US Immigration from Russia

So, we just received a Notice of Action on our I751 petition.

It says that "Your conditional permanent resident status is extended for 24 months."

Is this typical? Or only because the current Extension of 18 months already expired?

What is next? As far as I can tell, we wait for a letter telling us to do the Biometrics/Interview. Is this correct? I am just wanting to make sure I am doing the right thing.

How long can we expect to wait for the next step?

We sent the I751 on March 24, 2021 and received the notice Nov 15, 2021. (Seems like a long time).

As an additional note, I checked the my.uscis.gov site and signed in and checked the case status. This is what it says for the case History:

June 9, 2021 Case Was Updated To Show Fingerprints Were Taken

March 24, 2021 We received your Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence.

Greg

My petition to bring my Russian fiancee to the US was approved and her k1 visa expires on Dec 23rd.

The embassy in Moscow placed her visa on the last page of her passport, and as a result she had to get a new passport before she could actually travel. We are expecting her new passport to arrive any day, and she is ready to come as soon as it arrives.

Since there are no approved vaccines available in Russia, she cannot fly into the US.

Our plan is that she will fly to Frankfurt, as she has a valid US visa, I don't think she needs a visa to transit through Frankfurt. Is this correct?

From Frankfurt, she will fly to Mexico City and then to Tijuana. My understanding is that she won't need a visa to enter Mexico as she has the valid US visa. Can anyone tell me if this is correct?

She will then enter the US at the Tijuana/San Diego point of entry, where I will meet her and then we will drive home to Oregon.

Can anyone tell me if this is a workable scenario? What can she expect at the border crossing? She has her packet from the interview which I assume contains her medical test results. Is there anything else that she should bring, besides the passport with the K1 visa and the new passport? Would it be a good idea for me to meet her in Tijuana and enter the US with her, or should I just wait? This has been a long journey with many ups and downs, and now that the end is in sight, I don't want to risk anything going wrong and having to start it all over.

Can my fiancee travel to the US on her K1 visa through (transit) another country, or will she need to fly to US directly from Russia?

So I am currently preparing to file the paperwork for my wife's AOS application.

However, about 2 weeks ago I was converted from working as a contractor (through a recruiter) at my company, to being permanent (direct-hire). I am not worried about the income requirement in the slightest, as my previous salary as a contractor was well above the 125% poverty line. On top of that, my conversion from permanent to direct-hire has resulted in me getting a significant raise. I have been working for my company through the recruiter for more than 18 months full-time.

So the question is: How would I prove that my income is stable? Specifically about the letters from the employers. Would it be a good idea to get a letter from the recruiter, stating my salary and time spent working for them, as well as a letter from my current employer confirming my salary, along with a cover letter explaining that I made the switch from contractor to direct-hire?

Of course, I am attaching my W2's, pay stubs, and form 1040's along with my application as well.

If anybody has any experience switching jobs right before filing for AOS as a sponsor, and input will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Just spent some time browsing timelines for folks in Russia, primarily the IR/CR-1's, but k1's as well.

Seems like there are quite a lot from late 2019/2020 which showed noa2 but didn't get updated anymore, guessing because of the lack of interviews after the Moscow embassy closed? But even still, I would have thought those would have gone to NVC/waiting for consulate assignment?

But even out of the noa1s which don't show noa2 (but I would have thought they would by now), not sure how many are folks who didn't continue and just did something else. Or is there really still a big backlog of folks waiting for NOA2? Because it seems like there's been a couple folks from this year who have had success getting processed.