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Screenshot of the "my progress" section from our USCIS account, and our pending marriage based I-485 application/case... we just completed biometrics last week, and the progress says the interview has been completed and now the current step is pending a decision?

Can this be correct, they waived our interview requirement? Anyone else know of this happening recently where the interview was waived?

I m in the process of submitting my DS-260 and Affidavit of Support. When all is submitted and we are assigned for an interview date, do we need ORIGINAL copies of the i -864 Affidavit with the original signature of my joint sponsor?

My wife who entered on a K-1 months ago received an email recently from my local county health department saying they need to evaluate her for tuberculosis again even though she was tested overseas already and passed her tests. Overseas they did find scar tissue in her xray and made her take a sputum test and waited 3 months for culture test for the results which were clear. So now my county is asking her to go to a department of health clinic and be reevaluated again to see if she needs to take another sputum test again. They are painful, btw. Her overseas medical exam is valid for 1 year and it has not expired. Has this happened to others and is there a way to opt-out of it? My other worry is by the time she gets her AOS interview, her overseas exam may expire and they may make her have to take another medical test and could cause a 3rd sputum test so I'd really like to find a way to convince my county to accept the embassy results.

Context:

- Green card holder

- Has to travel regularly outside of the US for work, but spend >50% of time inside the US. Has maintained strong ties to the US (apartment, taxes, bank account and savings, driver license, USC wife & USC baby, etc.)

- Will likely have to continue traveling in & out of the US for another ~12 months (but still spending >50% time in the US). And after that, much less travel will be required.

- CBP officer advised to get a re-entry permit after looking at travel pattern

Questions:

- Can you actually travel in & out of the US multiple times when you have a re-entry permit? I thought it was meant for people who leave for a continuous period and then come back once and for all?

- Would a re-entry permit help in this situation? i.e. will it make the regular in & out travel for the next 12 months more acceptable to CBP?

- Does the re-entry permit help as soon as you file it (while it's pending and you just have a receipt), or do you need to have it in hand for it to make a difference in the eyes of CBP?

Thank you!

I'm a US citizen and my parents got their green cards on 4Aug2023. I'm now trying to plan out my parents' re-entry permits since they need to go back to sell their home and business.

05May2025 - Form I-131 was received
30May2025 - Biometrics done in California
23Jul2025 - Parents went back home to sell their home and business

egov.uscis.gov/processing-times says 80% of re-entry permits are processed within 15 Months which is 01Sep2026. Since re-entry permits are valid for 2 years that should mean they can stay abroad till 01Sep2028 without abandoning their green cards.

It makes me nervous that 01Sep2026 is more than 12 months since they left the United States. Does this mean they should come back within 12 months of departure? Or can they safely stay abroad til 01Sep2028. Kind of a bummer that processing times for re-entry permits are more than 12 months when being abroad for more than 12 months seems to be when it is presumed that a LPR has abandoned their residency.