ayra

Dear VJ Friends,

This forum has really helped us to pass thru my wife's complicated I-751 case and she finally got her 10 year unconditional GC on last March 2014. Now, it is time to file for her citizenship but I do have some concerns on our application. I really appreciate your feedback what to do. We will also definitely get consultation from an immigration attorney too.

So, here is a short timeline for her journey

-> Wife received her conditional GC on August 2010 based on marriage with me (US citizen)

-> Wife applied for a I-131 travel permit on Sep 2010

-> We moved to overseas due to my job on Jan 2011

-> We received her travel permit at the USA embassy on June June 2011

-> Wife stayed overseas June 2012, her travel permit expired

-> She started to travel back and forth to the states less than 6 months, no problem occured during entries

-> Wife sent her I-751 application for unconditional GC on July 2013

-> We had two RFE's and had a very hard time. But, she finally got her unconditional GC on March 2014

-> Since March 2014, she has been in the states, has a stable job and we file taxes together for the last 5 years (married jointly)

Since April 2013, she has been in the USA for around 610 days. I believe 610 days is enough to apply based on 3 year rule. She meets the 18 months physical presence, however I am concerned that again when she goes to the citizenship interview, Immigration officer can give her a hard time and start to ask many evidence about our marriage. We extremely had tough time when we had two RFEs and I am concern that it will kill us even if we face with a similar process. I heard that based on 5 year rule, even if you are married, officers do not tend to push hard about marriage related questions and do not ask many evidences like based on 3 year applications.

What do you think , should we wait another 11 months not to risk anything and she can apply thru 5 year rule ?

Anyone has the information ?

Dear VJ Friends,

After waiting almost 18 months, our case was finally got approved last week by the USCIS. We are extreemely happy and relieved. The whole process teared down us and was very nerve breaking but thanks God that after waiting this long, finally we are approved.

My wife would like to travel so I would like to us how long approximately it takes to receive the actual green card ? On the USCIS page, it says you should receive your card in 30 days and no tracking number is posted. Are they going to post a tracking number to track the envelope or momentarily we will open our post box and receive the card ?

I appreciate if you can share your feedback. I also wish good luck to all friends and hoping that everyone will be approved soon.

If you are ın the USA , you do not need to carry your extension letter with you. But, I highly recommend to make extra copies.

We are in the same boat like you even we had our interview in NY last december (first week of december) and still can not hear anything back from the USCIS. Spoke to tier 2 supervisors twice but they say you have to wait 90 days after your interview date so that time is also over.

Which field office you had your interview ?

Alix if you do not mind I would like to ask Shub also an opinion regarding our case . Our case is also very similar to both of you and we would like to be prepared when it is time to file for the citizenship. I really appreciate if you can comment and give some idea based on the below timeline :

September 2009 : Got married

August 2010 : Wife got the GC based on a marriage with myself USC

October 2010 : Applied for the I-131 travel book for my wife, completed fingerprints

Jan 2011 : Moved to abroad since I got a job with a multinational American firm (based on local payroll)

June 2011 : Wife's travel book came to the embassy abroad, had the expiration date very close to the expiration date of her 2 year green card

June 2012 : Wife went to the USA, applied for I-751 to remove conditions , stayed 2 months

August 2012 : Wife came back to abroad to visit me

Jan 2013 : Wife went to the USA for a week

April 2013 : Wife moved to the USA again and waiting to receive her 10 year gc since then

So after the travel book, she has spent 12 months all together in the USA. And after the travel book, she did not stay abroad not more than 6 months. Since April 2013 she has been continuosly living in the USA for 10 months. At the moment, we are still waiting USCIS to finalize our I-751 case and hopefully to receive the 10 year green card.

My question is after she gets the 10 year green card, if she can wait another 6 months more, can she be eligible to file for the citizenship based on the above timeline ? Our case is a little bit complicated however I do appreciate your input .

Fyi, we regularly file for taxes as a couple even though my wife is not working. We have a permanent address, credit cards, driver licences etc based on our address in the USA.

We also have a similar situation here, I am the USC husband and we got married in the USA . My wife got her GC back on August 2009 and then 5 months later we had to move to overseas. She got the travel book for 1 year and stayed outside of the USA. Then when it is time to apply for the removing conditions on July 2012 and she stayed for another 2 months , she was travelling back and forth , not to break the residency rule. Sınce April 2013 , she is in the USA and waiting for the 10 year GC. All together she has been there for 12 months ..

we wonder after she gets her 10 year green card , can she be able to file for the citizenship in 6 months since she will complete the 18 months requirement ?

