NM19

I applied in July and got to interview in September and took an oath on the same day, think I was pretty lucky everything moved so quickly! I applied for the passport soon after using my certificate of naturalization. A month after I sent in application, the passport agency sent me a letter saying that my certificate is not sealed and I will need to resubmit within 90 days. Called USCIS, they won't be able to seal it at the office and I may need to submit a request for a replacement, which may take up to 1 year. I know my issue is not related to the this forum but make sure your certificate has the official seal! They only asked me to make sure the written information is correct but not the seal (only got watermarks). 

21 minutes ago, Ksenia_O said:

Last year I traveled with a "combo" of an Ext. Letter+expired green card - no troubles.

 

I was in my home country when my I-751 approval arrived, along my 10 years green card.  So, was coming back with a stamp in my passport - no problem, at all, including taking off from Ukraine and going through another control during layover in Austria.

 

The only thing was - coming back to the US with I-551 stamp I was pulled to  a secondary to verify my status. The Officer explained me that  everyone who has the stamp, goes through secondary. For me It didn't take even 15 minutes - my POE was Chicago, which is huge and pretty busy airport   

 

So you can use the "combo" - if your 18 months Ext. Letter is still valid. Or you can get your passport stamped.

 

As  for me - I liked it more,  traveling with the stamp. Less paperwork to carry and be concerned about.

 

So no worries - you will be fine!!!  

 

And yes, you still can work  Your still are an LPR

Have a safe trip!!!

Thank you for sharing your experience. Def feel better now, worst case scenario is just sitting in airport for secondary, better than getting rejected! 

2 minutes ago, chiggins82 said:

So I will start by saying I don't know for sure, but I did a search quickly and found a thread noting a simlar issue (need to read down a bit in it)

 

According to to this thread, you should be able to use your stamp or extension letter as long as it isn't past the validity date.

 

When I was doing AOS, this happened to me (Green Card arrived while out of the country) and I got back in with my AP even though the card was approved and mailed.

 

I would maybe double check by calling escalating to a Tier II officer or Infopass (if that's possible)... but I would think that in the worst case, you would need someone to mail the green card before you try to re-enter the US?

 

You might get better response making this its own thread. Most of us are waiting, so we may not have experiences to share

 

Thank you! I just made Infopass appointment and hopefully able to get the stamp.

So I got approved since last month but because of recent move, my green card was sent to my old address, hence, back to USCIS at Lee Summit office. I'm traveling outside the country next month and have no idea what to bring. Does the 18 month extension letter still work? Or I need to do infopass to get a stamp? USCIS customer service told me many different things, one said I wouldn't get a stamp and to use letter. One said letter doesn't work anymore. In a limbo now and hope they resend my card soon.

 USPS forwarded my approval letter but not my green card. If you just moved like me and recently got approved, call your local post office to hold your card. Don't be idiot like me and trusted them when they said "it will get forwarded stop worrying, just wait a week". 

17 minutes ago, rrrrrr said:

guys I got green card today .my pd was 3 July 2017. now I want to ask is there any one from Houston ?I will apply for n400 so how long will it take online?

How long did it take to get GC after the approval if you don't mind me asking?

Probably Approval Notice or RFE, the letter dated 9/19 same as your new status "case got transferred". I don't think they send out letter just only to say your case got transferred. Hopefully it's an approval! 

Just now, NYCBoy said:

Im happy for you

Thank you! Only problem I have now is that I literally just moved and just put in change of address. Really hope they update it before card get mailed out. I heard usps won’t forward any uscis mails. 

1 minute ago, NM19 said:

I know it's ROC I-751, I'm a July 2017 filer as well, not sure what made you think I meant Adjusting Status. I have been reading here for over a year. 

The current VSC processing time is 13.5-16.5 months, they are still in their time. It sucks, the wait time got so ridiculous, but nothing we can do except just wait. 

Oh probably from my timeline, sorry forgot to update since 2015 

8 minutes ago, NYCBoy said:

I agree but i also disagree... the reason why we are so frustrated is because they give you an estimated time frame of when your field office should adjudicate your case that is not reliable at all. So we start to wonder what’s going on? Is there a problem, etc... it sucks! 

 

Btw, this forum is for Removal Condition i-751. Not adjusting Status. 😅

I know it's ROC I-751, I'm a July 2017 filer as well, not sure what made you think I meant Adjusting Status. I have been reading here for over a year. 

The current VSC processing time is 13.5-16.5 months, they are still in their time. It sucks, the wait time got so ridiculous, but nothing we can do except just wait. 

I feel like the status of transferring to anything doesn't mean much. Doesn't really mean you are getting interviewed or even being touched. I'd not call USCIS just because my status said it got transferred. Numerous people got the same message, numerous people called, nobody is getting approval faster if it's not their turn yet. I know everyone is frustrated because it's taking so long, unless you are getting senator involved or something, all you can do is wait. The more you look into cases, the more you getting tired and sick of this. Lots of people who filed after me already got approval, though some who filed late 2016 or early 2017 haven't gotten anything. It's just luck at this point. 

10 minutes ago, tommybear said:

What service center are you?

The profile said Vermont 

I really hope I hear something soon, I'm moving the end of the month. I don't even know if I should file the change of address now or wait until last min. 

46 minutes ago, chiggins82 said:

I just finished my Info Pass to get the I-551 Stamp. Thought I would share my experience. I received my NOA-1 in July, 2017 and my green card expired in Oct 2017. I was able to get my stamp without any issue, they extended it for one year from today (not one year from the expiration date on my GC). They let me keep my extension letter, but took my green card. She told me that I need to care the letter when I travel.

