solus

Just his expired GC.  The machine did tell him he had to present his documents to an officer, but at JFK there is one right there dedicated to GE.  From what I saw all GC holders were required to present their documents to an officer, but it was literally an extra minute.  No line, nothing.
 

December 11, 2017 VSC filer.  Woke up to this today   Finger's crossed that this thread starts to fill up with approvals!
 

Chris will not have to give up either, theoretically.  We have to apply for something called a BBG, for people who retain ties to Germany, but have a need for another citizenship as well.  So we have most of that paperwork together; as soon as the 10 year GC arrives we will send that packet out and begin that process...  

December 11, 2017 VSC filer.  Woke up to this today   Finger's crossed that this thread starts to fill up with approvals!
 

December 11, 2017 VSC filer.  Woke up to this today   Finger's crossed that this thread starts to fill up with approvals!
 

Just his expired GC.  The machine did tell him he had to present his documents to an officer, but at JFK there is one right there dedicated to GE.  From what I saw all GC holders were required to present their documents to an officer, but it was literally an extra minute.  No line, nothing.
 

Make sure you get your social security card first because they do require that.  

Thats the DMV for you - competing with USCIS for the crown of most inconsistent and frustratingly useless bureaucratic organisation with the most inept staff.

So, they actually aren't redundant.  I just spent my lunchbreak going through the different sites.  
 
The Case Status Online Site (https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do) is just that: a case status tracker, which is all we were able to do online until recently at all.
 
The USCIS MyAccount Site (https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/) is a much broader platform.  It allows you to pay fees, change your address, and even file some forms online, including the N-400.  Right now it is limited to only a few forms (https://www.uscis.gov/file-online), but they will be helpful for a lot of us in this forum.
 
My personal assumption is that they will eventually move to mostly online filing.  It makes no sense to have us save pdfs of our bank statements, etc, print them out, and send them to USCIS, only to have them spend a ton of time scanning them in.  We could have just send them one giant pdf to make everyone's lives easier.  However, I use eventually in the very long term sense of the word here, because when has USCIS ever chosen to do something that would make sense or make everyone's lives easier?
 
Anyhow, there are definitely differences in the information received from both websites.
 
For the I-751 Receipt Number from the NOA I have:
From the Case Tracker Site - The notice about the case being received at my local office on February 27 and the case history showing the request I sent for a non-received notice.
On the USCIS MyAccount Site - The notice about them receiving my case on December 14th and my fee being waived (which it is not - known glitch, but I thought it useful to specify that I have not actually used a fee waiver), the same update for February 25th and February 27th.  No mention of the request I submitted.
 
For the CRI-89 Biometrics Receipt Number I have:
From the Case Tracker Site - The your case was received December 14th standard message.  That'a all.
On the USCIS MyAccount Site - The notice about them receiving my case on December 16th (new date...) and my fee being waived and no further updates.  Oddly, the case information bar at the top says it was submitted December 15th, though all of the other sites and tracking numbers say the 14th; only this one lists the 15th and 16th.
 
I am seriously starting to think they do this for fun to brighten up what must be very boring jobs...

I just checked the Dec 2017 Filers forum.  There are only 4 people after the 9th who did receive biometrics appointments, but only 4 before the 9th who did not...  I looked at the January 2018 forum and once again, a ton of people from the beginning of the month received biometrics, while most in the second half of the month did not.
 
Oddly, the dropoff for CSC biometrics in my month is December 14th; not a single biometrics appointment after that in December or January.
 
This is maddening.  Does anyone else ever feel like they are just making this stuff up as they go along?

To give credit where it is due, it was actually someone else who noticed it.  They determined the different links.  I just dug deeper to figure out the differences...
 
 

NOA 1 Received 1/2/2018

I'm actually wondering it it might mean received by different systems.  We know they have two internal systems, we now know that they have two different public access systems, and we know that they are updating the systems.  It might be that they are updating the files and uploading them to the different systems for different offices to theoretically have access.  

So, they actually aren't redundant.  I just spent my lunchbreak going through the different sites.  
 
The Case Status Online Site (https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do) is just that: a case status tracker, which is all we were able to do online until recently at all.
 
The USCIS MyAccount Site (https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/) is a much broader platform.  It allows you to pay fees, change your address, and even file some forms online, including the N-400.  Right now it is limited to only a few forms (https://www.uscis.gov/file-online), but they will be helpful for a lot of us in this forum.
 
My personal assumption is that they will eventually move to mostly online filing.  It makes no sense to have us save pdfs of our bank statements, etc, print them out, and send them to USCIS, only to have them spend a ton of time scanning them in.  We could have just send them one giant pdf to make everyone's lives easier.  However, I use eventually in the very long term sense of the word here, because when has USCIS ever chosen to do something that would make sense or make everyone's lives easier?
 
Anyhow, there are definitely differences in the information received from both websites.
 
For the I-751 Receipt Number from the NOA I have:
From the Case Tracker Site - The notice about the case being received at my local office on February 27 and the case history showing the request I sent for a non-received notice.
On the USCIS MyAccount Site - The notice about them receiving my case on December 14th and my fee being waived (which it is not - known glitch, but I thought it useful to specify that I have not actually used a fee waiver), the same update for February 25th and February 27th.  No mention of the request I submitted.
 
