DorothyLa

I am so sorry DorothyLa that you are going through all of that. Lately I feel like that too and it sucks so much...
If you want to keep living in the US, it will be a good idea to keep a record of "proofs" so you can be protected, find local help in churches usually some have free immigration attorneys or I have a contact of a good lawyer. 
You are not alone, I have been having a hard time myself and on top of all the problems I have to worry about my immigration status in case that I get divorced too. I got such a good life before I got married and now I don't know what to do. 
Don't feel alone, we started this journey and I know we aren't the only ones.
Anyone with good advice ? 

I second that! If my husband would treat me like that and I had no support here no chance in hell I would stay so far away from my family and friends that I already haven't seen in almost 2 years! 

I remember your posts from the beginning...so if I remember correctly you're pretty young without university degree or similar working at McDonalds with no friends in the U.S. I don't want to sound heartless but just go back home to Turkey. You have a brighter future there. You can go to school there and get a degree without paying a fortune for it, you have friends and family there. I know it seems like you're giving up but that is not what it is. You're making a smart move by going back home if you have no support system in the U.S. What is holding you back? If my husband had been threatening me like that and his family would've not been supportive I would've left long time ago. Have a little more self-esteem and don't let people treat you like that. 

After 9 months of waiting, I got my green card without interview. It was mailed to me  around December 

Approved on the spot!! What a relief 

No

Timeline from NYC:
Filed on 3/12/2017, biometrics in April, EAD card since May, case ready to be scheduled since June and just saw on uscis.goc that my interview is scheduled for 2/21/2018.

http://newamericanscampaign.org/happens-uscis-government-shutdown/
 
 
Details in the link but to answer your question - During the last government shutdown in 2013, the impact for most customers of USCIS was minimal. Naturalization interviews, citizenship ceremonies and most of the other day-to-day work of the agency continued as normal. That is because USCIS is a fee-based agency. Its funding is not dependent on annual appropriations from Congress.

sure if that works... I'd like to be able to speak someone in person if I have a problem especially if it involves my finances, which makes it worth the $19 a year for the bank account. No ATM BOA fees (obviously) and as you probably know you can find BOA ATMs everywhere.....although I don't even pay cash, I always pay with cards (mostly credit to rack up reward points) so I never need an ATM anyways  

Just a little FYI about Capital One - Whilst their secured CC is a great way to start building your credit, you do not get your security deposit back and they will probably keep it secured for ever. If you want to get your security deposit back after half a year or so and hope for the CC to become unsecured after a while, go with Discover instead. I wish I would have done that.
 
I have Capital One too, but I didn't know these things beforehand. They also have no cashback at all with the secured one.

Bad news here... card has been "in production" since October 11 (our interview date). Had an infopass appt today and the officer said we haven't been approved yet and must've been a system glitch. Her side showed I485 still under review

i send out the same SR (taking longer than processing time) on Oct 3rd, still not assigned for processing. not sure if it would ever be assigned.... 
 

Had our interview and it was great. Wife is the AOS applicant and I am USC.
 
The interview was very easy. Whole interview was 15 minutes at most. 
 
When we came into a room the officer said we can have a seat and offered to swear in while we were standing so we did.
Started with two three basic question based on two front pages of AOS application. Then he began asking usual questions for 20 or so questions about crime, terrorism, being affiliated with groups, and such. I noticed that first three question he asked word for word and put check mark next to them. After asking next question he put check mark on 4-5 questions, followed my another question or two while he put check marks next to other 10 questions.
 
Then he asked my wife when if she visited in 2015, followed by how we met and why her first visit with parents was with us. Then officer looked over papers and said everything looks good including affidavit of support and noticed that they got the medical form as well. Then asked if we have something to submit to which I replied with a question if he meant items to support our bona fide. He said yes and I offered bank statement with our names and copy of car title with our names as well. While he was filing those into his folder I also grabbed 4 photos that we had. After small chit chat about photos the officer looked through some papers again and said that everything looks good. He noted that our case is pretty simple and easy and we are approved. Green card will arrive in about 3 weeks. He clarified that wife can apply for citizenship three years (minus 90 days) after she receives the greencard. Before that we will have to remove conditions regardless if we have been together more than two years or not.
 
Officer was very polite and very easy to talk to. This was my second interview that I attended at USCIS and so far I am 100% satisfied with staff at Portland, OR office.
 
I also wanted to ask about medical form for everyone else still waiting but kind of forgot after he said that we are approved xD

USCIS can't help you here.
 
You just have to call until you get somebody who knows something. Ask for supervisor. Go down to the DMW ask for supervisor. they know what it is because all immigrants have to do the check before they can issue DL. I think you just might not be able to explain the problem so the understand it so just keep trying.

Okay. Then they should have given you a paper with the information on and the SAVE case number. 
 
Call them again. I had to call 4 times to get someone who was willing to look into my case and find the mistake they had did.

i couldn't create an account. When i click create account it does nothing, and gives no error. website has problems i guess. I don't know. 
 
