Heather&Kevin

On 2/13/2017 at 9:56 AM, mamu said:

I have a stupid question. When you go to an interview, and the officer hands you the decision letter saying that "Your application has been recommended for approval..." Does it mean they approve you on the spot? I am confused because I think if you are approved on the spot, it should say something like "You application has been approved..."

Yes you're approved on the spot.    But the interviewer (or whoever is going to process the paperwork) still needs to do some formal processing, ticking boxes, pushing buttons, sending the official notice via the mail etc.   That is how our interviewer explained it.    He was very clear that we were approved on the spot - and he would be doing the paperwork by end of day.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

hello thread part2!    just wanted to pop in and say Hi! and wish you all the very best - sending love and light to all in this crazy process.   

REMEMBER:

one

breath

at

a

time.

THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!     (so pleased about that.   time to get my parents to start sending random boxes from their attic     )

Hi - I have been in the USA for nearly one year...  I shipped the bulk of my possessions over with NO CUSTOMS CHARGE as personal possessions for K1.

Does anyone know if this right expires after a certain period?   I have  few more things I would like to ship over.

Thanks for your advice

Green Card arrived, 10 days after interview.

Am very pleased to see that it is quite green. The interviewer said it wasn't.

See you all in 2018.

BEST OF LUCK and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!

We are talking different things: If you've been married for more than two years at the time of application, you don't need to remove conditions and you get the permanent resident card for 10 years. That was my case. If you have been married for less than two years by the time of application, you will get a conditional resident card for two years and you will have to apply to remove conditions 90 days before the expiration of your card.

cheers for the info!

Congratulations!!!

thank you, very kind

Congratulations!!!

thank you very much

Dumb question, but is your water + gas statements in both of your names?

Yes - water, gas, electricity, bank, insurance... as many things as possible we got both names on. Makes for really strong evidence of the fact we are not just married, but also living together, hence completely genuine.

The interviewer was keen to see that kind of evidence - more so than photos.

For the removal of conditions in 2 years time he said to bring more of the same... plus if we buy a house.. a car... etc. to show evidence of joint ownership. Also a joint tax return. Plus some holiday photos.

Congratulations !

Thank you!

Congratulations! Can't wait to be in your shoes haha

You will be! and thanks!

Congrats

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based main forum to Progress Reports sub-forum - topic is case status ~

Cheers!

Congratulations!!! We are in Las Vegas too

Thank you! Loving the sunshine

I just received my Green Card today (one week after the interview)! Since I've been married for more than two years, my Green Card does not have conditions and is valid for 10 years!

I wish you all the best of luck.

See you in two years and 9 months for N-400.

Happy holidays.

Nice! congrats. the interviewer said it was 2 years form the interview date, not 2 years from marriage that we could do ROC. Did I get that wrong?

Green Card interview was today... We had alllll the documentation they had asked for and a ton of photos from throughout the year. We had also spent a little time making sure our memories and dates etc. were well matched and that we had the names of our families clear in our heads etc etc. A few days of work to get all that sorted. And as it turned out it wasn't needed in our case...

Green Card interview took about 10 minutes. Lovely guy. Just swore us in. Checked our details. Asked if we had jobs and what they were. Took a quick look at three statements (water, gas, bank) and handed them straight back. Asked the usual stuff about being arrested, smuggling etc. Told us the K1 was the real hurdle and that he was just here to spot anything weird and we were quite obviously genuine and not terrorists. Signed the form. Green Card done.

Much grinning followed. And a fabulous Facebook selfie and check-in. Then all you can eat sushi. Job done.

21 months until we do the 2 year removal of conditions. And then I think another 9 months later to start citizenship.

Best of luck and love to you all.

Green Card interview was today... We had alllll the documentation they had asked for and a ton of photos from throughout the year. We had also spent a little time making sure our memories and dates etc. were well matched and that we had the names of our families clear in our heads etc etc. A few days of work to get all that sorted. And as it turned out it wasn't needed in our case...

Green Card interview took about 10 minutes. Lovely guy. Just swore us in. Checked our details. Asked if we had jobs and what they were. Took a quick look at three statements (water, gas, bank) and handed them straight back. Asked the usual stuff about being arrested, smuggling etc. Told us the K1 was the real hurdle and that he was just here to spot anything weird and we were quite obviously genuine and not terrorists. Signed the form. Green Card done. Much grinning followed. And a fabulous Facebook selfie and check-in. Then all you can eat sushi. Job done.

21 months until we do the removal of conditions. And another 9 months later to start citizenship.

Best of luck and love to you all.

I was speaking to a guy who helps people with their immigration process. He firmly believes there was a delay in processing Green Cards while the election campaign was in full flow as the attention was diverted to processing New Citizens instead. As a New Citizen was 70% likely to vote democrat. While us GC wanabees were of little use in the electoral process.

Certainly has a ring of truth to it. And could explain why soon after the voting closed we got notified of our interview. We were estimating October for interview and it eventually got scheduled for December. And to me this might just explain why our (very simple case) took 50 days longer than average at our local office to be called for interview.

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/aosstats.php << always good to keep in mind that every office is different (for those who might not be fully aware of that)

It will come, my March family. Sooner or later it will come. And then it will be just a memory. A happy one.

Lots of love and peace to you all.

yes, I called them couple of times. they did service request on my behalf .. but no update yet.

I don't know how I can check the average waiting time in my local office (Atlanta). do you have the its link?

