AOS March 2016 filers/Part 2

[msmontader 10]

6 hours ago, Linyahui said:

I completely understand. We definitely need to take care of our mental health during this frustrating process!! 

 

What was the last step you took in terms of service requests, InfoPass, etc.? 

Last info pass was in Feb i think, i could not go again because i don't have time at the moment. I keep checking with congressman office every two weeks( the representative is really nice i even have him on linkdin, we created some good relationship) but he has no power other than just emailing uscis and bugging them every two weeks. And now i tried the Omb office to see what will happen.

[Linyahui 103]

On 4/6/2017 at 9:36 AM, Linyahui said:

 

I have a question for anyone still checking this forum--

 

I assume that many of us have USCIS accounts that we use(d) to check case status. Here is the question: when I access uscis.gov and click on "check your case status" to login into my account, what do those dates mean on my account page? There's a little table with columns indicating Receipt Number, Last Updated, Forum, Email Alert, and Mobile Alert. For the longest time, I thought the column for "Last Updated" referred to when I added that particular application to my account so I could track it. For example, the Last Updated date for my husband's i-485 is March 21, 2016. The Last Updated dates for my husband's EAD and AP renewal forms (I-765 and I-131, respectively), is January 24, 2017 for both. 

 

BUT. Does that Last Updated date ACTUALLY refer to the last time a USCIS officer reviewed/checked/looked at the application???  If so, that is OUTRAGEOUS. 

 

My husband wants to travel to Taiwan this summer to see his mom, but his advance parole expires April 29 and we have not gotten the renewal yet. We called the USCIS hotline and were told to call back after 90 days if we still hadn't gotten any updates. Ninety days after date of receipt would be April 12, 2017. SERIOUSLY?! 

 

I. Have. Had. It. 

 

Does anyone know the answer to this question? 

[PaddyGirl13 75]

Unfortunately I don't know. Some folks maintain that it does show last time it was "touched". I'm locked out of my login for some reason so I couldn't check mine. 

[Linyahui 103]

4 hours ago, PaddyGirl13 said:

Unfortunately I don't know. Some folks maintain that it does show last time it was "touched". I'm locked out of my login for some reason so I couldn't check mine. 

Thanks, PaddyGirl! I'm trying to not check this forum and USCIS each day anymore...it doesn't help to speed anything up. Trying to stay cheerful and positive, but it's been hard lately. 

[sv3tka 5]

9 hours ago, Linyahui said:

 

Does anyone know the answer to this question? 

I can only speculate that it does not have to do with touching a case per se. I had an address change on my request and this shows in the case history section, but the updated date does not reflect this. 

[Ninahi 53]

My cases generally never updated in the electronic system, so I don't know. If USCIS received the EAD applications on Jan 12, it could be they didn't get actually punched into their system until Jan 24. Overall the online register is flawed beyond repair, I wish I had better news for you @Linyahui! And it's totally okay to start taking breaks from the system and the forum and try to re-focus on your actual life here. This is just stupid bureaucracy.

 

Congrats to March fam who received their approvals!

 

Good luck to the March fam who are still waiting. Practice self care ya'll. 

[elikhom 7]

Hey Guys,

 

Like you we are still waiting to get any kind of response from USCIS about our AOS process, we applied back in early March 2016 but haven't heard anything. I understand the Houston office seems to be backed up, but even the website says that in Jan they were doing Feb 2016 cases, it has been 2 and half months since then and no news about ours.

 

My wife called back in Jan (when I called they told me they needed to speak with the applicant, not the sponsor) to see whats going on and they told her that she just needed to wait. So now I'm thinking about making a more formal request for a status. Any recommendations on how to do this? Should I call and ask for a Tier 2 representative? I saw some of you send an inquiry status thorough the website, does that work? 

 

We submitted EAD/AP renewal 6 weeks ago and haven't heard about those either and the EAD is expiring in a week or so.

 

I really wish I had started this back in Sep 2015 when we got married but since she was in an L1 we didnt rush. I for sure wasn't expecting to take over a year.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by elikhom

[reachforthesky 5]

Hi Everyone,

 

I finally had my interview on April 14th 2017.

 

We arrived to the office around 8:15 am (our interview was at 8:45am). A younger IO officer called us in around 9:20 am - she apologized for the wait (this was very nice of her) and we then proceeded to her office. There was another officer there also, taking notes.

