Joel&Julia

Congratulations!

Hello. I got a notification (e-mail and text) today from the original USCIS site that ‘New Card Is Being Produced’ on I-485. New site is not updated. 
 
I am very happy.

Congratulations!  Now we get a 21-month break.

Congratulations!  Now we get a 21-month break.

Yes, the card arrived on the 20th.  We got an email notice on the 18th that USCIS mailed it (no tracking number).  Then there was a notice on the 19th that the Post Office picked up the mail.  Then there was another email notice on the 20th that it was delivered.  
 
The case status on egov.uscis.gov is now "Card Was Delivered To Me By The Post Office".
 
Notably, the case status on the DHS site (my.uscis.gov) still says "Case Is Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview" with a date of March 14, 2018.  Besides the obvious fact that the case status is incorrect, that date is also fake news because the status on that site has not actually changed since July 2017.  They just pushed the date of the status back by 8 months at some point without making any other apparent change.  I had been led to believe that the DHS site was better because it seemed to show more detail on some of the steps (and because it forces you to use 2-factor authentication), but evidently that is not so.

Congratulations!  Now we get a 21-month break.

Yes, the card arrived on the 20th.  We got an email notice on the 18th that USCIS mailed it (no tracking number).  Then there was a notice on the 19th that the Post Office picked up the mail.  Then there was another email notice on the 20th that it was delivered.  
 
The case status on egov.uscis.gov is now "Card Was Delivered To Me By The Post Office".
 
Notably, the case status on the DHS site (my.uscis.gov) still says "Case Is Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview" with a date of March 14, 2018.  Besides the obvious fact that the case status is incorrect, that date is also fake news because the status on that site has not actually changed since July 2017.  They just pushed the date of the status back by 8 months at some point without making any other apparent change.  I had been led to believe that the DHS site was better because it seemed to show more detail on some of the steps (and because it forces you to use 2-factor authentication), but evidently that is not so.

I think it was $225 with Dr. Wang including the TB blood test and urine test, but I don't have it in front of me right now.  I talked to other doctors that advertised a cheaper price, but then they charge extra for various things you need.  Dr. Wang was the cheapest I found including everything.  The office was also very easy to work with.  They were flexible with appointments, and we never had to wait (we might have been lucky, but I sent some friends to Dr. Wang for their medical exam as well, and they said the same thing).

It looks like that was the issue (or something along those lines).  The online status was updated to show Approved last night.  
 
We're not going to celebrate until we have the card in hand, but it looks like this waiting may finally be over after 599 days!

I think it was $225 with Dr. Wang including the TB blood test and urine test, but I don't have it in front of me right now.  I talked to other doctors that advertised a cheaper price, but then they charge extra for various things you need.  Dr. Wang was the cheapest I found including everything.  The office was also very easy to work with.  They were flexible with appointments, and we never had to wait (we might have been lucky, but I sent some friends to Dr. Wang for their medical exam as well, and they said the same thing).

It looks like that was the issue (or something along those lines).  The online status was updated to show Approved last night.  
 
We're not going to celebrate until we have the card in hand, but it looks like this waiting may finally be over after 599 days!

Check with this doctor (contact info pulled directly from USCIS):
 
Dr. Charlie Tzu Wang
6348 Corporate Drive Suite A
Houston TX 77036
713-988-2711
 
if you want to confirm it with the USCIS site, search based on the ZIP (77036) then scroll or page down the list. When I checked just now it was #32 in the list for that ZIP code.
 
 

Check with this doctor (contact info pulled directly from USCIS):
 
Dr. Charlie Tzu Wang
6348 Corporate Drive Suite A
Houston TX 77036
713-988-2711
 
if you want to confirm it with the USCIS site, search based on the ZIP (77036) then scroll or page down the list. When I checked just now it was #32 in the list for that ZIP code.
 
 

We haven’t received any request for anything additional at this point. The field officer told us she thought we had “more than enough” evidence.  I guess there’s nothing to do but wait and see...

We had our interview last week, and the field officer said that she expected to approve it by the next day.  But this week the online case status changed to "Interview was completed and my case must be reviewed."  Not sure what it means or whether it's cause for alarm, but we were really expecting to get an approval notice, not this...