Dear All,

We had our I-751 ınterview in the beginning of December and still have not heard anything back from the USCIS. My wife called the 1-800 number and was transferred to the second level supervisor twice and once he told that they have not received our documents back from the NY office , second time we have been informed that there is a 90 day processing time so we have to wait till the end of this period. In addition, at the end of Jan. my wife received an official letter from the USCIS saying her case is still processing.

She had the infopass appoinment last August 2013 and her passport was stamped. During the interview, her expired GC was taken from the immigration officer. She wants to travel abroad due to a family emergency, before she travels we would like to make sure the following :

1) She has her passport stamped and got a letter from the USCIS saying that her case is stil processing. Do you think it is safe to travel with the stamped passport and the letter saying case is under review and still processing.

2) We really hope that she is approved however, we need to think the worst case scenario like what if it is not approved. While she is out, if they mail a letter saying ok thank you but you are disapproved. What can happen when she comes to the customs point at the airport from abroad ?

I would appreciate your feedback, she really needs to travel because mentally she is torn out because of this stress. I want her to relax and recharge herself. Thanks in advance for your valuable comments.

Folks,

Yes, we are about to go crazy and drive nuts because of waiting. This whole thing is really breaking nerves and we unfortunately can not do much. We have sent our inital application set back on July 2012. Since then we had the RFE in April 2013, then second letter saying more evidence needed in July 2013 and finally asked to have an interview in December 2013.

Since our interview, 8 weeks passed and we called the 1-800 to learn what is going on, spoke to TIER-2 level supervisor and advised that the case is still processing. The officer said it can take up to 90 days so we need to wait more. Our interview was fine, the officer did not even question much just check pictures, asked some basic questions but did not say we are approved or rejected. However, now we can not hear anything from them. We requested our house represantative to inquire for us. So, we are pushing basically all the buttons and wait what will come up.

I do feel everyone who is in the same boat with us. As said before waiing is killing without any clue what will happen.

Lovebana hello, I am happy that your case is finally approved. I believe our case is very similar to yours. We also had our interview back on Dec 2nd and since then could not get any mail for the status of our case. We also had the interview in NYC office and our officer said we will be notified by mail. However, no case update since then.

My wife called the 1-800 number spoke to the TIER 2 level supervisor and was advised that he will send an email to NYC office asking what is going on. I would like to ask how to contact the represantative. Could you please maybe share the details via private message so we can also involve maybe someone important to get this case solved ? Also, if you can tell your personal experience in order how to follow your case, it can be helpful to myself and others who are in the same boat. Thanks in advance and again glad that you finished our GC journey.

Ok here is what happened yesterday. My wife called the 1-800 number and first spoke to the Tier 1 level operator, as usual this person could not make any comment besides we have to wait more.. Then I advised her to call the number again and ask to be transferred to the Tier 2 level supervisor. She called and left her phone number to be called back. I was thinking that nobody will call back but suprisingly a very kind supervisor called back my wife and said they have not received any document yet from the NYC field office. He said he will e-mail them and what is going on ?

It has already been 40 days almost after our interview and the local field office could not send our files back to the Vermont. So, my wife was told that we should hear back in two weeks. Lets cross fingers and see what they will tell..

Please advise how the process after the interview works ? Field office sends the documents back to the service center and the service center sends a letter to the applicant that case is approved or disapproved .. Or , the field office sends a letter to the applicant saying your case is approved and new GC will be mailed to you or not ?

Yes it does! My online case update didn't change until I got the notification that my card went into production. And my card only went into production after I hounded them about it for taking too long (i.e. made me wait until after the allowed wait period to call them ) lol

Victorian221b thanks a lot for your advice. My wife stills insist to give them more time but I push her to call them since it has already been 38 days after our interview. She agreed to give them a call today so lets see what they will say.

Normally, if everything goes okay and if they say okay your case is approved , how long more it takes for them to produce and mail the new GC ? She is planning to travel at the end of Feb so I am again stressing out to pay penalty to the airline to postpone the ticket once more again. Roughly , we have 48 more days so do you think the card can arrive within 48 days if all is going ok for our case ?

Mrs. Faith, have you received your 10 year GC ? If so, how long it took ? We are in the same boat like you ..

^{Still have not heard anything from the USCIS, will call tomorrow to talk to a level 2 supervisor. Website is still showing initial review for our case , waiting is killing...}

Dear Friends,

We had our interview on Dec. 2nd in NYC Federal Plaza. Overall, the interview was good but our officer did not say anything yes you guys are approved or disapproved. We were only told that we will receive a mail in a couple of weeks. However, it is already 25 days passed and we did not hear anything back. Their website still shows our status under initial review.

We will give them a call next week but would like to know how the process usually works ? Aren't we supposed to receive a letter from our local office that your case is approved and wait for your new GC ? Or documents will be mailed to the Vermont Service Center and then Vermont will notify us about the updates.

