3+ years from filing and received RFE

[portorusa 431]

23 hours ago, portorusa said:

My friend filed for removal in Jan.2017, she is still waiting...

Sorry, a typo: January 2019. 

[marlowecollins 5]

33 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Well, we look at it very differently then.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that the I-751 may to be moving towards resolution.

 

I'm also grateful for this website, because it's the only way I would have learned that others from my same field office have has the exact same delays and have also received RFEs, so there's probably nothing "wrong" with the package I submitted 3 years ago.  This was exactly the sort of information I was hoping to hear in response to my initial post.

 

However, I'm not at all pleased with USCIS, who could be entered into the dictionary beside the words "uncommunicative" and "unresponsive."  In the last two years we've been to the field office three times to get an I-551 stamp because they can't process applications in a timely manner and we've filed two case inquiries.  As recently as March we'd always gotten the same answer: "you're next step is a combo interview to adjudicate the I-751 and N-400 simultaneously- and no, we won't tell you why you're outside normal processing time (even though you're inquiring using a system set up just for that purpose)."  Then we get an RFE out of the blue with no explanation of why and what the next steps are.  A simple: "Your local field office has a large backlog of cases, and here's how you will be processed..." would have been sufficient.  And I know it's boilerplate, but the part of the letter where they say if you don't respond in less than a month they'll deny your petition makes my blood boil: "I know we sat on your paperwork for three years and refused to tell you anything- but you better give me what I want right now or I'm kicking you out of the country."

 

As you pointed out, we paid for this service.  You may not be entitled to have your petition approved just because you paid money, but you are entitled to professional and timely processing of that petition.  Add in stuff like eliminating the web-based Infopass appointment system (it now takes two phone calls to make an appointment!) and you have a government agency that knows it's accountable to no one and flaunts it. 

[Fr8dog 312]

7 hours ago, marlowecollins said:

They did literally just copy the whole list of suggested evidence from the I-751 instructions, so I'm basically going to copy the format of my first package and rebuild the whole thing with updated stuff.  The instructions specifically said not to resubmit anything that was already submitted.

My RFE stated I had sent stuff I submitted for the AOS, and I think 1 tax return from the ROC stage. I sent the whole package again (plus the items gathered after the initial filing of the ROC) than they blessed me with an interview several months after that.

During this interview my wife's divorce degree was missing from my file. (that's why you bring EVERYTHING to the interview. Than I got a vague "I am not allowed to make a decision, here is a piece of paper with a number to call if you don't hear anything after x-days". I never got a decision, that's when I filed my N400. 

During the N400 interview, the IO told the ROC had been me on hold until a few days before I my interview. Reason; The original I-129F envelope, the one you hand in when you first enter the country, never made it into my file until a few days before my N400 interview. That's why the previous IO was unable to close my file and approve my ROC. The second IO had me approved in hours.

Fun fact, my actual file was about twice as thick during my N400 interview than it was during my ROC interview.

[ohmyrfe 0]

I filed i751 in Jan 2019 and recently received an RFE request in March. I responded within 10 days with the worries that COVID might delay things. Now I haven't heard any decision since. March. This waiting period is so tiring and I know everyone in here just feel as frustrated as I do. 

 

I am happy to pay for the services and even more than the fee if I can get response in a reasonable timely manner. Just the waiting is so painful. You just don't know if you get approve, if not should you pack your bag. 

Edited May 27, 2020 by ohmyrfe

[marlowecollins 5]

Just an update for everyone: My wife's package was approved the day after our RFE package was received by the Boise office.  It sounds like they really are trying to clean out some old cases quickly. 

 

So, my take away from this is that if have a ~3 yr old case pending from the Seattle field office, and if you get a generic RFE from the Boise field office with no noted problems with your original submission but the entire list of I-751 evidence listed, then they are ready to approve your case and just want to see that nothing fishy happened in the last 3 years.  This may just be a Seattle thing, or it may be something other overworked offices are doing.

