Where is my Online Access Code?

[Meredith48 5]

Hello everyone,

As i stated before, my son entered the U.S. on August 18th. Today is October 26th, and I still have not received his physical Green Card.

He paid the USCIS Immigrant Fee online on April 18, 2025, (before the entry). When he checked my case status at the USCIS Case Status website, I keep getting the following message:

"On April 18, 2025, we received your USCIS Immigrant fee payment for your Permanent Resident Card related to your immigrant visa. We will be processing the request for production of your Permanent Resident Card. You should receive your Permanent Resident Card within 90 days of your entry into the United States or within 90 days after your USCIS Immigrant Fee payment is received. If you do not receive your Permanent Resident Card, visit the USCIS Contact Center webpage at www.uscis.gov/contactcenter. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address"

The 90-day window from the date of entry (August 18th) is approaching quickly.

 

Additional Issue: He tried to add the case to his online account at my.uscis.gov to check for more details, but he still cant find the Online Access Code. The document containing the code was left in his country.

 

Question: Has anyone experienced a similar delay after paying the Immigrant Fee and entering the U.S. with a visa? Should he wait until the 90-day mark (around November 16th) before contacting USCIS to file a "Card Not Received" request?

Any advice on the next steps or how to quickly get a new Online Access Code would be greatly appreciated!

[appleblossom 5,413]

59 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Has anyone experienced a similar delay after paying the Immigrant Fee and entering the U.S. with a visa? Should he wait until the 90-day mark (around November 16th) before contacting USCIS to file a "Card Not Received" request?

 

There is no delay. If he entered on 18th August then he's still got several weeks to go until it would be considered delayed. And yes, he has to wait until that point to file a card not received, if he does it before it'll just be ignored. 

 

His online account won't tell him anything else, the online case checker does the same thing. Why is it such an issue if he doesn't have his card? It should make no difference to his day to day life. Frankly, it doesn't really matter if it never turns up! 

Edited October 26 by appleblossom

[Meredith48 5]

43 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

There is no delay. If he entered on 18th August then he's still got several weeks to go until it would be considered delayed. And yes, he has to wait until that point to file a card not received, if he does it before it'll just be ignored. 

 

His online account won't tell him anything else, the online case checker does the same thing. Why is it such an issue if he doesn't have his card? It should make no difference to his day to day life. Frankly, it doesn't really matter if it never turns up! 

Because several jobs has asked him for its green card

[appleblossom 5,413]

5 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Because several jobs has asked him for its green card

 

Right, and as explained above, his endorsed visa acts as a temporary green card for a year. So he just gives a copy of that to his employer, it does exactly the same thing. 

 

It's no. 3 on the list here - https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents

[Meredith48 5]

24 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

Right, and as explained above, his endorsed visa acts as a temporary green card for a year. So he just gives a copy of that to his employer, it does exactly the same thing. 

 

It's no. 3 on the list here - https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents

apparently some employers seems reluctant to take that.

[appleblossom 5,413]

7 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

apparently some employers seems reluctant to take that.

 

I find that hard to believe tbh, pretty much any employer should know that the documents listed on the I-9 list are acceptable. Just print that out and show it to them. 

 

From the official guidance "You must allow the employee to choose which documentation they will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents and must accept documentation that reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the person presenting it. You cannot specify which documentation an employee will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents." Your son's endorsed I-551 is on the list of acceptable documents, so they cannot legally refuse it. Your son should report them if they do. 

 

Even after a year, he could just get an ADIT stamp, and that is also on the list. The plastic card is only evidence of his LPR status, exactly the same as the endorsed I-551 or ADIT stamp is, it's no different to either of them. 

 

 

Edited October 26 by appleblossom

[Meredith48 5]

4 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

I find that hard to believe tbh, pretty much any employer should know that the documents listed on the I-9 list are acceptable. Just print that out and show it to them. 

 

From the official guidance "You must allow the employee to choose which documentation they will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents and must accept documentation that reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the person presenting it. You cannot specify which documentation an employee will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents." Your son's endorsed I-551 is on the list of acceptable documents, so they cannot legally refuse it. Your son should report them if they do. 

