niknik

9 hours ago, ceeq said:

Oh yay!!! What thread was it suppose to be on? Im waiting for Green Card updates. and also, how did you find out whats your field office? thanks!

I was trying to post it on a thread I've been following who have the same timeline as me (AOS June 2017 Filers!) (: There is a list of field offices on the USCIS website and the closest one would be the field office you're assigned to. It also shows which counties that specific Field Office they process interviews for. 

8 hours ago, GoodVibesOnly said:

Hey, congrats  🎈🎉 

 

It has to feel awesome to be finally over with this, well, *this* green card processs. 

Especially after you _thought_ you had a bad interview. 

 

I am particularly interested in the "we said the wrong things" part. I think I'll be like you (nervous because of psychological anxiety) in the interview date (if that day EVER comes for us lol) and think everything went wrong. So thank you for sharing your experience since it's different from what I've been reading (people seem to be so prepared and say and show the right things... I am great with analyzing stuff/people but certainly not the soul of the party or talkative. I occasionally feel concerned that I won't say anything at all, hah). 

 

Thank you again for sharing it and I'll ask questions when the time comes. <3 My only concern is the family questions they ask, everyone seems to know everyone's families or don't have any family issue/drama. I love my in-laws and my SO's family as we basically live next to them for a year now but my partner doesn't know my family. I had an abusive father (mostly to my mother) and don't have contact with him in a long time, probably won't see him again because he's just... a very difficult human. In the other hand, my mom is cool and yeah we will meet her. We talk to her over telegram (the app lol). But not sure how to tell this, if asked (and it will be asked, it is one of the questions: "have each other's families met???") during the interview. :/ so i'll have to think about that.

 

Oh yeah, I also think Hamilton wanted to know if the passport is absolutely necessary to bring or if it only serves as an ID.

 

congrats again <3 

We thought we were prepared because we were able to answer practice questions with ease and we were confident with each other. I had a binder full of evidence organized and another binder just full of pictures. Needless to say, we were really prepared!

But oh man, we were so tensed up during the interview that we kept making mistakes (at least we felt like it). My husband forgot where I used to live before we moved in together. I didn't know how to answer some of his questions even though I knew exactly what the answer was. 

As for your family situation, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just be honest. Tell them what your situation is. My side of the family wasn't present at my wedding due to financial reasons at the time. And the uncle and his family who I've stayed with for a while while I was in the US wasn't at the wedding either because we've grown apart. The latter did raise some eyebrows but I just tried to explain as best as I can. We had a small wedding as well so we didn't invite too many people.

They did ask us if we've met each other's family and if my husband talked to my parents often over phone or online messenger and such. My husband has only met my family once during a surprise visit made by my parents. If it wasn't for that, we would have had a hard time trying to see my parents back at my home country because plane tickets are just so expensive and we were not in a financial situation where we could afford that. Especially with me not being able to work and my husband still pursuing a degree. I told them that we were trying to go back to my home country as soon as we manage to save up (: 

I don't remember if they needed to look at passport as an ID. I brought in my EAD as my proof of identification since that was the only ID I had in my married name. IO did take a look at my passport to look at my previous visas. I would suggest bringing it in if you can. Better be overprepared than miss some things. 

And yes, I did adjust from F1 Visa (:

Hope this helps! If you have anymore questions, send me a private message and I'll try to help out best I can. (:

Just realized I posted my update on the wrong thread! I'm sorry guys!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted on here but I've come back with awesome news. Today, after coming home from work, I came home to a great surprise. My green card had arrived in the mail and our application journey (at least for this one) has reached it's end. Here's our timeline!

