AOS Interview in Wrong State

[kaleya 70]

Hello, my husband and I are in the process of doing his AOS (he came here on K1 visa). We have a small local field office that generally moves very quickly, so we were surprised that it took a while to get an interview. Yesterday we found out the reason why: the interview has been scheduled in Nashville instead of our small field office next door! Presumably this is because when we applied we lived in TN, however we have since moved to SC (and we did do the online address change and received the confirmation letter; additionally most of our recent correspondence from USCIS has been sent to the correct, SC address since then, so we are not sure why this interview letter was sent to TN (luckily my mother intercepted it)).

 

I called USCIS yesterday and was not able to speak to a tier 2 officer (it was nearing 8 pm and they stated the tier 2 queue was full for the day). The person I spoke to told me she was going to "enter a message to the local office" about our situation and that there would likely be a response within 30 days; she also gave me a confirmation number. Unfortunately our interview in Nashville is scheduled for earlier than the 30 day time frame, on July 16. I asked the officer if it is "safe" to not show up in Nashville, and she just read me information that basically stated that every attempt should still be made to attend the Nashville interview. I am worried that if we don't attend the Nashville interview and that the switch has not been communicated to them, they will consider our case abandoned.

 

I plan to call USCIS again this evening and ask to speak to a tier 2 officer and request an InfoPass appointment at my local office (ours doesn't do online InfoPass scheduling or walk-ins -- not sure if any of them do!). I would feel better if we had the opportunity to discuss this in person with an officer and have some type of written rescheduling document. Is the tier 2 officer likely to grant this appointment?

 

I know that there are several threads about this type of situation due to searching these forums neurotically, however most are from a while ago, and there has been a lot of conflicting advice (i.e. showing up in Nashville won't help, and they will turn you away because you're outside their jurisdiction vs. it doesn't matter if you don't show up, just wait on the rescheduled appointment). Taking two days off work to go to this interview is possible but of course a huge inconvenience as I'm sure it would be for most people, so I'm struggling with what to do. I am happy to go to Nashville if that will "count" as our AOS interview, but I'm not sure if they will accept that since we live in SC! And since the officer I spoke to yesterday already put in some type of message. I feel in my gut that it's unlikely we'll hear a response/rescheduled appointment notice prior to July 16th, so I guess this is a decision we will just have to make on our own.

 

So has anyone else dealt with this issue more recently? Or have any advice? It's much appreciated!

Edited June 20, 2019 by kaleya

[little immigrant 800]

https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-aims-decrease-processing-times-n-400-and-i-485

 

Quote

As we shift caseloads between field offices to decrease processing times, we may schedule applicants to appear for an interview at a field office outside of their normal jurisdiction. Applicants may receive an interview appointment notice or other types of notices (such as a Request for Evidence) from a field office outside of their normal jurisdiction.

 

[payxibka 10,044]

2 minutes ago, little immigrant said:

https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-aims-decrease-processing-times-n-400-and-i-485

 

 

The OPs situation was move related, not because of the new policy 

[little immigrant 800]

Since it will be the new normal, I would just attend the currently scheduled interview even if it's out of my jurisdiction. 

[kaleya 70]

I spoke to an officer on the phone last night who told me that I do not need to go to the Nashville interview, even though the day before the other officer had read to me that there was a chance our case could be dropped for not attending. The people who answer the phone initially are immigration officers, right? They would not let me speak to a tier 2. The one last night also told me that this does not meet criteria for having an InfoPass appointment at our local office. Overall, not much clarity. Feels like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.