Ariii

I rescheduled as soon as I got the appointment letter and knew I couldn’t make it that day... best way to do it get an infopass appointment and reschedule it directly at your office ...

1 minute ago, DelilahBrz said:

try capital one. Weve had such tremendous luck with capital one. It's all online!

I was looking into capital one too.. which one do you have? They offer several .. are you satisfied with them ?

6 minutes ago, raulgon2493 said:

Orlando office. good luck to you as well! thank. 

 

HAS ANYONE HERE HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF TRAVELING WITH AP WHILE WAITING ON AOS? AND HOW DID IT GO?

I traveled twice already and had no problem. Just in case bring your marriage certificate and NOAs with you but they never asked for mine.

3 hours ago, Denis & San said:

Just wanted to let you guys know that we had our AOS interview yesterday at the San Fernando Valley office here in Los Angeles CA.  We arrived 20 min. early to our appt. My wife and daughter were asked for their Employment authorization card to match the interview appointment notice and then we were given a number to be called for the interview.  We were called in by a woman immigration officer about 15 min later.  She did ask my wife if she understood English.  If not, she would see if there is an officer there that could translate Vietnamese, or see if there's anyone in the waiting room that could translate.  Otherwise, we'd need to reschedule.  My wife said that she understood as long as she was speaking slowly.

After sitting down in her office, she took pictures of my wife and our stepdaughter with her webcam.  She asked for our ids..driver licenses.  She then asked if we had originals of the birth certificates, passport, marriage certificate, divorce decrees and of my naturalization certificate.  ( I am a US Naturalized citizen).  I totally forgot about bringing my naturalization certificate and didn't think about bringing it with me since I'm the US citizen and brought my US passport with me.  She asked why didn't I bring it?  I just answered that I totally forgot about it.  She didn't say anything at that point.  I thought for sure she was going to reschedule the interview for missing that.  Anyways, she didn't and went on and inspected the original documents.  She basically compared the originals to the copies I had submitted with the AOS packet.  It was all in front of her and she would mark in red little notes to the copies in the packet.  She was curious as to why the date of my first divorce was different from the original I had.  I told her I wasn't sure.  It was still in the same month, but different date. She asked if she could keep the original and I said sure..keep whatever you want (didn't want to make thing difficult as it was).  

She also asked for the social security numbers of my wife and step-daughter and wrote them down on the application.  

Then she started asking questions to my wife about how she met me, how many times did I visit her, who the father of the child is and where he lived.  She then pointed to me and asked who I was and my birthdate.  Asked her if she's ever been to the US before.  While asking the questions, she was writing our answers on a piece of paper.  She then went over the packet and started asking her questions about the criminal section of the application such as had she ever been arrested, was she ever part of the Communist party etc...  On a few questions, my wife didn't quite understand so I had to tell her in English the meaning of it.  Like she asked if she was ever arrested...she didn't understand the word arrested, so I asked her in English, "Have you ever gone to jail?", and she said no.  The immigration officer was sort of smiling.  She did ask her one more time if she needed a translator and my wife said maybe.  I told her are you sure? (I didn't want a translator cause I didn't think we'd find one and we'd have to reschedule).  So my wife said..just speak slowly.  Finally she turned to our daughter and she asked her who's this? (pointing at me). And my daughter answered "Daddy".  My wife said step-daddy (NOOOO!!) but then the immigration officer said that it was ok...it was good for her to call me daddy (which she does at home).  So I think that sealed it for us.

She also looked at my tax transcripts and asked if I had the full form of tax year 2016.  I said no..I only brought my tax transcripts.  She said the reason is because on the tax transcript, it showed 4 lines of dependents even though there were no names and social security numbers there.  I told her no, it was only me and sometimes my daughter who I get to claim every other year.  She looked at it again but didn't say anything else.  Probably because I make good money and that even if there were 10 dependents, I'd still qualify to be a financial support for the application.  

