rasaco

On 10/25/2020 at 4:16 PM, Nipperswife said:

Congratulations!!!!

 

what service center did you guys have? Also did you have an interview with the adjustment of status?

 

hopefully I hear something soon... 

Our service center was WAC. But we'd already been "transferred to NBC for interview scheduling" for a few months with no word, and then we moved from California to Missouri and 2 months after moving got the interview notice. We started with K1 visa and did not have an AOS interview, so we were figuring we'd almost certainly get one for this step. The interview was quite pleasant though--just a little inconvenient to have to travel 3.5 hours each way to the nearest interview center.

Just wanted to close the loop on my experience, in case anybody else is wondering the same question I was and stumbles across this thread.

We ended up hiring a local interpreter who I found online. Interview was in Kansas City, and this is the Mandarin interpreter we went with: https://www.tingbridge.com/en/about/

She does a lot of immigration interviews, so she was very familiar with the process and very professional. She let us know that lately USCIS had been allowing her to go in with clients to interpret, even though the letter says you're supposed to have a phone interpreter only. So we made a plan for her to try to come in with us, and that if they wouldn't let her in, she would sit in her car and interpret over the phone.

They let her in with us with no hesitation, and she interpreted for my husband during the interview. We probably would have been fine without an interpreter, as our interviewer seemed to be a very understanding person, but it gave me peace of mind knowing that there wouldn't be a communication problem. It was definitely worth the $180 we spent to have that peace of mind, and my husband's interview went well! Green card is now in hand. 🙂

Sharing some good news! We had our interview in Kansas City on 10/8, and about a week later our status on the egov website updated to "card has been mailed," and my husband's card arrived the next day! We feel very lucky to have been approved within the 18 month extension letter window. Thinking of all those still waiting. Hoping everyone else gets their approvals asap!

21 hours ago, wagner17 said:

We hired a professional interpreter for our ROC interview last month (we are also K1 with no AOS interview)

 

I'm not sure how things will work in your USCIS office but at my USCIS office I found out the interview letter was full of lies:

 

1) There were at least 3 other people that physically brought their professional interpreters with them to the interview despite the letter stating that due to COVID interpreters would not be allowed in the building.

 

2) Then to top it off, we were told that USCIS their own phone interpreters.  When I protested that I had already paid for an interpreter and pointed out the wording on the letter, I was told "I don't know your interpreter".  In the end we used my interpreter because when the interviewer called for a USCIS phone interpreter there wasn't one available in my wife's language.

 

$4/minute sounds expensive.  I pre-paid for 2 hours with the option to pay for extra time as needed in case the interview ran over.

 

We talked to our interpreter prior to our interview and let her know that:

•  The interpreter needed to be ready to answer the phone during that 2 hour period since USCIS would probably not start the interview on time.  We ended up waiting an hour.  We texted the interpreter updates while we were in the waiting room ("We are still waiting", "They just called us up.").
• The USCIS interviewer would be calling
• We would only call if we were interviewed separately
• To only translate the questions and my wife would try to answer in English unless she asked for help translating

We brought a printout with the interpreter's phone # to give to the interviewer.  In retrospect, I should have printed out the interpreter's resume because that might have helped with #2.  Or maybe just gambled and brought the interpreter with us and told her to wait in her car if she was not allowed in the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for all this helpful information. I really appreciate the details. And congrats on your interview! So, you hired an individual professional, not from a company? Any tips on how to find a good interpreter? I was thinking of going with a company like Language Line Solutions or something like that (but that's the one that looked like it was $4 per minute, haha).

And that's a good tip to bring the interpreter's resume so they know they're legit. Thanks!

Hi guys!

I am thrilled that my husband's ROC interview has been scheduled! (We were K-1, and they didn't interview us for AOS). His English is pretty good, but we want to take no chances, especially since we're figuring they will probably split us up for the interview to question us separately, so I won't be able to explain questions to him. So, we're planning to hire an interpreter.

