Biometrics Appointment Long After NOA

[carly+anton 1]

Hello! We filed for my husband's AOS on 12/3/20 and received our NOAs for everything on 12/10/20. We had one RFE related to him having a short form birth certificate instead of long form, so we had to request that from the government and submit it...We were able to get that completed and mailed overnight about 2 weeks before the June deadline they had given us. We received a NOA for that as well, again, before the deadline. So far so good I was thinking on everything. We received a notice that he would need to do his medical forms and bring them to our interview since we did not submit with the original packet...again fine, because I expected that and we purposely didn't do it in combination bc covid delays seemed like it could render it 'expired' anyway...

 

All that being said, we recently got the notice for his biometrics appointment, which was yesterday. He completed that appointment with no issues so I believe at this point, we are just waiting for our interview date and will need to ensure he does the medical forms beforehand so that they are sealed/ready for us to bring with to the interview.

 

My question/concern is, looking at timelines and reading up on where the biometrics appointment falls in the overall timeline, it seems like we should have had that appointment a lonnnnnnng time ago already based on when we got our NOAs. And most of the timelines show a significant length of time (like, a year) between biometrics and the interview. I am nervous if that will be the case for us but was curious if anyone else had experienced this where you had a long wait for your bio appointment, but then it was followed with a shorter wait for the interview? Just feels like with the RFE, they definitely had a chance to review most of our paperwork by now so we were really hoping our interview timing would be coming soon.

 

Also - do anyone know if it is possible to get the advanced parole and EAD documents approved before the interview or does the interview have to be completed first? My husband already lost his father back in Feb and was unable to leave to attend services...now his grandmother is doing badly and he is having a very hard time at the idea of not being able to see her one last time. We are expecting a baby end of this month so he doesn't want to leave at the moment anyway due to the baby but I know once baby is here and settled he will really have a difficult time. His father passed suddenly so he couldn't have known to get there in time, but his grandmother is more of a slower decline. Sorry for all the details, some days I forget about all of the paperwork and some days it is really tough waiting on everything. Any advice is much appreciated!

[mushroomspore 3,044]

21 minutes ago, carly+anton said:

Hello! We filed for my husband's AOS on 12/3/20 and received our NOAs for everything on 12/10/20. We had one RFE related to him having a short form birth certificate instead of long form, so we had to request that from the government and submit it...We were able to get that completed and mailed overnight about 2 weeks before the June deadline they had given us. We received a NOA for that as well, again, before the deadline. So far so good I was thinking on everything. We received a notice that he would need to do his medical forms and bring them to our interview since we did not submit with the original packet...again fine, because I expected that and we purposely didn't do it in combination bc covid delays seemed like it could render it 'expired' anyway...

 

All that being said, we recently got the notice for his biometrics appointment, which was yesterday. He completed that appointment with no issues so I believe at this point, we are just waiting for our interview date and will need to ensure he does the medical forms beforehand so that they are sealed/ready for us to bring with to the interview.

 

My question/concern is, looking at timelines and reading up on where the biometrics appointment falls in the overall timeline, it seems like we should have had that appointment a lonnnnnnng time ago already based on when we got our NOAs. And most of the timelines show a significant length of time (like, a year) between biometrics and the interview. I am nervous if that will be the case for us but was curious if anyone else had experienced this where you had a long wait for your bio appointment, but then it was followed with a shorter wait for the interview? Just feels like with the RFE, they definitely had a chance to review most of our paperwork by now so we were really hoping our interview timing would be coming soon.

 

Also - do anyone know if it is possible to get the advanced parole and EAD documents approved before the interview or does the interview have to be completed first? My husband already lost his father back in Feb and was unable to leave to attend services...now his grandmother is doing badly and he is having a very hard time at the idea of not being able to see her one last time. We are expecting a baby end of this month so he doesn't want to leave at the moment anyway due to the baby but I know once baby is here and settled he will really have a difficult time. His father passed suddenly so he couldn't have known to get there in time, but his grandmother is more of a slower decline. Sorry for all the details, some days I forget about all of the paperwork and some days it is really tough waiting on everything. Any advice is much appreciated!

I wouldn't think too much about the biometrics. COVID has made everything weird. There is no way to know exactly when you will get your interview. You will only know when the letter comes to say that your interview has been scheduled for such-and-such date and time.

 

As for AP/EAD, they generally arrive before your interview. AP/EAD are considered "interim benefits", as in "temporary and only meant to last during the in-between stages". They do not have the same power or grant any immigration status as the green card does. They are only meant to support the immigrant while the immigrant waits for the green card. So you're supposed to get them before the green card interview but some people get lucky and have the interview before AP/EAD are ever approved. In that case, they simply get the GC and the AP/EAD forms are closed. But as stated, there is no way to predict or know when AP/EAD are approved until you get that notification. Such is the way of USCIS.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

What is your Local Field Office? The times vary a lot between the different offices. Did your status already changed to ready for interview? That's usually an indication that your AOS file moved from NBC to your local office but even after that it can take a long time depending on your office.

