Moving 1000 Miles away close to AOS interview

[Thenaturalstate 9]

My spouse and I are moving 1000 miles to a different state in 10 days (LA to CT). Our interview was scheduled 3rd week of May but was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

I understand there will be a delay in the AOS interview in the new state; how much of a delay should we expect? 3-4 months? 6- months or years? 

 

We had no option but to move or starve. I have my EAD/AP but worried about the long delay for the interview. 

 

Also, Can we file AR-11 2-3 days before moving to the new place? 
 

[Villanelle 4,122]

This is rather unfortunate. Is there any way to delay the move until you have the interview?? See the thing is you are currently at the front of the line for an interview at your local office. Not sure why it was delayed but its probably related to staffing due to the pandemic. There have been cases where interviews have been canceled and instead of rescheduling they decide to simply approve it w/o interview. Maybe you will get lucky and this will happen but you shouldnt expect it to and need to be prepared for an interview to be held. 

 

USCIS has jurisdictions based on where you live. You can only be approved by the office who has jurisdiction where you live. Meaning if your case is in LA then LA can only approve you if you still live in LA. When you move to CT- CT now has jurisdiction so your case will need to be sent from LA to CT. Once it gets to CT you are then placed in line at the CT office to wait for an interview. You are not given priority because you waited in line at LA. So in addition to the wait time for them to get your file you will also wait for a slot to open there. 

 

Moving at this point will most likely be messy. You should submit your AR11 online as well as on paper form through mail. Send it to the address it dictates and send a copy as well along with a brief letter to the local office (LA) who recently canceled your interview letting them know you moved. You can also contact your congressman and ask them to verify your address has been updated in addition to them submitting the change of address for you as well. When submitting a change of address for 751s for online I believe you need to enter the case number from the biometrics NOA (like how you use that number to track your 751 progress) as well as listing the actual 751 case number. 

 

USCIS is known for having issues with address changes. The system is slow to update so theres a high chance you send your AR11 and it just doesnt make its way  into your case file so a second interview is set at the old office. Even if you travel and go to the old office they are not going to be able to approve you because you are no longer in their jurisdiction. The post office is also not suppose to forward USCIS mail so if an interview notice is sent to the old address it may get returned to them and you may end up seeing a case status of you missed your interview or mail was failed to be delivered so you are denied. You would then have to fix it which is a whole headache thats best avoided by delaying the move.   However if you can not delay the move then you cant so your only option is to update the address doing what was described above and hope the address change is acknowledged properly so the LA office does not reschedule you and the case is transferred promptly  to CT. Again your congressperson is the best tool to make sure this happens and if there is an error you will have documentation to help you correct it. 

 

The AR11 needs to be filed within 10 days of the move and you cant file it until you actually move.

 

[Thenaturalstate 9]

18 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

This is rather unfortunate. Is there any way to delay the move until you have the interview?? See the thing is you are currently at the front of the line for an interview at your local office. Not sure why it was delayed but its probably related to staffing due to the pandemic. There have been cases where interviews have been canceled and instead of rescheduling they decide to simply approve it w/o interview. Maybe you will get lucky and this will happen but you shouldnt expect it to and need to be prepared for an interview to be held. 

 

USCIS has jurisdictions based on where you live. You can only be approved by the office who has jurisdiction where you live. Meaning if your case is in LA then LA can only approve you if you still live in LA. When you move to CT- CT now has jurisdiction so your case will need to be sent from LA to CT. Once it gets to CT you are then placed in line at the CT office to wait for an interview. You are not given priority because you waited in line at LA. So in addition to the wait time for them to get your file you will also wait for a slot to open there. 

 

Moving at this point will most likely be messy. You should submit your AR11 online as well as on paper form through mail. Send it to the address it dictates and send a copy as well along with a brief letter to the local office (LA) who recently canceled your interview letting them know you moved. You can also contact your congressman and ask them to verify your address has been updated in addition to them submitting the change of address for you as well. When submitting a change of address for 751s for online I believe you need to enter the case number from the biometrics NOA (like how you use that number to track your 751 progress) as well as listing the actual 751 case number. 

