage. He said that while he didn’t need them, it was a nice to directly confirm the submitted copies in our case file against the originals. From there, he then put us under oath. His first question comment was “The validity of the relationship was clearly established during the K-1 process, do you have any additional evidence to submit?” Based on my research online, the USCIS seems to use a few different categories of evidence to demonstrate validity; as such, I organized all of my evidence into these categories: comingling of finances, cohabitation, communications, co-mingling of personal lives/pictures. We submitted evidence from each of these categories. Interestingly he only wanted a few pictures stating, “I try not to overwhelm the case file with loads of pictures”. Of the pictures we provided, he focused in particular on ones containing each of us with the others parents and pictures from our parents meeting each other, again asking if he could keep the pictures (we agreed he could). As for other evidence provided, we communicate regularly via Google Hangouts, so I provided a number of chat logs and screenshots from Hangouts showing us communicating regular boring typical relationship stuff. I also included some screen captures showing the sheer number of chats. For finances I provided insurance documents, shared credit cards, utility bills, etc. Lastly, for cohabitation, we provided leases with both names on them and evidence that we both receive mail at the same address (USPS Informed Delivery). For comingling of lives, besides the pictures, we also provided a bunch of FB posts where my wife tagged me. Once this was complete, he asked some more basic questions: why did I split from my previous wife, how we first met, he asked my wife what is the name of a close friend of mine who lives here, etc. As we finished up, he asked if there was anything else we wanted to provide. When I asked if he wanted my current tax return, he stated it was not necessary as the financial evidence was more than enough. Additionally, my wife did not need to provide anything related to vaccination or medical exam. When finished, we were not told whether we were approved or not. He gave us a sheet indicating that USCIS was issuing a continuance for additional processing. Frustratingly, this sheet had been printed out before the interview started. He stated that this is pretty much standard right now and that they had all of the documents needed at this time. If they discovered a document was missing they would issue an RFE. He said from there, if approved then we would be notified via mail and in the unlikely event we are denied, the letter would inform us on how to appeal. Furthermore, the continuation gave them up to 120 days to render a verdict. He said truthfully it is seldom that long, but that sometimes they do need that entire time. I was a bit crestfallen at this news, as being on hold indefinitely sucks. I asked him how things went and he stated “Honestly, this was a very basic and straightforward interview”. I interpreted that as either a very good thing or very bad thing. We were rather blah about it afterwards, more worried about the wait. Turns out this wasn’t necessary! Last-night, about 13 hours after the interview, between 12:50am and 1:30am we received no less than SEVEN SMS messages letting us know that our case status has been updated. Checked on egov.uscis.com and sure enough we were approved! The status now states “New Card is Being Produced” I expect the “Welcome to America” Letter to come in the next week, with the card a few days behind it. Harassment Level : Good

Timeline Comments: None yet, be the first!



*Notice about estimates: The estimates are based off averages of other members recent experiences
(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
rely on them for planning. As always you should check the USCIS processing times to see if your application
is past due.

** Not all cases are transfered

ver 5.0