Lavazza_K

20 hours ago, amyNJ said:

yup, I filled Oct 7, and didn't get any news about fingerprints yet. 

Only thing I noticed is that the online account updated informing that we will need to take the previous test and not the updated version. 

Yep.. and that they are "taking longer time"

1 hour ago, sausa said:

Hello guys. Hope everyone is doing great.

 

I filed late October (26) and still have Not got any biometrics notice. I know things are held up etc I just want to make sure I’m not the only one in this boat ?

 

Im leaving to go home for a week in Jan , knowing my luck they will schedule it the week I’m gone 😔 have they been reusing biometrics A lot? 

Hi there! I filed 10/1 and still haven't received bio notice either  . I'm in Atlanta. 

58 minutes ago, pbid said:

I tired uploading 1 document in each section just to get to the next page, but it still gave me the same error.
Also, Maximum size: 6MB per file as per the USCIS website

I see.. When did you try to do so? looking at their outage website, it seems they have a maintenance going on until tomorrow morning. though it says starting tonight..

https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/tools-outage

looks like ATL is slow as usual. the processing time on my case is 11 months - showing Sep 2021. Filed 10/1 and havent updated, just showing background check.

8 hours ago, pbid said:

I'm not sure how everyone is able to submit their application. I've been trying for over 10 days on Chrome, Firefox and IE-11 but my draft is never saved with the evidence I upload.

 

I keep on seeing the error: "Encountered an unexpected error retrieving draft evidence."

 

Is there a particular time of the day everyone submits their application OR am I uploading too much evidence that the system gives up?

 

Here is what I upload:

Evidences about marriage (3 years)

• 2 Individual Checking account statements for each
• 2 Joint Credit card statements
• 2 Individual Saving accounts statements for each
• Mortgage and Lease statements
• Joint Insurance Policies - Auto/Health/Home
• Tax Transcripts
• 401k

Additional List of evidence:

• Costco membership
• Drivers License
• Joint Credit Card Scans
• Student loan and tuition payment statements
• Travel Photos

I would suggest checking the size of your evidence document - i could be wrong. When I did my mom's other filing, i kept getting "unexpected error", even after it accepted my documents. The file limit on that case is 6mb, my file was 5.6mb, and for some reason it wouldn't take it. Then i reduced to 4mb and everything went through.

Also i called them the day i got that error. they have a technical support team, but sounds like in India. wasn't much help but you can give it a shot. 

Good luck!

Filed yesterday! Under the 5 year rule. Atlanta field office if nothing changes.

Let the waiting game begin..again..

Good luck everybody!

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Did you submit details of her travel insurance?

 

Otherwise the questions look pretty straightforward.

 

Agree with waiting for a vaccination, that could be never.

Thanks for your input! I haven't purchased a travel insurance so far.. is it too late to do so?

I agree, i wouldn't say their questions are out of the norm. 

4 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Sorry this bit is not going to be directly helpful to you but I just wanted to comment that I find this interesting, as it had seemed they were being more lenient than usual with Covid related applications. This makes it seem they are certainly scrutinizing them as well as anything else. 
 

In terms of trying to be helpful: consistent with B essentially means, not in effect actually living here. Probably always a concern with a parent as clearly parent is probably staying with you, maybe helping look after kids, cook etc rather than “being a tourist”. (Yes yes I know that’s what a parent visit is, but...) And - you clearly didn’t do what you should have done in terms of providing details of residence, why she would go home etc. That should have been done as per the instructions.

Thank you for your input! Yes I should've included more of her ties to going back home evidence. That part of their request is legit. 

Hi all,

Wanted to share and pick yall's minds on responding to an RFE received on my mother's B2 extension application. I'm including part of the RFE in attachment here.

Background--

1. My mom entered US in Nov 2019 via valid B2 visa to visit, prior to this trip she has come 3 times, always left before the 6 months mark. I applied for her extension in mid Feb due to a travel ban or an advisory against, to China. I applied to extend to 10/31.

2. I listed reason for the extension as mom being high risk group due to her heart condition, and hardship in traveling. I stated that I would be financially responsible for the extension, and attached my pay stub/savings/checking account.

3. I'm a permanent resident.

Questions--

1. RFE is asking to provide evidence of activities "consistent with the B classification" - we have traveled a couple times, which i will include. Does visiting friends and family also count? Is there any documents i need to watch for to exclude that potentially can have a negative impact?

2. RFE is asking to provide evidence of stay would be temporary - i assume this means pretty much flight ticket. I have not booked one for her. Has anyone here responded without a ticket but any other evidence support hardship in traveling? 