She then asked if we had any other proof of our relationship... So I handed to her our joint bank account statements (she asked for our bank cards...I handed her mine but my wife didn't bring hers), life insurance showing being a beneficiary, my company health insurance summary showing them as dependents, join lease agreement with both of names on it, and pictures since she's been in the US.  She looked at them and pointed out one picture of us attending a high school graduation and she asked who that was in the picture with us.  My wife answered that it was my daughter (from a previous marriage).  

At this point, she then said, based on what she sees, there is no reason why my wife and daughter wouldn't be able to get a green card.  She said she would approve my daughter on the spot but then it would take 2 days to run another background check on my wife to make sure nothing has come up since the filling of the application.  And then after that, they would be getting their green card in about 2-3 weeks.  She did gave us a tip that for the removal of conditions (which is for the 10 year green card) that if we submitted every month of the joint bank statements since getting her 2 year green card, that there would likely be no interview when we applied for the 10 year green card.  Basically submit everything that we can to bypass the interview. I think I put everything that I can remember of what happened at the interview. Probably forgot some minor details.

I apologize for the detailed summary of our interview, but all in all, it took about 30 minutes for the interview.  To sum it up, bring all the originals of any documents you have...birth certificates, divorce decree, marriage certificate, naturalization certificate (if you became a US citizen via naturalization) and passports. Make sure you bring the actual Tax forms that were submitted to the IRS and not the tax transcripts that was sent with the AOS package in case they have any questions because it's much more detailed than the transcripts.  

Apart from that, it was nerve wrecking especially since we didn't have a couple of documents that she was asking about but it was a good experience as she was very nice with our daughter afterwards and joking with her.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to have mine at the same office by the end of the month. 

13 minutes ago, Californiansunset said:

Oh wow congrats, that's awesome! So you already received a new interview date?

I still haven't heard from them at all. I was finally able to schedule a new infopass appointment for Friday so I'll hope they will be able to help me there...

Yes I received a new appointment for end of November. I'm in the Los Angeles field offices. My status still shows the same I think they don't update it I kept checking it every day. Also the new appointment letter I got doesn't look like the Official NOA Just a regular letter (sent from an IO )and it shows the specific documents I have to bring not like the official letter with checklist and basically tells you to bring everything. Good luck for Friday!! Hopefully they can help you. 

On 10/19/2017 at 8:38 AM, antoineD said:

ok, maybe i shouldn't put too much faith into the tier II guys either, but just  be comforted that i at least passed the BG check.

 

 

i've personally only ever gone into a field office with an appointment, but my local office seems to always be booked out - i can never find availability on the website. i did see some people wait without an appointment when i last went (last year) and i imagine it's like at the DMV: it'll be WAY WAY slower, but you'll hopefully get to see someone by the end of the day if you get there early in the AM without an appointment, but i'm just extrapolating.

 

In my field office there are no appointments available either no matter what time you check the website. So My husband went to the infopass without an appointment they let him inside and he was able to talk to an officer. Even though it says that you have to have an appointment!! You should just give it a try, go early in the morning I think they open at 7 am.

On 9/19/2017 at 5:56 PM, Californiansunset said:

Call USCIS and ask to talk to a tier 2 officer and they can tell you what the notice says that they have mailed you.

 

i missed my infopass appointment so I never ended up going. I don't understand how I missed it, never happened to me before that I messed up a date of an appointment. I realized it the day of the appointment but it was too late. 

I kept on checking the website for a new appointment every single day and they never had one available ever. I randomly checked it an hour ago and got an appointment for in three days. So just keep on checking their website you might get lucky!!! 

Since i didn't think I was gonna get a new appointment I talked to a tier 2 officer on the phone today and he reassured me that since I got a letter stating that my interview was cancelled that everything is okay. After multiple times asking him without giving me a direct answer I assume the USCIS tier 2 officer on the phone can't see more than what i see online (still says it's scheduled for next week). I might be able to tell you more once I've been to my appointment on Friday to talk to an officer at my field office. 

I received my new appointment letter yesterday in the mail. It came from the field office. My original interview appointment was September 26. I hope you'll hear from them soon too. 

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 8:37 AM, Californiansunset said:

@Ariii

Definitely make an infopass, if not go to that interview date!!!!! 