For the CRI-89 Biometrics Receipt Number I have:
From the Case Tracker Site - The your case was received December 14th standard message.  That'a all.
On the USCIS MyAccount Site - The notice about them receiving my case on December 16th (new date...) and my fee being waived and no further updates.  Oddly, the case information bar at the top says it was submitted December 15th, though all of the other sites and tracking numbers say the 14th; only this one lists the 15th and 16th.
 
I am seriously starting to think they do this for fun to brighten up what must be very boring jobs...

I am only posting this here because I believe this is the only packet large enough to warrant using a flat rate box instead of envelopes.  It is quite a money saver, but there are a few catches.
 
If you happen to live somewhat close to your Service Center it is worth looking into the USPS Regional Rate Boxes.  They are new-ish, but much, much less expensive for Priority Mail which is not going too far.
 
You MUST order the boxes online, but they are free.  You can get them from the USPS store or from 3rd party sites like Stamps.com.  You also MUST schedule a pickup from your home or business with your normal mail delivery or else there is an extra fee.  
 
We subscribed to the "everything but the kitchen sink" philosophy so we would have had to use a Large Priority Mail Flat Rate Box, which costs $18.85.  Instead we used a Regional Flat Rate Box B and only paid $7.17 for the same 3 Day Priority Mail with tracking.
 
There are two shapes of Box A, which is smaller (about the size, or a bit larger, than the Flat Rate M boxes), and two shapes of Box B (larger than the Flat Rate L boxes). 
 
This also came in handy for the holiday season...  USPS doesn't advertise that they have these options, and they are online only.  I spoke with a Post Office employee recently and it is also worth noting that the weight cutoff for First Class mail in store is 10oz, while online it is 13oz.  So you can get much better rates if you print your postage at home and have it picked up by your normal mail carrier.
 
You have to use the USPS Calculate A Price function or really look through their long PDFs of rates, so I am including links to the Stamps.com rate table and the USPS Zone Calculator, which is easier and more straight forward.
 
It takes 5-10 days for your Regional Rate Boxes to arrive, so plan on this and order early.  This is the one you will most likely need for your packet: 
https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/priority-mail-regional-rate-box---b1-P_RRB_B1
 
Hope this helps and good luck to all!
 
https://www.stamps.com/usps/priority-mail-regional-rate-box/
https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart

Here is a link to the different choices of boxes, just because:
https://store.usps.com/store/results?_dyncharset=UTF-8&Dy=1&Nty=1&siteScope=ok&_D%3AsiteScope=+&Ntt=regional&search=&_D%3Asearch=+&_DARGS=%2Fstore%2Fcartridges%2FSearchBox%2FSearchBox.jsp

I have chinchillas, so my cats also had to go freight when I moved back to the US from the UK. I used http://www.animalairlines.co.uk/ They were wonderful and took care of everything, even the carriers, except the passport and medical certificates. And you do need a passport, it proves to your new vet in the US what vaccinations/tests. It will make your life much easier and prove other non-immigration vaccinations which are required in many states like FVRCP, etc.

Sorry, but he must be very immature, spoiled and selfish. It's absolutely beyond ridiculous to insist you fly in your condition or don't go at all! To be very blunt, if you give in to his selfish demand and put yourself and your child at risk, you're insane. Since he's not able to behave maturely, you're going to have to be mature for both of you right now. He's trying to bluff you into freaking out and jumping on a flight. Just tell him, now that there's a child on the way, it's time for you to both be grown-ups and PARENTS, which means the baby comes first. He'll get over his little boy tantrum and do what's best if you lead with a good, adult example.

Oh, and I just remembered something even more important about this nonsense: the Patriot Act expired on 6/1/2015, so its not even in effect anymore lol. Its now been renamed the USA Freedom Act, and only deals with surveillance, not bank accounts.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/what-happens-if-the-patriot-act-provisions-expire/
http://www.ibtimes.com/patriot-act-renewal-senate-overwhelmingly-votes-proceed-1948604

Ok, for some reason they have decided to start sending out packet 3 via post again, during the fing strike. It took emailing a bunch of times, but they finally sent it to me via email as well (which is good because they received our packet 3, despite the strike, and we had our interview appointment before the post copy ever showed up). I uploaded the current packet 3 check list to my drive and Im including a link here. This is the packet 3 form that was emailed to us from the consulate 3 weeks ago.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6w3QtVu8mCgQWFLeEVnZDVHaVU/view?usp=sharing
Hope that clears up any confusion!

See my last post for the form and I responded to you in another thread about the email addresses. Im trying to respond to as many people as I can now that we have more information (interview was yesterday), Sorry I dont remember exactly which thread, Im a little lost at this point in where Ive responded as its been about 6 threads.

Approved!! And on the one day I didnt check because my best friend has been in labor for 28 hours now...
Timeline updated. It seems I am the average; 208 days....
It seems to have been a good day for approvals, lets hope they keep it up!