3. I might get objections on this question, but I was looking into filing another extension if this one gets approved, is that possible? so that she can stay until the vaccine comes out end of this year or early next year. She has a very bad heart condition, flying for 20+ hrs could be very dangerous for her in the current condition - she can't wear a mask for that long either since she also has asthma

Please let me know if you had gone through this and have other suggestions. Appreciate everyone's time!

It's kind of rare that they request another interview after they already denied it. Usually that will just go to the afterwards proceedings where you will have a chance to appeal in court (I'm just getting this from what i've read so far, please correct me if wrong). what was the ground for denial? Did you file your I-751 with the divorce waiver or a joint one? 

If you've hired a lawyer, I'd suggest asking for his/her opinion. Also call USCIS and ask them what your current status is showing, or if they are aware that a 2nd interview has been set. Mistake or not, I think you definitely want to show up and bring all your documents. I'm not sure if a lawyer is allowed to be present at the interview, but if it is bring your lawyer as well.

On 8/25/2017 at 11:51 AM, Edgarm said:

@Lavazza_K yes If I already called them and gave them the correct address.

 

You think it takes 20 days to send again?

I'm not sure. Was saying it took ~20 days for that other person in the other thread. what did USCIS say on the call? Did they confirm they will request to have the card resent?

22 hours ago, Edgarm said:

I already call it to confirm my address but I want to know how many time take to send the GC again, is better if a call a again?

did you tell them that your GC was returned when you called to change your address? did they say they will put in a request to have the GC sent back again?

I suggest calling them again and ask if they have sent the card out again, if not ask them to open a request. It took ~20 days for them to send out the card again for the other person.

Oh god... Another one from Atlanta.. I remember one of us May filers going through a similar situation. see below. I think (for this person) it wasn't returned to Vermont but where they mailed it. You might want to call them again and make them aware that you've changed the address and your card was returned before that, and ask them to mail it out again. And make sure you get the tracking number from them..

13 hours ago, Divalicious said:

I only started working in June so I didn't file this year and we don't have a bank account, I get paid from my job directly onto a card and didn't see any reason to create a bank account at this time. 

You have a reason now..for I751. Some of these things they ask for are not necessary for your personal life, but they are key to removing your conditions. We didn't want a joint account either since everything already worked, but for this we had to open one and use it to make sure we had lots of transactions. All my married friends who are born citizens don't have one..it's annoying, but you will need it. I'd suggest opening one ASAP so you will have at least a year of history when you file next year. 

And your spouse had no income as well? Or was it filing as single? if it was filed as single then amend it to include you. 

Health insurance, 401k beneficiary, phone bills, travel itineraries. you mentioned that you have a lease agreement, try to make it show that you lived there from when you got married to the most recent and have it notarized.

13 minutes ago, PEEKABOO561 said:

Yes definitely including 2016 taxes, I didn't file in April 2014 as I had no SSN. 

 

I've got phone bills dating from Nov. 2014-Present (Same company) and I've paid those out of my personal bank account, phones are in my name.

I was also paying the phone bills from 2013-Nov. 2014 from my personal bank account and that was both of our phones under my spouse's name.

 

A few weeks after I got my SSN, (May, 2014) spouse went on disability/workers comp due to an injury and then was ultimately laid off and not working until early 2015 so that's why all of the bills, etc were coming out of my account.  

 

I did call the doctor I visited back in 2015 using spouse's insurance and they are faxing me that bill/claim we also have 1 claim from this year of my spouse using the insurance that I'm the primary for. 

 

Unfortunately, nothing has been too consistent. Spouse opened and closed accounts frequently due to poor spending habits so I've had to be the solid bookkeeper. Spouse would get a job and we would have insurance coverage only for spouse to lose/quit the job a few months later. 

 

I see. Was the 2014 injury claim applied to your spouse's insurance that only has his/her name on it? if so I probably wouldn't include it unless the claim has any connections to you. Any life insurance that has you/your spouse as the beneficiary?

Drivers license with the same address, company paycheck sent to your address can also be used as evidence.

I think your RFE package looks good given what you have. Just that I would suggest not to include anything that comes out of your or your spouse only account, or only has your, or your spouse name, unless somehow they can be tied to you both. You can add the credit report as proof like you mentioned if you plan on including an explanation. if your spouse had applied any accounts with your name on it, include those as well, doesnt matter if they were closed. 

