Tormentis

EAD in hand!

Actually i went to the post office, one day before expected delivery to pick it up

No problem at all!

You can start working only with GC / EAD

you can't get PAID

That's the main thing.

So if somebody would like to start working - well he or she is allowed to work

but you need to provide SSN before you first paycheck

I'm exactly in the same situation, with GC, EAD and no SSN

You can call if you have "any questions"

Just call and get some info, maybe the system is broken or something.

It would call you down at least. Seriously. Call today, even now. What they gonna say? Oh, we are sorry, we're not gonna talk to you?

Don;t worry I'm on initial review too

Some people received their GCs without any info online.

Call USCIS asap. Why wait?

As my lawyer said - you can start working only with EAD and without SSN

You can GET PAID without SSN

Did you call USCIS and talk to Tier 2?

Maybe he got an update. They all know this system is pretty much eh.. well not working well.

I'm after the interview, I have been approved and my online status for GC is.. INITIAL REVIEW

Well I;m not really worried, but I would like to take some action (start working maybe?)

I was at the SS office today asking for SSN

But they said they need an actual green card, or EAD and this letter wouldn't do much.

I'm kinda stressed because I have a really nice job opportunity.. and I'm not perfectly sure.. If I can start working

Hmm weird.. My status didn't change, it's still on the initial review.

What the hell is going on?

Thank you!

One small question - I got the letter on the interview that I got approved and I'm a lawful permanent resident etc.

Can I apply for SSN today or should I wait for the card itself? What do you think?

I have a job opportunity coming up and I would gladly get all the papers done ASAP.

No problem! I've always been reading all the reports and I think it's good to share your own experience. Especially if it's nice. We need more nice experiences!

today was the date of our immigration interview! My wife and I had it scheduled at 10:30am. We arrived to the office 30 minutes early, just to be safe. First, we had to approach a check-in window, where we handed a lady our letter of the interview so she could stamp it and give us a receipt number that they would call in order of arrivals. When we first approached the check-in window though, we stood there in front of the lady and I slid in our letter to her side of the window. I kind of stood there for a second wondering if I had done something wrong, until I realized she was blind. To tell you the truth, she was a very efficient employee regardless of being visually impaired. I don’t know how she could decipher the contents of the letter, but she went ahead and stamped it and handed us our receipt to be called on the other side of the room.

So then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, we got called in at 11:45am, and what a sigh of relief. Of course we couldn’t wait to get it over with. I really had to go to the bathroom, and my wife was really hungry, but this feeling shortly left as we realized how easygoing our immigration officer was.

She smiled and escorted us to her office and showed us where to sit. The lady was very nice, and had a very relaxed personality, which made my wife and I get instantly comfortable. We were so afraid we may get a nasty and offish officer, so we are incredibly grateful for the one we got!

The main piece of advice I have to give is: come prepared to your interview. Have all your documents set in a binder/folder, and go over some examples of interview questions well in advance. This will make you feel more prepared (it’s best to be safe than sorry!). Anyhow, in our case we ended up laughing in the end because we rehearsed probably about 4-5 pages of interview questions, and in reality our immigration officer didn’t ask any of them. But you still have to know your story front and back just in case.

The main questions we got were:

How did you meet?

Where did you meet for the first time?

Who cooks?

Who knows about your marriage and how do they feel about it?

Do you have any documents to show me?

But quite frankly, they weren’t given in interrogation form. Our officer started our interview by saying:

“Okay, so tell me about yourselves. Why are you here?”

She also had made us laugh by telling us that she had just gotten back from vacation in New York, and that now they’re piling cases on her desk. But she then went on to say that our case was going to be no problem.

Then she asked where we were from originally. The interviewer then made a comment like “oh wow, isn’t Poland a very Catholic country?” So our short convo about religion began. The officer told us that she was merely curious, and stated that officially they’re not really allowed to ask about religion but she laughed and said “well, this time you brought it up, so =P” She also said that if we weren’t comfortable speaking about it we could always say so. The religion convo wasn’t strict or anything, more just about making conversation and getting to know us a little bit more.

She went on to talk about New York, and how she doesn’t like the cold weather because she is Latina. My wife and I mentioned that it’s tough living in Florida because the constant year-round heat can be unbearable. We said we (well, officially my wife) lived in Toronto for about a year, and that we loved the four seasons and I grew to like the cold (though not the Polar Vortex winter that thankfully, I did not get to experience.

Frankly, I don’t think we got down to the nitty gritty of the “immigration” questions until halfway through our interview because the officer made a lot of small talk about New York, the weather, Florida, how our families are taking it, and how my wife should learn how to cook rice and beans (and how easy it is!).