So me and my husband went to USCIS and the officer literally said that my file belongs to the only two 'outgoing' files they have sitting at the field office which means that my I-485 was denied for a no-show. So he asked me how that was possible and whether I had another interview before that where I didn't show up. Obviously I didn't and someone just terribly messed up. 

 

The officer said he was gonna fix this now and put a big note on it saying that it was rescheduled and that they should give me a new appointment in November (he says they usually give you a new appointment within 60 days of the original date... that's at least what he says is the general rule).

 

I don't know what your reason for rescheduling is but if you don't get an infopass appointment DEFINITELY go to that interview!!! I don't want to think about what could've happened if I didn't go to that infopass today. 

sorry for my very late reply....

OMG! good thing that you were able to get an appointment and you went. Did you receive anything since then?

When I received my appointment letter, on the very bottom it said, to reschedule your appointment please call customer service center. and nothing else. That's what I did.

I called the NSC they opened a service request for me and gave me the service request number. After a week it was submitted to the officer and the status changed to "we send you a respond regarding on our decision" ............ I called the service center again and asked them what the letter said but they couldn't give me an information and the lady was super unfriendly and unhelpful all she said was "you have to wait 30days"!! I asked her to transfer me to a Tier 2 officer. When I talked to the Tier2 officer, I told her my whole story that I request to reschedule.... she told me " please follow the instructions on the notice" (obviously that's what I did - call the NSC!!) I told her that. and then she asked me "did you sent a letter of explanation and the original notice letter to the field office???" I said no, that nobody told me. Than she was like oh well you have to do that. Apparently you were talking to somebody who didn't had a lot knowledge (that was 3 days before the original interview date)....... on that same date I received the respond letter regarding my request to reschedule... I was in shock... all it said was "please follow the instructions on the notice".......... My husband went to the field office without an appointment and he was able to talk to somebody... they took the letter of explanation with the original notice.......  I can't believe that you have to be on top of them to follow up everything otherwise nothing gets done or you get denied......

On 9/5/2017 at 4:52 PM, Californiansunset said:

Just wanted to post an update in case someone has the same issue that I had and is looking for an answer on VJ: 

 

So six days after I made the service request over the phone, I saw online that they already completed it today and sent me the response via mail. Since I usually have to wait for USCIS mail a while (it took the interview letter 8 days) before it gets to me I called the USCIS hotline to have me transfer to a tier 2 officer to tell me the outcome of the service request (yes they can usually see the answer of the service request although they often pretend that they can't). He told me that USCIS honors my request to have it rescheduled and that they will let me know about a new date of the I-485 interview. 

Obviously I am pleasantly surprised how fast and smooth this entire process was. On this past weekend I received pictures of my grandma's recent medical documents from my brother that describe her overall medical condition (almost completely blind, severe hip problems etc., it was a long list) and had started to prepare them in case I was asked to submit proof of a 'family emergency' (although they would've not completely justified a family emergency but I thought it would show that she has issues that recently appeared indicating that it's going downhill with her and that with a 93 year old you just never know when it could be the last time I can see her). They never asked for a reason or proof to submit though.

 

I still have my field office appointment here in San Diego in a week that I will still attend, just to speak to someone in person to make sure that my field office is aware that my husband and me won't be in town for the I-485 interview and that it was rescheduled. I guess I'm doing that more for my own peace of mind after reading the horror stories on VJ that the interviewing field office issued a 'no-show' because they didn't have a rescheduled interview on file. Plus I am hoping that there might be a tiny chance that the IO can tell me when I can approximately expect the new interview date.  

Hey! I'm just curious to know if you went to your infopass appointment and if your field office was already aware of that you won't be in town/ rescheduled your appointment for your I485. I rescheduled mine too and they completed it on 9/16 but I haven't heard back yet. I also wanted to get an appointment in my field office but the next available one would be on 10/3 which is a week after my I485 appointment. Thank you!!

I have to reschedule my interview appointment. Does anybody has experience with it ? What happens if I reschedule? 

