April 2019 AOS Filers(merged)

[pamawemo 78]

On 6/24/2019 at 8:42 AM, Olichka said:

Had green card interview on the 20th ! APPROVED ! Just need to send a couple translated papers, and our green card will be on the way 😍

 

Good luck to all on your AOS journey !

Congratulations! That is awesome things moved that fast for you. Our latest "prediction" is into November just for the EAD. Ugh.

[BananaButton5 175]

3 hours ago, d24v said:

You're both Canadian too.  I hope our BCs aren't now somehow incredibly hard to interpret.  So strange.  

My husabnd is also Canadian, Alberta didn't have long form (still doesnt) at the time of his birth, so we just sent what we had (which is the wallet card sized birth certificate without parents' names on it). We didn't get RFE for the K1 visa application for the birth certificate, so I figured it would be fine for AOS too and maybe they were aware Alberta doesn't have long form anyway. Well of course, RFIE came, they want birth certificate in long form, and want to see it with parents names-- so now we just paid $130 CAN to get a birth certificate with his parents' names on it couriered to us. Another expense on top of the already expensive process. It's also not technically "long form", but I'm hoping the issue is just that they want the parents names on it.

At this point I dont even care about the RFIE, we just want his EAD!!! Which at this point may very well be after the AOS interview anyway. *sigh*

[Chris & Lucas 33]

Hey guys, I just got and RFIE, still waiting for it to show in my mail. 

 

My timeline: 

 

Applying from Zion, Illinois

PD: April-15-2019

Biometrics: May-13-2019 (early walk-in)

RFIE was sent on June-24-2019

[for_rd 11]

Question to those who got RFIE recently: Did your case change to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" before you got the RFIE?

 

Good luck to all!! Hopefully we get our EADs soon. At some point the estimated processing times should start shrinking right? They can't keep getting longer indefinitely............

[IndigoFlowers 130]

12 minutes ago, for_rd said:

Question to those who got RFIE recently: Did your case change to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" before you got the RFIE?

 

Good luck to all!! Hopefully we get our EADs soon. At some point the estimated processing times should start shrinking right? They can't keep getting longer indefinitely............

No, before I got the RFIE my case status was “Finger Print Review Was Completed” ... then a month later my RFIE was sent out. 

 

I’m with you about the wait times! I’m starting to miss working!

[Chris & Lucas 33]

34 minutes ago, for_rd said:

Question to those who got RFIE recently: Did your case change to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" before you got the RFIE?

 

Good luck to all!! Hopefully we get our EADs soon. At some point the estimated processing times should start shrinking right? They can't keep getting longer indefinitely............

Mine said “Fingerprint fee was received”. Good luck to you too  

[617Haligonian 34]

On 6/22/2019 at 1:46 PM, BananaButton5 said:

Thanks! Yeah I found the Alberta website where I can order one with his parents names listed on it. It’s technically not a long form certificate, but hopefully it will be enough for them. 

 

 

As a side note, we just went to the DMV to get him a state driver’s license. We brought everything that they needed as was listened online. Yet they told us a) they have to call the state capital to confirm his application status so he can only come in Monday through a Friday (uhh, what?? Our field office is like ten minutes away and has nothing to do with the capital) b) that they can’t issue a driver’s license to someone without an issued green card. 

 

I was pretty sure they could get a license after becoming a resident of the state, which he is now. One of the things I’ve seen people mention to bring to their green card interview is a license... so how will he do that if he can’t get a license without the green card. Should we just go to a different dmv branch? These people were very confused. 

 

My head hurts. Lol. 

Can confirm, my husband was born in Alberta, their birth certificate are tiny (like a half page) but we sent in the ones with his parents names listed on it and did not get a RFE. I think on the alberta site it's listed as option "Birth Certificate with Personal Information and Parentage". 

No idea on the license part, just wanted to confirm the birth certificate with parent's name is what we used with no RFE. 