Waiting is really killing !!

We had our interview back on December 2nd,2013. Interview itself was okay however the officer did not say we are approved or not. She only said you will hear back soon and will receive a letter soon. It has been already 22 days since we had the interview , how long does it usually take them to respond back ? How is the process usually works after the interview ?

Lets say after the interview they mail documents back to the Vermont Service Center. Before they mail, aren't we suppose to get a letter saying your case is approved or denied ??

So, can someone kindly summarize how everything works after the interview ? Is it like this order :

Case is approved or disapproved from the local field office

Notification mail is sent by the local office to the applicant

Application documents are returned to the service center

If the case is approved, green card is produced and mail to the applicant

This is what I imagined after reading above posts, please correct if anything is wrong.

Same story here, we also had our interview in NYC on December 2nd. Interview was okay overall, officer did not say anything but I can tell it went pretty well. However, we did not receive any letter from the USCIS saying okay your case is approved or not. Their website also does not show any status update. Waiting is killing us..

Thanks a lot, good luck with your N-400 process

Dpeter736, we also had an interview last Monday on December 2nd and neither heard anything from the USCIS nor any update on their website regarding the status updates. How long does it take in your case do get the notice , was it by mail or they updated ur status on the website ?

Dear Friends,

As I have explained in this link http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/442848-urgent-help-needed-for-wifes-complicated-i-751-case/#entry6387885 , my wife is currently dealing to remove conditions on her GC. She sent her initial application back on July 2012 and since then we have been waiting for her to be approved.

Back on April 2013 (9 months after our application mailed), we received the RFE letter. We prepared a very detailed package including :

a) Married joint taxes from 2009-2010-2011 and 2012

b) Our rental apartment leases in Eurupe under both of our names from 2011-2012 and 2013

c) Health insurance cards copies of me and my wife

d) Retirement plan document showing my wife as a beneficiary

e) 401K plan from my company showing my wife as a beneficiary

f) Utility bill copies, showing both of our names

g) Pictures from different events

h) Affidavits from friends and family

i) Bank of America mutual credit card statements for one year

j) One joint savings, one joint debit account books

k) Misc. examples such as letters, postcards

After the RFE, we were really hoping that my wife is going to be approved however, USCIS sent another letter asking to :

- Provide an explanation of why you are residing outside of the USA

- Provide an actual date of when you plan to return to the USA

We hired an immigration attorney in NYC and he wrote a letter explaining why my wife was outside of the USA before the I-751 application. Since April 2013, she is residing in the NYC on a permanet basis and I am pushing hard to be transferred back to the USA with my company. Fyi, currently I am working for an American Chemical company in the Middle East for a promising position and do not really want to leave the company but willing to get a job in the USA.

After our attorney sent the letter with some additional evidence that my wife lives in the NYC ( our lease including both of our names, NYC driver licence, doctor appointment letters, USMLE application that she is studying towards her medical internship in the USA, my job application showing I would like to be transferred back to the USA), we received another letter saying we will have an interview in NYC.

We do not scare about the interview since we have a happy and legal marriage. However, this whole situation is very stressful as you can imagine. I would like to have your opinion regarding :

1) Can I write a letter to Obdusman mailbox explaing our situation and expecting them to support us ? I am thinking maybe if Obdusman can involve , we can skip the interview step.

2) Also , write to my NY senator explaing our situation and expecting the senator to support us.

If these options do not help, I guess going to the interview will be the only option. I appreciate feedback from applicants who went to the NYC field office for interviews. How is the approach, what we need to pay extra attention ?

Dear Friends,

As of right now, my wife has an ongoing I-751 case with the USCIS. I have helped her to update our new address, I would like to learn as a US citizen husband do I need to update my address thru the online change of address tool in the USCIS website or any other government site besides to inform the local post office about my new address ?

Regards,

She can not file for citizenship due to her travels outside of the USA. She has to be physically in the country min 18 months to be eligible for citizenship application if I am not wrong.

But, again for your feedback, I wish we could file the N-400 as you recommend.

To file for the citizenship is not our case, thanks for the advice though.

Our I-751 case still continues but the extension and the GC have expired, so my question is if we can make an infopass appointment and stamp the passport, get another extension letter ??

Dear Friends,

Our I-751 case still continues with the USCIS. I have mentioned in another topic that after the RFE, USCIS is requesting us to provide a letter for our case till October7th, 2013.

My wife's conditional green card has expired and also the extension letter was expired last week. She is in the USA at the moment and do not have further travel plans to abroad.

Can she make an infopass appointment and show the second letter from USCIS and ask her passport to be stamped ? I know she had to do it this appointment couple weeks before her extension letter expired but she could not make it.

Can she still get her passport stamped and be in a legal status while our case goes on ?