VG31

56 minutes ago, txa30 said:

Thanks,...Yes, I checked the processing time it is already 4 months beyond normal processing time.

 

Local office is San Antonio they are processing Jan 29, 2019 cases and my priority date is Oct 22, 2018.There is not even an option for infopass appointment.

Have you tried calling to USCIS Customer Care? Request to get a Tier 2 officer or supervisor.

In this scenario the only thing you can do is to try opening an another Service Request for i-485 AOS.

Not sure if you've an attorney who can help you with this.

2 hours ago, txa30 said:

Congratulations everyone,...I guess I am one of the last in F2A 2018 filers.[ I-130 : Nov 2017 and I:485 Oct 2018 [.  It is way beyond the processing time, and I could submit SR twice  for both I-130 and I-485 but no response from them. I applied for EAD/AP renewal last month and received new EAD/AP card just  in 20 days (old one was expiring in June), which I didn't need. But nothing regarding interview, still case status is case transferred to local office/fingerprint fee received. 

 

Is there anything else I can do other than wait ?

Sorry about your situation and I can completely understand your anxiety.

What's the name of your local field office?

Did you try to check the processing time of your local field office?

Due to an ongoing issues related to virus many local field offices are closing. I've heard about the Seattle Field Office which is temporarily closed (https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/field-offices/washington-seattle-field-office) .

Other reasons could be due to extensive background security checks which generally take more time than usual to my knowledge.

Thanks,

Vg

21 minutes ago, txa30 said:

Sorry to bother you again. Couple of questions, do we need to pay filing fees or is it waived since 485 is pending ? We send both forms to Chicago, right ?

As long as your i-485 is pending, there is no renewal fees for EAD/AP.

It will be sent to Chicago Mailbox -

Thanks,

28 minutes ago, txa30 said:

Congratulations. My application PD for 485 is Oct 22,2018 so I think I should hear soon. Just a quick question for EAD/AP renewal which  documents needed ? Did you take help of the lawyer ? I know I will get GC before EAD so do not want to waste money with the lawyer.

Thanks dear,

Yes, I've an attorney who helped me filling the EAD/AP Renewal process.

- A copy of Form I-94, non-immigrant arrival/departure record, if available.
- A copy of your last EAD/AP Combo (front and back), if available.
- Latest Photograph (2 copy).

- Full copy of your current passport.

- A copy of your i-765/i-131 Approval Notices.

- A copy of your i-485 and i-130 Notices.

- Last 3 months of your Pay Stub.

I have found this link as a reference, maybe you can look into this as well -- https://www.wikihow.com/Extend-an-Employment-Authorization-Card

All the very best.

Thanks,

Vg31

Happy New Year All,

Finally I received my interview notice during thanksgiving and my interview was completed yesterday. 
 

Here’s the journey-

- Arrived an hour ago at USCIS Seattle field office. 
- Was checked in and given the token 30 minutes before the interview. 
- Got called by an officer 10 minutes late, was scheduled for 12:15pm. 
- Officer was very nice and asked questions to both of us and approved I-130 on the spot and said they need to do further review on I-485, later in the evening status changed to ‘Card in Production’. 
- This evening status for both I-130 & I-485 updated to ‘Approved’. 
 

Now awaiting desperately for the card in hand. Will update once receive it. 
 

Thanks everyone who helped me by providing their valuable feedbacks. 
 

Thanks,

Vg

21 hours ago, username007 said:

When did you get your initial EAD card based on AoS?. My case is similar (AoS married to LPR), waiting for EAD. Seattle office

I received my EAD/AP on 1st February 2019 based on pending AOS.

I've filed for renewal last month since it's going to expire in Feb 2020.

On 11/14/2019 at 8:19 PM, Clotillda said:

So, because my case does not move anywhere, I contacted my Congresswoman. After more than one month waiting I got a reply stating that:

"Our records indicate that your constituent’s priority date is not yet current.  For their priority date to be current, it must be earlier than the Final Action cut-off date listed on the Department of State Visa Bulletin for their preference category. ". 

I'm really confused and do not understand what they are talking about, since the visa is "current' in the Final Action chart. I sent another email to my Representative with the explanations, but it's so frustrating. USCIS never sent me a reply on any of my inquiries, also they did stated that they sent it.

Unfortunately USCIS is not going to respond to your service request until unless it has crossed the processing timeline. I tried the same and no response.

