nlherman

1 hour ago, Nicola & Matt said:

I'm having exactly the same issue. I filed for ROC in September 2015 at VSC. I got an RFE in August 2016 to ask for further evidence of joint financials. When I hadn't heard anything back by December I rang and asked for an update. Got a letter in the mail 2 weeks ago to say my case is on hold pending security checks. It's very frustrating. I hope you get this sorted soon

The more I hear, the more I worry...I guess we are becoming a club, of course, in which no one wishes to be a member.

I let you know the result of our InfoPass appt next Friday... 

7 hours ago, mindthegap said:

The 'security check' BS is genuine in some cases, but it appears that is now being used often - particularly by Vermont who have a massive backlog - as a catch-all delaying tactic when they are slow or have messed up or lost a file somehow. I have proof of this, at least in my case (see my footer for my experiences of this).

 

It sucks, but there is nothing you can do about it. 

After seeing your story, now I'm really worried. Just made an InfoPass appointment for 2 weeks from today (and what a hassle that is as well). Now I know to ask what country they sent the security checks to. Thanks for that info.

And NOW they want an interview you? They could have done that in May...At least it means that a human being (questionable) that can make a decision is touching your file and will talk with you. If you have a lawyer, I'd take him or her with you...they appear to have an agenda...

Yes they stink...they haven't changed in the almost 4 years I've been dealing with them, from K-1 visa, through AOS and now into ROS...I'm just glad my nexium is working, otherwise I think I'd have spawned an ulcer by now...

Please keep us posted...

#USCISstillsucks

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

They have to run background checks with various other agencies, the FBI, etc. They don't/can't conduct the checks internally. They are on hold waiting for the checks to come back. It's out of their hands really. It's just a waiting game.

Yes, this true...K-1 visa petitioners and recipients require background checks for entry...but after the entry and marriage, the question turns to whether the marriage is real (for both the conditional green card and for the removal of conditions). This is done through the mass of evidence they require for you to send for an I -751...unless they're worried that may wife is a closet axe murderer or a living Bin Laden in drag, I still don't fathom why another security check is necessary...

I guess the question to ask is whether a security check is necessary to renew an expiring 10 year unconditional green card? If this true, that's another good reason to move quickly after getting the unconditional card to citizenship - simply to get these fools out of our life - a USCIS-ectomy,  you might say (or at least I would)...

My wife's I-751 application for Removal of Conditions is now one year since NOA. I requested a Service Request for Out of Processing time... Got  a reply today...Instead of the typical "hurry up and wait we're over worked and over loaded" answer, we got the following message:

"We have places your case on a processing hold because the required security checks remain pending. Until we receive the results of these security checks, we cannot move forward on your case. We require the results before we make a decision."

I am a little surprised and miffed. After all of the processing for the fiance visa and the Temporary Green Card, I can't believe that they haven't completed a prior security check...and WHAT IS A SECURITY CHECK? Is this simply a new excuse to say wait or is this a real deal?

Has anyone else gotten a similar response to a Service Request?

I guess it's time to make an InfoPass appointment to extend the extension for another year

I am confused by your timeline (which I follow since my husband and I have a quite similar one).

Aren't we supposed to apply for ROC 2 years from the expiration date of our "conditional" residency as per USCIS guidelines?

If so, you would not be entitled to apply until 90 days before your green card was approved (4/18/15).

Could anyone reading this thread shed some light on the matter?

My understanding is that the marriage anniversary doesn't have much to do with the ROC, and that the 2-year anniversary is related to when one received the green card.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Nikkosan. Hope you guys are well. You are correct, you must apply for ROC within the 90 day window of the expiration of your conditional card. So you ask, why are we applying now. Well this has to do with IO discretion. The day we were approved for my wife's GC, we were called by the IO handling our case because she needed our marriage certificate. We agreed to fax it immediatlely (we did and were approved in 4 hours). However the IO officer spent an additional 10 minutes explaining what was required for ROC, "...in a year...", and she emphasized this. We just thought it in error. But 3 days later we got a transmittal note with hand written dates of the GC date and expiration dates. These were a year earlier (both issue date and expiration date). Again we thought it to be in error. Our lawyer said the IO's have discretion as to 10 yr cards and conditional card dates. When the GC arrived it showed an issue date of 2014 and expiration in 2016. We won the USCIS lottery by getting a kind IO, I guess. So we applied now as my wife's GC expires at the end of March.