On 8/15/2017 at 8:03 AM, CezSheena said:

Did anyone have an interview already that got the notice that they needed their i693 for their AOS from K1? We got the notice saying we need to bring it to our interview, but we have a K1 and he had a medical exam in his home country. Did anyone need this and then go to interview? Did they ask for it?

Hey, I received my notice today and it says the same thing... I came on K1 and did my medical last year. What did you do in this case ? Thank you 

38 minutes ago, arc1993 said:

Can you share when your status updated to ready to schedule and when did you file? Thanks

They received my file on February 27. status changed to "ready to be scheduled.." on April 12 and today to "interview scheduled" 

Finally my status changed today from "ready to be scheduled..." to "interview is scheduled for September 26."

I'm in the LA field office. Does anybody has experience with it already ? Thank you.

9 minutes ago, ndwedding said:

Oh wow that long.. my concern was that we want to go on a family cruise to  mexico but i was under the impression that the advanced parole was only for emergencies. Have you traveled while on AP? 

I traveled on AP twice (Germany and Mexico) I had no problems . They'll send you to second review but it was smooth both times I traveled. Just make sure you take all your documents with you like marriage certificate etc in case they ask for it. 

2 hours ago, Abhi138 said:

Yes my friend ,there is nothing positive to share or talk about regarding our cases. I see your signature and like your optimism about predicting the interview  We seem to be in for a long wait and cannot wrap my head around how slow our office is compared to LA which serves a larger pool of people than the bay area. Except the two of us I cannot find anyone else from the bay area in march. I'll keep you in my prayers too and hopefully our luck changes for the better.

I'm from LA and I've been waiting since April for my interview to get scheduled 125 days and still no news ... I don't know how people who filed later than I did, already have their GC in hand and got their interview within 1-2 months...

10 minutes ago, Californiansunset said:

So has anyone else here had the issue that when they went to get their new DL license done the DMV office had problems reading and verifying the EAD card??? I, as always, belong to the lucky ones who after finally having the EAD after 142 days of waiting can't get the DL because according to the DMV all offices with old card readers can't read the new EAD cards (although I have the old EAD layout so I don't know whether she just in general meant that the card is too new because it just recently was produced). Now I have to wait potentially another 90-120 days until the DMV verifies my immigration status with USCIS...

 

The weird thing however was, that when I complained that I have a job I have to drive to the lady said that I am fine driving with my German DL. I told her multiple times that it doesn't say so on the offical DMV site because now, with having my EAD, I am officially considered a resident who’s supposed to have the CA DL. She said I would be fine showing the paper that I am currently in the process of getting my CA DL. Any thoughts on this? I’m a little hesitant to believe that a police officer would agree with this statement and not fine me for driving without vaild DL.  

Yep. I had the same problem when I went to DMV. They couldn't read my card DMV system and USCIS are connected and they couldn't get any hit. The lady told me to call USCIS and ask what was the problem. So I did. The person from USCIS told me that DMV normally has to fill in form G-845 and send to USCIS it's the verification request... but I didn't went back to the same DMV instead I went to another DMV 3 days later and they had no problem with my EAD card... 

DMV also told me that it will take up to 3 months to verify with USCIS, but the person I talked to from USCIS said that it normally takes 1 week. So idk. 

19 minutes ago, MsGee said:

Hello everyone. Last July 1 my hubby got his EAD card. Today 7/10 @ 10:30 am we had our interview for his I 485 petition  (K1 visa) and got approved on the spot. Our priority date is March 23,2017. The interview lasted less than 20 mins at USCIS office in LA downtown. 

Sending positive vibes to all who are still waiting for their EAD and interview dates.

 

May I ask how long it took to get your appointment for the interview? My status changed on April 12. And I'm still waiting to get an appointment. I'm at the same office. 

58 minutes ago, Kalciaa said:

Soooooo what's the next thing after the notification that RFIE response was received? Should I be expecting interview now? According to the processing times no VJ I won't be getting it any time soon. What if my current EAD expires before I get the green card? Do I have to reapply for EAD/AP?

