sunnyisland

CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT!!!! GOT THE GREENCARD TODAY AND ITS PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR KEEPING ME SANE THROUGH THIS JOURNEY!!!! WE PROBABLY GOT IT BECAUSE OF THE NEW CLEARANCE OF BACKLOG BUT WE DEFINITELY ARENT GOING TO COMPLAIN!!!!! MAY EVERYONES JOURNEY BE A SHORT ONE!!! IT WAS ALSO A TEN YEAR CARD.......................

Another drum roll please...................................

Received an email today saying those three wonderful words........................CARD PRODUCTION ORDERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our first touch since June 2005!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont think I will believe it until I have that wonderful card in our hands!!!!We just renewed our AP in December maybe that jilted something....whose to say!

It closing in our our three year anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!

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CONGRATS!!!! SO HAPPY FOR THE TWO OF YOU!!!

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WE ARE STILL WAITING. WENT FOR SECOND FINGERPRINTS WHICH CAME FROM THE VERMONT OFFICE THIS TIME. MAYBE THEY ARE CLEANING THE 2005 FILES UP FINALLY, I CAN ONLY HOPE!!!

THANKS FOR GIVING US HOPE DONNA!!!

Congrats everyone who got their cards

Today I got something as well but don't want to get too excited; we received a notice from the Vermont office (not our local office) about fingerprinting for the 485- code one was on it. I know our fingerprints expired months ago since they were first done in June of 2005. Are they just cleaning up or can I get hopeful of more things to come.

We just applied for a AP, could that of triggered something??? oh yeah, they gave us an appt for next week, less than a weeks notice!! of course we're going but isnt that ironic of how things are handled???????????

good luck to all!!

Hi again...

Still nothing going on with our status. Been Pending FBI namecheck since October 2005. Happy to see some of the oldtimers but starting to even get more frustrated.

Just read that in Michigan secretary of state will not issue a drivers license to a nonresident, and for purposes of Michigan vehicle code must be permanent residents and not temporary or transient.They will have to document legal and permanent residency in the us., stating most still can drive using the license of their home country. Is this ridulous for us pending applicants!!!!Is this going to be yet another hassle for us waiting on namechecks!!! I currently have a license but am afraid come renewal next year!

Has anyone encountered this new legislation yet in their state???

Just want that green card!!!

I agree that taking the earlier road with USCIS is probably wise.

Our current concern is the renewal EAD biometrics. We want to travel in mid June and usually file in the beginning of March since the current EAD expires in early July, but will probably file earlier because of the biometrics.

We will celebrate 3 years waiting for the FBI namecheck this summer!!

I pray we wont be gone when they ask for the biometrics!!! for the EAD.....

Any opionins on the matter???????

Mine is the same..No actual signature of the person using it, just the signature of the Director who released it to you. Happy traveling.

Make sure you take other documents with you as I understand (passport,receipt of pending status, copy of marriage license and both copies of Advance Parole)

Thank you both for easing our mind!!! I have become so paranoid in this whole process!!!! Sometimes I think I'm losing it through this entire process

ur in luck...no fingerprinting for advance parole.

Thanks Donna A for your reply...

We are worried because we havent had biometrics since June 2005 so they are definitely expired now. We wont be traveling til this June, 2008, and we still are "pending FBI namecheck" all this time.But we do have both AP documents in hand and want to make travel plans. I'll be stressed til we reenter the US after our trip abroad I guess.

Still hoping for a miracle "green card" before of course but I feel like we will be in the famous black hole for years! We will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary soon! We will be applying for another EAD at the end of next month...Just more and more money!!

I just hope that with expired biometrics there will be no hassle.

ur in luck...no fingerprinting for advance parole.

Hi...

Since I want to travel next year to my home country, I applied for and received my AP . We still havent received the green card after almost 2 1/2 years due to pending namecheck...

We received the AP documents (both) and is that It????

No instructions to do anything else. I thought we would have to go for fingerprints again but it doest say anything..

Please let us know and Merry Christmas to All!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK Guys, I'm beginning to feel left out. Nothing has changed for us; I wish we were asked for fingerprints. Just gave them more money for the AP.

