Important Info for all

[Mr Geminian 691]

FYI guys!  Check out this link!

http://www.davismiles.com/in-person-interviews-to-get-a-green-card/

 

"Welcome to a new world. On August 28, 2017, USCIS issued a press release that describes the expansion of categories that will require in-person interviews to obtain a green card. The expansion includes green card applicants in employment based categories and relative petitions for refugees and asylees."

 

"An AOS applicant should expect the time frame to get a green card to be extended."

 

 

Originally quoted by @Texasfiler

Edited September 6, 2017 by Aviinashh M

[Going through 5,668]

11 minutes ago, Aviinashh M said:

USCIS issued a press release that describes the expansion of categories that will require in-person interviews to obtain a green card. The expansion includes green card applicants in employment based categories and relative petitions for refugees and asylees."

 

This part I like.

[Mr Geminian 691]

2 minutes ago, Going through said:

 

This part I like.

but that way the waiting time for all AOS categories will be on a long wait.... hate waiting  

[Going through 5,668]

2 minutes ago, Aviinashh M said:

but that way the waiting time for all AOS categories will be on a long wait.... hate waiting  

Waiting for anything is hard, true---especially the good things.

 

I do like that they are interviewing those applicants though instead of just issuing out the green cards---especially the employment based ones.

 

Might only be slightly longer a wait---with thousands of more applicants needing interviews each year, that means more hiring of IOs, too.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Going through

[Mr Geminian 691]

9 minutes ago, Going through said:

Waiting for anything is hard, true---especially the good things.

 

I do like that they are interviewing those applicants though instead of just issuing out the green cards---especially the employment based ones.

 

Might only be slightly longer a wait---with thousands of more applicants needing interviews each year, that means more hiring of IOs, too.

yep.... more Ios means more jobs and you being close to becoming a citizen, you can apply for a IO job too

[xillini 71]

36 minutes ago, Aviinashh M said:

but that way the waiting time for all AOS categories will be on a long wait.... hate waiting  

So I did some calculations. 

There are roughly 86 USCIS field offices across the nations. 

Big assumptions: 

1) All USCIS's field office has the same demand for Employment-based interviews (of courses, definitely it is different demand, but just to make it simple observations) 

2) In 365 days, excluding holidays and weekend (Sat-Sun), an average USCIS officers works around 200 days who has authority to perform interviews (365 *5/7 = 260 days plus 10 holidays = 250 days, but all federal employees can enjoy 2-3 weeks of PTO (until 3 years of work experience, 2 weeks, after 4th year, it increases to 3 weeks) and 1 week of Sick Leave (21 - 28 days), so that is already 220-230 days plus there must be training seminars per each quarter, and temporary assignments, so technically I am quite sure average days per calendar year that USCIS officers can perform the interview is around 180 days (out of 365 days), but let's be optimistic and be generous that 200 days an average USCIS officer can work per each year. 

3) In fiscal year, roughly 140,000 EB cases can be granted by US immigration laws (This does not include Oversea consular processing)

 

Now, doing some calculations, 

calculations 1) 

The amount of EB cases that each USCIS field office has to deal per year

140,000 / 86  = 1628 cases per year in each USCIS's field office

calculations 2) 

1628 cases / 200 days = 7 or 8 cases to interview per each day at each USCIS's field office. 

 

So, 7-8 cases to be done by an USCIS's officer on each day, which doesn't sound a lot (Again, it is the best-case scenario with generous assumptions that each USCIS officers has 200 working days to solely the interview, which would be around 180 days, reaslitically speaking, and therefore almost 9-10 cases per each day in each field office) but there are some other factors that needs to be taken into account

 

1) Unlike family-based immigration petitions, where USCIS officers just need to confirm and be convinced that all documents are authentic, the factual relation is correct such as bona-fide marriage, Employment-based petitions are complicated in a way that myriads of check-lists to do such as prevailing wages, relations between employers and beneficiary, and the PERM process (well I am not savvy about EB process, but this is roughly what I can tell). So each interview will, at least, take more than 30 minutes and probably around an hour. 