That's the story...

you submitted your application on Dec 28 too? great, keep us informed, did you receive the receipt yet? thanks

No receipt yet, but the timelines show I-797 NOA's in about a week, before Christmas. Who knows how the holidays will back things up. It is USCIS, well noted procrastinators...

Well here's a good a place as any to resume our trek on the forum. After the disgustingly long and arduous process to the conditional GC, it was nice to take a rest. But the rest is over. Our lawyer submitted our rather thick and heavy I-751 package on 12/28. So it begins again. Not looking forward to it. Looks like we dodged the new form (though after how many billions of dollars trying to digitize forms, this new one still is not - but hey we're talkin' 'bout USCIS here).

I don't expect this to be much easier than before, but maybe they'll surprise me...Yeah right!!

Had a very strange thing happen. I got a text this morning that our case number was updated. So I logged into USCIS website and it said that the EAD Renewal case number was updated (we already received the EAD Renewal Card). But when you click on the case number everything is that same. Says EAD card was delivered to you on 5/5/2015.

So I checked the Case number for the GC (I485) and the update date is the same and when you click on that case nnumber it is also the same. Says that they mailed RFE on 5/8/2015.

What the Heck!! Why would they even mess with the EAD case number at this point?? Im concerned and frustrated.

On the 27th of June we got a text and email message saying our GC was in production on 4/16.Don't sweat that message; their IT department is run by morons..

BTW I still watch everyday but I had to post...

On December 9th, after reading this thread, Part 1 on and off since June 2014, we finally decided to post. This was in the days when Nikkosan, Natonstan, GuisippeG, Derwood, Pat80, Cute Pansy and others were the big time posters. We had reached our 6th month in the post-NPIW era and were frustrated. On Dec. 7th, a Sunday and Pearl Harbor day, we were "bombed" with 5 successive texts. We were excited, but then found they all were related to our K-1 petition not our AOS. A very cruel joke. The next morning we got 2 more. I was hot to say the least and called USCIS to see what was up and to vent. I found out that IT was bring their system up to date and theTier 2 agent said they were sorry about the inconvenience. Still angry I wrote our first (rather long) posts describing our frustration and made the analog that the sortie of texts were our personal Pearl Harbor being it happened 74 years to the day of that atrocity. I figured I'd post once and just continue watching as before. But lo and behold we were attacked again, however this time by a member of this forum. The writer was incensed by my analogy; how dare I compare our puny and insignificant AOS to the victims of that "campaign". (By the way Pearl harbor was an attack, not a campaign). They demanded an apology by me to all surviving attack vets and to all vets and active duty servicemen for the perceived slight and to "...Sit down, shut up, and be patient like everyone else on this site..." I said wow, I thought this was a friendly and welcoming forum. I guess I was wrong.

Well anyone who knows me know I don't take unwarranted attacks sitting down, though I did sit down to write my response. I informed said member the both my father (20 years) and I (23 years) are retired military with conflict experiences. I thanked them for their service, if they did, and told them to "...get off my back..." if they didn't. I told them my opinion was mine, I served for the right for them AND ME to say it. They and no one else were getting an apology from me so take a hike and let's get back to hating USCIS , not me...I believe I was civil and the administrators didn't delete it and kicking me out. It's an interesting read if I do say so myself: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/452854-notice-of-potential-interview-waiver-case/page-38

I got no response and these very frequent posters subsequently stopped posting about 3 weeks later. They are May 2014 filers and have not amended their timeline to show approval yet, though they still visit the site...I wish them the best and if they have not been approved yet that it will be soon.

As you can tell, I didn't sit down and shut up. In six months I've posted over 600 times ranging from happy to down right venomous. I put the "cyn" in cynicism. And have stuck around 2 months after approval to see most of my oldtimer friends get approval (san MovinOn). Most have moved on. I gotta tell you I'm worn out and I must move on myself. I've become irrelevant. That doesn't mean I won't think of you all and root for your successes, but I will do that from afar. I will see some of you on the ROC thread in the future for that travail which I'm not looking forward to, but that's another story for another day...

So it's good-bye guys and good luck...

NEXT...