[Nashvan 133]

2 hours ago, for_rd said:

Question to those who got RFIE recently: Did your case change to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" before you got the RFIE?

 

Good luck to all!! Hopefully we get our EADs soon. At some point the estimated processing times should start shrinking right? They can't keep getting longer indefinitely............

Mine said "Fingerprint Review Was Completed".

 

EADs are processed at National Benefits Centre so those might not be shrinking. They're working on reducing GC times though.

[617Haligonian 34]

Somehow we got extremely lucky. The green card is being produced and should be in hand in the next week or two, should be just under 3 months between initial filing and GC in hand. 

He had our biometrics appointment 6/21/19. He didn't have his vaccination records from childhood, so his primary care/pcp doctor ran titer tests which we submitted at the civil surgeon. The civil surgeon was extremely nice and very helpful. She let us know it would take a few days to process lab results and they'd be in touch. We explained we had an upcoming interview and needed them ASAP. They were willing to work with us even on a super tight timeline. 

We couldn't sleep last night because we were so anxious the 693 wouldn't be done in time. We rang the civil surgeon at noon, 3 hours before our interview and the final test result had come in and she was finally able to sign off on the 693. We actually were given a full copy of the 693 not just the vaccine page which was awesome. 

Onto our interview. We were scheduled for 3:30 in the Lawrence MA office. We parked across the street for $10 and and arrived at 2:45. Waited in the car for 15 minutes then went in. We went through security who was very nice and didn't make us remove our shoes since it was pouring rain out. Gave our interview notice at reception and began to wait. 

We waited around 30 minutes with only a few people in the waiting room. He was called in at 3:35, he asked if his wife (me) should come and was told they would call me in separately. This wound up appearing to be the norm as there was another couple where they called in the beneficiary then the petitioner afterwards. I arrived in the room where my husband was sitting, put my purse down and swore in under oath. There was a webcam recording and a huge packet with all our info on the table. 

We had also brought a full copy of our AOS packet with us, and a couple additional documents which my husband gave the interviewer before I entered the room (i-693 sealed, copy of reciepts from my ring, employment verification letter from my employer). We updated a couple things in the AOS packet we brought with us like my paystubs so they'd be more recent and some extra bank statements. 

The interviewer asked me some basics like my name, birthday, address. These aren't in exact order, so take the order with a grain of salt. 

-If a signature on a form was mine, it was. 
-Asked my mother and fathers names and birthdays. Embarrassingly I got my dad's year of birth wrong (we aren't close and haven't spoken in 10 years)
-are my parents living
-his parents' names 
-are his parents living
-when did we first meet (we met online, then met in person a year or two later)
-when did we officially start dating
-how was our first meeting
-where did he live (clarified to where did he live when we first started dating)
-where was he working (super broad question, I had to clarify, question was changed to "where was he working when we first started dating")
-where was I working (clarified to be where was I working when we first started dating)
-who is my current employer
-confirmed how long I've been there. 
-who was the employer before my current one
-who attended your wedding and where was it 
-who cooks
-who does the dishes
-who does the laundry
-who grocery shops
-what did we have for dinner last night
-any health issues I have
-any health issues he has
-medications I'm on
-medications he's on
-do I have a criminal record
-does he have a criminal record
-do I have any tattoos
-does he have any tattoos
-have I been pregnant since getting married to him
-do we plan to have children someday
-have I been in any car accidents
-has he been in any car accidents
-have I been to the hospital since we started dating
-has he been to the hospital since we started dating
-does he have any health issues
-do I have any health issues
-have we travelled together anywhere 
-who lives with us (I included our dog and cat) 

Questions he was asked that he remembered:
-Went over the 485 application (as part of this, had he ever violated the terms of visa? He had, he overstayed and she made note of it on the 485) 
-his parents names and where they were born
-what color is the laundry machine
-where is the laundry
-Do we have a lease? 
-who does the housework
-names of our dog and cat 
-Who cooks (and what is a typical meal in your house)
-what your favorite restaurant, what do you order there and what does she order there. 
and a lot of the questions already listed above.