 

The interview itself was very smooth. We took an oath and then proceeded to answer i130 & i485 questions. She then asked us how we met, if we ever traveled together, and if he had any additional documents to show her.

 

We showed her our wedding album, our joint bank accounts and travel tickets to various destinations when we were dating and married. She then took my passport (petitioner) and I-94 (i printed it online) and went to photocopy them.

 

She kept the bank statements, our employment letters and the flight tickets. She returned our pictures to us and said to make a nice album with them.

 

At the end, she said they need to review my file and gave us a sheet saying the file is in review. I was kind of down as we din't get approved on the spot but din't want to ask her any questions regarding the timeline.

 

She did say it takes about 120 days but the decision will be done in a few weeks (thinking this is a good sign?). No sign of "it looks good" or "expect something in a few days"

 

I am hoping everything went smoothly and an email to pop up soon.

 

Anyone here who waited more than 1-2 months for the decision after the interview?

 

Thanks

 

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by reachforthesky

[reachforthesky 5]

3 hours ago, reachforthesky said:

Hi Everyone,

 

I finally had my interview on April 14th 2017.

 

We arrived to the office around 8:15 am (our interview was at 8:45am). A younger IO officer called us in around 9:20 am - she apologized for the wait (this was very nice of her) and we then proceeded to her office. There was another officer there also, taking notes.

 

The interview itself was very smooth. We took an oath and then proceeded to answer i130 & i485 questions. She then asked us how we met, if we ever traveled together, and if he had any additional documents to show her.

 

We showed her our wedding album, our joint bank accounts and travel tickets to various destinations when we were dating and married. She then took my passport (petitioner) and I-94 (i printed it online) and went to photocopy them.

 

She kept the bank statements, our employment letters and the flight tickets. She returned our pictures to us and said to make a nice album with them.

 

At the end, she said they need to review my file and gave us a sheet saying the file is in review. I was kind of down as we din't get approved on the spot but din't want to ask her any questions regarding the timeline.

 

She did say it takes about 120 days but the decision will be done in a few weeks (thinking this is a good sign?). No sign of "it looks good" or "expect something in a few days"

 

I am hoping everything went smoothly and an email to pop up soon.

 

Anyone here who waited more than 1-2 months for the decision after the interview?

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

Just checked got an email and texts - My I-485 has been updated and "my card has gone into production!"

 

I was a silent reader on these forums and want to wish everyone good luck with their journey, I know it's a tough journey but with perseverance come success. 

 

Good luck everyone!

 

[Linyahui 103]

On 4/11/2017 at 6:23 PM, sv3tka said:

I can only speculate that it does not have to do with touching a case per se. I had an address change on my request and this shows in the case history section, but the updated date does not reflect this. 

Thanks, this is helpful!

[Linyahui 103]

On 4/17/2017 at 9:18 AM, elikhom said:

Hey Guys,

 

Like you we are still waiting to get any kind of response from USCIS about our AOS process, we applied back in early March 2016 but haven't heard anything. I understand the Houston office seems to be backed up, but even the website says that in Jan they were doing Feb 2016 cases, it has been 2 and half months since then and no news about ours.

 

My wife called back in Jan (when I called they told me they needed to speak with the applicant, not the sponsor) to see whats going on and they told her that she just needed to wait. So now I'm thinking about making a more formal request for a status. Any recommendations on how to do this? Should I call and ask for a Tier 2 representative? I saw some of you send an inquiry status thorough the website, does that work? 

 

We submitted EAD/AP renewal 6 weeks ago and haven't heard about those either and the EAD is expiring in a week or so.

 

I really wish I had started this back in Sep 2015 when we got married but since she was in an L1 we didnt rush. I for sure wasn't expecting to take over a year.

 

 

Hi, Elikhom. Which country is your wife from? Do you know whether she is still undergoing security checks or is it just that the Houston office is slow to schedule interviews? 

 

If I were you, I would call the 1-800 number and ask to speak with a Tier 2 officer. They are the only ones with real access to your records and can tell you whether your wife has passed through security checks or not. That seems to be a big reason for delays in case processing. The service request through the website is basically useless; we've already done three and have submitted a fourth a month ago, but they never result in anything. It's more for my peace of mind, feeling like I can do something to push processing forward, even though it really does nothing.