There is nothing you or I can do under this situation except for waiting. I just filed for AP/EAD renewal. Still no clue when my interview is going to be schedule. Current processing timeline for Seattle is 18-21 months and they're still working on March 2018 cases.

Having a priority date as current has no effect on how fast your case will move, the only way it helps for the applicants who has yet to file for AOS and their chart B is not currently yet. This is just understanding and I can be wrong here.

What's your PD?

Thanks,

Vg

1 hour ago, VG31 said:

Generally speaking when an i-130 is transferred to NBC usually they're not working on it. Your case is similar to mine and based on my conversation with my Attorney, both forms will be adjudicated at the time of interview. NBC doesn't process i-130.

 

There is no response receive on both SR for i-130 and i-485. Is very likely they gonna respond to the SR.

 

There is nothing much anyone of us can do beside waiting for our turn for interview. I know it's very frustrating where you've no clue on what's going on with your case.

 

Good luck to everyone who is in this situation.

Typo Correction - There is no response receive on both SR for i-130 and i-485. Is very likely they are NOT going to respond to the SR.

2 hours ago, txa30 said:

@VG31 Did you receive any reply for service request ? I am waiting since 2 years (PD for 130 Nov 22, 2017 and for 485 file Oct 22, 2018. Received EAD/AP in June after 7.5 months. I submitted SR for I-130 based on California Center processing time but they have not replied yet. The case was transferred to NBC. Nothing regarding interview as well. Good luck with renewal.

Generally speaking when an i-130 is transferred to NBC usually they're not working on it. Your case is similar to mine and based on my conversation with my Attorney, both forms will be adjudicated at the time of interview. NBC doesn't process i-130.

There is no response receive on both SR for i-130 and i-485. Is very likely they gonna respond to the SR.

There is nothing much anyone of us can do beside waiting for our turn for interview. I know it's very frustrating where you've no clue on what's going on with your case.

Good luck to everyone who is in this situation.

On 10/26/2019 at 5:31 PM, Bfree3 said:

Hi Guys,

 

So my interview basically went up in flames. The Officer had both my I-130 and my I-485. The interview was broken down into two parts because my husband as the petitioner had to answer all things related to the I-130 and I had to answer everything related to the I-485 but he had to go first. He forgot my year of birth, the year we got my married and how long we've been married, didn't know our home address, or how long hes been working at his job- like I said total flames!🔥🔥🔥. So at this point the CO is looking at us suspiciously and then questions if we have any additional evidence to offer, which I didn't. Between my husbands lack of knowledge and her going in on us about lack of evidence, I got very snippy cause I was totally over the entire interview at this point even though we didn't go over I-485 as yet.

 

In the end, she told us we would have to bring additional evidence for her to approve our case. I left the interview feeling utterly disappointed and frustrated and just spent the remainder of that day trying to gather this additional evidence. My husband dropped off the evidence and then we waited for 3 days for the status to finally only update to "case sent to initial review". I was so befuddled. Then the next day received a message about the status being approved. Today received update that card was shipped. 

 

Another part of this journey down. Next step, citizenship. 

Congratulations on getting your GC.

My case is going no where, it's been over 2.5 years of waiting and over 1+ year of waiting since I filed my AOS. I've just filed AP/EAD Renewal last week.

No sign of interview and no movement on my pending i-130 with NBC

Good luck Bfree3

On 9/7/2019 at 5:07 PM, lilydenris said:

Hi everyone,

 

Also wanted to share the good news here - I finally got my green card in the mail yesterday! It's been a long journey (my PD is April 2017) and I really appreciate everyone on this thread sharing the information and supporting each other.

 

I don't have much to share with respect to the interview, as @Tenreyro has already provided a detailed walk-through of his/her experience and mine is similar. I guess I'll just share some tips and the lessons I learned in this process:

 

1. Apply for the EAD and AP combo card at the same time as you send your 485. I applied for the combo card three months after I sent out the 485, because I had to travel out of US back then and was worried the combo card application would be denied due to my departure from US. But it turns out applying for the combo card separately seriously delayed its issuance - it took USCIS over 8 months to approve my card. 

 

2. Don't hesitate to contact your local congressperson and/or ombudsman for help if your case is stuck at one step and USCIS is not responsive. I reached out to my local congresswoman as I was anxiously waiting for my overdue combo card and her representative was very helpful. Not sure if that's the reason, but I received my combo card two weeks after her office sent a case inquiry on my behalf. I also sought help on the Ombudsman's website: https://www.dhs.gov/case-assistance.