All I want for Christmas is a green card!!

Hope all of you get yours and this is a good sign of whats coming.

Hopefully the FBI is adding more staff to clear all of us up...

Ca-Girl...

After the initial contact with the congressman, it took an additional phone call. All together about 7 weeks to get the standard form response letter that there was nothing they could do. The senator responded within 5 weeks, still neither claims they can do anything to help. Not encouraging at all.

Hi Patrick,

We are one of the old timers as well waiting since Oct of 2005.

We have done everything. Now the Senator tells us only to contact them once every six months because the FBI has restricted their inquiries since there is such a huge backlog.

I get the same "sorry" letter from both senator, congressman and ombudsman. I think writing to the ombudsman was totally useless after sending them an entire package, all we got back was a short form letter saying what we already knew in the beginning.

Wondering if anyone has ventured with the WOM and the cost of starting that. We will be on our fourth EAD come the beginning of next year. I cringe when I think of all this $ knowing that we are just wanting to get on with our lives.

Being Patient is getting tiring when you see ones just going through, it gets to the point of upsetting. If they contacted us right from the start and gave us some timeline maximum I would even feel better.

Hi Sunnyisland,

I haven't thought about the WOM yet.

If I may ask, how was the contact you've had with the senators of your state? I'm getting impatient with the one I've contacted. This is a timetime of my contact with my senator's office:

09/25/07 - sent her office a fax asking them to do an inquiry

10/04/07 - spoke to her immigration liason because my fax had been transfered from one office to another

11/03/07 - sent my senator's office a letter asking if they've heard from the USCIS

now I'm wondering if I should just wait for a reply, call her office, or show up there in person. What has been your experience?

Thanks!

Hi Patrick,

We are one of the old timers as well waiting since Oct of 2005.

We have done everything. Now the Senator tells us only to contact them once every six months because the FBI has restricted their inquiries since there is such a huge backlog.

I get the same "sorry" letter from both senator, congressman and ombudsman. I think writing to the ombudsman was totally useless after sending them an entire package, all we got back was a short form letter saying what we already knew in the beginning.

Wondering if anyone has ventured with the WOM and the cost of starting that. We will be on our fourth EAD come the beginning of next year. I cringe when I think of all this $ knowing that we are just wanting to get on with our lives.

Being Patient is getting tiring when you see ones just going through, it gets to the point of upsetting. If they contacted us right from the start and gave us some timeline maximum I would even feel better.

Thank you so much for helping me with this!!! After all this waiting I don't want to mess ANYTHING up!

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Hi....

Wanting to travel to Europe to be a witness in a family wedding. I had my interview in October of 2005, yes, we have been waiting for fbi namecheck to clear for over two years.

Our question is....when applying for AP...would I be able to travel around Europe during the month I will be there. We have been wanting to travel but we are so afraid and dont want to goof anything up. Or is the AP only good for the final destination (homeland).

There is no direct flights to my homeland so we would probably have to connect through London.

I trust everyone here more than calling the USCIS "help" line.

Thank you for any insight. I was thinking of applying now for a June 2008 trip so we can start looking for good airline fares. I dont want to book til I have that AP in my hand!

CONGRATS Doodles75!!!

We are still in namecheck.Has been over 900 days since NOA and over two years since interview. Got another form letter from the senator again today reaffirming......YES, You are still in namecheck.

Seeing some "oldtimers" getting through gives some hope to us other waiting. So tired of reapplying for AP and EAD at this point.

We have exhausted everything except the WOM at this point. Letters to ombudsman, congressman, senator, infopass, etc have all been done.

Just being curious and seeing if everyone else in namecheck has the same status when checking your receipt number on the uscis.gov website

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

Current Status: Response to request for evidence received, and case processing has resumed

This is the only message ever that we got since 2005! never mentions due to FBI namecheck of course.

Here's a contest I really didnt want to win.....We are on our fourth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EAD and we have done everything possible except the WOM thus far. Will have to file for the fifth if nothing received by next March.......

