BobKat

Wow. That took forever!

When that 24 month extension expires in October, you need an I-551 stamp in your passport. 30 days before your expiration date (or more?) you need to try to make an appointment with your field office (or service center) for that stamp, which is valid for 6 months to a year, basically replacing your green card and extensions for the time being. however, you won’t lose your job. You are in your employers system and only need to show GC status when you change jobs. For this, the stamp and extension letters etc should suffice. depending on your field office, times for ROC are currently 22-36 months wait. I hollered for my congressperson and they sorted the chaos on my behalf.

Finally holding my card in my hand. Bliss. Came straight to my mailbox.. less than a week after my interview.. All in all, this took 22 months. So glad this is finally over..

Yes, I am in the process of receiving it-it’s arriving tomorrow, according to the tracker..I involved my congressperson though.

Just came back from our interview. As per hand delivered notice at interview, my case was approved. The interview took about 45 minutes. The office was the USCIS field office in Atlanta. We entered 15 minutes before appointment time, apparently the officer already asked for us. We were in the waiting area, while I was in the restroom, he asked us in.. The officer was an older officer, stern, professional. He had my petition in front of him, but I was not able to see a physical A-file (or what I think it should look like). We swore our oath, I handed over our drivers license, my green card, our passports. Then be went through our petition, asking questions, repeating many questions during the interview: address, what car we have , who is on the lease, do we rent or own, our bank accounts, he wanted to see our bank cards, credit cards. How we met, when we met, when in person, when my husband came to Germany, how often he was married, if he ever petitioned before, my hourly wage, his hourly wage/yearly income. His occupation, my initial occupation, my current occupation, criminal background, ever? Communist party (might have been asked jokingly). Then he asked if I have new evidence and I pulled out the new packet, which was, believe it or not, thicker than the initial one. Bank statements with transactions, savings account (forgot savings account when filing initially),new tax records 20 and 21, new leases for apartment, car lease, loan pre-approval paperwork for a house we did not buy in the end, beneficiary form, more photos with his family (especially grandkids, ex-wife, daughters). In between he switched to chatting about Heidelberg and going to Europe, and that I can apply for citizenship, but don’t have to, what kind of scientist I was, then he went back to asking same questions, I guess to see if the answers are still the same or similar. He clearly had the NVC form in front of him-asked me where I lived in Germany. Verified some other questions from that form. He also wanted to know everything about my previous J1’s. He told me then that he approves my 10 year card, again, I can file for citizenship, but don’t have to, gave me his office number, in case I have not received my card within one month. I made sure that he notes my apartment number, as this was the initial issue and my reason for getting my congressperson involved. Extremely thorough IO! Very nice, though, stern, firing questions at us. Glad this is over, but I will party for sure, if I have this card in my hand, physically. He congratulated me on my meticulous documentation and noted that I am obviously the one who takes care of that.. lol!

I started working with my congressperson in February 2021, after I had biometrics notices sent back to USCIS due to an address error, and I got a lot of conflicting information from different tier 2’s. A second biometrics appointment after the first to which I went etc.. the liaison simply works with congressional staff and the office in my district just kept inquiring. I think that helped keeping my case “touched”. Atlanta is severely backed up and it helped get me squeezed in before being out of processing time, I guess. The interview appointment was made by the field office, not the congressperson. They just have a good connection/ rapport with the liaison. I’m also want to say that the liaison is incredibly decent. So, I am grateful. 🙂

Got my interview notice today via my congressperson in my inbox. Interview date is May 16. No update or anything online. First name spelled wrong, apartment number missing on address.. Alas!