 

3. Push for a complete interview if your interview is scheduled mistakenly. I'm probably the only person on this thread who had to do the interview twice - the first time was purely USCIS' mistake as they thought I'm married to a citizen and all files (i.e., 130 and 485) were at the local office. But when we arrived at the USCIS office, the officer looked through our files and realized the 130 has not been approved yet and it's still at the California service center. So he turned us away. Now that I looked back, we should have insisted to do the interview, as our 130 actually was still not at the local office at the time of our 2nd interview. Fortunately this time we completed the interview after we explained the difference between CR-1and F2A again to the interviewer. So I don't think the local office necessarily has to receive all the files to do an interview for F2A, and if you are in the same boat, you might consider pushing to do the interview anyways to save the trouble of visiting the local office again.

 

4. Lower the expectation and focus on other parts of your life when going through this process. F2A is a long journey (recently the wait has been much better though), and there aren't many of us out there. Most marriage based green cards are CR-1 cases and as such, you might run into all kinds of confusions and mistakes on USCIS' side (let's face it, USCIS is not the best US government body, even compared with DMV). So please get familiar with the legal terms and expect the process to go wrong - with a lower expectation hopefully you will be much less stressed and much better prepared. Always remember there are so much great things in life (e.g., family, friends, fun, etc.) that don't require a greencard to enjoy.

 

I hope the above are helpful and everyone here gets their card soon!!!!

 

 

Congratulations on getting your GC.

Do mind answering the below if that's okay with you -

- Did your i-130 and i-485 got adjudicated at the time of your AOS Interview? and then later got approved at a same time?

Appreciate your help.

Thanks,

16 hours ago, AhsanTX said:

Good Afternoon Everyone,

 

I have received my Green Card today. It has 10 years validity. I believe the reason for this validity is getting Green Card after being married for more than 2 years.

 

@VG31 I can't remember all the questions but I am trying to list the ones I remember below. My interview was at 8am and we reached there around 7:45am. There was a queue but we managed to attend the interview on time. I would recommend everyone arriving at least 30 minutes before the scheduled time.

 

The interviewer was very friendly but professional. He knew exactly what he was doing even if he was joking in between questions. He asked questions randomly to me and my wife (switched back and forth).

 

Questions:

1. What is my full name and date of birth (same question to my wife)
2. Where do we live.
3. Where was my wife born (Question to my wife)
4. How did we meet each other.
5. Where was the wedding.
6. How many people attended the wedding. 
7. How my wife got her green card. (Question to my wife)
8. Saw picture of us together of the wedding and other occasions. Kept 10 pictures out of them for his record. (asked my wife to choose any 10 photos from the album)
9. Kept copies of joint lease document and copy home ownership documents.
10. Asked for the I-130 Approval Notice. 
11. Asked about my priority date and if it is current. (After asking me he checked the priority date himself and told me it's current)
12. Wanted to learn more about our wedding system (Muslim Wedding).
13. Wanted to learn more about the city we live in.
14. How we went to the interview.
15. What hotel did we stay in. (Question to my wife)
16. How I am at home (lazy/active) 😄. (Question to my wife)
17. What are my wife's parent's full names. (Question to my wife)
18. Where do I work.
19. Asked about my monthly salary and my designation.
20. When did I entered US last time.
21. Where and what did study in the US. 
22. How long have we been married. 

In between asking questions he was doing something in the computer and took notes on a paper of answers to some of the questions above. 

 

Then he asked if we had any questions. I just asked if I was approved. He said everything looks good and I should receive the Green Card within 2 weeks or 1 month.

 

Note: I submitted the I-693 and I-864 along with my application 1 year ago. I did not re-do them and the interviewer also didn't ask for them.

 

I will update my post if I remember any other question that was asked.

 

Best wishes for all the future interviewee.

Thank you so much for your help and for providing all these details. That really helps.

I've opened another SR for my pending i-485 since USCIS have not responded back to my prior SR for pending i-130.

Just don't know or understand what's really going on with my case

2 hours ago, AhsanTX said:

Good Morning everyone,

 

I had my AOS interview yesterday in Dallas, Texas. It went smooth and I was approved on the spot. The interview lasted for about 40 minutes with lot of questions but none of the questions was unusual. 