I guess this is a new thing because of COVID, but the interview invitation letter now says that if you're not fluent in English, you should arrange a phone interpreter (I guess it used to say you should bring an interpreter in person). So, my question is, can anybody share their experience with using a phone interpreter for their interview? Did you use a bilingual friend or did you hire a professional? Did you have to have the interpreter sitting on hold with you while you were in the waiting room the whole time (which could rack up quite a bill for a professional--I saw one company that charges $4 per minute!), or did they give you a moment to call your interpreter once the interview was about to begin? If you did hire a professional, any recommendation on which company to go with? Any details of the experience that you could share would be great. I like to know exactly what to expect!

On 9/1/2020 at 9:16 AM, Thunderbolt said:

Going for the AOS interview next week. In the letter from USCIS it says "If you do not speak English fluently, you should arrange to have an interpreter available by phone".

My wife speaks English, but after reading few stories here we are thinking about getting one. Can we arrange one before our interview with USCIS or we should have our own?

They only say that they can provide one for Sign Language Interpreter. Nothing about other languages.

Thanks

How did the interview go? Did you end up bringing a phone interpreter? We are in a similar situation (Interview in October, we are at the ROC phase, not AOS, and my husband does speak English in his daily life, but this is just way too important of an interview to risk him misunderstanding a question). If you did end up using a phone interpreter, did you choose a friend or a professional? What was the process like of how you got them on the phone once you were there? Thanks so much!

On 8/31/2020 at 4:06 PM, joand lee said:

Interview scheduled for oct 1st . Over 4 hour drive away and an 8.40am appointment lol

That timing is rough when you're coming from out of time. Ours is 10:40am and over 3h drive, and we are planning to go the night before and stay in a hotel just to decrease the stress of the trip that morning. Congrats on the interview!!!!

I have exciting news guys! We got our interview letter in the mail yesterday! We had been on "ready for interview" since March 2020 (the "new" site never changed from "we have received your case," but the "old" site had said "ready for interview"), and we had moved from California to Missouri at the end of June. We were gearing up to call and ask for an info pass for the year extension stamp in October (because in our state of Missouri, my husband's driver's license will expire when his green card does), but now we'll actually be going for our interview in October! Hooray! Feeling very lucky, and wishing the best to everybody else who is waiting. Hoping that things are picking up!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share that after no updates on the "new website" and "old website" not being able to find my case number since the beginning, the "old website" is finally working to reflect my case status! If anybody else has been frustrated by absolutely no updates to their case status since the initial "received" message, maybe try checking the old website again, especially if your case has been transferred somewhere.

I'm a WAC filer, who was transferred to NBC for interview scheduling in early March. My case status on the "new website" (https://my.uscis.gov/) has never updated from case received--even after biometrics and after we got a letter that our case was transferred to NBC, the status on the website didn't change. And the "old website" (https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/mycasestatus.do) had never even worked for me (would say case not found) in the first place and when I checked again after biometrics, so I had given up on it.

Today, I decided to try the old website again, now that the case has been transferred to NBC for >1 month, and this time it worked! It says "Case is Ready to be Scheduled for Interview!"

It's a small victory, especially in this age of no interviews until who-knows-when,  but it reassures me that our case isn't lost, and that someone somewhere updated the status of it. :-)

16 hours ago, Lyn Ng said:

Hi, how is your case going now?

We received a letter two weeks ago that our case was transferred to MSC for interview scheduling. The USCIS website still hasn't changed, still just says "case received."

On 2/21/2020 at 7:46 AM, Bryle said:

Hi,

 

This frustrating, have not received any update since.

 

Timeline:

March 4, 2019 - NOA with 18-month extension received

May 3, 2019 - Biometrics Done

WAC (California Service Center) / CR6

No updates since then. 

 

Anyone have similar timelines? 😭

Ours is pretty similar. Same NOA date. Also WAC. 

And today, we got a letter saying we have been transferred to the Missouri National Benefits Center for our case to be scheduled for interview!

The website did not update. Still just says "case received."

Hope you see some movement on your case soon too!

On 2/1/2020 at 11:04 AM, Scandi said:

It often depends on if you check your status on the old or the new website. Some never receive any updates on either of them, most of us at least gets updates on the old one.

For some reason the old site still doesn't recognize my receipt number. Only the new site recognizes it.

For my fellow WAC filers, I wanted to share this WAC-specific thread I came across:

Hang in there everyone! Can't believe it's been almost a year already!

