Katrin.TX

Hey everybody,

I am back on visajourney after moving across this massive country and switching jobs. Glad to see that so many people had good news!

I of course also had to switch field offices because of my move. Does anybody have experience with switching offices? Will it take longer?

I haven't heard anything in 2 months (after receiving the "Case is ready to be scheduled..." notification). Hope they haven't forgotten about me.

14 hours ago, Asakelove said:

Congratulations , I see you got your interview date already, wow thats extremely fast as we heard that USCIS process is annoyingly slow here in Texas, may I ask which status you're adjusting from and which state in Texas, I hear its slower in Houston than all cities here.

Best of luck 

Thanks!

F1 and San Antonio

1 hour ago, Beefheart said:

How does one go about executing this? Is it as straightforward as contacting your congressman with the necessary evidence you highlighted, or do you also need to file something with USCIS?

You first have to call USCIS (regular hotline) and request the expedition of your EAD case. They go with you through a couple of questions, including the reason why you want to expedite and then they file the request for you. A few days later, you should get the request for evidence for your expedition from USCIS and then you send them the documents that prove the reason to expedite. After that, they decide if they allow the expedition.

Here is the info: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria

I only went to my congressman because I didn't hear anything from USCIS for two weeks after I filed the request. But as long as you hear from them, you don't need to go talk to the congress person.

@Omoba

You are allowed to put in a request to expedite as soon as you had your biometrics appointment. I know, there is a weird rumor going around that you have to wait for day 90 but that's actually not true.

However, you have to have a reason to expedite. In my case it was "Severe financial loss to person and/or company" based on a job offer I have. I sent them the job contract and a letter from my future boss stating that it would be hard and expensive for them to find someone new, if I do not get the EAD in time. That did the trick. 

My case is ready to be scheduled for an interview! EAD card should be here this week. And I'm on day 73 and had an RFE. 

Maybe Texas is just very fast at the moment or I was so annoying that they're trying to get rid of me 😅

Just putting it out there as hope for others! Try to use all methods to make them go faster. Call them, file a service request, talk to your congressman/woman. Go out there and be annoying! 

Update on EAD: New card is being produced!

@Alan&Rachelle Thank you so much for your advice! You saved me from a month of anxiety!!

Everybody, if your EAD application has been pending for a long time and you need it urgently, go talk to the local office of your congressman/woman. It doesn't hurt to ask and they might be able to help! 

On 6/22/2017 at 4:12 PM, Alan&Rachelle said:

My husband had read that contacting a congressman would make the process of expediting a lot faster so we decided to try it and it worked. He wasn't transferred to our actual congressman but a "Constituent Representative" who works directly under him. Technically you do have a time limit if your job is supposed to start in a few weeks, so I'm sure they'd be helpful if you decide to contact them.  

Since I am getting a bit panicy, I followed your advice and went to the local field office of our congressman today. It was a super pleasant experience! While they can't guarantee anything either, they will use their special connection powers to inquire what's going on and push along the expedite request if possible.

Fingers crossed!

27 minutes ago, Alan&Rachelle said:

Did you contact your local congressman too when you requested the expedite? My husband called ours when he requested an EAD expedite on June 7th and he was transferred quickly to someone on the phone who he was able to email back and forth with and who did an inquiry/request for my husband. His online EAD status changed to "New Card Being Produced" on June 15th and "Card Was Mailed to Me" on June 20th.

That's really interesting. Did you have a specific reason to call the congressman?

In any case, I just researched this a bit, and you are not the only one going this route. Every congressman and woman has a "Help with Federal Agencies" page on their website. However, mine makes really clear that they only help if time is of the essence or if I have been treated badly. I might wait another week or two and if I still didn't hear anything, I will try that route.

Thank you for the idea!

I think we're all getting pretty frustrated by now. This is the long stretch of the waiting game, it seems.

7 days since my expedite request for the EAD and nothing so far. Not even the request for evidence that they said should get to me within 5 days (I called and they said that I am not allowed to call until 30 days have passed). On the other hand, 9 weeks until I am supposed to start my new job. Yeai! *sigh

15 hours ago, ahas44 said:

did you expedited it based on a job offer? I wanted to do so, but I heard they will deny it unless your case been active for 75 days.

Yes, I did. I was unaware of the 75 days thing. I´m still 19 days away from that. Oh well, whatever happens happens. If not, then I´ll try it again mid-July (because we can put in another request to expedite after 30 days, I believe). However, I hope that I will have heard something by then. 

I will keep you posted!

I have officially expedited the EAD today. I called the service line and the lady was super friendly. She went with me through all the points necessary to expedite and told me to wait for them to request the evidence by e-mail (finally, something has reached the 21st century!)

Hey,

has anyone ever made or heard of the experience that the biometrics appointment had to be rescheduled? Do they get angry about that?

Initially, I was a March filer but because of an RFE, things got delayed. Before everything happened, I planned to go on a one week vacation at the end of May (the dummy that I am), and now I am nervous that the appointment ends up in exactly that week.

Can't cancel the vacation anymore without loosing a lot of money. So I am wondering, if I could hypothetically reschedule the biometrics appointment a few days back.

Alternatively, I read that people also walk in early. Any thoughts on that?

1 hour ago, cyanmavi said:

Here is an example:

 

Awesome! Thank you!

1 hour ago, cyanmavi said:

Do you have a job offer in hand? You might very well be able to expedite your EAD

Yes I have. I wasn't aware that I can expedite. Any suggestions on how to go about this?

Also, thank you for letting me know

1 hour ago, Pinkielicious said:

Thank you! I hope so, too. It's just because I've seen many of you, whose package was delivered on the same day as mine, have already received the texts/emails, so I'm kinda worried. I only have 17 days left before I'm out of status. That's why I need the NOA1 before that in order to be authorized to stay here while the process is pending.

I understand the anxiety! I have a great job lined up in August and need the EAD before that. So I hope that 3 months are enough to get it or I might loose this opportunity. I wish both of us a speedy and uncomplicated process!

51 minutes ago, Pinkielicious said:

Yes, my package was delivered last Monday, 4/24th. Last time, it took me almost one month to know that they had actually rejected my applicatiton, so I don't know how about this time. Is it because they rejected it before, so it will take longer for them to review my application again?

Hey, 

I don't think that that's the case. I was also rejected the first time around and got my NOA1s 8 days after the package was delivered this time. 

I guess it all depends on the case worker who is working on your files, or where your files ended up in the pile. Depending on how long that person takes, you get the NOAs sooner or later. For some people here on VJ, it took 3 weeks. 

I would wait another week and then call them. 

Whoop whoop!

Got my NOA1s yesterday night at 11:53pm! (Package delivered April 22). 

This was already the second round for me though. They sent it back earlier in April because of some issues with the application and attached an invitation to reapply. 

Possible, that they kept stuff from the first application in their system and that is why it went fairly fast. 

Hello,

I'm also an April kid!

Package Sent: April 20

Package Received: April 22

And now we wait!