Chris&Ale

So, I'm seeing folks post on Facebook where they applied on the 17th, got approved the next day, and have their loved ones here in the US already. What the #^%÷ are they doing taking on new cases just received while leaving others sitting on a virtual shelf someplace? I urge all of us who applied early and who are still waiting to call and complain to our congresspeople this week.

On 1/19/2023 at 2:44 PM, wazzujoel said:

 

Ugh. I hate USCIS. What is so complicated about them processing cases in a first come first served process? My case is SUPER simple. It should take someone at USCIS about 5 minutes tops to look at my straight forward application and give it the thumbs up. I wonder if I should file multiple applications for my beneficiary and maybe one of them will get processed.  

I spoke with an agent the other day who said that cases are assigned to individual agents and some of them have heavier caseloads than others. That doesn't make sense to do it that way. It's like giving a waitress 15 tables and give another one just 2 tables to service. Of course, I think our cases from the first days might have been assigned to an agent who is on vacation for the last 2 weeks. Grr....

Anyone see any progress on their I-134a case(s) today? I applied for my Cuban brother-in-law early morning of the 7th but nothing yet. Meanwhile, a friend of his who submitted on Sunday, the 8th has been approved and is already here in the US. How the heck is USCIS prioritizing these applications? Time to call and complain to my congressman.

21 hours ago, wazzujoel said:

 

Don't know what to tell you, but I did. My bank was able to create this letter for me over the phone and send it to me as a pdf in my email. It took roughly 10 minutes to receive this letter. 

 

I don't need a home appraisal. I agree with you though that an official home appraisal would take a few weeks to get and it would cost you several hundred dollars. I had a home appraisal done last oct for different reasons, however I didn't feel the need to submit that information. My salary alone is sufficient to sponsor my fiancée.     

Hi, first of all, congrats on getting the 134a in for your fiance so quickly! It took my spouse and I almost a year for the fiance visa to get through the system and then we both had to fly down to Guyana for the 10 minute interview (at a cost of around $4,000 in travel expenses).

May I ask you, how can one find that Whatsapp group that discusses the I-134a? We have a pending app for my brother-in-law in Cuba. Also, may I ask, for the one section where it asks for dates when you want your beneficiary to be here, did you put an end date or just click the No End Date checkbox? There seems to be confusion amongst a lot of folks on how to mark the end date vs. the checkbox. Thanks, man and good luck to you and your fiance! 

On 1/15/2023 at 8:10 PM, GoodHelper said:

Certain people don’t need home appraisal since they may not need assets to prove ability since they may have enough cash in the bank. 
I applied for 3 people at a time and got 2 approved since January 10.

Record time I know but everyone’s situation is unique.

Hi, can you tell us when you submitted the I-134a application for them? Date and approximate time would be really helpful. Thanks!!

On 9/30/2022 at 1:58 PM, Niagara17 said:

Hey everyone, hope everyone is doing well today ! I need your help.

 

I stunned this morning at the decision of my N400 being denied. I wanted to get some advice to what I might be looking forward to and the next steps to take. I'll provide the details of my application and the interview below. 

 

General Details:

- Came to US on March 2017 under FX1 category.

- Issued my green card on 03/2017 and will be expired on 03/2027.

- Filed N400 under 5 year rule on 01/2022

- Gave Bio metrics on End of Feb 2022.

- Gave interview on 09/09/2022 at Philadelphia USCIS office. Passed the English and civic test. IO told me decision cannot make right now.

- Had a summery offence on May/2019 for charged with Retail Theft- After Label/Pricing Marking.   

 - Court Case Output came on July 2019 I pleaded guilty and were sentenced to pay fines and costs. Which I paid on same day and case was closed.

  - No Hand Cuffs, No Jail time, No Probation

 

Evidence Details:

- Provided all relevant documents like marriage certificate copy, GC Copy, Current passport copy, kids Date of birth certificate and court certified copy which was showing case was closed and paid fines.

- IO did not ask any more dox.

 

On Denied Letter:

 

To be eligible for naturalization, you must demonstrate that you are a person of good moral character. USCIS finds that the unlawful act you committed and were convicted of adversely reflects upon your moral character. Additionally, you have not established any extenuating circumstances that would warrant a departure from this finding. Since you have not established that you are a person of good moral character because of the crime you have committed, you are ineligible for naturalization at this time. See INA 101(f) and 316(a)(3) and Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (8 CFR), section 316.10(b)(3)(iii). If you believe that you can overcome the grounds for this denial, you may submit a request for a hearing on Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings, within 30 calendar days of service of this decision (33 days if this decision was mailed). See 8 CFR 336.2 (a) and 103.8(b). Without a properly filed Form N-336, this decision will become final. See INA 336.