Hi Everyone! Glad to find a WAC thread. Here's our timeline:

Filed: 3/2/19

NOA/extension: 3/8/19

Bio: 5/7/19

After the bio appointment, nothing. Like others have also experienced, we too did not even get an update on our USCIS site to show that the fingerprints had been reviewed. It has just said "we received your case" from the beginning, with no updates.

Glad to hear we're not the only ones like that.

As were are approaching 1 year, I find myself thinking about it more and more!

On 12/28/2019 at 8:04 AM, Mr & Mrs Umer said:

Ty for replying. I am just worried because I wanted to go back-home in March for 2 months in April and what if they send me an interview letter during my absence and don't want to miss an interview. Fingers crossed

I am also WAC. My status never even changed after the biometrics. It still just says case received. I also have some upcoming travel plans (though a bit later than you--July-August), so I feel your anxiety with wondering what to do about travel plans if I haven't heard anything by the time it's getting close.

On 8/9/2019 at 5:00 AM, Mr & Mrs Umer said:

Biometrics were done on 07/31/2019 in Sacramento CA, now waiting for USCIS next move

 

Congrats! We are also California Service Center (WAC). In our case the biometrics happened very quickly but then no word, no update (the website still just says case received, doesn't acknowledge we already completed the biometrics). I have been looking around for a spreadsheet for California filers to try to see other similar cases but haven't found any. Do you happen to know of any such spreadsheet or thread for WAC filers that my searches are somehow missing?

Thanks, and hope you get word of an interview date soon!

On 5/22/2019 at 5:57 PM, vkbruh1114 said:

We still have not received any update since my biometrics on 5/6. No change in status saying Fingerprints received (EAC No so Vermont center). Is it this slow for everyone at this center. ?

We don't have any online update either (though we are WAC, so not the same center as you). Looking through threads from the previous few months of filers, it looks like it's pretty common to have no change to the online status for months.

As you go through ROC, try to send in your stuff and then not think about it too much (easier said than done, I know). My husband and I are at the ROC stage right now, and although it is not very difficult, it does take a while. It is totally normal for it to take about a year and a half (and of course every case is different). If you worry about it every day, that will be a LOT of unnecessary worrying. I would also recommend that you talk to a counselor and/or see your family doctor to talk about your anxiety. This immigration stuff isn't fun for anybody, but it must be extra terrible to deal with if you have anxiety. Counseling can teach you some good, healthy coping mechanisms to help you through the waiting! Good luck!

On 5/8/2019 at 6:33 PM, vkbruh1114 said:

Hey guys anybody in same situation, Biometrics done on 5/6 but no online status update till now. online still says case was received. 

?? Its been more than two days since no update.

We also haven't had any online update since his bio on 5/7.  I'm not worried about it yet--I expect everything to move super slow. Just make sure you hang onto the stamped paper as proof you went to your bio appointment as scheduled, in case they mess up and say you didn't.

My husband had his biometrics today in California. All went smoothly.

Agree that it totally depends upon the school. My husband is taking classes at our local community college. They did require him to enter in his past education information (including his high school and college, which was all in China) when registering, but did not require any proof of any of it. After he finishes up some prerequisites at the community college, we plan for him to eventually apply for a graduate program, and at that point the grad program will definitely require formal, translated transcripts from his undergrad in China.

Wow, heated discussion! Well, I'm currently doing ROC and it's not so bad. So, chin up! 😊 At least we're all in the phase where we get to be in the same country together. Not a bad place to be.

I agree, shouldn't be a problem. Just focus on all of the evidence you do have. Your parents knowing is not a requirement.

Received our Biometrics Appointment notice in the mail today! Such a great surprise! I thought it was going to take forever because our service center is WAC.

3 hours ago, vkbruh1114 said:

Cool, in the same boat. Makes me feel better now. Nothing since 4/11 after NOA I-797(18 month extension).

Yep, California is the slowest on the biometrics. Same for me--no word after the NOA. The good news is that the 18 month extension letter worked for renewal of my husband's drivers license--they seemed really familiar with it at the DMV, so I feel pretty relieved now. I guess the trick is to try not to think too hard about it for the next year...