She made us feel so comfortable that our nervousness was totally gone, and we were just ourselves. We held hands, and smiled and laughed. To tell you the truth… by the time the interview was over we realized that our officer had cleverly asked the questions she needed to know just by making easy conversation. And this was awesome because it didn’t feel stressful at all. We shared just what we needed to share for the interview to go smoothly, and it did.

To sum it up, we mostly talked about our families.

At the end of our interview she asked if there were any proofs and documents (copies) that we wanted to give her. We said yes, and we started mutually going through our folder and handing her things like: joint cell phone account receipt, bank statements, work paystubs (she really needed them a kept them also), and some photos of us and of our adorable kitten.

Then she mentioned that two years from now I can apply for a second green card (because right now I'm a Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident)

Then she asked if we had any questions for her before we left, and I boldly asked if we had gotten approved, and how long we needed to wait before we heard anything. She said “two weeks” and that we were approved.

Thank you everybody

I will make myself some coffee and write the report

Woohoo!! Congratulations Tormentis. We're ready for an online party )

Btw what's this second GC you are referring to?

Well the first GC is for two years, and it's conditional. After 2 years (actually 1 year and 9 months) you have to apply for another one

APPROVED ON THE SPOT!

GOT THE LETTER AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

The interview took around 90 minutes (!), but it was very nice, casual talk, mostly about food, cooking, where we would like to spend vacations etc. A lot of jokes and we didn;t even really feel that was "official"!

Our IO was extremely nice and at the end she said "welcome to America!" and gave us some info how to apply for the second GC in 2 years to avoid the interview and just be approved only by sending the documents.

West Palm Beach office rulez!

Thank you! The interview is tomorrow! I'm so nervous, you have no idea.

I don';t know why to be honest, our marriage is real, we are very much in love, have tons of evidence,... but you hear some horror USCIS stories and it scares me:(

Yes, we all get it, I think.

Thank God!

Otherwise the cards would get lost all the time

Yay!

"Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production


On September 12, 2014, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283."

Finally

3 day before interview.

They have adorable sense of humor

But it's always something, in case we not gonna be accepted on the spot

Congrats!

Guys, can I apply for a florida driver's license without ssn? Or do I have to wait for ssn to come in the mail?

Thanks

Our lawyer said it's possible.

I will let you know this weekend, I'm about to try!

Is the USCIS playing with my anxiety?

- On the 5th, I got an email saying my AED was approved, and moved to Card Production.

- On the 8th, I got the same email.

- Earlier this morning, they said my card was mailed today, and

- just now I got another email saying it was approved, and moved back to Post Decision.

Don't worry!

USCIS said to us to not pay attention to the online status very much.

They have problem with the system obviously.

Just check out your mail box every day and call if necessary.

It will be fine.

Thanks, Tormentis! I just hate this waiting and not knowing for sure part.

I know for sure my husband and I passed it. But the fact that we do not know when we will be issued the OFFICIAL approval is sooo frustrating!!!!!!

Anyway, good luck on your upcoming interview! Let us know how it goes

Today, I received an update stating that our i-130 is approved as well as the EAD and AP.

However, i-485 changed to "initial review". Shoot, this makes me so worried!!!!!!

Thank you, we are sooo nervous!

Don't worry about your online status, your EAD is approved, it's good, you can apply for jobs and stuff.

Don;t worry, you passed it. Remember it's a WAITING game

Patience is the most appreciate virtue at this point

It'll be fine!

Congrats and good luck!

I am preparing a nice set of supporting documents + pictures for the interview. I have a month to go for the interview so it's definitely not stressful. LOL

Thank you, we are freaking out Especially my wife is terrifying. She doesn't have a perfect memory, and she heard they could ask her what she was eating the very previous day. She doesn't remember what she had on breakfast lol :")

I hope that will be a nice experience. After all that ####### that happened it HAS TO BE NICE

Hi all! We had our interview today. Here's our experience...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/513922-aos-interview-santa-ana-ca/

Congrats!

And don;t worry! Remember you can always contact your congressman! That helps immediately

Just wait a week or two and if nothing would change - call and ask.

You know you passed it. You know you WILL have your green card.

Now everything will be just fine!

It wasn't USPS fault at all, because the correspondence was addressed to me (poorly but still). The interview letter is a second part of the mail and it's hidden under the first piece.

I called USCIS, but they were so confused and said "it's not possible".

Well it is possible obliviously.

I think I will just bring this letter to our interview on Monday, and report the case in person.

Otherwise everybody would be like "oh, it couldn't happen".

I was thinking about it

But shouldn't I just send the letter back to USCIS?

Thank you!

We got it faxed!

I'm so sorry for panicking but it was kinda urgent.