Filed I-130, I-485 and I-765 at Chicago, IL

Field Office - San Jose, CA

Married - 01/28/17 

PD - 05/31/17

NOA1 (I-485, I-130, I-765) - 06/09/17 (Receipts start with MSC)

Biometrics - 06/27/17

"Interview Ready to be Scheduled" - 08/14/17

"Interview Scheduled" - 09/12/17

Interview NOA - 09/15/17

Interview Date - 10/13/17

EAD "Card in Production" - 09/19/17 (112 Days)

EAD "Case Approved" - 09/20/17

EAD "Card Mailed" - 09/21/17

EAD Approval Letter Received - 09/23/17

EAD Received - 09/25/17

AOS and I-130 Approval Date - 12/21/2017

AOS and I-130 Approval Letter Received - 12/29/17

Permanent Resident Card Received - 01/04/18

We didn't get approved on the spot as we had hoped. We were so nervous the day of our interview that we were both saying the wrong things and our IO barely made any conversation. He barely glanced our album, took some of our photos and sent us on our way. After our interview, we felt dejected and I was in tears. 

We were anxious but we remained patient. We tried our best to keep our minds off of it (we avoided talking about it as much as we can). We were prepared for the worst and we waited for another interview appointment letter in the mail. 

But here we are! Green card in hand! We couldn't be any happier. There were tears, jokes and more sobs in between the laughter. 

We'll see y'all in ROC! Feel free to ask questions. I'll try my best to answer them!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted on here but I've come back with awesome news. Today, after coming home from work, I came home to a great surprise. My green card had arrived in the mail and our application journey (at least for this one) has reached it's end. Here's our timeline!

Filed I-130, I-485 and I-765 at Chicago, IL

Field Office - San Jose, CA

Married - 01/28/17 

PD - 05/31/17

NOA1 (I-485, I-130, I-765) - 06/09/17 (Receipts start with MSC)

Biometrics - 06/27/17

"Interview Ready to be Scheduled" - 08/14/17

"Interview Scheduled" - 09/12/17

Interview NOA - 09/15/17

Interview Date - 10/13/17

EAD "Card in Production" - 09/19/17 (112 Days)

EAD "Case Approved" - 09/20/17

EAD "Card Mailed" - 09/21/17

EAD Approval Letter Received - 09/23/17

EAD Received - 09/25/17

AOS and I-130 Approval Date - 12/21/2017

AOS and I-130 Approval Letter Received - 12/29/17

Permanent Resident Card Received - 01/04/18

We didn't get approved on the spot as we had hoped. We were so nervous the day of our interview that we were both saying the wrong things and our IO barely made any conversation. He barely glanced our album, took some of our photos and sent us on our way. After our interview, we felt dejected and I was in tears. 

We were anxious but we remained patient. We tried our best to keep our minds off of it (we avoided talking about it as much as we can). We were prepared for the worst and we waited for another interview appointment letter in the mail. 

But here we are! Green card in hand! We couldn't be any happier. There were tears, jokes and more sobs in between the laughter. 

We'll see y'all in ROC! Feel free to ask questions. I'll try my best to answer them! Good luck everyone. 

6 minutes ago, Angelica48 said:

I got mine too yesterday! 

 

The best of luck to you & your hubby. 

That's awesome! I'm glad that we got ours pretty timely 😊

Thank you! I get really nervous when it comes to interviews and the sort since I'm really introverted. But I'm trying to remain optimistic! Haha. 

Just an update with things on our end. Applied for a new SSN (never had one) on 9/29 and received my SSN card in the mail yesterday! It was a little faster than I expected since they told me I had to wait 2 weeks. I also found out that I was verified the same day I applied so I'm guessing there's no need to wait for 10 days to be on the system. 

Spent the entired night applying for jobs! Haha. Busy week since our interview is also this week! 

On 10/6/2017 at 9:23 AM, hjriach said:

Yeah I wrote to and emailed my senator on Tuesday, still waiting for a reply.

 

I also spoke to a tier 2 who put in a request for the officer interviewing me to review the RFE.

 

And I have an infopass appointment on tuesday

 

I've now got the RFE saying if I don't send the medical by Nov 4th they will deny my case  so the clock is ticking. I guess I'll have to book a medical appointment soon.

 

I really thought my interview date was going to be the end of this 

Your senator should be able to help your process go faster. It's a bummer that they're making you redo the medical exam (which is so expensive) and such a short timeframe.