17 minutes ago, PEEKABOO561 said:

My original packet included: 

• 15-20 photos spanning from 2012-2016 
• 2 letters-1 from friend and 1 from spouse's sister 
• 2 leases: One from July 2015-2016 and a renewed lease for July 2016-2017 (they said this wasn't enough)....I wasn't on the 2014-2015 lease because I didn't have SNN at the time of signing that lease
• Utility Bills in my name for the 2014-2015 year that I wasn't on the official lease 
• Bank Print out listing spouse as benefactor (I didn't include statements) 
• Copies of ATM cards for Joint Account (didn't include statements) 
• IRS Transcripts (Filed Jointly) 2015 
• Copies of Renter Insurances with Spouse (They said there wasn't proof it was ever used or active...sorry I didn't have a house fire or get robbed?) 
• Copies of Insurance Cards (They said no proof I ever used it)

 

 

 

We don't have:

A Car

Kids/StepKids 

Loans

Mortgage 

Wills/Power of Attorney (No True Assets)

1. IRS transcripts for the other years? including 2016

2. Send any statements you have with transactions with both your names. You can mark certain transactions like rent, utility etc. 

3. travel itineraries?

4. Any claims/bills on your health insurance? include those with your insurance card

5. 401k or retirement plan beneficiaries?

6. Phone bills?

7. I'd suggest on top of that include a cover letter explaining your situation

Your evidence of finance co-mingling is a bit thin, I would suggest adding anything that spreads through your marriage, even prior to your marriage. One year of tax transcript and no bank statements showing the account's active usually raise questions. 

Best of luck!

On 8/8/2017 at 0:13 AM, super2007 said:

 

So i know we shouldn't have opened a new account right before sending application it looks as if we faked all documents but we had no choice as we didn't' even think all this was needed  Could i do the items below?.

1. Now that its August 2017-Joint bank account has been opened for more than a year (Statements available for entire year showing both of our bills coming out of 1 account) If i send all 12 months statements could that work? Since its not a new account anymore.

2. 401K has not been changed or my wife name not removed its still there.  Amount has grown.

3. Instead of 1040 tax returns i got tax transcripts for 2014-2015-2016 would these be better i think and do i sign them? i have heard they like Tax Transcripts instead of 1040.

4. Meanwhile we sent n400 application with Tax transcript for 2014-2015-2016 instead of 1040 and Bank account/401K documents and other evidence we filled n400 week ago and have bio-metric appointment in 2 weeks. What happens with n400 now?

 

 

1. Yes send more statements. The timing of your joint checking could've been a flag to them since it was so new. Do you have any joint credit cards?

2. Yes send 401k details as well. 

3. No need to sign transcripts. They just want to see that they were filed, hence the signature. The printed tax return didn't demonstrate so, although signing wouldn't either.. But yes transcripts would work. Any filings prior to 2014?

4. Your N400 will most likely be put on hold until your I-751 case adjudicated, but there's also a chance that they will move forward and interview you for both I-751 and N400. So i'd say send out your RFE response ASAP.

Anything else that suggests sharing of the same address? ie. driver's license? could include them as well.

Best of luck!

On 8/4/2017 at 10:32 PM, Diane and Chris said:

Dealing with the DMV in Georgia is the worst!  Just last week we went in to get the one time 120 day extension for my husband while waiting for his EAD.  One office was adamant that they could not and would not do that even though I had the print out from the website that stated that they could. So, we had to drive an hour and a half to another DL office and they gave it to him. 

 

They are bad here...! Fortunately the ones I'm close to are in counties where there are a lot of immigrants. I was prepared for a battle when i went to renew my DL on an extension letter but they seemed to be very familiar with it, just took it (not nicely though) before I even started explaining.. One of my friends had to do it in the Hall county and they wouldn't even consider.

21 hours ago, Shumai said:

All,

I am sharing my experience and wonder if someone had a similar experience before. Today I am shocked to learn from the state senator that USCIS sent us an RFE 3 months ago which we have never received. Since we learnt that our case was outside the normal processing time frame, we began calling USCIS (at least talking with 5 tier-2 agents) and even made a trip to the field office. However, NOBODY told us that we have an RFE. The USCIS online status is still at the stage of received the case. This is ridiculous! If we haven't contacted the state senator's office, we would have never known the actual reason of the delay. By the way, we haven't moved since we filed the I-751 and have no problem receiving notice for fingerprint appointment.

We're now waiting for the tier 2 officer to call back and wonder what the RFE is :-(

Anyone has similar experience?

Oh my! I saw your name on the post and jumped...it's been a while! I was wondering if you'd gotten approved already..

I think from some other posts i've read, RFE seems to have up to 90 days to respond. And if USCIS treats it as a no-response therefore ground for denial they'd usually update your online status as well. See this post here back in 2013: 

USCIS has made similar mistakes before, and I haven't seen anyone saying that they can just refile once it's past the required response period. Once it's denied, the case is closed. You might want to prepare for speaking to an attorney---you may need to file a motion with the immigration court (not sure if this is what the court is called) to have the case reopened.