So this means in every USCIS's field office, one USCIS officer is tied to exclusively conducting the interview every day and all-day long basis, assuming that they work 8 hours per day. 

 

2) It is not clear that USCIS officers doing Family I-485 interviews can conduct EB I-485 interviews. I do know some senior officers can conduct citizenship interviews as well as Family I-485 interviews, but I do not clearly know if all citizenship interviewing officers can be compatible to conduct I-485 interviews, so it will create some issues that all other I-485 as well as citizenship interview may be significantly delayed. 

 

3) As USCIS's field offices are interviewing all applicants, there will be some cases with RFE and delayed decisions, which will start to create bottleneck processes. So, 7-8 cases are ideally the best-scenario cases, but after an year or so, it will start to build up until applicants are starting to be reduced, which we do not know when (assuming many people still want to come to USA and work here). 

 

4) Now to break the big assumptions, some field offices have high demand for immigration cases, while others not. For instance, the number of I-485 cases in NYC field offices can not be the same as Alabama's field office because immigrants tend to live in metropolitan areas and around the West/East coastlines. So this will create significant timeline difference between one applying to I-485 in NYC and another applying to I-485 in Midwest small town. 

 

But on the  mean time, this can indeed serve America's national interests if more skilled immigrants are lured into rural/countryside due to the expectation that faster processing timeline is what it encourages them to find employment in rural areas, which started to be obsolete and no business going on

 

At this point, it is not even clear that how USCIS is gonna conduct the all EB I-485 interviews, let's just wait. In the end of the days, USCIS is sub-division of DHS under President's White House, who is ordering "just do it, or you are fired". 

Edited September 6, 2017 by xillini

[Going through 5,668]

7 minutes ago, xillini said:

So I did some calculations. 

There are roughly 86 USCIS field offices across the nations. 

Big assumptions: 

1) All USCIS's field office has the same demand for Employment-based interviews (of courses, definitely it is different demand, but just to make it simple observations) 

2) In 365 days, excluding holidays and weekend (Sat-Sun), an average USCIS officers works around 200 days who has authority to perform interviews (365 *5/7 = 260 days plus 10 holidays = 250 days, but all federal employees can enjoy 2-3 weeks of PTO (until 3 years of work experience, 2 weeks, after 4th year, it increases to 3 weeks) and 1 week of Sick Leave (21 - 28 days), so that is already 220-230 days plus there must be training seminars per each quarter, and temporary assignments, so technically I am quite sure average days per calendar year that USCIS officers can perform the interview is around 180 days (out of 365 days), but let's be optimistic and be generous that 200 days an average USCIS officer can work per each year. 

3) In fiscal year, roughly 140,000 EB cases can be granted by US immigration laws (This does not include Oversea consular processing)

 

Now, doing some calculations, 

calculations 1) 

The amount of EB cases that each USCIS field office has to deal per year

140,000 / 86  = 1628 cases per year in each USCIS's field office

calculations 2) 

1628 cases / 200 days = 7 or 8 cases to interview per each day at each USCIS's field office. 

 

So, 7-8 cases to be done by an USCIS's officer on each day, which doesn't sound a lot (Again, it is the best-case scenario with generous assumptions that each USCIS officers has 200 working days to solely the interview, which would be around 180 days, reaslitically speaking, and therefore almost 9-10 cases per each day in each field office) but there are some other factors that needs to be taken into account

 

1) Unlike family-based immigration petitions, where USCIS officers just need to confirm and be convinced that all documents are authentic, the factual relation is correct such as bona-fide marriage, Employment-based petitions are complicated in a way that myriads of check-lists to do such as prevailing wages, relations between employers and beneficiary, and the PERM process (well I am not savvy about EB process, but this is roughly what I can tell). So each interview will, at least, take more than 30 minutes and probably around an hour. 