I hope it all works out in the end for you! Sending good vibes your way and hoping that your case gets resolved very soon! 

5 hours ago, hjriach said:

No I called but not tier 2.

 

I had already waited 90 minutes for a call back from a tier 2 that day, about my i485. I haven't got the patience any more 

Try asking for your congressman's help. That seems to have worked for a lot lf people.

20 minutes ago, adipo21 said:

How does one know there local office? They filled Aos just curious? 

I just googled mine. Your biometrics notice will also tell you the location of your local office. 

As for field office, they're usually by county. Here's a link that can help you figure out where your AOS is being processed or how long it would be until you hear about an interview:

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices

15 hours ago, Texasfiler said:

Hi niknik thanks for sharing this infor. we sure learnt a lot on here cheers to this interesting journey - I hope this first phase will soon be over for all of us.

No worries! I know how exhausting the process can be and I'm just trying to help others out as much as I've been helped. Being patient is all we can do and hope for the best with our own journeys. Good luck with yours! Hopefully things moves smoothly on your end. 😊

2 hours ago, AlexaT said:

Thanks for the info! My wife and I definitely have financial hardship but I don't think we will be accepted for expedite. I'll look into it though.

 

So... Is local office the same as "Field office"? I'm looking on google but I can't really find anything about local offices
There's a USCIS office in Oakland where I did my fingerprints, but I think they only do that - fingerprints. And there's a field office in San Francisco; would that be it? The thing is when I look at the processing times there's nothing about travel & work permit. There is something about AOS though. I feel like I was super informed during the whole K1 process but somehow now I have absolutely no idea where my file is, what's going on... It's a bit weird and stressful. So EAD is at NBC and AOS is at field office?

 

Where should I post my timeline?

 

Sorry about all these questions, I am looking for some answers on google but I just end up confused

 

 

Your local office is where you get your biometrics done. It's usually the closest USCIS office to you. Whereas your field office is where you go for your interview. Your field office would probably be San Francisco. 

For some their local office and field office are the same. For me, my local office was 30 minutes away and my field office is an hour plus away. 

The NBC (was also called Missouri Service Center back then hence 'MSC') handles the initial review of applications sent concurrently but they handle mostly I-765 and I-131 applications. If you are curious about your EAD and AP, you look at the National Benefits Center processing times. 

If you're wondering about when your interview might be scheduled, you look at the processing times for your field office — which would be San Francisco. Your field office would the one handling your I-485 Application for AOS. 

It would be helpful if you update your timeline in your profile so that VJ can update their system and have more accurate estimation of processing times. 

The AOS journey is very confusing so don't worry about asking questions. We're all in this together. Good luck with your journey!

On 9/27/2017 at 12:09 PM, Isabel Dino said:

Thank you! I hope it will continue that way and for the others too. Yes I’m in the San Jose office, that’s where I had my bio appointment. I was checking that too and I’m not too sure if it’s accurate. 

I've been looking for people who had the same field office as me! I have my interview there as well for October 13 next week! Congratulations on getting your interview scheduled.

Just now, Lili08 said:

 

No, my address was the same since the beginning of the process. USPS never put me on the phone with anyone when I was on wait for more than an hour they just hang up the phone. But I'm trying other numbers. It's all so frustrating!  😩 What I don't want to do is apply for it again and have to pay I-765 and I-131 fee this time.  Thank you! I hope so too.  I'll post again when I figure this thing out.

That is frustrating. You can also try going to your local USPS office since they're most likely the ones who deliver out your mail. 

You won't have to pay for another I-765 and I-131 application since you are still pending AOS. If you do need to apply once again, attach your AOS receipt with your application so they know to waive the application fee. 

There is a date  when you get an online update that your card is getting mailed about calling if you have not received your card by the said date. It's usually a month after the "card mailed" date. You can try calling again to tell them you have not received your card if your problem has not been resolved by the date indicated. They should be able to issue you a new one in my opinion. 

I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope this gets resolved quickly. 