 

Many people experienced getting their EAD/ AP shortly after they had their biometrics when biometrics took so long. 

[carly+anton 1]

17 hours ago, Letspaintcookies said:

What is your Local Field Office? The times vary a lot between the different offices. Did your status already changed to ready for interview? That's usually an indication that your AOS file moved from NBC to your local office but even after that it can take a long time depending on your office.

 

Many people experienced getting their EAD/ AP shortly after they had their biometrics when biometrics took so long. 

Thanks for your reply! Our local office is the Dallas location, which I would guess is one of the busier ones since it's such a large metroplex area. As far as the status changing to 'ready to interview', where could I check that? When I go to uscis.gov to check status, all I ever really see is pretty generic like the NOA, or after the RFE it said they had received that back...We also submitted forms for email/text updates but have only ever gotten 1 update via text. Everything has 99% come via paper mail. Would love to know if there is a better/more detailed place to check status. Thanks for any help on this!

[carly+anton 1]

19 hours ago, mushroomspore said:

I wouldn't think too much about the biometrics. COVID has made everything weird. There is no way to know exactly when you will get your interview. You will only know when the letter comes to say that your interview has been scheduled for such-and-such date and time.

 

As for AP/EAD, they generally arrive before your interview. AP/EAD are considered "interim benefits", as in "temporary and only meant to last during the in-between stages". They do not have the same power or grant any immigration status as the green card does. They are only meant to support the immigrant while the immigrant waits for the green card. So you're supposed to get them before the green card interview but some people get lucky and have the interview before AP/EAD are ever approved. In that case, they simply get the GC and the AP/EAD forms are closed. But as stated, there is no way to predict or know when AP/EAD are approved until you get that notification. Such is the way of USCIS.

Thank you for the reply! Definitely makes me feel better, I mean as good as you can when you have so much riding on all of this  But sometimes it is nice to know that it doesn't follow an exact equation. 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

1 hour ago, carly+anton said:

Thank you for the reply! Definitely makes me feel better, I mean as good as you can when you have so much riding on all of this  But sometimes it is nice to know that it doesn't follow an exact equation. 

Yes there really is no equation or formula to this. Have you also checked for your status updates on USCIS' official website? The text message thing is unreliable.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

5 hours ago, carly+anton said:

Thanks for your reply! Our local office is the Dallas location, which I would guess is one of the busier ones since it's such a large metroplex area. As far as the status changing to 'ready to interview', where could I check that? When I go to uscis.gov to check status, all I ever really see is pretty generic like the NOA, or after the RFE it said they had received that back...We also submitted forms for email/text updates but have only ever gotten 1 update via text. Everything has 99% come via paper mail. Would love to know if there is a better/more detailed place to check status. Thanks for any help on this!

Yea the form you sent with your application is just for the very first step. For the we received your application, here's your case number.

You can create an account at the USCIS page, save your case number there and opt in for text and email updates when there are updates on your case. It will still be generic but it's a good follow up.

[Jess&Rob 9]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:18 PM, carly+anton said:

Hello! We filed for my husband's AOS on 12/3/20 and received our NOAs for everything on 12/10/20. We had one RFE related to him having a short form birth certificate instead of long form, so we had to request that from the government and submit it...We were able to get that completed and mailed overnight about 2 weeks before the June deadline they had given us. We received a NOA for that as well, again, before the deadline. So far so good I was thinking on everything. We received a notice that he would need to do his medical forms and bring them to our interview since we did not submit with the original packet...again fine, because I expected that and we purposely didn't do it in combination bc covid delays seemed like it could render it 'expired' anyway...

 

All that being said, we recently got the notice for his biometrics appointment, which was yesterday. He completed that appointment with no issues so I believe at this point, we are just waiting for our interview date and will need to ensure he does the medical forms beforehand so that they are sealed/ready for us to bring with to the interview.

 

My question/concern is, looking at timelines and reading up on where the biometrics appointment falls in the overall timeline, it seems like we should have had that appointment a lonnnnnnng time ago already based on when we got our NOAs. And most of the timelines show a significant length of time (like, a year) between biometrics and the interview. I am nervous if that will be the case for us but was curious if anyone else had experienced this where you had a long wait for your bio appointment, but then it was followed with a shorter wait for the interview? Just feels like with the RFE, they definitely had a chance to review most of our paperwork by now so we were really hoping our interview timing would be coming soon.

 

Also - do anyone know if it is possible to get the advanced parole and EAD documents approved before the interview or does the interview have to be completed first? My husband already lost his father back in Feb and was unable to leave to attend services...now his grandmother is doing badly and he is having a very hard time at the idea of not being able to see her one last time. We are expecting a baby end of this month so he doesn't want to leave at the moment anyway due to the baby but I know once baby is here and settled he will really have a difficult time. His father passed suddenly so he couldn't have known to get there in time, but his grandmother is more of a slower decline. Sorry for all the details, some days I forget about all of the paperwork and some days it is really tough waiting on everything. Any advice is much appreciated!

I waited 295 days for bio appt. and 322 days for EAD/AP 😥 they arrive on Monday!