ajs1984

Same here. Mine was approved on 6/23. I didn't get a text and only found out from Informed Delivery. They sent an I-797 approval letter and GC will be arriving within 60 days. N-400 still pending. I had called them earlier this week because my 180 day grace had long expired and my CA drivers license was also expiring! I'm sure it's just coincidence, though

The filing of N-400 and the time it takes is independent of your I-751 ROC. You cannot file N-400 until have have been married for 3 years, and you cannot be approved until the conditions on your green card have been removed. But the processing on these will run concurrently. Congrats on your ROC approval!

Thank you KimberleyVDB! It looks like there are a lot of Nov 2019 filers who got transferred to NBC still waiting for news. Hopefully it will be soon for everybody.

A lot happened for me last night. My approval notices were not delivered but they got re-scanned by USPS again this morning so I am expecting them today. My I-131, I-765 and I-485 (!!) receipt numbers got updated on the online system and they all indicate approved / card was mailed / card is being produced. Amazing! It looks like something got unblocked for my cases. However, no Priority Mail tracking number has shown up in Informed Delivery; usually that happens for anything addressed to my name. Hopefully it will appear next week.

16 hours ago, RP17 said:

Any update on your case?

I just got my approval notices for EAD + AP so I'll most likely never know what happened with my expedite or service requests. I can say that they still show no signs of having been looked at, but like many on this forum I might superstitiously associate today's approval with the expedite request.

Total number of days for me was 126 days. Well over visajourney and uscis processing time estimates.

I agree that fingerprinting should not block EAD/AP. If you lawfully entered the united states you were 10 printed the first time you came in by CBP, so DHS and the FBI already have your fingerprints.

From USPS informed delivery this morning I can see my approval notices for EAD + AP. Hopefully now even if my green card takes a while to get approved, I can start working once the card comes. So happy!!

No. I asked him that, and the interviewing officer must be the one to finish the paperwork and provide approval or RFE/denial. It cannot be transferred.

I just had my interview this morning at San Jose. Honestly it was quite depressing and totally different to janicecf's experience.

The officer assigned to my case admitted he hadn't done I-485s for years, mostly doing N-400s. He was filling in because the person supposed to be handling my case was off sick. Our interview went fine, most of the time was spent going through the checkboxes on the I-485 again and we weren't asked any difficult questions. Only the original drivers license, passport, birth certificates and house deeds were asked to be seen.

However even though I think we had a very strong case, and he didn't ask for more documentation, he said some strange things. For example, that not having children 'weakens your case'. We've been married for less than four months.

We were given a form that our case required "Further Review". I asked him when he might get around to it and he said "not today, maybe tomorrow". Wow. USCIS processing roulette. Hoping for the best..

17 hours ago, Visitor User said:

New case # is assigned for the EAD Card?

No. Though not shown in the screenshot, this is the receipt number for Form I-765.

It matches only some filers, which is exactly what we are discussing..

I noticed the USCIS processing times statistics were updated.

Field Office Processing Dates for National Benefits Center as of: November 30, 2017

According to this, the processing times were back to 90 days in November. Huh..

(I think maybe why you are getting combative responses from myself and others is your unnecessarily aggressive and assumptive tone. Where actually there is a great deal of 'grey area' here, you make it sound like it is black and white.)

Yes, if you followed the form (not the form instructions) correctly, and were non-DACA, you didn't fill out parts 3-6 because it asks you to skip them. This means you shouldn't have provided a reason.

But, since USCIS has designed this form so confusingly, it is not surprising that some people fill those bits in. After all, what does "non-DACA" mean? Some people might just want to be exhaustively honest and fill in everything. After all, if there's a box, why wouldn't you?

36 minutes ago, falmaind said:

Folks who did get AP approved with "vacation" as a reason were lucky as their application was processed by incompetent agent. (At least not competent enough to know USCIS's own rules).

This isn't a very nice thing to say, and to me it doesn't seem likely to be correct. The officer reviewing the form is probably just ignoring parts 3-6, because it's CIS policy to do so for non-DACA applicants. It would be much worse if they RFE'd everybody who filled in their confusing form slightly incorrectly, wouldn't it? As neither of us can know for sure, I prefer my nicer version.

9 minutes ago, falmaind said:

Scandi is recommending putting in "vacation"

Not really. Scandi said this (emphasis mine):

3 hours ago, Scandi said:

Not true. When you file form i-485 you don't need a reason to also file for i-131. You don't need an emergency, you don't need a date for travel or even have any plans to travel. You can apply "just in case you want it", and you don't need to mention a reason for why you want it on the form.

A part follows that Scandi put 'vacation' as a reason on the form. One of those 'completionist' form fillers. But in the same way people are telling you that any reason goes, which you could/did argue is hearsay, so too is your assumption that putting a reason that is non-emergent (or 'frivolous', as you put it) damages your chances of approval. I don't think you have any evidence that this is true, whatsoever.

Yes, but your are missing the point that the I-131 form instructions document is telling you need an emergent reason, when the form does not provide any way to communicate what your emergent or non-emergent reason is. If you filled out Part 4, 1a to provide this reason, you filled the form out incorrectly (as the form itself says to skip to Part 7 if you are non-DACA).

So this becomes a philosophical argument about letter of the law vs intention of the law. And it seems, since you don't have to write a reason on the form, USCIS cannot be using your reason to approve or deny your application. This supports Scandi's interpretation that any reason goes.