1 minute ago, Lili08 said:

Hi guys! I just want to share my experience with EAD card. Online status changed to "card was mailed" on September 21, and to this date I haven't received any card yet. I didn't get a tracking number right away maybe that was my mistake but I thought to give them a week to deliver the card. Anyways, I called today and after waiting for a call back for more than an hour I speak to tier 2 to get a tracking number and after checking on USPS online tracking it says card was delivered on Saturday September 23, but on that day I remember just getting 2 NOA one for I-765 and one for I-131 nothing else. So what they did was raise a SR saying that my EAD was never delivered but they told me that I need to wait 15 days to get a call back and worse case I have to apply for EAD again!!! 

I'm so frustrated!!! I was so happy after 100+ wait to get my EAD and now I don't know what will happen or if I will ever get it. Right now I'm just on hold with USPS on the phone.. I just hope they find it somewhere or decide to send me a new one soon and I don't have to apply for EAD again

Did you move at any point through out your application? Some people receive their cards at their old addresses as a mistake even though they changed their address with USCIS. 

You can also try to contact your local USPS office. Tell them you were expecting an important mail to arrive and even though your tracking says delivered, you have not received it. You have the tracking number. They should be able to tell what went wrong. 

Good luck! I hope it gets resolved soon. 

1 hour ago, hjriach said:

Hi all,

 

I had my interview this morning. I've been recommended for approval. But I had an issue. My medical in London wasn't filled out properly and I have to have a new medical done here by a USCIS approved civil surgeon. She said this could delay my application by 30-90 days.

 

I'm really bummed out The same thing basically happened to me at the US Embassy interview. I expected my k-1 to be approved but they lost my medical and I had to go to Knightsbridge for a second medical. I can't believe it's repeated itself. I don't even have any medical issues. 

 

My wife was doing her best to cheer me up but it's annoying we went in expecting to be finished with the process, but now there's more waiting (and money).

 

I might post a proper review when I'm in a better mood but the interview was perfect and interviewer was friendly.

 

 

Bummer! But on the brighter side of things, you've been pretty much approved! Congratulations. Get your medical done as soon as possible and submit it. I doubt that it would actually take that long for them to process and clear up your medical. Let's hope for the best!

Just now, GabiMatch said:

I"m glad that your card also show the receipt # as the card #, I was only worried because the letter have a "card #" and I was fricking out here  I already tried calling them just to realize today is Saturday...anyway, thank you for you prompt response, I'm going back to the hospital to spend a little more time with my husband now, but will try to answer any other posts later on...thank you @niknik!!!

No worries! I hope your husband's doing alright! 

Just now, GabiMatch said:

Guys I'm nervous here when I should be jumping up and down (I was 5 minutes ago)...the good news is I just got my EAD (yay!!!) The bad news (i'm not sure if it's bad or not) is that first of all my "Country of birth" says "Unknown"  and instead of the card # that is in the letter that it came with "card#" says "MSC179140XXXX" and thats my receipt # for my EAD application  is this suppose to be like that? Will I have to send it back? I'm so nervous now!!! 

Please, all of you that got EAD take a look at your card and let me know if I have any reason to be nervous at all.

Thank you guys in advance!!!  

You might want to address the fact that they did not properly label your birth country. Just call USCIS to ask. It might be an error on their end. 

As for the card number, my EAD also shows my receipt number as my card number. That's probably how they track card production and applicant number/petitions when it comes to EADs. Just a guess. 

I was able to apply for an SSN with my card so I don't think you should worry. But clear up the situation with your birth country. They should be able to resolve it. I'm sure you filled your application properly and they probably made a mistake. 

13 minutes ago, Evara said:

I had the same question about EAD/AP combo card a few days ago, because  my EAD status changed and AP didn't .  I think it should work for us this way : "Since you applied for an EAD and advance parole, your EAD card would have a statement that says, "SERVES AS I-512 ADVANCE PAROLE" meaning you received a Combo EAD/AP card. Your AP has most likely been approved as well. "

 

Good luck!  