 

Again, I'm grateful for the ability to check here and see what other people are hearing from USCIS, because they are so tightlipped that crowdsourcing is the only way we might build a picture of what's going on with our cases.  I hope this information is useful to someone out there.

[TheKingmaker 153]

5 hours ago, marlowecollins said:

Just an update for everyone: My wife's package was approved the day after our RFE package was received by the Boise office.  It sounds like they really are trying to clean out some old cases quickly. 

 

So, my take away from this is that if have a ~3 yr old case pending from the Seattle field office, and if you get a generic RFE from the Boise field office with no noted problems with your original submission but the entire list of I-751 evidence listed, then they are ready to approve your case and just want to see that nothing fishy happened in the last 3 years.  This may just be a Seattle thing, or it may be something other overworked offices are doing.

 

Again, I'm grateful for the ability to check here and see what other people are hearing from USCIS, because they are so tightlipped that crowdsourcing is the only way we might build a picture of what's going on with our cases.  I hope this information is useful to someone out there.

So tthey approved just your ROC while your Citizenship app is pending? Thought they would try to combine the two apps and have you interview together.

[marlowecollins 5]

10 hours ago, TheKingmaker said:

So tthey approved just your ROC while your Citizenship app is pending? Thought they would try to combine the two apps and have you interview together.

Correct.  The combo interview seems to be the norm, but it looks like Seattle is farming out old cases to Boise.  IMO, someone dropped the ball and let some go way outside the normal processing time and they're playing catch up.  There are other posters here who filed with Seattle and got similar RFE letters from Boise.  I would guess they "uncombined" the package to let a non-local office handle the part that doesn't require an interview- we did have an in-person adjustment of status interview, which may or may not have mattered. 

 

I have no idea where we stand in line now on the N-400.  The upshot is that when we filed an outside normal processing time inquiry in March 2020, USCIS just said that both applications were pending interview scheduling, that they couldn't take action on the N-400 until the I-751 was completed, and they were "unable to provide an estimate of when your combined I-751/N-400 interview will be scheduled."  I'll be curious what they say now, but not hopeful that they'll provide any info on when the N-400 interview will be.

 

One thing I've learned is that "normal" for USCIS seems to fluctuate.  When we filed the N-400, the consensus was that it accelerated the whole process based on timelines people here posted, but my wife saw friends and coworkers who filed their I-751 and did not pursue citizenship get approved years faster than her.  We apparently had the bad luck of applying at the wrong time/wrong field office.

[Tm and Je 33]

10 hours ago, marlowecollins said:

Correct.  The combo interview seems to be the norm, but it looks like Seattle is farming out old cases to Boise.  IMO, someone dropped the ball and let some go way outside the normal processing time and they're playing catch up.  There are other posters here who filed with Seattle and got similar RFE letters from Boise.  I would guess they "uncombined" the package to let a non-local office handle the part that doesn't require an interview- we did have an in-person adjustment of status interview, which may or may not have mattered. 

 

I have no idea where we stand in line now on the N-400.  The upshot is that when we filed an outside normal processing time inquiry in March 2020, USCIS just said that both applications were pending interview scheduling, that they couldn't take action on the N-400 until the I-751 was completed, and they were "unable to provide an estimate of when your combined I-751/N-400 interview will be scheduled."  I'll be curious what they say now, but not hopeful that they'll provide any info on when the N-400 interview will be.

 

One thing I've learned is that "normal" for USCIS seems to fluctuate.  When we filed the N-400, the consensus was that it accelerated the whole process based on timelines people here posted, but my wife saw friends and coworkers who filed their I-751 and did not pursue citizenship get approved years faster than her.  We apparently had the bad luck of applying at the wrong time/wrong field office.

My green card was approved on June 9 although on June 8, l had received a response of my inquiry that my l-751 and N400 were going to be combined. I did not received a RFE. Yesterday, June 17, my interview for citizenship was scheduled. 

[Sparkle Sparkle 913]

These backlogs are crazy