 

This seemed a little different from other experiences I have seen on here, but at least i have the extension for a while.

 

The woman at the counter then told me that the wait for ROC is 2-3 years (ummm?!?) and that I will need to come back and extend again next year. 

 

I asked her about filing for Naturalization and she said that it would likely slow down my case and I need to be careful that I don't interview for the I-400 before ROC or it will cause problems. She seemed to be hinting that I should wait for ROC before applying.

 

Now, I know from here that it shouldn't matter and that they generally will process I-751 and I-400 together... but I was sad to hear about the wait time. Hopefully she is off on that too. Maybe it was the processing time at the Minnesota Office and not the service centers... who knows.

 

Anyways, I was able to get my stamp even though I had more than 2 months left on the extension letter. Hope that is helpful for others!

 

 

Yeah, I went there and they told me they only give out stamps 2 weeks prior to expiration of the letter. I guess it depends on office locations really. The officer also told me ROC is now taking 2-2.5 years and that I should be waiting at least one more year. Which I don't think it's true based on what we see approvals recently. I really hope she's wrong, 2 year wait is insaneeee. 

50 minutes ago, NM19 said:

So update on getting stamp for Boston office. 

 

Officer said they are not giving out the stamp until 2 week prior the expiration of letter. This is their policy. My letter doesn’t expire til October but my license expires in August. She saidn’t it doesn’t matter what DMV does, this is a USCIS policy. Which is ####### because so many people get stamps way before that.  Now I will need to make sure DMV can extend with 2 months left of proof. If they do extend, I still have to go back in. 

She said the reason she doesn’t give out it because people will have both letter and stamp to use. 

Okay retrack what I just wrote.

I was able to renew my license online, all I need to do is put in my green card info with extension expires date (not last year on green card). The system was able to find my "residence" and just proceed me to pay $50 and give me 5 year license. So for anyone who needs to renew their license, I suggest doing it online first if you already have profile registered.

Now I just hope I get the approval before October.

So update on getting stamp for Boston office. 

Officer said they are not giving out the stamp until 2 week prior the expiration of letter. This is their policy. My letter doesn’t expire til October but my license expires in August. She saidn’t it doesn’t matter what DMV does, this is a USCIS policy. Which is ####### because so many people get stamps way before that.  Now I will need to make sure DMV can extend with 2 months left of proof. If they do extend, I still have to go back in. 

She said the reason she doesn’t give out it because people will have both letter and stamp to use. 

21 hours ago, MB2017 said:

Hi All,

 

I am planning to visit Canada by road for a week or so. My 1 year extension letter expires in October. Do you guys think it is safe to travel with expired GC / extension letter expiring end of October? FYI, I made an appointment for Infopass for this week so I will keep you all posted on I-551 stamp status.

 

Thanks in advance for all your response,

MB

You are fine. My letter also expires in Oct and been to Canada twice this past couple months. They never asked me for the letter either (I assume they already have everything in system) but still make sure you bring both. (well, passport too) 

Question regards to renewing my license

My driver license is expiring next month, I filed for I-751 July 2017 and letter should extend to October 2018 (GC expired Oct 2017). Should I try to get I-551 stamp before trying to renew my license? (might be too early since letter expiring in October) Or should I just use the current letter? (kinda make no sense if it only extends for 2 months). 

49 minutes ago, lemongreentea said:

It's VSC March 2017 filers are getting approved. They are ahead of CSV anyway. So yeah, it's all guessing work. lol 

It's April actually, even better!

Mine has also been sent to local office. I've been lurking in thread from March-June 2017, almost everyone got the same message. I don't think it's necessary for interview (no way they would be able to handle all ROC interviews with current 1 year long AOC interview). One guy got approved 2 days after got this message, none received anything regards to RFE or interviews. It's now depend on how long the backlog for your local office is, that's about it. 

10 minutes ago, JKE said:

We submitted the I-751 in December 2016 and had an InfoPass appointment in October 2017 since the 1 year extension letter was expiring. We were told that USCIS now requires in-person interviews for ALL applicants, which is why the process is taking so long. The agent estimated that it could take another 9-12 months.

Who told you this? I don't think this is true at all, I've even seen newsletter from USCIS that they only do random interviews now to speed up the process. If you check the thread from November 2016, most of them were already approved since October (Vermont Center).  You should hear back within this month or next. 

2 hours ago, Lelyze said:

Anyone from VSC Received their Biometrics app? My NOA date is 07/21 and I am getting little anxious for not receiving my bio app yet...

My NOA is 7/19, no bio letter either

Hi Guys,

I guess the forum getting a bit quiet after everyone receiving their EADs.

Just want to share my experience, I finally received my Green Card!!

I had the interview last week, 10/7. The IO asked a bunch of questions, took us around 1 hour for the interview. She then say I still need more time on the case, I'd be hearing back within a week if she needs any additional evidence, if not, I should hear the decision within 2 weeks. After 2 hours, I got text/email stating "Card in Production"! Total 7 days after getting approval to receiving card. Note that they didn't provide me a tracking number when they mailed the card, but it's via USPS 2 Days Priority.

Hope you all get yours soon!

The approval notice, were you notified via text or on the site before you got it? I am trying to figure out if they are in fact information people that they are approved on a timely basis, or if they are just surprising people with approvals and cards in the mail.

No, I did not get anything via text or email. My current status still written "case was received". I talked to tier 2 USCIS representative, they let me know that I'm approved. Tier 1 agent doesn't have the latest info. So yea, don't worry much if nothing has updated online.

Approval notice for what?

EAD and AP