 

Thanks to the people of this forum for helping me and supporting me throughout the entire process. 

 

Good luck to the all future interviewees.

@AhsanTX Many Congratulations on one of the biggest day of your life. Really very happy for you. Please let us know once you receive your GC in mail. Can you please do me a favor and point out the questions that were asked to you for your i-485 ?

As usual my situation has not changed and still awaiting for my i-130 to adjudicate and also for my interview to be schedule for i-485.

Good luck for your future my friend and congratulations once again.

58 minutes ago, ladybirdapple said:

Good news, I receive the email regarding the interview was scheduled last night around 6PM, I'm waiting for the mail now.

I'm expecting the interview should be in Sept.

I think this timeline is just as predicted, so if you have similar timeline of mine, I believe you will get interview schedule very soon as well.

 

Good luck everyone!

Congratulations on that, please keep us posted once you receive the letter with your interview date.

Good luck for your preparation.

21 hours ago, Bfree3 said:

I actually do think they are together now which is why case was transferred to MSC. 

You're correct @Bfree3, They will adjudicate i-130 at the time of your interview. That's what my attorney told me today. So I guess it doesn't matter for how long i-130 is pending, key is how soon you will be called for an interview and then only you will know

It's a difficult time to keep waiting for more than 2.5 years with no sign of a light :(.

On 7/26/2019 at 12:52 PM, Bfree3 said:

Raise another request. I raised one that was ignored and then another that was answered.Unfortunately, because I raised it in my name and NOT my husband's who is the petitioner - response was "you are not the legal representative for your case so we cannot give you any information". So  I had to wait another 30 days to file another SR. Now patiently waiting.

Still no updates for me. It still says case has not being assigned to an officer for processing. Still awaiting.

14 hours ago, Bfree3 said:

@Tenreyro hi old friend,

 

it was definitely the same for me: depression, anxiety, just bouts of overall confusion and “why me?” Syndrome... it was nice to get away from it all tbh... even though the group has been super helpful and I’m supportive of everyone’s journey. It’s just so hard to remain supportive and ultimately positive when nothing is moving for you personally. 

 

Since I got my work permit last year, I’ve been happily working. Enjoying my life and marriage and just working on my anxiety and self preservation. 

 

My i130 as well as my i485 are far beyond normal processing times so I’ve put in service request for those recently. My husband has his citizenship interview in August so we are very happy about that. And if the service requests do nothing between now and then , then we will upgrade my petition once he completes the oath ceremony and gets his naturalization letter. 

 

Im wishing everyone the absolute best. Please tag me if you have questions about my journey  or just general. I really don’t follow along on visajourney but if you tag me or msg me privately, I’m more than happy to respond. 

 

❤️🙏🏽

@Bfree3,

I am also in a same situation, My i-130 is still pending and I did opened a Service Request and it has passed 30 days timeline to respond and I have not receive any response back from USCIS. I just don't know what to do since USCIS is not responding.

I guess I just have to keep waiting till my time comes :)

23 hours ago, Tenreyro said:

Hi everyone!

 

I am reappearing today to share a good news, and let you guys know why I vanished.

I really love this community and the way we try to move forward together, but this issue hanging around in my mind was really starting to affect me and kind of driving me crazy. I had to find distractions from the wait, and until I paused the forum for a few weeks I realized it made a difference, those weeks became months, and now here we are. I entered occasionally to read about how you guys were doing, but never even logged in again, fearing this issue would drive me crazy again. 

 

We started this things with just some questions and debates with QAF2A @thepanda @GiselaMargareta @lilydenris @Bfree3 @Bhumi @markx, and I knew sending that paperwork was a bet, a bet we were doing because we knew it was legal and that the path was there, for me was a bet to no longer be far from the person I love the most in this world. Now I feel it has become a living information source to enlighten and guide people showing what chart B actually means for a F2A applicant, and that sometimes it can help you be with your family and alleviate the pain of being away from each other.

 

I promised myself that I would enter and share the news either when 1 year had passed since "Case ready to be scheduled for interview" or the moment I received an interview notice. On July 2018, we got the "Case ready to be scheduled for interview", exactly 1 year later, we received the update that our case was scheduled for an interview 😮. Today, we received the Notice, and we have an interview on August 22nd 🙀

 

We are very excited and very nervous. And wanted to share with you guys this exciting news. And I really, truly couldn't even believe it until I got the interview notice.