So this means in every USCIS's field office, one USCIS officer is tied to exclusively conducting the interview every day and all-day long basis, assuming that they work 8 hours per day. 

 

2) It is not clear that USCIS officers doing Family I-485 interviews can conduct EB I-485 interviews. I do know some senior officers can conduct citizenship interviews as well as Family I-485 interviews, but I do not clearly know if all citizenship interviewing officers can be compatible to conduct I-485 interviews, so it will create some issues that all other I-485 as well as citizenship interview may be significantly delayed. 

 

3) As USCIS's field offices are interviewing all applicants, there will be some cases with RFE and delayed decisions, which will start to create bottleneck processes. So, 7-8 cases are ideally the best-scenario cases, but after an year or so, it will start to build up until applicants are starting to be reduced, which we do not know when (assuming many people still want to come to USA and work here). 

 

4) Now to break the big assumptions, some field offices have high demand for immigration cases, while others not. For instance, the number of I-485 cases in NYC field offices can not be the same as Alabama's field office because immigrants tend to live in metropolitan areas and around the West/East coastlines. So this will create significant timeline difference between one applying to I-485 in NYC and another applying to I-485 in Midwest small town. 

 

But on the  mean time, this can indeed serve America's national interests if more skilled immigrants are lured into rural/countryside due to the expectation that faster processing timeline is what it encourages them to find employment in rural areas, which started to be obsolete and no business going on

 

At this point, it is not even clear that how USCIS is gonna conduct the all EB I-485 interviews, let's just wait. In the end of the days, USCIS is sub-division of DHS under President's White House, who is ordering "just do it, or you are fired". 

That was just waaaaaaay too much math for me this late at night 

You're very good with numbers---wanna do my taxes??  lol

[xillini 71]

3 minutes ago, Going through said:

That was just waaaaaaay too much math for me this late at night 

You're very good with numbers---wanna do my taxes??  lol

I feel humbled, and thanks. My minor is statistics in my undergrad and I am applying to Statistic program in US after successfully completed AOS, I just did some statistical points of the view on this change that all EB I-485 applicants are gonna be interviewed. 

 

As a conditional LPR, who is required to ROC later, I am interested in analyzing I-751 delayed. If I remember correctly, it used to take 7-12 months until mid 2015, but now it starts to take in average 12 months, and around 15 months. If I find some meaningful data, I would luv to share the result here. 

 

Thanks again

[Going through 5,668]

1 minute ago, xillini said:

My minor is statistics in my undergrad and I am applying to Statistic program in US after successfully completed AOS

Just a hunch....but I have a feeling you will do well in your future endeavors. 

[Mr Geminian 691]

1 hour ago, Going through said:

That was just waaaaaaay too much math for me this late at night 

You're very good with numbers---wanna do my taxes??  lol

lol.... seriosly

[cd37 229]

1 hour ago, Going through said:

Waiting for anything is hard, true---especially the good things.

 

I do like that they are interviewing those applicants though instead of just issuing out the green cards---especially the employment based ones.

 

Might only be slightly longer a wait---with thousands of more applicants needing interviews each year, that means more hiring of IOs, too.

Remember, USCIS is fee based agency. If you expect them to hire more people then prepare for increase in form fees. So dont get your hopes up 😁

[Frage 67]

I applied AOS for my husband. I know our category makes it mandatory to attend an interview. Will our wait time be affected or stay the same? 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Frage

[Mr Geminian 691]

1 hour ago, xillini said:

So I did some calculations. 

There are roughly 86 USCIS field offices across the nations. 