When you call USCIS, you get a Tier 1 Officer, who has no more information than you can get online (if the online system is working!). They ask you if you want to speak to a Tier 2. In my case, I got a call back from a Tier 2 based in the LA office. Both officers were intelligent and had some good advice. The advice of the Tier 2 was "fax a request for a receipt of your documents to the same number you faxed the evidence". It seemed sensible enough. Unfortunately, I did so, and received no receipt or any kind of communication subsequently. The truth is, the people on the phones can only help so much. They don't have access to the paperwork you submit.

I think (like many government agencies) the remediation systems USCIS has in place to deal with delays are mostly placebos. Even on this forum, there are just as many examples of people filing an SR/expedite and getting a response a few days later as there are people who don't get a response for months. Same for congressman, USCIS ombudsman. I suspect the people that get a response a few days later are just correlating their success with the request, when actually their progress was going to happen anyway. As USCIS doesn't publish any statistics about the effectiveness of their service requests, I doubt anybody knows for sure whether they contribute directly to shorter processing times.

I've got my interview next week and I guess I'll just have to hope I can get an I-512 stamp; otherwise, it's probably going to be another month at least before I can start working for the job I already secured!

Anybody filling Part 3 and Part 4 (which includes Part 4, 1a where the reason for travel is provided) for a non-DACA application, is doing so unnecessarily. This point was already addressed by Scandi's post.

The agency involved in approving the I-131 petition (USCIS) is different from the agency enforcing the use of Advance Parole for re-entry (CBP). As USCIS does not require a reason to be specified for non-DACA applicants in the case of an adjustment application, it is moot whether the instructions state a reason is required, as no reason need be codified on the application paperwork, and so, no reason can be inferred by USCIS.

At the border, the CBP handbook will kick in, as well as the officer's discretion. I agree that this could go any way. However the CBP website does clearly state the admissible reasons for travel with AP:

""Aliens in the United States should, prior to departure, obtain Advance Parole in order to re-enter the United States after travel abroad if they have:

• Filed an application for adjustment of status but have not received a decision from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services;
• Hold refugee or asylee status and intend to depart temporarily to apply for a U.S. immigrant visa in Canada; and/or
• An emergent personal or bona fide reason to travel temporarily abroad.""

This list is clearly an A, B or C type list; A does not require C. Therefore, if you have a pending adjustment of status, you don't need an "emergent personal or bona fide reason" any more than you need to "hold refugee or asylee status".

It's probably best not to state your opinion or the opinion of lawyers as any kind of fact. The facts in this case are contradictory on the government documents we have at hand. But it is quite safe for me to state my opinion that a botched USCIS instruction document will never be enforced by CBP -- it is the CBP's own rules, regulations and allowances that will be (as well as the Code of Federal Regulations).

I am still waiting. I raised an expedite (over the phone) and an SR (online) and neither have been responded to for 30 and 15 days, respectively.

For cases filed at MSC / NBC, it's around 120 days at the moment. To check for yourself, go to the official processing times site and click the 'NBC Processing Dates' button. You are most likely I-765 / (c)(9), which was at priority dates of June 30th on October 31st, based on the update from January 5th. July, August, September, October -> 120 days. USCIS policy is to provide figures from 60 days ago at the point of update. This number may have increased or decreased by now but there is no way to know for sure.

Visajourney claims the processing time is around 90 days, but that's based on member data, from a vastly smaller sample set. But, it's 'live' data.

I got blood titers done for MMR, and the doctor grandfathered them into the I-693, so I didn't need another jab. If you got the MMR as a child, it might be a cheaper/better solution.

My experience trying to expedite at MSC / NBC has been poor.

Firstly, don't use the online system as suggested on this thread. The online system only lets you raise an SR. An SR is not the same thing as an expedite, and you don't want to raise an SR. You can only expedite by calling them, by mail, or through your congressman. SRs show up on the 'Next Steps' part of the USCIS case checking system (right side), Expedite will show up under 'Case History' and will have a code like T1D...WKD or similar, presumably standing for Tier 1. SRs look like SR..MSC, for example.

I raised an expedite request on 1/2 and on 1/3 they sent a request for more information through regular mail. They didn't email or call me even though they had all the details required to do so. The letter arrived on 1/9 and it asked for more supporting information, providing an "Attn" line for the team handling my request, plus the fax number. I faxed my supporting documentation with a cover letter on 1/9. On 1/23 (2 weeks later) I called USCIS again. They said they have no record I even faxed the documents! I faxed them again yesterday.

The expedite process seems to be very 'hit or miss'. I wish you the best of luck with it.

You don't get an RFE for not including I-693, as it is optional to include it in the initial submission. Normally you should receive a yellow courtesy letter if your I-693 was not submitted with the original packet. Just make sure it is up to date and bring it with you to the interview.

Some people receive their EAD combo cards after they get their green cards.. I don't think USCIS wants it back!

Only a few of us have been lucky enough to get interview appointments or have their EAD combo cards in hand. Unfortunately, your case seems 'typical'. I filed an expedite on 1/2 (@ 77 days) and an SR on 1/16 (@ 91 days) and neither have been responded to. Others have done neither and got their combo cards already. Most likely you will just have to wait.

The visajourney stats estimate I-765s are coming back today that were filed October 20th. The official statistics are showing a 120 day lead time for EADs processed by MSC/NBC. I would not worry until 120 days have elapsed.

janicecf seems to be my timing buddy (everything has been +/- one day from me, after receive state), so hopefully mine gets approved tomorrow..