Amanda & Raad

I received 2 text messages tonight saying our status was updated so I checked online & it said card production was ordered Dec. 14th! So hopefully my husband's card will be here soon!!

Thanks everybody! I am so happy to see our timeline dates filled in finally!!

Hi Everyone,

We got our Christmas present early! We got our 10 year green card approval in the mail today!!! The approval "decision date" is 11/25/11. I am so excited...it is so hard to believe...after all this wait!! Many, many thanks to God for this special blessing! My prayers are with those still waiting approval.

:dance: :dance: :dance:

I called USCIS last night and inquired about our case. I told them we are outside of the normal processing times. So he looked at my case and he said that they are currently processing cases from April 4th and procceded to tell me that I am in fact still within processing times. My receipt says our case was received April 5th. I told him April 5th to November 5th is 7 months and it says online the average processing time is 6 months. He said that time is not accurate...well duh! He was trying to tell me our case was received May 5th & I kept telling him it was April 5th. I asked him if it was possible to put in a service request and he told me no. WTH! One minute I see on VJ they are telling people they are working on Feb. 24th cases and he tells me April 4th cases. I seriously don't get USCIS. So yes, it is a total waste of time to call!

I wonder if we will get our Christmas wish...the 10 year green card....????

Yes they will be just visiting. We are trying to have a baby and we wanted my mother-in-law to come after delivery to help me with the baby and possibly stay a while after so we wouldn't have to look for a daycare immediately. My husband thought that she could just stay for 6 months, exit the country & come right back for another 6 months. But as I see this is not possible.

So since her visa is for 5 years & she comes to visit & they let her stay 6 months I can try to get an extension on her stay or she has to go back...how often during the 5 years can she visit? Or is it 6 months max (unless extension granted) during the 5 year validity of the visa?

Congrats canadian wife! People with dates all around me are getting approved so I hope that means approval soon for us too!

Hi Everyone,

I didn't see this topic & if I overlooked the answer somewhere please direct me! My mother-in-law & 2 sisters-in-law were approved for a visitor visa to the US from Jordan. My husband said the visa is good for 5 years. He said that when they come to the US they can only stay 6 months, then have to re-enter the US to be able to stay another 6 months. If the visa is valid for 5 years, can they not extend their stay once they get here? I have NO earthly clue how the visitor visa works. Can someone please fill me in?

Thanks!

I'm sure you will hear soon...I was getting ready to call USCIS and the letter just arrived in the mail on Saturday. Friday was also a holiday, so it might have slowed down some of the mail.

I hope you are right. I almost forget about it sometimes since my husband is actually here with me through this part. I have to keep reminding myself that we are still waiting & that I need to be on top of it!

Ok so I know I need to go look in another topic, but I honestly don't know where to start looking. If someone could point me in the right direction I would be grateful! My husband's (LPR) mother and two sisters were approved for a vistor's visa. They were approved for 5 years. I'm not even sure what the visitor's visa is called, the file you send in to apply for that etc. My husband says that they are approved for 5 years and that once they enter the US, they can only stay for 6 months, then must leave and re-enter the US to stay another 6 months? Does anyone know if this is correct? I saw something on USCIS website about extending your visitor visa but I'm not sure if I am looking at the right thing. Anyone have a clue?

Thank you!

Well queuedup....I guess since you are right ahead of me "maybe" we will get approval soon? I haven't even bothered calling USCIS and we are past the 7 month mark now. I don't know if it will even make a difference if I call. My husband seems to think the same...we may be able to apply for citizenship before we get the 10 yr greencard.

Do you need get your passport stamped if you are planning to travel? Would the letter we received stating the 1 year extension not suffice? We are planning an overseas trip but would like to avoid the hassle of making an infopass appt. since we'd have to go to the USCIS San Antonio office to get the stamp (we live in Austin).

Argent we just got back from overseas about 3 weeks ago. My husband brought the 1 year extension letter along with his expired green card and we had no trouble at all going through immigration in the airports. When we came back & went through JFK airport, the immigration officer said they get a lot of fraud letters, so they send us to another section after our passports are stamped for arrival and it only took like an extra 5 minutes for them to verify the authenticity of the extension letter. We had no problems at all and everything went smoothly. So you should be fine with the extension letter & expired green card for international travel.

We are a day behind K84 so hopefully our approval is coming soon too!