I got mine completed also. We was just talking about that. They will send a mail. it is my 98th day today also. 

Hello everyone, I've been quiet on the forums for several weeks in part to preserve my sanity through the long waiting, but I've been keeping up with everyone's progress through the weekly digest, so I thought I should also share my update.
 
I got a surprise text and email on Saturday telling me my EAD has been approved and a card was being mailed (it took 113 days). This was without any RFE/RFIE or expedite requests. No updates on AP or GC yet.
 
Good luck everyone!

I'm quoting another VJ member here who said that there's been cases that interviews still got waived even after they had the "interview ready to be scheduled" status: 
What they told me at my field office is that when the case is "ready" at NBC and is in line to be sent to the field office the status changes to "ready to be scheduled for interview". Once the field office has received the case they can decide if there will be an interview or not, and if the interview is waived they will send you a letter stating that. So yes, according to my field office you can definitely get waived despite that status. How common it is I don't know.

Nope. Of course there are always exceptions, but cases with an interview waiver rarely leave the NBC.
 
@Californiansunset
Yes, we all know there are always exceptions and unusual movements on cases when it comes to USCIS. There's one in the October thread I believe. That's why I said "basically guaranteed" and not just "guaranteed". 

Tiny update: i got my approval hardcopy in the mail today for ead. Waiting for them to mail it to me.  
 
Have a nice evening everyone ! 

Hi, everyone 

I just want to let you know that my I-130 and I-485 have been approved. Our interview was last week, July 12th at the Raleigh Durham office. The approval notice for I-130 was delivered Monday and the I-485/Welcome Notice was received today.

Our interview was okay. Tbh, I cannot say that it was good because of two things: my anxiety and the mini-argument at the end between IO and our lawyer.

So, after we swore in, Immigration Officer explained to us that there will be two parts of that interview: first is going through the forms and verifying all the information and second will be our story. Everything was going well on the first part, we answered each question without any problem. When it was time for the second part, which was about our story, my nervousness got me, I froze!! I was only able to say 3 sentences and my mind stopped. It should have been very easy because I did not have a reason to be scared but my anxiety got the best of me. Good thing my husband was able to do it and I was able to redeem myself at the end but recalling it now still makes me want to punch myself :)))) 

Anyway, after all questions were asked IO told us that he is going to approve us. At this point I was already relieved,however, before the it actually finished,  IO and our lawyer had an argument about my married name so despite hearing earlier the word "approved", we left the office without anything in our hands, not even a paper that says " we will review your file", nothing. In short, we were left hanging. I think the IO got upset on the argument so he just told us to wait for the decision in the mail, that's it. Two days of agony and I did not hear anything from them until I received an email on the third day with a change of online status that says card is in production for my I-485 case, whew!!! Thank you very much dear God!

On Tuesday, my status changed to card was mailed to me and if the delivery period will be the same as my EAD's, I will get the greencard tomorrow. 

By the way, when I received the welcome notice today, I read it more than 10 times. In bold letters it said, "WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". 
It felt so good reading it again and again because I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and finally, it is here!!!

Good luck everyone!!! 
I am sending you the all the good vibes that you need!! 
(Hi @nikaero, my update above as promised :)

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My advice on those who will have interview soon:
--- STOP READING about interview horror stories. You will not benefit anything from it but anxiety. 
--- At least, 3 days before the interview, do not read anymore experiences of other people. Focus on calming your mind and spirit. 
--- Not all interviews about your relationship are on a Q&A format, some IO would want you to narrate your story. That's what happened to us.
--- Your relationship is real, you have nothing to hide so you got this!! 



 

DorothyLa,
 
  I worked at McDonald's for 3 years and paid many bills with that job when I was your age (in Florida!).  It also taught me so much about life.  That is noble work.  Keep going.  University education is nice but not necessary.  I work for a fortune 100 company as a network engineer now.  I never graduated from college.

I got a job, $18 per hour job sounds great. I am 20 yo, i got no university education. I was thinking about it, i met with my husband when i was 18 and he just wanted me to come us to live with him. That's why i delayed my university plans. With no job experience and no education on anything special, nobody really wants to hire me. So i got a job at McDonald's. i will start friday. My husband will give me a ride. I thought about bike but florida air is terrible, it rains like crazy sometimes. Storms so bad. I don't know why people call here sunshine state

congrats everybody! 
 
I couldn't get my DL. It is annoying. i had learners permit (printed out on paper) before i get my ead. But tallahasse never sent me the learners permit card for 60 days, and it expired. So i went to DMV and told them i want to have my driving test. They said, you can't get it till you get your learners permit hard card. I said they did not send it and it is expired anyways. I don't want it. They was like, we will order it again, they should send it in 60 days they said... Annoying again. 
 
I won't be able to go to work by myself, someone will have to take me to the work, it will be hassle for us. Why everything have to be hard way all the time :S 
There is no bus, Uber is so expensive. So really, i don't have a choice. and i will just go 5 miles. uber says it will cost 12 dollars. For just one way. 

congrats! I got my card today. i don't know if it is new desing. how do we check it?