No Action after AOS Interview

[MonkeyDan 28]

Some background: We entered as a K1 Visa.  Got Married within 90 days and filed for AOS (I-485) in January 2024.  We finally had our interview at the Tampa field office on May 27, 2025.  At the interview we had a "new" officer who seemed a little confused about the whole process.  Luckily our attorney was present and helped him understand.  He didn't ask any specific questions about our marriage or ask to see any of our evidence (not even tax transcript).  At the end of the interview he Congratulated us and told us we were approved (he even mentioned our case was one of the easiest he had so far).  He said we would receive our Green Card by June 10, most likely.  We explained that we had a European Cruise planned for July but didn't purchase our flights yet.  He told us it is not a problem and we can go ahead and purchase our flights because our green card will arrive prior to when we leave.  

 

Fast forward to today, June 25.  We still do not have our green card and the online system has not been updated.  The last update was from April when we received our interview notice.  We spoke with two different people (Tier 1) at USCIS who said there is nothing we can do and we just have to wait. The system still shows "pending".  I asked if we can be transferred to a tier 2 officer and was told no because we are still in normal processing times (LOL) and we won't be able to seek a tier 2 officer until after September 2026 (more than a year from now!).  In the meantime, I contacted my congressman who reached out but has not received a response.  I also sent a letter in the mail to the field officer director. I really don't know what else to do.  

 

Has anyone else had to wait this long after the interview?  and if so, how long did it take? We have Advanced Parole but our attorney is telling us to cancel our international travel plans because if the green card gets approved while we are out of the country, the advance parole will automatically be revoked and we would have an issue when trying to re-enter the country.  This whole process is so frustrating!

[OldUser 9,522]

Verbal approvals and promises mean nothing, sadly. And you cannot pressure USCIS into deciding faster because of your vacation plans. They'll take however long they need to decide the case.

 

Usually people are advised not to plan any international travel until GC is in hand.

Edited Wednesday at 04:55 PM by OldUser

[Dashinka 25,724]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Verbal approvals and promises mean nothing, sadly. And you cannot pressure USCIS into deciding faster because of your vacation plans. They'll take however long they need to decide the case.

 

Usually people are advised not to plan any international travel until GC is in hand.

Definitely sounds like a new person advising someone to go ahead and purchase international tickets.

 

To the OP, yes, it is a waiting game, and possibly when your case was reviewed by a supervisor there was something that was found.  Possibly a supervisor was on vacation.  Hopefully the GC will show up soon, but worst case is you are called back for another interview.

 

Good Luck!

[MonkeyDan 28]

Yes, he was definitely new.  Didn't ask us anything personal.  Didn't look at any photos or bills, etc.  Didn't look or ask for my most recent tax return transcript (The one he had on file was from 2023).  Then he told us that we need to do a medical.  We kept telling him it was done and the envelope was provided to border patrol when we entered.  HE didn't understand but then he left the room and came back with his supervisor.  She showed him in the file where the medical exam was.  He laughed and said I didn't realize that the medical exam was in the sealed envelope.  She instructed him to open it.  She looked at it with him and told him it looked good and there were no issues.  The whole thing was very odd but at the time we felt fortunate since it was such a simple interview with no real questions asked of us.  He told us at the end that we were an easy approval and then we talked about our travel plans and he was talking about similar travel plans he was doing.  I told him I was nervous to purchase my flight tickets but he said nothing to be nervous about and I can go do it when I get home (Which I did LOL).  Anyway, I guess we will continue to wait while we continue harassing them to make a move on our file.

[alliejourney 114]

I had the exact same situation. Interview on May 5, the interviewer told us he was physically clicking the "approve" button right in front of us. He even told us we could technically travel internationally as of that date, which we thankfully did not want to play with until we had green card in hand. He specifically told us we'd get an approval notice in the mail within a week and a green card within a month.

 

We just got our approval notice on MyUSCIS yesterday, June 25. 

 

While I am very relieved, I do wish interviewing officers wouldn't make these kinds of promises, because it causes a lot of false hope and anxiety. I'm sorry that you're in the same situation. I hope these types of threads can give others peace of mind in similar situations!

[OldUser 9,522]

3 hours ago, alliejourney said:

I had the exact same situation. Interview on May 5, the interviewer told us he was physically clicking the "approve" button right in front of us. He even told us we could technically travel internationally as of that date, which we thankfully did not want to play with until we had green card in hand. He specifically told us we'd get an approval notice in the mail within a week and a green card within a month.

 

We just got our approval notice on MyUSCIS yesterday, June 25. 

 

While I am very relieved, I do wish interviewing officers wouldn't make these kinds of promises, because it causes a lot of false hope and anxiety. I'm sorry that you're in the same situation. I hope these types of threads can give others peace of mind in similar situations!

Yes, some of these officers promise it to cut any further questions and wrap up interview. It's the same as hearing "we'll call you back" after job interview.

[MonkeyDan 28]

Thank you. This made me feel much better albeit still frustrating with the process LOL