Money constantly going down the drain......does anyone know where we can buy money tree seeds......lol

WE DID OUR LAST FINGERPRINTS JUNE 2005. I WOULD GET VERY EXCITED TO EVEN GET THOSE REDONE BECAUSE I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD SIGN AS WELL. WE ARE WAY BEYOND THE 15 MONTH POINT AS WELL. I MADE AN INFOPASS TO ASK IF I COULD GET FINGERPRINTED AGAIN SINCE I KNOW THEY ARE EXPIRED, AND THE ANSWER WAS "DON'T CALL US.....WE'LL CALL YOU" WHEN NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!

BIOMETRICS WERE DONE ON OUR FOURTH EAD RENEWAL LAST MARCH.

PATIENTLY WAITING AS USUAL; FEELING LIKE WE'VE EXHAUSTED EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE WOM.

I THINK THE CONGRESSMAN ARE EVEN GETTING FED UP WITH OUR VOICE, BUT I CONTINUE TO BE A THORN IN THEIR SIDE I GUESS.

CONGRATS JOURNEYHELPER!!! SO HAPPY TO SEE ONE OF THE 'OLD TIMERS' GET THROUGH.

PATIENT ONE---WE ALSO HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE 2005 AND KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL. WE HAVE HAD GOOD DAYS AND BAD, ESPECIALLY WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHY, MAKING YOU FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS WRONG AND WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING BY THE BOOK AS WELL. SUCCESS LIKE JOURNEYHELPER IS WHAT GETS US THROUGH. NO ONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS WHAT WE GO THROUGH FOR THAT PRECIOUS GREEN CARD!!!

Thought everyone would get a "kick" out of this ................

Finally got a response letter from USCIS (this time with a service number that I never saw before) as a direct response from the Ombudsman inquiry from months ago.....

The letter started out with an incorrect first name!! Maybe one of the reasons namecheck is so messed up. Tried calling to inquire and correct and said they couldnt help due to tech problems. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! makes you wonder about the accuracy of everything else!!!!!!!!!!Told to try again another day.....

almost wish i could start over

sorry laura. i would love to help but i wouldnt even know where to start or what to do. i would probably just make things worse. good luck!!!!

Sorry laura, Me too. You can see I've even messed up some replies along the way.

Contacted our local office today just to hear; yes your namecheck still pending from 05-2005. No explanations of course.Getting depressed all over again.

Hi, Annett and Sebastien. I'm sorry to have to welcome you to this thread! The information you were given sounds familiar. There isn't anything you can do at this point but try to be patient. It seems that there are relatively few of us who have been waiting longer than a year after the interview. Many more people seem to post stuff like, "Four months after interview, name check cleared! Party!" as compared with, "We had our interview two years ago and are still waiting! Where can I get cheap whiskey and downers?" As you've probably gathered from reading the thread, the worst part is having no way to get useful information. We have contacted our senator, the USCIS ombusdman, numerous INFOPASS people, and my own personal contact who works for the CIS, and everyone gave us the same information: We just have to wait, and there's no way to know when the background check will be complete. At this point, we can safely assume that some aspect of our check is requiring manual record-checking, because it's been 18 months since we filed for AOS. The check could be completed tomorrow, or it could be a year from now. On the good side: This thread is where the hip and groovy hang out, and man, we have reason to kvetch!

Sunnyisland, I'm by no means an expert about the writ of mandamus approach, but from what I understand, the FBI stopped expediting name checks based on WOM unless a condition on a very short list of criteria was met. From what I've read, it's also quite expensive--like, in the thousands of dollars--so unless you think you have a good chance of meeting one of the conditions, you're probably better off just waiting despite the massive fee increases for the EAD and AP. An unsuccessful WOM might just send you over the edge. Wikibooks has a good page on the immigration WOM, to include links to USCIS memos on the subject: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FBI_name_check

Yours in despair,

Julie

Thank you so much AOS despair--I guess I am so used to be organized and this is making me crazy not to have any control. I will research further, but the frustration continues for us because of the limitations with financial losses due to pending status. I wonder if anyone has had a UNSUCESSFUL WOM as well.......Any feedback is deeply appreciated.