 

For questions about your application, you can use our many online tools (www.uscis.gov/tools) including our virtual assistant, Emma. If you are not able to find the information you need online, you can reach out to the USCIS Contact Center by visiting www.uscis.gov/contactcenter.

 

Could you please guide me in this situation. Can I contact my area's congress man ? What should I do? 

 

I will be waiting for your comments. Quick response will be appreciated 

 

Thanks in advance

You didn't mention if you have an attorney assisting you. If not, I'd say you definitely need to retain a good immigration attorney. You should look to them to see what your options are moving forward. Good luck!

21 hours ago, Mike E said:

I feel and share your pain. But once in while I see horrendous stories posted about clear abuse of the system.  

It reminds me of that saying (paraphrasing), "I'd rather see 1 guilty person go free than to imprison 99 innocent men." 

18 hours ago, OldUser said:

From what I understand, N-400 doesn't get approved until I-751 is approved. If your extension letter expires after N-400 interview - you still need to get I-551 stamp while i-751 is pending etc. But hopefully you'll get a combo, fingers crossed.

I know I'm preaching to the choir but it seems moronic that they'd have someone go through the citizenship interview and then make them wait another year or more for the 751 interview. Sounds like some of our elected representatives need to be pushed to force a change in agency policy.

15 hours ago, Jorge83 said:

October 5, 2021 - I-751 package received

August 8, 2022 - New card is being produced.

 

WAC (California service center)

 

No request for an interview? If not, wow!! Awesome!

On 8/5/2022 at 8:47 AM, Florida012 said:

Thanks everybody for your replies. You guys help me a lot, and helped me with many solutions. Now I know what to do.

If I may give my two cents' worth of advice... learning English can be very hard, especially for older folks. HOWEVER, to pass the English writing, reading, and civics portions of the exam, one only needs to know and understand the words listed on the USCIS reading and writing study guides as well as memorizing the 100 Civics questions and answers. Learning the couple of dozen words USCIS has listed to know for the exam is a lot less of a lift than becoming fluent in English. 

If you haven't already, I'd recommend enrolling your dad in a local citizenship test prep program with live instructors as well as buying some flash cards for both the reading/writing and civics portions. I would also do some mockup interviews to help him get used to reading and writing words from the USCIS study guides. I used to be a director over a citizenship test prep program and would regularly see folks in their 70s and 80s enroll into the program. After studying the key terms and questions a few weeks, they all passed. Good luck!! 😀

One would think with USCIS having so-called rigid processes that we would all be treated the same and yet it seems like a big cluster-$,÷ck from one center to the next.

Hopefully, you will receive an update within tye next couple of weeks saying the 751 interview has been waived and given a date for the naturalization ceremony. If it were me and say 2 weeks were to go by with no update, I'd contact your local congress person's office and ask for them to get involved. Nothing like the bright light of a congressional inquiry to get the ball rolling.

Hi all,

Just a heads up... my Cuban LPR spouse was set to return back from Cuba today after having visited with his family for a week. Turns out, he left his expired green card here at the house because he thought the 2 year extension letter from USCIS would suffice. Nope. The airline called border and customs at the airport in Fort Lauderdale (his destination) and they refused to let him into the country without both the expired green card and the extension letter. He even had a photo of his green card but they refused him entry.

So, he has to go to the American Embassy in Havana and submit a I-131A  form with a $575 processing fee to get a travel document to come back home. Even worse, a lady at the embassy said it could take two weeks or even longer to process the request. I'm going to fax a letter of concern to the embassy and send a copy to my congressperson. Thankfully, he has family he can stay with but could you imagine losing your passport while in another country and then having to wait for weeks while our government processes the travel document? I think something like that should have a 1-2 day turnaround time. 

Anyways, wanted to share so that everyone knows that even though the green card might have expired and you have the extension letter, you still need to show the green card AND the extension letter.

I was reading some data that showed as of December, 2021, USCIS is backlogged with over 250,000 I-751 applications. Argghhh!

I also read that the Administration announced a week or so ago that they will allow more folks to receive interview waivers. Fingers crossed!!

Ugh. Today was husband's biometric appt and we had forgotten it was today! How screwed is he? He's going to go there tomorrow and ask if he can reschedule or somehow get squeezed in. Anyone have any experience with missing their biometric appt?

On 3/18/2022 at 8:58 PM, Family said:

 

DO NOTHING = best advice! 
Save your money for a good Divorce Attorney…to get through the divorce if the relationship is irreparably broken. 
You have no reason to fear anything about your status and after more than 4 years of marriage you have mountains of Joint Life Evidence. 

Wait out the I-751 decision or N-400 interview,  before you, yourself file for Divorce ( in case you are the one who wants out of the marriage). 