This is unacceptable.. but then again, this administration is not favoring us immigrants.

11 hours ago, lecilia said:

okay so im curious what is the latest i should risk sending my package off because were having a little money problems at the moment my date started im guessing august 4th aka today since my green card expires on nov 4th honestly so worried over this whole thing and i dont know how long i can hold it off without effecting my package ect. but dont have the $700 at the moment to just send 

you can choose to send the package anytime between now and maybe a week before 11/4, since USCIS has to receive and acknowledge the receipt of your package by 11/4 and that could take a while. Frankly I wouldn't wait until then, because so many things could go wrong with them and they never take the blame. I would give myself a deadline of mid Oct. 

And I agree with one of the responses above, the processing time is getting longer, you either suffer now or suffer later for the wait, and honestly not having the $ to send isn't that much of pain comparing to the wait coming next year..

Best of luck!

19 minutes ago, charmander said:

 

1 hour ago, Angela256z said:

 

I agree with every answer here just except I think the expired GC will not be validated with the I551-The I551 stamp will be your new green card essentially. You will need to show them the stamp and probably give a copy of it. Although your A number will be the same so if they do any background check you will be fine.

I have one friend that was rejected on borrowing with extension letter and I-551, and another granted loan with slightly higher borrowing rate, so yes I think it depends on the lenders.

Please don't stress yourself, it's very annoying but don't let it be a disturbance of your life. My friend who was rejected ended up renting an apartment for 6 months and bought another house after that. It will all work out eventually. Best of luck!

11 hours ago, mr.j.j.s. said:

 

I also had some other questions I was hoping to get some clarification on:

• We originally submitted evidence of a joint health insurance plan. Since submitting our original application, we have changed our insurance plan. Should I include copies of our new health insurance cards? I'm afraid I won't have time to request a new certification of coverage - would the cards be sufficient? Should I just leave it out, since I already provided evidence of joint health insurance? If you can access your insurance page, there should be pages where shows your coverage details. you can just print that and a temporary ID.
• For the certified translation of the Japanese family registry, is it OK if my wife translated the document herself as long as we include the USCIS certifying statement? Does it need to be notarized? They accepted her birth certificate translation for the K-1, but I'm thinking this might be different? No problem, no need to notarize
• Should we include photos from our trip together back to Japan? Unfortunately we don't have any photos of us with her family, and precious few of us together. I'd say yes, although these are secondary evidence. 
• Should the cover letter be placed on top of or underneath the RFE notice? I'd say on top, i assume your cover letter says something like "this is a response to your RFE letter etc." Plus it gives them a quick overview of what's included.
• The USCIS form filing tips suggest the use of sticky tabs to assist in locating items listed as attachments. Do they mean post-it notes? So I'll just stick them onto the bottom of the different sections? I'm worried about them falling off or getting folded while in transport. I think they meant the post-it flags. I used clippers, now that I think of it, post-it flags are actually better...anything that could help them pick out your docs easily would do I think/
• Should I label each piece of evidence with petitioner name and A#? No need. I did highlight any docs that contain our names.

 

 

 

Please see my response in red

11 hours ago, Hungandnu said:

Hi all,

My I-751 May 2016 filters.

NOA: 05/19/2016

Bio: 06/23/2016

I am still waiting and I have not seen any new updates yet. Unbelievable, my N-400 was sent on 06/06/2017 and My N-400 Biometrics was completed on 06/21/2017 while I-751 is still processing and waiting as usually.

No words can explain right now.

I think now that you filed N400, your I-751 will probably be adjudicate along with it, meaning they might interview your for both when you go to your N400 citizenship interview. So there's a chance that you won't hear anything until then.

I'm not sure if they will give you info on this but has USCIS said anything about your case being requested and transferred to your local office when you call?

Best of luck!

On 6/30/2017 at 9:47 PM, AK_2014 said:

(From what I've read, if your passport is expired, they don't quite stamp the photos you bring, but rather create a standalone document that includes the photos.)

I see. Thanks for the correction!

2 hours ago, ilovefreebies said:

Hi, i submitted my I-797 last may 2016 and received an extension letter on the same month, however my gc will expire tomorrow. My question is, when is the 1 year extension take effect? On the day of my gc expired or from the day i received the letter of extension which was last may 2016. Do i need to make an info pass and obtain a new extension letter? Also, my passport is expired already

From the day your conditional GC expired.

They will not issue another new letter, normally they will put an I-551 stamp in your passport during Infopass, but since yours has expired, they will have to go another route. I've seen people here saying to bring passport photos and they will stamp on your photo. You can search for those posts.

I would suggest renewing your passport anyway.

Best of luck!