Interesting Information to Share

[RaptureSongbird 533]

I just attended an immigrantion event in my city where a representative from USCIS just gave a presentation along with a congressional liaison and staff members from my local congressional offices.  It was a great presentation where I learned a bit more about AOS, which we'll start after my fiance arrives next month and we get married, along with the naturalization process.  There were a few tidbits that I heard/was told today that I thought I'd share here:

 

• As of October 1st there will no longer be any interview waivers for AOS.  This was confirmed to me by both the USCIS officer and the congressional liaison in separate conversations.  The USCIS officer said to expect AOS to start to take even longer because they are sending everyone for an interview, including K1, from now on, no more waivers.  Also, as of right now, there is no plan of increasing staff to help with the increased number of interviews at least in my district.
• The congressional liaison and one of the congressional office staff members stated that they are projecting/seeing an average of 5 months for EAD now and going forward.
• I asked about front loading the AOS application and they encouraged this, within reason, as this will help the officers see evidence of the marriage and relationship before the interview.
• They also stated that they are currently seeing an average of 8 months for all AOS applications and, if the medical expires during this process since it's only valid for 1 year, to wait until the interview before deciding to do another medical exam.  They said at the interview they will inform us if another medical has to be done but that they might be doing waivers for another medical since they realize a medical has been done recently, the cost of the medical exam, and how long it's taking them to get through AOS applications at this point.  They stated, if another medical is required, that we will have 30 days to complete that and get the documentation back to the local offices.

 

Unfortunately I also received some bad information from a SSA representative while I was there about obtaining a SSN and I only knew it was bad information because of these forums.  The SSA representative told me that my fiance cannot get a SSN until after he receives his EAD.  I tried to clarify that this was for a fiance (K1) visa and I thought the rules were different for that but the SSA representative insisted my fiance can't get a SSN until his EAD comes back.  I'm thankful for these forums to know that is not the case and to know which documentation I will need to take to the SSA office here after his arrival to show them proof.

 

Hope this information is useful/helpful for those going through/about to start the AOS process.

[geowrian 22,336]

Hmm...a few interesting points.

• The required interview thing may be just your district? I know they will now do interviews for most employment-based green cards, but doing it for all/most K-1 applicants just seems like an even bigger waste of (very limited) resources. I haven't seen any official word on this, but I hope it's not the case for all offices.
• Five months for an EAD now and going forward? That's not in line with their own stated goals, and they'll likely just see a lot more expedites. =.=
• SSA reps never know what they're talking about. K-1 visa holders with a current I-94/admission stamp can get an SSN fine. They cannot get an SSN from 76 days after entry (90 days - 14 days) onwards until they get an EAD.
  • Just yesterday, my now-wife tried to get her card updated with her married name, but they couldn't "until we contacted DHS to update the name in their system". I asked her what she meant exactly, what we need to do, etc. and she didn't know other than we needed to change the name with DHS first. I asked her what documentation she needed to see from DHS to accept the new name and she didn't know. I'm 99% sure she means we need a green card or EAD in the new name (there is no form or means to just update your name with DHS), but it's scary that she didn't even know what she needed to see from DHS to verify the new name. smh

[Hypnos 6,576]

SSA rep was certainly wrong on the K-1 needing an EAD. That's been discussed to death here. 

[Coco8 1,039]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

The required interview thing may be just your district? I know they will now do interviews for most employment-based green cards, but doing it for all/most K-1 applicants just seems like an even bigger waste of (very limited) resources. I haven't seen any official word on this, but I hope it's not the case for all offices.

It won't be a "district" level decision. It will be for everyone. 

 

Yes, it is going to be a mess and probably a way to delay everything.

 

I think this means people deciding right now between doing a K1 or a spousal visa, are better off doing the spousal visa. K1 EAD will take for ever and then the interview will take for ever too. Unless your future partner is going to be a stay at home partner, doing a K1 is going to be a pain.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Coco8

[Going through 5,668]

@RaptureSongbird thank you for taking the time to share this information with us all  

[RaptureSongbird 533]

I'm hoping they change their minds about the interview.  When I was speaking with the liaison I said to her something like "so, we'll be going through AOS and if we have an interview" at which point she stopped me, looked me in the eyes and said "you will have an interview" and that's when she mentioned the October 1st date for that to start with no more waivers.  The USCIS officer then confirmed this separately and mentioned about AOS taking longer because of this change.  I had made both of them aware I was K1 so it sounds like it's coming but it's possible maybe they understood incorrectly.

 

I think the EAD comment about now and going forward was hopefully only temporary.  I mentioned to them that it used to be 2-3 months and they agreed to this.  I think they are seeing the growing backlog and were trying to set realistic expectations for me.  It's possible they may start to work through the backlog faster to get the average EAD time back down but I think for the foreseeable future we should all expect a longer wait on EAD.  Also, that's just the "average" they said which means some will be shorter and some will be longer.  I just hope they can get that time frame down sooner rather than later.