 

On a different note- did anybody has any experience traveling on AP with married name and passport with maiden name? Planning a trip abroad and I'm unsure if I'll be able to come back to the country ;))

 

Have a wonderful weekend everybody! 

I came back from Germany with the EAD/combo card and arrived at LAX, 2 weeks ago. I had no problems at POE. They checked my passport, took fingerprints and picture than I had to go with an officer to a "second review" room. I waited there for about 10 min. Than they gave me back my passport stamped with "paroled" until June 2018. I brought all my NOAs and marriage certificate but they didn't even ask for it. This was the best experience I ever had when entering the US 😃

1 hour ago, Armmartz said:

 

Good morning everyone!

I just got my EAD in the mail last saturday. 
Now, my next step is going to Social Security to do a change name and removal of conditions with the social security with my existing social security card. Would you guys know which documents I need and do I need photocopies for it? 

Thanks you and I hope everbody's doing well 

I only needed the EAD card, SSN and the marriage certificate (in California) 

but I took all NOAs with me too. EAD and marriage certificate should be enough.

I requested an expedite for ead on May 1st and 2 weeks ago I've sent the supportive evidence via fax since then nothing happened.

Today morning I called USCIS to see if there's any update but the person couldn't really help me so he opened another service request..

2 hours later I got the update "new card is being produced". Yayyyy!!! It took "only" 94 days since I filed!! Good luck to everybody.

2 hours ago, KimberleyVDB said:

My application was received on March 24th. I had my biometrics on May 3rd. Did you also file the AOS after a K1? Or was it from something else? I don't know if the other K1 filers had a priority date on their noa1 but I checked several times(just to make sure I wasn't going crazy) and it's blank.. 

I don't have a priority date either... I don't know on what USCIS decides to give priority dates. I also came on K1 and they received my application on Feb 27. Biometrics done on April 5.

23 hours ago, TL2016 said:

Call again. Whilst the USCIS hotline has been mostly helpful in my personal experience, sometimes they literally go by what the website says online. I had someone who wouldn't give me any info regarding my expedite request and transferred me to a tier 2 officer with a wait time of over 6 hours. So I hung up, called again and spoke to a woman who was able to give me the info I needed. She did have me verify almost all of my info because I called 3 times that day, but it really isn't an issue. 

You were right !! I just called again and the lady gave me the fax and attn number. She also told me I should send the evidence along with the notice but since I haven't got an email it's not possible... How did you sent yours ? Did you just wrote the attn number on your evidence or did you use a separate piece of paper ? 

2 hours ago, Becci391 said:

Quick update on my EAD/AP case: I just called USCIS about my pending EAD/AP status and the woman on the phone made a service request and gave me a confirmation number. I guess now I have to wait for an officer to get back to me.

Anyone know how long that usually takes until someone gets back to me?

 

I was also able to ask if my pending I-485 is still at the NBC or already on its way to the field office down here to Atlanta. As of right now, the I-485 is still at the NBC and within the normal time frame and the woman said that the officer who processes my case is the one who decides if I get an interview waiver or an interview letter. So the waiting game is still on for that case...

They have 15 days time to get back to you ..

4 hours ago, Californiansunset said:

Do you mind me asking on what basis you make your EAD expedite? I sometimes have the feeling there is a correlation between the generic answer you got and the applicant not having "sufficient reasons" to expedite. In other words, judging from other threads I have the feeling that people who's partner is their main sponsor usually get that answer or get told that they have no reason to expedite even with job offer because their partner signed papers to support you. 

Just a wild guess though. 

I have a job offer. I'll try to get it expedited and hope they will. If not, at least I tried. And by the end of the week my case is pending over 75 days, too...

5 hours ago, TL2016 said:

Call again. Whilst the USCIS hotline has been mostly helpful in my personal experience, sometimes they literally go by what the website says online. I had someone who wouldn't give me any info regarding my expedite request and transferred me to a tier 2 officer with a wait time of over 6 hours. So I hung up, called again and spoke to a woman who was able to give me the info I needed. She did have me verify almost all of my info because I called 3 times that day, but it really isn't an issue. 

Oh wow! Well, I'll call tomorrow again and see what happens.