So in my emails today I find that USCIS have mailed me my new card Does anybody have any idea how long it takes to arrive and it it tracked ??

( btw who has put a rocket up the asses of USCIS ?? they are moving quick lol well quicker than they have in the last 14 months lol,) Good luck to all you still waiting, I'll be letting Y'all know if the green is better

A few days, not many...once it's in the mail...

So in my emails today I find that USCIS have mailed me my new card Does anybody have any idea how long it takes to arrive and it it tracked ??

( btw who has put a rocket up the asses of USCIS ?? they are moving quick lol well quicker than they have in the last 14 months lol,) Good luck to all you still waiting, I'll be letting Y'all know if the green is better

My assessment is a continuation of what l surmised 2 weeks ago: I think a number of factors are in play here. 1). The NY Times wrote a very negative story about all this in Jan and quoted a spokesman that they knew they needed to hire more Officers to speed approvals, but hadn't for some unknown reason. 2). There had to be increasing pressure from Representatives and Senators ('cause we were breathing down their necks) and from the Ombusman when we barrages them. 3). And most importantly you have to justify paying for all those new hires to process the 5 million illegal aliens, oops I meant our less than legal guests, which will not happen anytime soon (if ever)...

So this "Backlog Reduction Initiative" is the apparent result. The mass of approvals in one week is more than happened in the entire month of January. Things ground to a halt back then. Why? Executive action changed the priorities at USCIS. As it has been written here, Family-based AOS, especially from K-1 already had the lowest of low priority. In the face of the injunction against the Executive Action and the failure to grant the stay yesterday, USCIS had to ask this question: What do we do with all these new workers? Do we let them sit and pick their Pinocchio noses? Hmmm...maybe we should do something about that backlog over at Lee's Summit...Vous-a-la...Backlog Reduction Initiative...

How long will it last? Not sure but until there is no hope of court action allowing the Executive Action to move forward, USCIS will hold on to these employees and use them for lesser tasks such as our AOS's...

FINALLY!!!! After mailing my RFE last week, my status online changed to "welcome notice was

mailed" my GC will be delivered july 26!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS...Finally is right...Your NOA was 4 days after ours and we were approved 2 months ago today...You deserve it, now go celebrate!!

Just received an email reply to my last service request. Thanks for that USCIS. While it's nice to know which office adjudicated my case, you really needn't of bothered.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Peter Rodino Federal Building

970 Broad Street

Newark,NJ 07102

Type of service requested:

-- Outside Normal Processing Times

The status of this service request is:

On May 12, 2015, you or your representative contacted USCIS concerning your I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, to notify us that you believe your case is outside of our normal processing time. Below is a summary of what we found and how the issue has been or may be resolved.

On May 26, 2015, we mailed your new card for Receipt Number MSC9999999999, to the address you gave us. If you do not receive your card by June 25, 2015, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we send your new card to you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

We hope this information is helpful to you.

I'm reading all of this with a NJ twang in my voice!

It went to Juwsee??? We try to stay on the good side of the Hudson river...

It's amazing they even answered the SR ...

Thank you my Dear Friend.

Time for us to think of leaving this particular thread once Movin On get their approval... We can leave it in the capable hands of Tina and Johan or a couple of other's! And yes USCIS, it is very bitter sweet and yes they DO suck!

Don't know what I will do with the "Wulcum to Merica letter". I do have a dart board!.. As for the GC upon your person for 24 hours a day..... I told my husband that this is law, he said well if you have to wear it 24 hours, get a tattoo of it on your bum and if they ask for it, you will NEVER be caught out! Lol.

Just think, if you did, it would give you the excuse to moon 'em when ROC time comes around...

BTW I like the new iteration of Pinocchio - the nose that knows...

I got mine last week after a whole year waiting I filed in April ,2014 and i got the Medical RFE May the 20th I still don't know what is gonna happen after i submit it !! Been told that once i will send it they will make the decision within minimum one month to 180 days

It's generally faster than that, days not weeks especially with the backlog reduction initiative...it's good news, expensive news, but good news none the less...

Just recieved RFE letter need a new medical

That really sucks, sorry guys...

Finally, after more than a year of waiting (NOA1 05/21/2014) we have received a notification from USCIS….new card (green card) has ordered to be produced

Congratulations!! It's gettin' so green around here we need a lawn mower...Go Celebrate...