Overall I found the interview questions to be super broad so I had to ask for clarification several times. For example my husband has lived at a couple different addresses in our 7 years together, so I had to ask which timeframe the interviewer looking for. Some of the questions were vague which made me a bit nervous, but I had to ask for clarification to give the most accurate answer. My husband said he couldn't remember last night's dinner and forgot the car accident we were in together (super light rear end on a traffic jammed highway, we were 100% fine, it was years ago). I personally didn't have a great feeling at the end since I screwed up my own dad's birthday. The interviewer let us know that we would recieve either an RFE in the mail in 1-2 weeks or a GC. Interviewer also let us know that they were recommending the case be approved. 

 

We headed home and relaxed for a while. I took a nap since I barely slept last night. Woke up at 9pm, checked case status and it shows "my new card is being produced". 77 days from initial mailing to GC is being produced. I'm shocked. 
 

[d24v 200]

4 minutes ago, muricafyeah said:

Somehow we got extremely lucky. The green card is being produced and should be in hand in the next week or two, should be just under 3 months between initial filing and GC in hand. 

Congratulations on your epic luck! Never have I ever wished that we were living in Worcester than right now haha. 

[617Haligonian 34]

1 hour ago, d24v said:

Congratulations on your epic luck! Never have I ever wished that we were living in Worcester than right now haha. 

thank you!! Hopefully it's speedy processing for the rest of the group! We're both sitting here scratching our heads like how on earth did we get this lucky? I better go knock wood and send positive vibes for everyone else here! 

 

2 hours ago, muricafyeah said:

He had our biometrics appointment 6/21/19.

I meant his Civil Surgeon Appointment to fill out the i-693 was on 6/21/19, biometrics was done in May. 

[MaryDave1992 196]

15 hours ago, muricafyeah said:

Somehow we got extremely lucky. The green card is being produced and should be in hand in the next week or two, should be just under 3 months between initial filing and GC in hand. 



  

Wow this is so encouraging!!!  We also are filing in the Boston office and I really hope we get lucky as well.... Our NOA1s are dated May 13th but we still don't have the biometrics date yet..... Hopefully this won't slow us down too much.  Congratulations though!!!  This really made me hopeful  

[j.b. 56]

while seeing to those to had their interview schedule, i hope I can hear good news for those who filed from seattle. 

[617Haligonian 34]

4 hours ago, MaryDave1992 said:

Wow this is so encouraging!!!  We also are filing in the Boston office and I really hope we get lucky as well.... Our NOA1s are dated May 13th but we still don't have the biometrics date yet..... Hopefully this won't slow us down too much.  Congratulations though!!!  This really made me hopeful  

Hopefully you get the biometrics notice soon!! I've read some people have just done a walk in before their appointment, we wound up just waiting for our appointment since it was soon enough. 

Fwiw we were processed from Lawrence MA, not the Boston office. I have heard that USCIS has moved some cases around to improve processing times so hopefully yours can get moved to Lawrence for a faster processing! 

I think there was someone else on here who was out of the Lawrence office and they hadn't heard anything in 5 months which made me so nervous. Not sure why theirs has taken that long and mine was so fast 😳

[MaryDave1992 196]

14 hours ago, muricafyeah said:

Hopefully you get the biometrics notice soon!! I've read some people have just done a walk in before their appointment, we wound up just waiting for our appointment since it was soon enough. 

Fwiw we were processed from Lawrence MA, not the Boston office. I have heard that USCIS has moved some cases around to improve processing times so hopefully yours can get moved to Lawrence for a faster processing! 

I think there was someone else on here who was out of the Lawrence office and they hadn't heard anything in 5 months which made me so nervous. Not sure why theirs has taken that long and mine was so fast 😳

Oooh good to know!! We live in Somerville so I think we'd be out of the Boston office..... Either way I really hope it's a quick turnaround... Thanks for sharing your experience