[venom123 32]

36 minutes ago, RaptureSongbird said:

I'm hoping they change their minds about the interview.  When I was speaking with the liaison I said to her something like "so, we'll be going through AOS and if we have an interview" at which point she stopped me, looked me in the eyes and said "you will have an interview" and that's when she mentioned the October 1st date for that to start with no more waivers.  The USCIS officer then confirmed this separately and mentioned about AOS taking longer because of this change.  I had made both of them aware I was K1 so it sounds like it's coming but it's possible maybe they understood incorrectly.

 

I think the EAD comment about now and going forward was hopefully only temporary.  I mentioned to them that it used to be 2-3 months and they agreed to this.  I think they are seeing the growing backlog and were trying to set realistic expectations for me.  It's possible they may start to work through the backlog faster to get the average EAD time back down but I think for the foreseeable future we should all expect a longer wait on EAD.  Also, that's just the "average" they said which means some will be shorter and some will be longer.  I just hope they can get that time frame down sooner rather than later.

Did they mean a longer wait time for people currently waiting on their EAD?

 

My 90 days will be around October 11th, so would i expect a 5 month wait or a 90 day wait?

[SteveE 25]

31 minutes ago, venom123 said:

Did they mean a longer wait time for people currently waiting on their EAD?

 

My 90 days will be around October 11th, so would i expect a 5 month wait or a 90 day wait?

As of January this year USCIS was no longer working on a 90 day timeframe for EAD. 

 

I filed for AOS in January this year and received my EAD approval on day 106. When inquiring about the status of their EAD‚ people are being referred to the USCIS processing times to indicate whether or not they are within normal processing times. You are considered outside of normal processing time IF your priority date is prior to the date last published on the bulletin

 

Current processing times are

 

I-765	Application for Employment Authorization	Based on a pending I-485 adjustment application [(c)(9)]	April 1, 2017

 

You can view all processing times here. To view the processing times for EAD‚ select the option for National Benefits Center (also known as MSC)

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

 

[TL2016 208]

That's a big mess if this is true. The CR-1/IR-1 will be miles better than the K-1 if this all ends up being true. 

 

What I wonder though is if everyone is affected about the mandatory interview, or just those filing on or after October 1st. I'm waiting to hear back and it's almost been 7 months. Seems like I'm in line for an interview waiver too. 

[xillini 71]

18 hours ago, RaptureSongbird said:

 

• As of October 1st there will no longer be any interview waivers for AOS.  This was confirmed to me by both the USCIS officer and the congressional liaison in separate conversations.  The USCIS officer said to expect AOS to start to take even longer because they are sending everyone for an interview, including K1, from now on, no more waivers.  Also, as of right now, there is no plan of increasing staff to help with the increased number of interviews at least in my district.

 

thanks for information. 

 

Have you had a chance to ask if interviewing officers in I-485 based on Marriage can also do interview for those applicants based on employment?

 

If not, I only find a slight hint that it seems to sound that the interviewing officers are gonna do both marriage and employment interviews, meaning that the K-1, spouse married to USC are also gonna have to compete for interview slot availiability against employment based applicants, which will create big backlog. 

Also, that may even affect N-400 citizenship interviews IF USCIS alloted interviewing officers in I-485 do the N-400 interviews. 

 

In other words, the same number of USCIS officers is there now, but because all employment based applications are gonna have interviews, the demand of interviews will skyrockets, which will both hurt N-400 and other AOS (based on marriage to USC) processing timeline. 

 

And I see you live in IL. Did you go to Chicago presentation? How do you know they hold presentation? because I might be interested in going to the seminar and ask those questions to USCIS. 

[RaptureSongbird 533]

9 minutes ago, xillini said:

thanks for information. 

 

Have you had a chance to ask if interviewing officers in I-485 based on Marriage can also do interview for those applicants based on employment?

 

If not, I only find a slight hint that it seems to sound that the interviewing officers are gonna do both marriage and employment interviews, meaning that the K-1, spouse married to USC are also gonna have to compete for interview slot availiability against employment based applicants, which will create big backlog. 

Also, that may even affect N-400 citizenship interviews IF USCIS alloted interviewing officers in I-485 do the N-400 interviews. 

 

In other words, the same number of USCIS officers is there now, but because all employment based applications are gonna have interviews, the demand of interviews will skyrockets, which will both hurt N-400 and other AOS (based on marriage to USC) processing timeline. 

 

And I see you live in IL. Did you go to Chicago presentation? How do you know they hold presentation? because I might be interested in going to the seminar and ask those questions to USCIS. 

Sorry, I didn't think to ask that question, I was more focused on the next steps of our process and finding out more information related to that.

 

I found out about the presentation due to a YMCA Welcome Week that was planned here.  They are doing events over the next week about being an inclusive community and holding informational sessions about immigration and the lives of immigrants.  The presentation was pretty good and included much of the same information I've found online or on the forums here.  It was nice, though, to speak with someone who had sat on the other side of the desk in these cases, to hear her stories, and to see what she was looking for during the interviews for AOS and Naturalization.  The bit of advice that she gave over and over again was to only answer the question that is asked and I believe that she stated this to help keep the interviews concise but to also avoid any "slippery slope scenarios" as she put it that would make the interviewer suspicious.  She also stated over and over again the importance of telling the truth, obviously, and that things we worry about as red flags before the interview really might not be that big of a deal to them as long as their is evidence and an explanation.