Honestly, from March I had been feeling that our case had something wrong, that it was lost, misplaced or something like that, and we reached to our Senator that after a month said it was very strange, but that they couldn't get an answer on the case from USCIS, we parallelly contacted USCIS, that never answered that inquiry, and almost going crazy I reached to the Ombudsman, who said the case looked complete. (I sent a copy of the Medical via Mail, but not the Ombudsman, USCIS Customer Service or the Senator's team ever said they paired it to my case, tracking said they did received it).

 

Timing says none of those inquiries helped with the scheduling of our interview. I had also submitted my EAD renewal form, because I had estimated our interview could be anytime between March (when I sent them) and December.

 

For the ones that have had the experience of being interviewed: Your advice is welcomed!

 

Any question for this ghost from the past, here I am!

@Tenreyro Welcome Back and Good Luck !!

1 hour ago, AhsanTX said:

Good Morning Guys,

 

I have a good news to share. My AOS interview has been scheduled !

Many Congratulations @AhsanTX, Did you receive the interview letter yet? and when it is schedule for?

So it looks like the interview scheduling doesn't go by the processing timing for local field center?

I looked into your local field Dallas, TX center which still says -

I am really very happy for you.

Please keep us posted.

All the best for your interview.

Hello All,

It's been over 2.5 years since I submitted my i-130 at CSC, last year after submitting my AOS i-485, my i-130 got transferred to NBC and since then there is no movement on my case. I have requested my attorney to submit a service request and currently awaiting to hear back from USCIS on my case. 

Anyone with a similar experience who's i-130 (f2a) is still pending?

Thanks for your help.

Just now, ladybirdapple said:

Please keep us updated!

I'm the same here, waiting for the interview to be schedule from June last year. I created a SR in April and has not assign to any officer yet. I just created an ombudsman request last week, now just waiting for the update.

My I130 has been approved since Oct 2018 at CSC, but no evidence or notification shows it's transfer to the local office for conducting interview yet.

 

Could you let me know where is your local office?

 

Thanks,

 

My SR was initiated for pending i-130 which was transferred to NBC from CSC right after filing AOS back in Sept/Oct 2018.

My local field office is Seattle, WA.

Hello All,

It's been over 2.5 years since I submitted my i-130 at CSC, last year after submitting my AOS i-485, my i-130 got transferred to NBC and since then there is no movement on my case. I have requested my attorney to submit a service request and currently awaiting to hear back from USCIS on my case. Under case history I can see they've assigned the request to an officer. I learned that it will take more than 30 days before they will respond back to me.

Anyone with a similar experience?

Thanks for your help.

17 hours ago, thepanda said:

I raised a Service Request today online and it worked. (Last time I raised a ticket it didn't go through because I was not out of normal processing time). I checked the Case Tracker online before I submitted the request. My account didn't show any update and still doesn't. 

 

Guess what I got in the mail when I got home? I signed up for the USPS e-mail notification and didn't know I would get a letter from USCIS. I thought it was the receipt notice for my work permit renewal. It is actually my i-485 approval. It says to contact them again if my card does not arrive within the next 90 days. I am so happy! 

 

Timeline:

PD April 2017

Submitted AOS - May 2018

Interview - November 2018

i-130 approval - March 2019

i-485 approval - June 2019

 

Looks like my i-485 was transferred to NBC afterwards.

 

Update: the "old" case tracker just updated and it says "Card was mailed to me". For my i-130 approval they only updated the new case tracker. A little messy but I am so happy! I will keep you guys updated when I receive the Green Card in the mail.

@thepanda Many Congratulations on getting your green card. So happy for you. Good luck.

40 minutes ago, thepanda said:

July bulletin is online. Everyone in F2A are current. This will cause a huge backlog and delay and GC production. In addition to the already existing backlog. 

 

@thepanda Yeah I saw that this morning, I wish they can clear all the backlogs from last year at least quickly including those who are awaiting for their interview to be scheduled.

FYI - My I-130 is still pending with NBC with no sign of any movement. Don't know if I can even open a service request with them since NBC doesn't process I-130's. Moreover, Seattle field service center is still working on July 2017 cases which means I am still far away for at least another 1.5 years before I will be called to appear for an interview.

Ah god, I have started to get impatient now :( .

2 hours ago, nocardyet said:

VG31,,

 

yes the biometrics was done in orlando.. 

 

 

@nocardyet Which means Orlando, FL is your local field office -