MikeNZ1984

Well, I moved house this weekend, so I'll have to wait 3 months until I'm eligible to apply for citizenship (different state), but looks like I'll be doing that ASAP.  This process is utterly ridiculous. 

I guess the technical term is we are all ****ed for a while. 

I believe they now exist in "the void", where monkeys pull numbered balls our of a lottery device to see which one will finally get processed, lost, or misprinted.  

Well, I'm moving Friday, so will be submitting my second AR-11 change of address during this process. Started in California, moved to Maryland in July last year, and moving to Virginia on Friday.  The upside is my USCIS office is way closer and less busy (Fairfax rather than Baltimore), lets hope all these changes of address don't cause any problems. I know it's thrown a spanner into the works for Citizenship (gotta wait another 3 months to apply now due to state residence requirements).  Fingers crossed I don't run into any issues when I go to get a Virginia drivers licence with the I-551 stamp rather than greencard or letter.  Maryland gave me a 10 year licence, lets hope VA isn't stingy and only gives me till my I-551 stamp expires. 

Get an 1551 stamp in your passport.  You get that with an infopass appointment.  I recently travelled to NZ with one after my greencard extension expired.  Had no trouble getting into the USA, but had a LOT of issues boarding the plane in New Zealand as the ticketing desk had never seen one before and took 1.5 hours to actually give me my boarding pass after a lot of heated discussion. 

Your sponsor will also need to file if they moved if they are not your spouse.. (which was the case with us). Also when I did my info pass, they told me that even though I did the AR-11 that only changed my address for the removal of conditions, but not my orignal greencard.  So I updated it in the system when with them at the USCIS office... strangely though there doesn't seem to be a straightforward way of doing it otherwise.  It really is a convoluted system that is very inefficient! 

So, I had a job interview and I didn't want to leave any confusion to prospective employers (seeing as my social is stamped "Work Authorisation with DHS Approval" and my green card expired in may last year, with my extension expiring at the end of this may this year). I'm in the DMV area in Maryland, and my local office is Baltimore for Infopasses.  Checked online and there were NO appointments every time I checked them. So I went screw it and put in a DC zip code and got an info pass appointment at Fairfax, VA (which is actually closer for me and accessible by the metro for me) for this morning.
 
Got there, standard security at the entrance, was very little wait time (actually ended up being served way before my appointment), they don't accept any walkups.  Got told off at the desk by a not too friendly guy for not using Baltimore, which I explained, that they are serving literally no one here, and Baltimore doesn't have any infopasses available, and there are no warnings on the website telling us not to use other offices, he let me in.  Got to finally being served and had my fingers crossed, as there was still around 6 weeks till my letter expired, when I know we are supposed to wait until the last 30 days.  Got a really nice guy, explained my situation, that we'd moved out here recently, why we couldn't use Baltimore etc, and the job situation.  He says not a problem, gets my green card, letter and passport and tells me to wait 15 minutes, comes back with my extension stamp in my passport.  Worth noting that at this stage they keep your expired greencard and letter as they are no longer valid. 
 
Spoke to him a bit more about the message we all got about our cases being transferred to local offices.  He said, no this hasn't happened with my case, even though it says it on the web, my case is still with California Service center (I filed in San Diego), and then I asked re expected wait times. He pulled out a pile of paper with memos from USCIS, and the current wait time for CSC was... 21-46 months.  Now I'm not sure if this is average, mean, median, mode, maximum or whatever, but he said to me to expect to come in next year for another stamp at the rate they are being processed at CSC, and I'd most likely get naturalized before it happens. Note that this is way out of line with what the website is suggesting with wait times, so who knows what is accurate right now... but prepare for the worst, hope for the best.  I'm just happy that I have my stamp, and I can travel without worrying, and won't' have any issues with work in the near future.  

Just venting, I just think it's awful that USCIS puts us through this, my husband and I love to travel domestically and abroad, but when it gets to the point that his GC has expired, ext. letter almost there, and WTH we can't ever get an INFO pass appointment in Baltimore, MD...I mean like what do we do now...it's awful, especially when they cashed our check for ROC in 10 seconds, I swear it has to be another way, all the trouble we are put through at the airports is just shameful, I mean you get through but by time you are you want at least a couple of drinks and seven cigarettes..GEESH!!!  OK vent over!!

Ok, So I got my green card on May 29, 2015, it expired on May 29, 2017.  I filed in March last year to remove conditions and have the one year extension letter that extends my green card to May 29, 2018. Which normally wouldn't be an issue, only thing is I'll probably be getting offered a job. And of course HR is likely not to understand the green card process and freak out if they see my status expires in around 60 days.  
 
Now I understand that normally you need to get the infopass in the 30 days before expiry to get the I-551 stamp in your passport.  My question is, is it a hard and fast rule, or do they take into account circumstances.  I'm 99% sure that I'll lose the job I'm being offered if I only have my extension letter and expect them to just trust me on the process, while if I have the stamp in my passport I'll get it.  Is this a good enough reason for them to give me the stamp at an infopass appointment?  Have booked one regardless for April 11, which will be closer to the timeline anyway, but just want to know what my odds are. 