 

Even after a year, he could just get an ADIT stamp, and that is also on the list. The plastic card is only evidence of his LPR status, exactly the same as the endorsed I-551 or ADIT stamp is, it's no different to either of them. 

 

 

Even in the DMV for the Real ID the wanted that greencard, it was not until a second visit, with a supervisor that wanted to proceed with the passport, this time i was present to witness that

[appleblossom 5,413]

28 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Even in the DMV for the Real ID the wanted that greencard, it was not until a second visit, with a supervisor that wanted to proceed with the passport, this time i was present to witness that

That’s just one inept DMV worker, but if he’d shown details from the government website it would have been fine. He was a LPR the moment he landed in the US on his visa, and the plastic green card is just proof of that status, not the status itself. An endorsed visa, or an ADIT stamp do exactly the same thing too, there’s no difference. 
 

But I do find it very odd that anybody hiring employees, or working in HR, isn’t well aware of the list of acceptable documents. You say ‘apparently some employers’ but is that actually your son’s experience, or just random stuff he’s heard somewhere? 

[Meredith48 5]

Hey everyone,

My gut feeling was right I finally got the official word after digging into this.

The Problem: My Green Card has been on "HOLD" for the last two months.

The Reason: It wasn't standard processing time; it was a glitch related to my change of address (AR-11).

The Proof: I checked with a USCIS office, and they confirmed the case was stopped due to this administrative issue, not normal processing delays.

This is why I was pushing for action and not just accepting the three-month advice. Waiting would have meant another month or two of nothing happening because the process was literally frozen.

Lesson learned: If your timeline feels wrong, DON'T JUST WAIT! Call and investigate. There might be an administrative block only you can unfreeze.

Now, off to resolve this hold! Thanks again to everyone for the input.

[appleblossom 5,413]

55 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

not normal processing delays

 

There was no delay? 

 

Glad you found out about the hold up though, they'd have written to you eventually about it, but as we all know, the wheels at USCIS turn slowly! 

 

And just remember that his endorsed visa is proof of his LPR status until next August, so don't panic if it takes a while for the physical green card to get there. 

[Meredith48 5]

My son wrote me this:
Okay, so  my Green Card was on hold because of an address change issue. What happened next is absolutely maddening and deserves a post on its own.

 

Calling them is pure torture. I found what seems to be a very "convenient error" designed to reduce call volume:

At the end of the prompts, the machine repeats your case number and asks you to press 1 to confirm.

Right after that prompt, the call goes into a 15-second silence and then drops/hangs up.
 

I figured out that if you press the * or # key, and then press 1 immediately (bypassing the machine's slow confirmation prompt), the system connects you. What a "coincidence" that the step that fails is the one that cuts you off!

 

When I finally got through to a representative to remove the hold:

She asks me to confirm my address. I read her the address exactly as it appears on my own forms

She tells me none of the addresses they have on file are correct.

She claims the wrong address is on a form called I-551.

 

The HUGE Problem: I have never filled out an I-551 form! My Green Card is a result of my DS-260 application, and the addresses on file are those I provided there. The agent, instead of fixing the internal data inconsistency they have, simply told me: "You need to get a lawyer."

 

The last document o communication from the uscis, was the fee of the 235 for the imvisa fee, and that receip doesnt contain neithe rmy name nor address, just numbers

Looks like the address hold was just the appetizer. The bureaucratic nightmares continue...

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Meredith48

[mam521 2,794]

The I-551 IS the greencard.  It is what is awarded after the I-130, the DS-260 and the I-864 are approved, the medical is approved and an interview is approved.  It isn't a form that your son would have filled out.  

 

https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/form-i-551-green-card

 

When did his medical expire?  

 

 

[appleblossom 5,413]

26 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

I have never filled out an I-551 form

 

Nobody has. As @mam521 said, that's simply the result of his visa application, it's not a form you have to fill in. Sounds like he got a Tier 1 agent, they're next to useless and generally have very little knowledge. Perhaps they meant the address he gave at immigration when he arrived, and the agent misheard him which is why it's wrong. 

 

Did he fill in the relevant form on the USCIS website to find out about the non receipt of his green card? That's usually better for info, I wouldn't ever bother with phoning personally.