If your husband is the one who wants out and files for divorce, you can still wait out the I-751 approval get your 10 year card , even though you may be separated and have pending divorce proceedings as long as it’s not final. 
Get a Good Divorce Lawyer and wait out the divorce till you get your green card or N-400 interview 

 

I would show up to the N-400 interview ( duly carrying 4 years of joint taxes , marriage certificate only ) and be confident . Until the divorce is final, you are still legally married even if you don’t live together.  Attached is from USCIS. You were required to live together ONLY the 3 years BEFORE application date.

 

And if they had not yet adjudicated the I-751 , they will click a button approve it on the same day you pass your N-400.

B. Living in Marital Union for Spouses Residing in the United States

The spouse of a U.S. citizen residing in the United States must have been living in marital union with his or her citizen spouse for at least 3 years immediately preceding the time of filing the naturalization application. This provision requires that the spouse live in marital union with the citizen spouse during the entire period of 3 years before filing.^[4]

However, the statute does not require living in marital union for the period between the date of filing the application and the date of naturalization (date applicant takes the Oath of Allegiance). The corresponding regulation conflicts with the statute in stating that the spouse must have been living in marital union with his or her citizen spouse for at least 3 years at the time of the examination on the application, and not at the time of filing.

USCIS follows the language of the statute in requiring living in marital union only up until the time of filing.^[5]Accordingly, only the existence of a legally valid marriage is required from the date of filing the application until the time of the applicant’s naturalization.^[6]

That's great stuff. Thank you for looking this up. I hope it helps the OP better understand their options. I'm thinking if citizen spouse wants a divorce, a good divorce lawyer could drag it out for six months to a year or more, giving the green card holder time to get through N400 interview or at least get approved for the 10 year green card.

Received a notification yesterday that spouse has an appt at local USCIS office to have biometrics done. It's weird because he went through the biometrics 2 years ago shortly after he applied for his green card. Is there a rhyme or reason why some have to redo the biometrics while others do not?

Variances in Processing Times

I was just checking processing times for the various service centers. Ours is being serviced by Potomac which shows up to 24 months while others are showing only 6-9 months.

Does anyone know the reasoning why the processing times vary so widely? I'm about ready to call my congressman's office to complain. Of course, we will apply for the N-400 in 9 months anyways...

1 hour ago, Olga&Jared said:

I just checked the spreadsheet and looks like someone's deleted most of the entries. 

 

How long does it take these days to get a biometrics update for California Service Center? 

Ugh. Why would someone delete the entries? Are they anti-immigrant or just sadistic little jerks? Well, I hope that karma catches up to them.

On 12/7/2021 at 8:19 PM, Pb Palumbo said:

Received NOA ( Dec. 4th) that the biometrics appt was waived and they will reuse past biometrics. We are also at the Potomac office.... This seemed fairly quick as well. Keep our fingers crossed it continues to be quick.

 

That's good news. Congrats! Also, thank you for updating your VJ timeline.

Hi, can folks please remember to update their timelines here on VJ when they file the 751 or when they receive their NOAs? It will help others out. 

Also, my husband received his NOA the other day with Potomac being the service center. I read that center has a 20 to 24 month backlog. He will be applying for naturalization in 9 months. So, we aren't really worried too much about the long backlog. Still, it seems filing for the 751 and having to produce all that evidence, paying the fee, etc. will have been a big waste of time and money. Grr...

Error - deleted.

On 11/22/2021 at 1:42 PM, Knome said:

My package was delivered (with corrected 'pay to' information in  money order) on 18th. Got a text update just  now from USCIS that pacakage is received and the case receipt no. Starts with LIN . I am not sure if they will be sending a separate reciept no. For my daughter or not.

Corrected "pay to"?  Uf! I just wrote USCIS. Was it supposed to be something different? Something special? 

We had to go through an interview at the embassy for my husband's fiance visa. We then had to go through another interview at the local USCIS office for the green card. I'm hoping they will waive the interview for the 751. I wonder if they process applications differently for those who've already had an initial interview?

We intend on applying for the N-400 citizenship next September. So, I'm curious how that will happen if they end up waiving the interview. Hmmm....

20 hours ago, beloved_dingo said:

Taking a look at this spreadsheet will give you an idea. You can look at past months as well. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vonQCJgs9HODO2Y1DdSs3HNyL_FRnMfenlIeDQAUpWg/edit#gid=484030548

 

As for us, we mailed our packet on 11/2, it was delivered 11/3, and we had the hard copy NOA in hand on 11/12. 

 

Conditional green card holders aren't deportable just because their green card expires before they receive an extension letter.

Thanks so much for the info!! Much appreciated!

Hi all,

Has anyone in the group already received their NOA yet? I'm curious as to how long it is taking USCIS to get those out after they receive the 751s. I wonder what would happen if someone sent in the 751 but their green card expired before they received their NOA (thus, extending the green card for 24 more months)? Would they have to self-deport? That's a bit scary to think about!!