 

 

[Linyahui 103]

18 hours ago, reachforthesky said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just checked got an email and texts - My I-485 has been updated and "my card has gone into production!"

 

I was a silent reader on these forums and want to wish everyone good luck with their journey, I know it's a tough journey but with perseverance come success. 

 

Good luck everyone!

 

Congratulations, reachforthesky! 

[Linyahui 103]

Ho hum, we are still waiting. No updates to share on Day 405. 

 

I just checked case processing for EAD/AP renewals and they've moved forward a mere four days in the past month, currently processing December 3 as of February 28. Previously, they were processing EAD/AP applications from November 29. Hubby has a big plan in place to go back to Taiwan this summer for a month and then bring his mom to the U.S. for the first time to meet my parents. Now it all looks to be in jeopardy because his AP expires in eleven days and with the rate things are going, I'm afraid he won't get the AP renewed before he wants to leave end of June.

 

Any advice?? 

[elikhom 7]

20 hours ago, Linyahui said:

Hi, Elikhom. Which country is your wife from? Do you know whether she is still undergoing security checks or is it just that the Houston office is slow to schedule interviews? 

 

If I were you, I would call the 1-800 number and ask to speak with a Tier 2 officer. They are the only ones with real access to your records and can tell you whether your wife has passed through security checks or not. That seems to be a big reason for delays in case processing. The service request through the website is basically useless; we've already done three and have submitted a fourth a month ago, but they never result in anything. It's more for my peace of mind, feeling like I can do something to push processing forward, even though it really does nothing.

 

 

 

Hi Linyahui,

 

My wife is from the UK, she was here with an L1 already when I met her and remained here with that visa until we got married and got the EAD. The Houston office is especially slow, this is their timeline posted as of yesterday.

 

Field Office Processing Dates for Houston TX as of: February 28, 2017

Form	Form Name	Processing Cases As Of Date:
I-485	Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status	April 10, 2016
N-400	Application for Naturalization	May 31, 2016
N-600	Application for Certification of Citizenship	May 14, 2016

 

So they are saying that by end of Feb they were processing cases from April. Our priority date is March 4th and it's already mid April there has to be some progress or reason why it's not moving.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try calling sometime this week.

 

 

 

 

[Linyahui 103]

1 hour ago, elikhom said:

 

Hi Linyahui,

 

My wife is from the UK, she was here with an L1 already when I met her and remained here with that visa until we got married and got the EAD. The Houston office is especially slow, this is their timeline posted as of yesterday.

 

Field Office Processing Dates for Houston TX as of: February 28, 2017

Form	Form Name	Processing Cases As Of Date:
I-485	Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status	April 10, 2016
N-400	Application for Naturalization	May 31, 2016
N-600	Application for Certification of Citizenship	May 14, 2016

 

So they are saying that by end of Feb they were processing cases from April. Our priority date is March 4th and it's already mid April there has to be some progress or reason why it's not moving.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try calling sometime this week.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing info about your case, elikhom. We're in a very similar boat to you--PD of March 11, 2016 and our local office in St. Paul, MN is processing cases from April 2. Although our local office is quite slow compared to other offices around the U.S., we did find out that our case specifically is still stuck in background checks and that is the reason for the delay. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but wait at this point. Even our congresswoman can't intervene to speed up the process with the FBI.

 

I'd suggest calling USCIS, requesting to speak to a Tier 2 officer, and asking, specifically, whether your wife's background check has been completed. If so, then you know the delay is due to manpower at your local office. If not, the delay is due to the background check. You may have to call USCIS several times to get to a Tier 2--we called last night around 5:30 pm local time, were transferred, and got an automatic message saying we'd get a call back from an officer (this is normal). However, the wait time at that point was 528 minutes--nearly nine hours!! We did get an automated call back around 11 PM last night but it was just to say that no officers were available at that time (duh) and we could email our question. We will just try calling again another day.

 

The point of this is that you may have to be persistent to get further information about your wife's application. Don't despair or worry too much--it can take time to work your way through the system to get the answers you need. If a phone call doesn't work, you can also try an InfoPass. During our InfoPass, we found out that we're on the interview waiver list, which is very heartening. Despite our long wait, we still have good news. That always helps.