Hi Everyone...been quite a while since I checked in. We are also waiting patiently still on VSC. We are passed the 6 month mark as well, but seeing everyone's posts I don't think it will help if I call and place a service request. Also, for those of you who may be considering traveling outside the US on your 1 year extension letter, we just got back from Jordan on Friday and we had no problems...we went through as if my husband's green card was not expired. The only little extra thing they did was when we landed at JFK they made us take the extension letter to a different section for them to verify. The guy at the immigration/customs desk said they get alot of fraudulent letters so they just verify...it only took like 5 minutes. We were hoping to come back & find his green card in the mailbox when we got back from vacation, but it wasn't there . Oh well...I am just glad to have him by my side during this process instead of him being 6000 miles away like the first go round!

Good luck to everyone...here's to approval before Christmas!! Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Haven't been on VJ for about a month now. This Sunday makes 1 month since our biometrics appointment and we haven't heard anything at all since then..no texts no e-mails no nothing. I have a feeling we many not get our green card before we go on vacation in September. geez VSC how long is it going to take you?

Hi Everyone...We went for our biometrics appointment in Raleigh NC Friday. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get there and we were in & out in 20 minutes! It almost took us longer to go through the dang metal detectors than it did for the actual appointment. My husband said the lady rolled his fingers about 10 times but finally got his prints! So now the waiting game. I am really praying we get the green card before we go to Jordan in September, but at the rate VSC is going right now...I'm not so sure! At least the biometrics part is over now...just wait.

Thanks rocks!! Yes I plan on taking the day off from work and just spending the day in Raleigh and maybe having some lunch at an Arabic restaurant there.

VSC must have hit some energy! We got our biometrics appointment letter yesterday 5/26/11 and our appointment is set for 6/17/11 in Raleigh. We probably won't do an early walk-in as we have to drive 2 hours to get there. Can someone update me please? Thanks!

How long did you have to wait (after calling them) before they sent you the email?

I'm still waiting for them to reply

I called on a Tuesday & they put in a service request to VSC for not having received a biometrics appointment yet. I got an e-mail from VSC two days later on a Thursday saying there aren't any appointments available and we will be sent a letter when one comes available. Blah. Today makes day 50 from NOA receipt date & no biometrics appointment yet. Now I am starting worry...what if they make our biometrics appointment when we are out of the country in September?

So they did give you the same answer as me. Only they gave you the same answer over the phone, they sent me an e-mail after I called them. Its been 49 days (counting weekend days) since our NOA receipt date. So we'll see how long it takes to get us the biometrics appointment letter. I will let you all know as soon as I hear. This sucks.

What I don't get is how everyone lately is going in for their biometrics and they are saying that the place is almost empty, yet they tell me they can't make me an appointment yet because they are backed up. ??? I don't understand that. And you are right, we have to pay to wait. Ugh...I really am praying we get our green card before we travel in September. I feel like bah humbug!!

On a lighter note..in response to the question earlier. My husband and I met on Yahoo chat back in Feb. 2008. He randomly picked my name in the chat room to start a personal chat with and that was it! We fell in love...chatted online via video chat for 9 months, then I flew to Jordan to meet him & we got married. I stayed in Jordan 3 weeks and we sent in our paperwork for the CR-1 visa the following month. He got approved in June 2009 and has been here in the US with me since. Wow..doesn't seem like we've been married almost 3 years now. Time seems like it really flies except when you have to go through the next step in immigration then its like is creeping by!!

Good luck to everyone! I hope we get good news soon!

Ok so I called USCIS after it had been 30 days past NOA receipt date & no biometrics appointment had been received. They told me, oh they are a little behind, just wait 30 days past the day you actually got the NOA physically in the mail. So May 12th made 30 days past receipt of NOA. Wednesday we called USCIS again and they put in a service request to VSC for non receipt of biometrics appointment letter. They told me if I hadn't heard anything within 30 days to call back. Then yesterday I got and e-mail from USCIS stating this:

The status of this service request is:

Our records indicate that your biometrics appointment is pending due to limited capacity at your local Application Support Center (ASC). We will schedule an appointment for you when a time becomes available at the ASC and mail you an appointment notice. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

If you have any further questions, please call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

Great...so like someone said earlier, we are going to be getting extensions for our extensions. This process is so awesome!!

I'm getting aggravated as well...we haven't recieved biometrics appointment letter yet and it has now been 30 days since we RECEIVED NOA. Ugghhhhh....I hate this!

So glad to see some VSC'ers getting bio appointments!!! I have hope now...hopefully we will get ours in the next few days!