Thank you for quoting my advise to another VJ member. 😊 It is an opinion based on the accounts of others I have talked to though it should not be taken as a serious or legal advice. 

USCIS doesn't always do a good job of being consistent with online updates. If they produced and approbed your EAD card, they most likely marked it for AP as well. Good luck everyone!

Just now, OrlandoS said:

6/29 I-485 I-130 I-131 I-765 received

8/4 Bio

9/12 online service request re: I-765

9/27 I-765 card in production and I-131 approved

 

Since the I-131 was approved, I have received 15 SMS updates about it. They are coming every 5 minutes or so... anyone have any idea how to stop this or has anyone experienced this before? I only got 1 SMS about the I-765...

Do you have an account with the USCIS online status updates? You can turn off phone notifications for a while, see if that helps, then turn it back on to receive future updates. 

Just now, dmmv said:

Hopefully we hear something soon ! 

 

I raised an SR online yesterday but I think I will try calling anyways. Im excited for everyone but at the same time it makes me worried that something is wrong with mine. Thank you  

I understand. I was so anxious about my application for weeks and our EAD application was approved after 112 days. 😅 Raising an SR and calling would definitely make them pick up your case. I advice you not to worry about it and you probably did your application well. They're just taking their sweet time with the applications 😂 

2 minutes ago, dmmv said:

Has anyone not gotten their EAD or an update on their case yet ? I feel like I'm the only one...

 

4/18 - Married !! 

6/21 - Sent packet to Chicago lockbox concurrent filing of I-130/ I-485

6/22 - Packet Received and signed for

6/28 - Received 3 texts/emails for NOA at 9:33

7/05 - Received NOA in mail

7/08 - Received biometrics appointment letter! 

7/20- Went in for Biometrics Appointment here in Gardena, CA

 

Thats been it... Does my husband need to call if he's the US Citizen ? Or can I call? 

They have only begun issuing late May to early June applications. Based on the current timeline, they'll work on your EAD two weeks from now (just a guess). But there's no harm in raising an SR or calling to inquire. 

You can inquire about your EAD yourself since you are the applicant. Make sure to have your receipt number and alien number. So basically just have your NOA for the EAD on the ready. 

Let's hope news about your EAD arrives soon! 

Just now, Evara said:

Hello  

 

Just wanted to share my timeline below , I just checked my status online and after a loooooong wait my EAD status was updated to "New Card is being Produced"  

Together with I-765 I also applied for I-131 Advanced Parole. Do you guys know how much longer does it take to receive an update about AP? I thought EAD and AP come as one combo card. 

 

AOS Timeline

06/12: I-485, I-765, I-131 sent through USPS

06/15 : NOA1 SMS and email notification for I-485, I-765, I-131 received

06/19: NOA1 I-797 for I-485, I-765 and I-131 received by mail

06/23: I-797C appointment notice for biometrics received by mail

07/10: Biometrics appointment

08/01: online update for I-485 to : "Case Is Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview"

09/26: EAD Status Change to New Card is Being Produced

Since you applied for an EAD and advance parole, your EAD card would have a statement that says, "SERVES AS I-512 ADVANCE PAROLE" meaning you received a Combo EAD/AP card. Your AP has most likely been approved as well. 

1 hour ago, Anthony and Bobby said:

i decided to check my status earlier while i was on the bus, on the way home from my volunteer job. it finally changed! i'm getting my work permit ID soon! yaaaayyyyy

 

almost there guys! make sure to call when it's more than 90 days already so they can hurry the butt out.

 

Bobby

Finally!  Congratulations!

On 9/6/2017 at 9:21 PM, AAA0914 said:

Hello again! Do I submit only photocopies of the requirements to USCIS for my AOS packet? Which specific ones need to be original or certified cooies and which ones can be just photocopies? Thank you.

You can just send photocopies. When we we submitted our documents, majority of the documents were photocopies. Make sure to have the original on hand as they will verify the legitimacy of the photocopies you sent through originals when you go in for an interview.