We had our interview last week, and the field officer said that she expected to approve it by the next day.  But this week the online case status changed to "Interview was completed and my case must be reviewed."  Not sure what it means or whether it's cause for alarm, but we were really expecting to get an approval notice, not this...

We had our interview this morning.  It went very smoothly.  The field officer didn't approve it on the spot, but she said we have more than enough evidence and that she expects to approve it later today after reviewing everything (such as the medical information which was sealed.)  She did ask for the new medical exam, so I'm glad we got that done.
 
Because it's a marriage-based green card and we're still 4 months shy of our 2-year anniversary, she confirmed that we will need to wait 21 more months and then apply to have the conditions removed.  I almost wish that USCIS had waited 4 more months for the interview, but it's really a relief to have that interview finally completed after 19+ months of waiting.

I think they want to see that your lives are financially tied together to demonstrate that you plan to stay together (and that this is a real marriage and not a sham for the purpose of a green card), but I don't think they are looking for any one specific thing. I don't know what they were really looking for, so we just tried to think of everything we could find that showed we actually live together and have long-term plans together. For example, in addition to the joint checking account, we also had auto insurance with both of us as drivers for the same car, Costco cards in both names for the same account, credit cards in both names for the same account, a mobile phone family plan with both of our phone numbers on the same bill,  utilities in each of our names at the same address, and so on. We even showed that our dog has his rabies certificate registered to our address with both names on the registration.

I think they want to see that your lives are financially tied together to demonstrate that you plan to stay together (and that this is a real marriage and not a sham for the purpose of a green card), but I don't think they are looking for any one specific thing. I don't know what they were really looking for, so we just tried to think of everything we could find that showed we actually live together and have long-term plans together. For example, in addition to the joint checking account, we also had auto insurance with both of us as drivers for the same car, Costco cards in both names for the same account, credit cards in both names for the same account, a mobile phone family plan with both of our phone numbers on the same bill,  utilities in each of our names at the same address, and so on. We even showed that our dog has his rabies certificate registered to our address with both names on the registration.

We had our interview this morning.  It went very smoothly.  The field officer didn't approve it on the spot, but she said we have more than enough evidence and that she expects to approve it later today after reviewing everything (such as the medical information which was sealed.)  She did ask for the new medical exam, so I'm glad we got that done.
 
Because it's a marriage-based green card and we're still 4 months shy of our 2-year anniversary, she confirmed that we will need to wait 21 more months and then apply to have the conditions removed.  I almost wish that USCIS had waited 4 more months for the interview, but it's really a relief to have that interview finally completed after 19+ months of waiting.

We had our interview this morning.  It went very smoothly.  The field officer didn't approve it on the spot, but she said we have more than enough evidence and that she expects to approve it later today after reviewing everything (such as the medical information which was sealed.)  She did ask for the new medical exam, so I'm glad we got that done.
 
Because it's a marriage-based green card and we're still 4 months shy of our 2-year anniversary, she confirmed that we will need to wait 21 more months and then apply to have the conditions removed.  I almost wish that USCIS had waited 4 more months for the interview, but it's really a relief to have that interview finally completed after 19+ months of waiting.

You should apply 6 months before expiration and still expect to use the automatic 180-day extension. We just got the card almost 8 months after applying for renewal.
 
The previous card expired in August.  We had thought that applying 5 months early should be plenty of time, but by the time it finally came we were worrying about what to do when the auto extension expires.

The new EAD/AP combo card finally came today.  The receipt date for the renewal application was March 28, so it took 7-8 months to process the renewal.

Including blood and urine tests and excluding vaccinations, we paid $225.  It pays to call around because the price for the exam varies by hundreds of dollars depending on the doctor.
 

You don’t have to go to the same doctor as last time. For many people, the previous exam was done outside the US, so it’s almost impossible to use the same doctor again.
 
Here is the contact info for the doctor that we used for the medical exam:
 
Dr. Tzu Wang
6348 Corporate Dr
Houston, TX 77036
713-988-2711