Catalina Cuqui

I agree with what AntoineD and CalifornianSunset have said.
 
My comments were meant with 'building credit' as a goal, rather than 'proving joint assets/liabilities' as a goal. For proving joint liabilities to USCIS, I think the authorised cardholder is fine (so long as the monthly statements have both your names on them). Just be aware that it won't show up on your credit report with the credit bureaus that you're making payments (because in that case, only your spouse is).

I think getting your own credit card is required for building credit. Joining your spouse's will certainly help in demonstrating to USCIS that you share finances, but it's still his/her line of credit, not yours, that's being built up.
 
Please note that if you're married, even if you're using different credit cards or have different loans, state laws may still hold you liable for your  spouse's debts (some, not all - feel free to Google it) - but getting a separate card limits, not removes that risk.

That depends on whether the bank makes you joint cardholders, or an 'authorised' cardholder. In both situations the bank will give you a card (and they will have the same card number on them).
 
If you are an authorised cardholder, you are not financially responsible for any charges you make on the card. Because of this, you also won't build credit.
 
If you are joint cardholders, then you are jointly responsible. You will both be financially responsible for any charges/debt. You can build your credit rating off your spouse though, through this, and hence some banks have stopped issuing cards in this way (to stop people trying to 'fix' bad credit with someone else's good credit).
 
Bottom line: check with your intended bank, but chances are you will have to get your own card(s).

Anyone else stuck on "Fingerprints fee received" since the beginning of April??

I'm also in Austin and yes San Antonio is the correct office. I just got a letter out of the blue a couple days ago in the mail that my interview has been scheduled in January. There was no update on the website or text even though I have electronic notifications set up. My online status is still stuck at Fingerprint Fee Received from April 7th.
 
Also, I didn't file a service request or involve any congress person as I was prepared to wait until February, and my EAD and AP are good until July. Hang in there, it looks like they are beginning to process March/April filers in San Antonio!

It's such a big part of people's life here in the US... it's pretty scary actually. As umabanana stated it's for things, that you might first even think are not that important like getting a loan (until you all of a sudden need one). However if you are trying to move into a new place, a lot of landlords want to run a credit check on you. If you don't have good credit, they won't even consider your application. Where I live in SoCal I've even seen apartment listings that specifically stated that they you shouldn't even bother about applying for this plac f you have a score that is lower than 750. 
I have two friends that have a terrible credit score that got ruined through other people (ex husband or fraud). They've explained to me how limited they feel and what effects it has on their lives. My friend wants to get a student loan bc she decided she wants to do additional classes... she will have super high interest rates bc of her bad credit. 
 
I first refused to get a credit card too bc where I'm from you really don't use them. That was until my husband explained how crucial it can be in the future to have a good credit score here in the US. 
Even if you don't plan on using it. Just get a credit card and put it somewhere safe. Make one charge a month automatically taken from your card (could be something like Netflix fees, auto insurance, Spotify fees), pay if off each month on time and you'll have an extremely good credit score after a year that you can use when you actually need it. It's not going to hurt if you have one, you'll never know when your good credit score comes in handy.

Same status here since April 3. 

Since March 29 :/

Peace and love, guys.  We're all in the same boat.

I am from Spain, which same as the UK has great diplomatic relations with the USA, and I'm also stuck on "fingerprints received" since April 4. No idea where my case is, but for what I'm reading, I'm starting to assume it's stuck at NBC.

It is reeeally frustrating, but seeing that for some reason this year it seems to be taking longer than usual (probably the hurricanes had a lot to do with it) and that a lot of people are on the same boat, I feel a little more relieved that it's not about my case in particular, it seems to be a general thing.

Lease agreement or anything else with both your names. A copy(can be a photo copy)of you wedding certificate. Birth certificate from both of you. If you've ever been married before, prrof of ending of marriage. Like divorce decree. He asked how we met and went over the questions on the I-485 form. That's about it. 
 
When is your interview?

You're welcome
Honestly, I don't think 8 months is a long time to wait for AOS, it is said that it can take up to a year or even more. On the other hand, with the backlog and everything, I would still contact my congress people to speed things along. Even if they say "keep waiting", they will have contacted USCIS and then USCIS knows you have a representative tracking things for you, too, you would be keeping on top of things. It could give them a nudge and help things along.

Thanks cyanmavi!  

Is an 8-month wait enough to contact our congressmen, or will they be like "keep waiting"?

I think it is referring to the service request to be honest - but i would assume that if they haven't gotten to the service request, they have not gotten some applications. A little frustrating. 

I couldn't disagree more with this statement.
 
