fs2439

let us know if your interview gets waived

Ceremonies are overrated. I did the work for the degree, not to be recognized by people that don't really know me.
 
Some people like big weddings. Others are fine with a court wedding.
Some people like commencement. Others think it's a waste of time and effort.
Oath ceremonies are no different. Some people may want the "full experience". Others just want to become a USC and move along to their next accomplishment.
 
Debatable if we are on the downturn or not of this event...time will tell based upon how people act.

What if your school wouldn't award you your MBA until you attended graduation, at some undermined time in the future, perhaps late next year?

@RegdkpHey, I had biometrics waived. Ot was scheduled for 4/2. Mine is aos from a work Visa to eb green card. 
 
@kris&me just so I understand,  why were you guessing they would prioritize family-based petitions?

Not 100% waived yet but case status changed to APPROVED this morning. 
 
Field Office - San Antonio, TX
Category - AOS - E1 Visa (him) married to LPR (me) 
 
 
 
TIMELINE
**Both Australian's living in America together for the last 7 years - Been together almost 12 years. 
 
4/16/2013 - Moved to US together on J1 Visa
5/1/2014 - Returned to Australia to file for new visa
5/18/2014 - Both approved for E1 visa (treaty/trade - Starting our own Aus based visa in USA)
May 2014 - I (petitioner) was drawn in the green card lottery. Long wait ahead for my number to come to start that process
8/13/2014 - Moved back to USA together on E1 visa
8/18/2015 - Green card interview in Sydney Australia, approved on the spot (did not do AOS and stupidly, did not include my partner on my application)
7/3/2017 - We got married!  
7/7/2017 - Submitted Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
7/13/2017 - Received confirmation that application was received and given case number
2/2/2018 - Husband had interview at US Consulate in Australia to renew his E1 Visa - Approved for a further 4 years on the spot.
5/26/2019 - Form 1-130 approved, case sent to NVC. 
7/8/2019 - Submitted AOS, EAD, AP concurrently  
7/12/2019 - Application marked as received
7/25/2019 - Bio appointment
1/31/2020 - EAD Approved, AP Approved
2/1/2020 - Combo Card shipped/ AOS status changed to ready to schedule
2/6/2020 - Combo Card Received
2/28/2020 - Received interview letter
3/23/2020 - Interview Day! Cancelled due to COVID-19  
4/27/2020 - RFE for Medical - Mailed to San Antonio Field office same day
5/5/2020 - Status changed: Case Was Approved - Awaiting confirmation letter and further instructions

Just wanting to provide an update on our case - Last week I made this post about hubby being asked to mail in his medical and today his status has updated to APPROVED!!
 
It says they are sending an Approval Notice with instructions on what to do next - No idea what that could be.... But we are super excited that this could all finally be over.

 
 
TIMELINE
**Both Australian's living in America together for the last 7 years - Been together almost 12 years. 
 
4/16/2013 - Moved to US together on J1 Visa
5/1/2014 - Returned to Australia to file for new visa
5/18/2014 - Both approved for E1 visa (treaty/trade - Starting our own Aus based visa in USA)
May 2014 - I (petitioner) was drawn in the green card lottery. Long wait ahead for my number to come to start that process
8/13/2014 - Moved back to USA together on E1 visa
8/18/2015 - Green card interview in Sydney Australia, approved on the spot (did not do AOS and stupidly, did not include my partner on my application)
7/3/2017 - We got married!  
7/7/2017 - Submitted Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
7/13/2017 - Received confirmation that application was received and given case number
2/2/2018 - Husband had interview at US Consulate in Australia to renew his E1 Visa - Approved for a further 4 years on the spot.
5/26/2019 - Form 1-130 approved, case sent to NVC. 
7/8/2019 - Submitted AOS, EAD, AP concurrently  
7/12/2019 - Application marked as received
7/25/2019 - Bio appointment
1/31/2020 - EAD Approved, AP Approved
2/1/2020 - Combo Card shipped/ AOS status changed to ready to schedule
2/6/2020 - Combo Card Received
2/28/2020 - Received interview letter
3/23/2020 - Interview Day! Cancelled due to COVID-19  
4/27/2020 - RFE for Medical - Mailed to San Antonio Field office same day
5/5/2020 - Status changed: Case Was Approved - Awaiting confirmation letter and further instructions

Are we suggesting to split that forum (it covers both immigrant and non-immigrant work visas).