 

I was able to get the email address she checks for people who attend these events and have additional questions.  I will email her and see if she knows of any other similar events coming up in Illinois and pass them along if you'd like.

[RaptureSongbird 533]

18 hours ago, geowrian said:

• SSA reps never know what they're talking about. K-1 visa holders with a current I-94/admission stamp can get an SSN fine. They cannot get an SSN from 76 days after entry (90 days - 14 days) onwards until they get an EAD.
  • Just yesterday, my now-wife tried to get her card updated with her married name, but they couldn't "until we contacted DHS to update the name in their system". I asked her what she meant exactly, what we need to do, etc. and she didn't know other than we needed to change the name with DHS first. I asked her what documentation she needed to see from DHS to accept the new name and she didn't know. I'm 99% sure she means we need a green card or EAD in the new name (there is no form or means to just update your name with DHS), but it's scary that she didn't even know what she needed to see from DHS to verify the new name. smh

It was interesting yesterday to watch the interactions between SSA and USCIS during the presentation.  There was a long discussion during the presentation between SSA and USCIS about some of the problems that happen with Naturalization, names on social security cards, and names on the naturalization certificate which showed some of the cracks in the system.  In some ways I feel bad for the SSA because it felt like they are not kept as up to date in these processes/decisions and that information sharing isn't always great between the departments.  It seemed like the SSA representatives aren't always given all of the training they need and aren't kept up to date or as current as USCIS.  I think that is where some of the confusion comes, especially with K-1 applicants, in regards to SSN, name changes, proper processes and procedures, etc.

[RaptureSongbird 533]

15 hours ago, TL2016 said:

That's a big mess if this is true. The CR-1/IR-1 will be miles better than the K-1 if this all ends up being true. 

 

What I wonder though is if everyone is affected about the mandatory interview, or just those filing on or after October 1st. I'm waiting to hear back and it's almost been 7 months. Seems like I'm in line for an interview waiver too. 

Agreed, it did sound like something that is going to lead to a big mess/delays.  I think it might be a way to push more people to strongly consider the CR-1/IR-1 route as long as that process doesn't start to see a slow down too.

 

My assumption, based on how it was worded yesterday, was that the October 1st date was for those who were filing after October 1st, not those already in process.  I could be wrong about that but that was the sense that I got in the conversation I had.

[f f 725]

I would bet that they can not approve anyone after October first without an interview. otherwise they would have to start processing the applications seperately and not just change how all of them are processed.

 

it would also be a nation wide change since anything else leaves them open to lawsuits for treating one region different from the others. 

[xillini 71]

1 hour ago, RaptureSongbird said:

The bit of advice that she gave over and over again was to only answer the question that is asked and I believe that she stated this to help keep the interviews concise but to also avoid any "slippery slope scenarios" as she put it that would make the interviewer suspicious.  She also stated over and over again the importance of telling the truth, obviously, and that things we worry about as red flags before the interview really might not be that big of a deal to them as long as their is evidence and an explanation.

 

I was able to get the email address she checks for people who attend these events and have additional questions.  I will email her and see if she knows of any other similar events coming up in Illinois and pass them along if you'd like.

Yes, in fact, I already did my interveiw at Chicago and got the GC card on hand 2 monts ago, so technicaly, I dont have to be concerned too much about it. 

 

But thanks for the advice and sharing that with us here! I did AOS with some chit-chat actually, and it worked great. I guess it depends on individuals. Fortunately, my officer had good sense of humors and I and my spouse broke the ice. 

 

Anyway, I was getting curious how that backlog starts to affect me for I-751 later, which already takes around an year after filing. (USCIS timeline says 14 months actually for I-751). So, as the USCIS officers stated it would take 8 months ish now, and expectedly it will take even longer, then it is already 22 months (14 months of I-751 + 8 months of AOS), meaning that it becomes time-saving decision to file AOS after an year of marriage to avoid I-751 processing time, taking into account of opportunity costs. 

 

Therefore, after October, if processing time starts to be delayed, more couples would like to file AOS after an year of marriages, assuming that it would take an year with expectation that when they have AOS in an year later, they can get 10 years GC. 
If the duration of marriage is more than 2 years, by laws, USCIS is required to grant 10 years GC, not conditional GC. 

 

But, on the mean time, I am afraid to potentially observe that the delayed timeline may encourage more fradulent marriage when couples start to file AOS making sure their AOS case timeline is aimed for 2 years with expectation of 10 years GC and USCIS fails to double-check the marriage after 2 years of GC due to delayed processing timeline. 

 

Well, I think it is only fair to say Trump administration may have good intent to protect American workers from foreign aliens by "extreme vetting" and going through required interviews, but the consequence could be greater than what the administrations may not think of such as this delayed processing timeline. (It is called unintended consequence like you dont mean it to hurt someone, but eventually you ended up with hurting someone (i.e: car accident).  Just my thought