My husband is from England, and the US & UK couldn't be better allies.
We are still stuck at fingerprint fee accepted as of March.
We are also getting a tap dance about where our file is located.
We contacted our Senators office, and the Senators office got the same tap dance routine.
 
We are all in the same boat.  Race is not making anyone special.  This sucks equally for all involved in the waiting game.
  

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

Hi everyone!
I had an infopass appointment today at the field office in San Diego and thought I'd share some info with you that might be interesting. 
 
The officer said that currently a lot of the I-485 are taking so long to have an interview scheduled because each field office in the U.S. had to send some employees into the hurricane affected areas. A lot of the staff is currently not working at the field offices on immigration cases anymore. So if you are as unlucky as me and the officer that has your case has been helping in Texas for the past five weeks, chances are you're not going to have your interview anytime soon. The officer at the field office was so nice and said he would try to get my case out of the locked department from the other officer and see whether he can give it to an officer that remained in San Diego, but if I didn't go to talk to them it would still be locked away just sitting in the drawer of an officer that is gone. 
 
After a few questions the officer looked through my case and said that I have a pretty straight forward and easy case since I came on a K1 visa and in fact offered that if me and my husband wanted, he would get my papers that are locked away in his co-workers office and just conduct my Greencard interview today (no kidding!). Unfortunately we didn't gather any bonafide papers yet and both had to get to work so we had to decline...  What I thought was interesting though is that the officer said that he's sure that if my husband had gone to my K1 interview with me, that I would've not needed this interview. He said they probably just want to talk to him now... which makes the rumour true that people from low fraud countries that both go to the K1 interview likely end up getting a waiver. 
 
Anyways...just wanted to share!

We are all feeling a little stressed. I felt like the tier 2 officer did not care about being of any help to me (the reason for that I don't know and will not come up with one) - it did upset me because he doesn't understand that any little progress or update makes the biggest difference to us. Let's try to continue to support each other and leave the rest out. There is a lot of reports out there that say one thing but you can also find reports saying the opposite. Receiving AOS is a privilege - they can easily say no and move on to the next. Let's continue to be patient. Some people in this group are going into their 9th month, we really could see movement soon. 

I wouldn't worry if I were you since you are Spanish and I am Persian. One would assume in a democracy everyone will be seen through one lens; Nationality and geography of birth would not favor one over the other but in reality these are all urban legend and truth is way darker.
 
The method by which one can contact a representative is to first search who is your representative ? Every state has two senators regardless of population and every state has few house members based on size (population). You can either contact one of those two senators or find out what district in a given state your are located and find out your representative. This is where google comes in handy. States are divided to districts or jurisdiction and they have representative in the House, one of the two sections of US legislative branch. Once your pin pointed the guy or the gal, go to their website and look for constituent help. They all have it. They usually ask you to fill up a form, sign it and send it through mail. They need your signature or otherwise your consent to contact USCIS on your behalf.

The medical should be valid when you apply for AOS. Doesn't matter how long AOS takes after that (although they may ask for a new one if it has been a very long time).
 
Contact all and see who is most responsive and willing to advocate for you. They should have an online form on their websites.

I knew what you meant TriloByte and I felt the same way. I had EAD, AP, and a driver license so didn't hover over the greencard. I just got on with everyday life and didn't check status  or join a 'how much longer?' thread.  I was confident it would come so didn't worry or get angry about it. Everybody is different.

Well, it's also enough to grind someone's gears when their AOS has been pending almost a year, and you see a few token people being done in 4mo (no hate, those 4mo folks are so lucky). Kind of a feel good thing to come together and commiserate, wallow and complain among others who get it. 

Some of us had higher plans for our partners, as did they themselves besides being able to just look at each other on the daily. Not that this isn't great, but still. I know my spouse was stuck in 2 years of standstill during his AOS and was unable to persue education in the states for example, something that greatly upset us both. Some states and cities are less than accommodating to giving driver licenses to those with just and EAD....one would only have to search VJ for a mountain of those threads. The immigrant living in one year incriments is also nerve racking, for both parties usually. Icould name more but I digress. 

Exept info above I think GC as a proof of your legal stay in states gives you a sense of security.. I would like to have mine right away. After permanently entering states there is so many formalities ppl have to deal with.. adding a stress of awaiting for GC for such a long time! I can fully understand others impatience regarding this topic

Because people can't wait for their green cards so they can take full advantage of being a legal resident? Work? School? Bank account? Some States require a green card for a driving license. Also most of spouses actually want to work. 

I'm guessing it's because AOS-ers are in a limbo. They don't have a proper legal status i.e. LPR other than just a NOA1 to prove their AOS application is pending. Not having a proper LPR status makes it hard to get a lot of things done maybe?