NEXT...

Well Guys, my prediction was a couple of months I finally got my approval today! Congrats to all other's PCV and such for their approvals and I am sorry for all of you with RFE's

I may not be the first as Derwood was but I won't be the last to say WHOOOP, WHOOOP, WHOOP!! Told you I'd stay to do that. It's just 3 months earlier than I thought. After you got the letter about the backlog reduction initiative -- on your first SR -- and with all the July and Aug approvals, I knew it would be soon. Now it's time for a second celebration...Too bad it wasn't before last weekend as an anniversary gift from your friends at USCIS...

BTW #USCISwillalwayssuck

finally got on here after a busy week at work, on Friday i got the text and email saying my welcome letter has been posted and my GC is in production after waiting this long I really dont care if its a 2 or 10 year as I can not really make this place feel like home

There has been a recent processing action taken on your case.

Receipt Number: MSC#######144

Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Your Case Status: Decision

On May 22, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number MSC#######144. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by July 21, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

CONGRATULATIONS!! In your case I can truly say IT'S ABOUT TIME!! You probably spent a very happy weekend and you both deserve it...Why wasn't the backlog reduction available back in Oct/Niv when it could have benefited you? We'll never know...But please keep us informed if it's a 2 or 10 year card and what date they put in your card for legal resident date...Enjoy the green!!

I know I mentioned this in the August 2014 filers topic but ill mention it here too since we did receive a Potential interview waiver notice months ago. Today when I checked the status of my husbands case it finally read :

On May 22, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number ------------. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by July 21, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

CONGRATULATIONS...Your quicker approval is the result of the ongoing backlog reduction initiative that appears to have started about 4 weeks ago (or at least the July and August approvals started then). You and the many others with similar NOA's are now the rule and not the exception...It couldn't have come at a better time...Go party!!!

Finally, my Green Card arrived home sweet home today !!! Let's celebrate!!! Memorial Day and Green Card day !!! ????????????

Enjoy the credit card size green thingy that was the source of all the pain and frustration for the last year...and when you look at it, a lot of the disgust and anger with USCIS starts to fade (though not all)...Engoy your Memorial Day weekend...

Hey everyone, my card was finally ordered today! I filed April 1st, 2014, got an RFE for an expired medical, did that all over again and finally approved!

Yes the RFE and redux medical were a pain, hassle and headache, BUT, life is all green now...CELEBRATE...

_{after 13 Months and 15 day i got my green card , at last}

Congratulations!! After your arduous journey with alota pain you have reached the promised land...Now that you no are longer green with envy, go celebrate...

Hey everyone,

I know I haven't been active on screen, but off screen I have. I've read all the messages in this topic to figure out how far everyone is and also how far the USCIS is with processing. A little recap of my experience so far, since I don't have a time-line on my posts.

July 11, 2014 - filed AOS with EAD

July 17, 2014 - Received NOA1

July 28, 2014 - Received bio-metrics appointment, Orlando, FL office.

August 10, 2014 - Bio-metrics appointment, Orlando, FL office

August 11, 2014 - Received request of addition of evidence due lack of income.

October 23, 2014 - Found a family sponsor to help us in our case and filed evidence to Lee's Summit

October 27, 2014 - Received confirmation of receiving request for evidence

November 4, 2014 - Received notification EAD is being made and send out

November 9, 2014 - Received EAD in the mail

November 10, 2014 - Applied for SSN

November 17, 2014 - Received NPIW with signed date: November 12, 2014.

November 18, 2014 - May 20, 2015

Nothing happened during this time period, though succesfully applied for a job at one of Orlando's newest attractions. Occasionally checking the case status, with no updates at all.

May 21, 2015 - Checked my case and surpised to see "Welcome Notice Was Mailed" on May 19, 2015.

I'm totally excited right now, however a lot of things are to be done! Also everyone who is still in the process, good luck to all of you!

Congrats, you will soon be a card-carrying 'Merican...Go celebrate and cheer the backlog reduction initiative...

Came home to our SR response in the mail. It's from Lees Summit, and as generic as they come. Better luck next month!

Next month file your own SR and make sure you select the email notification box. That way the letter comes directly to your email and you don't have to wait for the guys in blue ( that's postal blue, not police blue)...