Maybe add the employment-based immigrant visa category as a subforum?  Should probably audit the existing forum to estimate the potential traffic in a new subforum.  The entire Work Visas forum seems to be one of the more lightly trafficked forums now.

I mean the worst part of it was they separated us ... so for five hours I had absolutely ZERO contact with her.  I was worried she was going to be deported.  Communication would have been good.  Or at the very least, why couldn't I simply wait with her?

We absolutely are NOT leaving the country again until she gets her green card. 
 

My wife is from the Philippines, and she was in secondary for 5 hours (LAX)
 

Do you know if that puts me "at the back of the line" for the office in the state I am moving to?

What is your field office?

Pittsburgh, PA

@lasagna Did you receive an update on the AAO decision?

Mine went from cancelled, to ready to be scheduled, to cancelled, to card being produced.

It would start over from the day you return to the US after the break. It's a reset, not a suspend.

USCIS says 12 months. as longs as you can prove that your immediate family is in the US and that you have access to your house, etc in the USA
but I think that depends on the officer that is interviewing you for Citizenship.....I 've read some cases about people who had few 5-months stay and the offices did not grant them citizenship
 
maybe @geowrian @Lucky Cat can answer that!!??

When average timelines shrink, VJ tends to update well and adjust quickly. This is because it has more data of those changes via its users.
When average timelines grow, VJ tends to lag in updating. Because it has no way to know if people just aren't providing data or if it's actually taking longer. All it knows is users aren't marking their timelines as being approved.

Before all thing that happen in the world. The VJ timeline estimate was very close. I think mine was 4day to a week.
 
With everything that going on I would take the VJ estimation with a grain of salt. 

I just wanna share my experience because I have been doing a lot of researches on the last 10 months and I always read stuff like "you cannot leave the US for more than 6 months without a reentry permit", etc. Unfortunately there are not a lot of information available about that ( there are information-- but I could not find people sharing their experiences -- so Im gonna share my case )
 
Here is my experience ( Im not advising anyone to do that - Just wanna share )
 
I left the United States 11 months ago without a reentry permit,  I did not know how long I would stay outside the country but I knew would be for at least a few months.
 
So I landed in US ( Miami, Florida ) YESTERDAY  ( I had proof of all my ties to the US, all my medical records from my medical treatment overseas ) and I knew I would probably encounter some aggressive questions from CBP or even "lose" my green card //or  be sent to a Immigration judge.... 
 
CBP: 
- Good morning!
- Good morning!
- How long did you stay outside the US?
- 11 months.
- Why?
- I was doing a medical treatment in my country.
- What type of medical treatment??
- Mental health, depression, I was supposed to be here last month, but with coronavirus....
 
( he was about to STAMP my passport...but then....silent....typing his computer for like 1 minute )
 
- ok, You are all set!
- Thank you!
 
( again - Im just showing what happened to me, not advising anyone to do that ). he did not ask me any proof of anything. Im a conditional green card holder.
This stay will most likely affect my citizenship plans. So AGAIN, just showing u guys what happened to me.
 
 
 

An indicator that USCIS will actually open in June is that there will be N-400 interviews scheduled in advance for that month. We were very disappointed when USCIS was supposed to reopen in April or May but that did not actually happen. However, no one actually got any April or May interviews scheduled and from this, the continued closure was to be expected.
 
So, in case you do get a June N-400 interview scheduled, please confirm it in here. 

Yup. I was one of those 

I saw an interviewed was waived from an F1 visa on another site. 

Much ado about nothing. Even with the interview the vast majority of AOS applications are approved and easily a third of those are fraudulent.
 
Until immigration officer case loads reduce drastically to give them enough time to review application with home visits etc, fraud will continue to be a major part of the system regardless of those borderline useless additional criteria this administration added to the process.

I think somebody quoted me on this but this is not 100% accurate. I was an F1 visa holder and got my interview waived and gc approved.