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/aosstats.php

any news or update?

my wife and I are really tired of checking online status every day!!

why people who already had their interview done, are not coming here to share some experience or at least say something ?? I dont understand what is USCIS' policy. I never thought that we should wait more than 8 months.

Ours took 9 months. There was a big backlog at our local office.

Some suggestions... you could put in a service request to find out why it's taking so long... you could call USCIS by telephone... you could take a look at the average wait time for your local office on this site.

Have you done any of those? Checking status daily can just eat away at you. I just ignored ours for many months as I knew it would be at least 8 months for our local office. Eventually just got an envelope in the mail and then a text message a day or so later.

Got our Green Card interview date - 9 months from filing the 485

Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are still waiting for the Green Card interview date - but we're in Las Vegas and they are taking 6-7 months to get to them I think. So am expecting the date to come through soon for an October interview.

I guess its a lucky day for me.

Got EAD card in mail today and

My case status for i-485 change today " case is ready to schedule for a interview "

Yayyyyyyy

Awesome! Congratulations.

EAD/AP combo card received in mail today. Good luck to all of you still waiting and congrats to everyone who also received their work permit!

Congratulations! That's wonderful news.

How do you know that? I have tried to find out all this for ages but i couldnt find any clear information! So i desided to just get the DL again here... would have been nice to be able to rude coming 2 weeks as my husband is on base so if you got some link that is clear where i can find info...i might be still lucky lol

I got the information from the Nevada DMV. So try your state's DMV - if not on the website just hassle them through appropriate channels (email / chat / phone etc.)

If you have a licence from your home country you can hire a car and drive - so makes sense you can use it to legally operate a vehicle. BUT... I think each state has its own rules in terms of how long you can maintain legal status without doing the test and getting the USA licence.

Also - when I was first in the USA with my fiance we just telephoned the insurance company and added me to the insurance - they told us my UK licence was fine - they just put the number in the section that was entitled "international licence"

Ty and all the rules etc and paperwork are getting to me... I don't know anymore what I MUST do or what I CAN do..

I know I need a new DL

I know I need to file ROC 02/13/18

And filing taxes

I just really wasnt sure if I MUST change my SSC straight away or that I COULD haha

So thanks for clearing it up... I really can barely think straight atm...

New DL is a good idea (however I know my UK licence would have been valid to use here for up to 12 months)

ROC... ha! Yeah - we'll all meet back here in 2 years time I guess.

Taxes... I have been asking around to find a trusted accountant. I do NOT want to get that one wrong.

Your SSC says "valid with DHS authorisation". You now have that authorisation. So I think we can safely say you are good to go!

Here you go... this is where I got my info... http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/335898-removing-valid-to-work-only-with-dhs-authorization-from-social-security-card/ (read all the way to the end of this thread)

I had this same question! So thankful for this forum!

I have no idea how I would have got this far without this forum!! Everyone has helped me so much. So I will always do what I can to give a little back.

Maybe a bit of a dumb question i dont know...

So i got my SSC on my K1, so it has the "only for work with..."

So to get that removed now that i have my greencard, will i have to return my old card?

And if i have to give them the SSC, can i still start a job with just having the number?

Because i want to get a job asap, so i need to know if i can change my card now, or i have to wait until i started working

Do you need to get the "valid only for work with..." removed right now??

I would suggest you just do that later. At your leisure. You have the authorisation you need. So why go to the trouble and risk not having your card in your hand?

Get job. Work. Smile.

Change your SSC when you have nothing better to do in a few months time.

If you want To see people's specific cases from your local office go to the top of the page select "immigration timeline" then select "AOS timeline" then select your office... Anyone who has done there timeline with show up on that easy to read database... The data base shows date they filed date they got there NOA date of there biometrics and date of approved green card... you can refine the search further and not only refine it to your local office but by which visa there adjusting from... That will give you a better idea

Well, well, well! Who knew. Ha. Thanks very much for the clear directions.

Hmmm.... well it looks like around 6 months from NOA to interview in my local office. So I may just forget about it for another 3 months.

Well, i guess there's no such thing as accurate if we're talking abt USCIS hehe, but it's just a guideline. I think you should check filers from Phoenix, AZ as well, that could probably give you a much better gauge on how fast your field office is as regards to the I-485 processing.

How do you check AOS filers for a certain location? I have searched for specific threads and can't locate anything. All I can find are the month by month threads such as this one. Any advice greatly appreciated!

Congratulations to everyone who just got cards or delivery notifications.

And so many positive vibes for those still waiting. I feel for you.

It's like giving birth - for a lot of the time you just have to breathe - and every now and then you PUSH hard. (and hope something good pops out)

Thank you!

Thank you! And yes, it is actually green! It has the Statue of Liberty on it too!

Oooooh! THAT is cool. I am gonna Facebook the heck out of mine when I get it.

Well one day we too will hold up above our heads the piece of plastic that has resulted in many frustrated times, sleepless nights, arguements with our spouses over grumpiness at breakfast time, dinner time... Any old time...

And we shall exclaim with great excitement ... Behold!!! The nemesis I face today has finally been defeated ! Hazaaar for perseverance.... Or something like that anyway.

You killed the dragon!!!! Huzzah!!

I had a good feeling when I woke up this morning. I do my daily walk to the mailbox and tada, my green card arrived! Woohooo!

That's great news!!! Congratulations. Is it actually green? I've never seen one.