That is correct its 1 year from the expiry of the green card, not the NOA. 

That is correct its 1 year from the expiry of the green card, not the NOA. 

Just saw this on mine too.  Fingers crossed. 

You also have to live in reality.  The reality is that as of now most of these ppl are American. They know no other country. They are not to blame... the US has invested tons of money into them already. An investment that will only be returned by letting them stay. Not only does this decision make no sense from a humanitarian point of view - but if the economy is your argument it also makes no sense..  you'll have a hard time arguing that they are criminals since there are requirements on DACA applicants that prevent that. 

I'm not a lawyer, but.. if it was me I'd disclose. If you are asked the question you legally need to answer it correctly, obviously if not asked you don't need to tell. BUT if you don't disclosed when asked you can lose everything. 

Don't expect employers to understand it, for some reason my employer thinks he's sponsoring my "visa" even though I have a green card through marriage and no one at work has had to deal with a single piece of paperwork related it to. You can thank the general ignorance of the population on immigration issues for that - after all its how we ended up with Trump. 

Just went and checked the mail, my NOA arrived today, nice and fast.  

Just checked the bank account and check has been cashed, so expecting my NOA any day now! 

Had it been under different circumstances, I probably wouldn't naturalise, but with the anti foreigner bigotry (I've literally run into Neo Nazis down here in SD who have come down from Anaheim and Temecula last weekend) and had a friend who is a US Citizen of Mexican descent detained at a checkpoint near Calexico this morning - I honestly I don't trust the state, and will Naturalise as soon as possible, regardless of the tax implications. That is if I actually end up staying here long term (I'm lucky that by 2020 I'll be eligible for NZ, UK (already have) + USA and Maltese citizenship!  

Had it been under different circumstances, I probably wouldn't naturalise, but with the anti foreigner bigotry (I've literally run into Neo Nazis down here in SD who have come down from Anaheim and Temecula last weekend) and had a friend who is a US Citizen of Mexican descent detained at a checkpoint near Calexico this morning - I honestly I don't trust the state, and will Naturalise as soon as possible, regardless of the tax implications. That is if I actually end up staying here long term (I'm lucky that by 2020 I'll be eligible for NZ, UK (already have) + USA and Maltese citizenship!  

Its a lot less stressful than the first time around that's for sure.  Normally I head down to TJ every few weeks from here in SD, I sure won't be doing it for the few months after my physical greencard expires even if I have a NOA that gives me approval, it just don't trust ICE at the port of entry, especially after the executive order shenanigans of the current government. I'm just glad that this part of it is reasonably straight forward, if not a complete and utter waste of time (a 2nd round of biometrics ... honestly, i'm pretty sure my eyes and fingerprints haven't changed in two years) and massive inconvenience.  Fingers crossed that things don't get slowed down with all the messing with other aspects of immigration/hiring stoppages in public sector/removal of expedited H1-bs etc going on. 

Its a lot less stressful than the first time around that's for sure.  Normally I head down to TJ every few weeks from here in SD, I sure won't be doing it for the few months after my physical greencard expires even if I have a NOA that gives me approval, it just don't trust ICE at the port of entry, especially after the executive order shenanigans of the current government. I'm just glad that this part of it is reasonably straight forward, if not a complete and utter waste of time (a 2nd round of biometrics ... honestly, i'm pretty sure my eyes and fingerprints haven't changed in two years) and massive inconvenience.  Fingers crossed that things don't get slowed down with all the messing with other aspects of immigration/hiring stoppages in public sector/removal of expedited H1-bs etc going on. 

I can not answer that. It's above my pay grade. I can only tell you what the law say. The wisdom of it is in the two cases provided.

Below is the collective wisdom of this forum:
Intent alone is not used to deny.
There is no question of intent at the interview.
Were you questioned on your intentions when arriving?

She may have undiagnosed mental health issues. Crazy might not be too far off the mark when it comes to describing the situation.
We have someone in the family who has been very similar (and been through 5 marriages with the same behaviour - and has suffered greatly due to her mental health issues) in their behaviour (that said, they also think that Wifi is causing earthquakes, and people on the bus are trying to off them.
It might be out of her control, it could be anything from here being fine and simply jealous to something such as borderline personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder or something far greater. Don't be so quick to judge, but by the same token - if she is unable or unwilling do to anything about it or get help to see the situation rationally or reasonably, you may have no choice but to seek greener pastures.
If you suspect this is the case, NAMI (The National Association for Mental Illness) can provide support for individuals affected and their families.

She may have undiagnosed mental health issues. Crazy might not be too far off the mark when it comes to describing the situation.
We have someone in the family who has been very similar (and been through 5 marriages with the same behaviour - and has suffered greatly due to her mental health issues) in their behaviour (that said, they also think that Wifi is causing earthquakes, and people on the bus are trying to off them.
It might be out of her control, it could be anything from here being fine and simply jealous to something such as borderline personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder or something far greater. Don't be so quick to judge, but by the same token - if she is unable or unwilling do to anything about it or get help to see the situation rationally or reasonably, you may have no choice but to seek greener pastures.
If you suspect this is the case, NAMI (The National Association for Mental Illness) can provide support for individuals affected and their families.