Big assumptions: 

1) All USCIS's field office has the same demand for Employment-based interviews (of courses, definitely it is different demand, but just to make it simple observations) 

2) In 365 days, excluding holidays and weekend (Sat-Sun), an average USCIS officers works around 200 days who has authority to perform interviews (365 *5/7 = 260 days plus 10 holidays = 250 days, but all federal employees can enjoy 2-3 weeks of PTO (until 3 years of work experience, 2 weeks, after 4th year, it increases to 3 weeks) and 1 week of Sick Leave (21 - 28 days), so that is already 220-230 days plus there must be training seminars per each quarter, and temporary assignments, so technically I am quite sure average days per calendar year that USCIS officers can perform the interview is around 180 days (out of 365 days), but let's be optimistic and be generous that 200 days an average USCIS officer can work per each year. 

3) In fiscal year, roughly 140,000 EB cases can be granted by US immigration laws (This does not include Oversea consular processing)

 

Now, doing some calculations, 

calculations 1) 

The amount of EB cases that each USCIS field office has to deal per year

140,000 / 86  = 1628 cases per year in each USCIS's field office

calculations 2) 

1628 cases / 200 days = 7 or 8 cases to interview per each day at each USCIS's field office. 

 

So, 7-8 cases to be done by an USCIS's officer on each day, which doesn't sound a lot (Again, it is the best-case scenario with generous assumptions that each USCIS officers has 200 working days to solely the interview, which would be around 180 days, reaslitically speaking, and therefore almost 9-10 cases per each day in each field office) but there are some other factors that needs to be taken into account

 

1) Unlike family-based immigration petitions, where USCIS officers just need to confirm and be convinced that all documents are authentic, the factual relation is correct such as bona-fide marriage, Employment-based petitions are complicated in a way that myriads of check-lists to do such as prevailing wages, relations between employers and beneficiary, and the PERM process (well I am not savvy about EB process, but this is roughly what I can tell). So each interview will, at least, take more than 30 minutes and probably around an hour. 

So this means in every USCIS's field office, one USCIS officer is tied to exclusively conducting the interview every day and all-day long basis, assuming that they work 8 hours per day. 

 

2) It is not clear that USCIS officers doing Family I-485 interviews can conduct EB I-485 interviews. I do know some senior officers can conduct citizenship interviews as well as Family I-485 interviews, but I do not clearly know if all citizenship interviewing officers can be compatible to conduct I-485 interviews, so it will create some issues that all other I-485 as well as citizenship interview may be significantly delayed. 

 

3) As USCIS's field offices are interviewing all applicants, there will be some cases with RFE and delayed decisions, which will start to create bottleneck processes. So, 7-8 cases are ideally the best-scenario cases, but after an year or so, it will start to build up until applicants are starting to be reduced, which we do not know when (assuming many people still want to come to USA and work here). 

 

4) Now to break the big assumptions, some field offices have high demand for immigration cases, while others not. For instance, the number of I-485 cases in NYC field offices can not be the same as Alabama's field office because immigrants tend to live in metropolitan areas and around the West/East coastlines. So this will create significant timeline difference between one applying to I-485 in NYC and another applying to I-485 in Midwest small town. 

 

But on the  mean time, this can indeed serve America's national interests if more skilled immigrants are lured into rural/countryside due to the expectation that faster processing timeline is what it encourages them to find employment in rural areas, which started to be obsolete and no business going on

 

At this point, it is not even clear that how USCIS is gonna conduct the all EB I-485 interviews, let's just wait. In the end of the days, USCIS is sub-division of DHS under President's White House, who is ordering "just do it, or you are fired". 

That's one good research you did there. I understand that there's a difference between a AOS case from NYC to other small time city and I really appreciate the amount of workload the IOs go through everyday. Good things take a lot of time and if we want all this then we got to wait. 

[Mr Geminian 691]

1 minute ago, Frage said:

I applied AOS for my husband. I know our category makes it mandatory to attention an interview. Will our wait time be affected or stay the same? 

Did he come here on a K-1 visa ?

Wait time depends upon a few things....RFE, office closures (right now in Houston) etc 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Aviinashh M

[Frage 67]

2 minutes ago, Aviinashh M said:

Did he come here on a K-1 visa ?

No on a visitor visa.