 

USCIS is known for having issues with address changes. The system is slow to update so theres a high chance you send your AR11 and it just doesnt make its way  into your case file so a second interview is set at the old office. Even if you travel and go to the old office they are not going to be able to approve you because you are no longer in their jurisdiction. The post office is also not suppose to forward USCIS mail so if an interview notice is sent to the old address it may get returned to them and you may end up seeing a case status of you missed your interview or mail was failed to be delivered so you are denied. You would then have to fix it which is a whole headache thats best avoided by delaying the move.   However if you can not delay the move then you cant so your only option is to update the address doing what was described above and hope the address change is acknowledged properly so the LA office does not reschedule you and the case is transferred promptly  to CT. Again your congressperson is the best tool to make sure this happens and if there is an error you will have documentation to help you correct it. 

 

The AR11 needs to be filed within 10 days of the move and you cant file it until you actually move.

 

Thank you for your advice; we will definitely submit AR-11 online and mail it as well. We will get in touch with the congressperson once in CT. Does this congressperson need a US congress or state congressperson member to reach out to USCIS? 

 

Unfortunately moving is inevitable for us.  We received the interview notice in 1st week of April but followed by a cancellation update online in 5 days. If we had our interview as scheduled (3rd week of May), we definitely would have tried to stay in LA. We are worried about the years-long wait.

 

On the brighter side, the housing in LA was corporate, provided by my spouse's employer, so we didn't have a lease or and utility bills together. 

Thank you for your time; I will follow your advice. 

 

[payxibka 10,045]

24 minutes ago, Thenaturalstate said:

Thank you for your advice; we will definitely submit AR-11 online and mail it as well. We will get in touch with the congressperson once in CT. Does this congressperson need a US congress or state congressperson member to reach out to USCIS? 

 

Unfortunately moving is inevitable for us.  We received the interview notice in 1st week of April but followed by a cancellation update online in 5 days. If we had our interview as scheduled (3rd week of May), we definitely would have tried to stay in LA. We are worried about the years-long wait.

 

On the brighter side, the housing in LA was corporate, provided by my spouse's employer, so we didn't have a lease or and utility bills together. 

Thank you for your time; I will follow your advice. 

 

US congressman or US senator.   Your state representative don't have anything to do with a federal issue 

[Villanelle 4,122]

https://whoismyrepresentative.com/

 

The link above is the easiest way to find your congressmen IMO. You simply enter your zip code and they will all be listed with links to their respective websites. On their website look for "get assistance" or "help with federal agency". You typically need to print out and send them a auth form so they can speak to USCIS on your behalf. You may or may not have to go to their office- a lot of things are being done remotely now. 

 

Again the most important thing is to try to get the address updated before the old local office schedules you for another interview. You can also ask the congressman to include a bit in his letter asking them to waive your interview if possible. It might not have any impact but it could. USCIS can waive interviews so its not crazy to ask- the worst that happens is they totally ignore the request to waive the interview in responding and simply acknowledge your address change - or respond with a vague interviews can be waived at our discretion but dont actually say whether or not they are choosing to waive it for you right now. The congressmans inquiry and subsequent realization that they now have to move your file from CT to LA may cause someone to look at your case and decide they can waive the interview - so they do. Dont count on that happening- but at least try.

 

Also make sure you sign up for informed delivery to keep an eye on any mail. Is there anyone at the old address who would be able to let you know if something is mailed there after you move? You can also watch your case status but its not always accurate. So the best advice is to be extremely diligent which is tough when you have so many things going on making a move like that and getting settled. 

[Thenaturalstate 9]

Thank you @Villanelle and @payxibka, We will get in touch with our Congressperson and ensure our address is updated with USCIS.

 

Thank you for your time.