clare240

Arrived back in San Francisco yesterday after spending Christmas at home in Ireland - used my AP with CPB at Dublin airport. Didn't have any secondary screening, but the agent on the line didn't have the correct stamp to parole me, so I had to go into a separate waiting area for maybe 20 minutes. My husband was in a separate queue, for US citizens, but I think I've read on here that you can bring them in the non citizen queue with you if you're travelling together? There, another agent called my name, and asked me to confirm my address, or maybe give her my address, which took me a few tries to get right, but now I think she might have been pretending to mishear me, to make sure I was sure? The following isn't my actual address. 

Agent: Your address?

Me: 1320 7th Ave

Agent: 1720 7th Ave?

Me: 1320

Agent: So 1320 13th Ave?

Me: No, 7th Ave.

Agent: New York.

Me: No, San Francisco.

And then she handed me my stuff and told me where to exit. 

Don't expect this to be an issue again though, because when I got back, I had a letter about my interview at the end of the month! 

I had planned on renewing my combo card on the 19th on January (6 months before it expires) and the interview is on the 29th. Do you think I should apply for the renewal, or put all my eggs in the green card basket? If the interview goes according to plan, it won't take six months for the card to be issued, right? 

3 hours ago, craigybear said:

Successful interview at the Washington DC field office last week!

 

Our officer was stern but friendly. At the beginning we were asked for ID, birth certs and marriage cert.

We then spent a lot of time going through the respective I-130 and I-485 forms my wife and I - section by section. She was effectively asking us the question again and checking off our responses vs the form content. Be sure to know your I485 and I30 contents very well. These questions prompted numerous follow on questions and clarifications.

We were asked if we wished to provide any additional information relative to the I-130 and I-145 applications and we provided the officer with a printed contents list which we ran through and she requested pretty much all of it; 

Joint 2018 Tax Return 

Join Mortgage Deed 

Joint Bank Statements 

Joint Health Insurance 

Joint Vehicle Lease 

Joint Vehicle Insurance 

Joint Home Insurance 

Joint Rental Agreement 

401k Beneficiary statements

Paychecks 

Collection of photographs

 

We used the photographs to help with her request that we describe our relationship from beginning until now; she would jump in and asked pointed questions (I guess to catch us out) such as how many attended our wedding dinner, the cost of the engagement ring, full name of the person who introduced us, when our parents met for the first time - she seemed to scribble this all down in no particular order.

At the end of the process we got the spiel about the  next steps - including that it could take up to 120 days for a response. I got the feeling we weren't going to get on the spot approval so I did ask how she felt about our application. She stated she felt good about but had to do some additional checks. She said we were well prepared and liked our binder of evidence. All in all we were with her for about 40 minutes.

 

That evening we got an update to the I485 and I130s on the USCIS website stating 'interview was completed and case must be reviewed' which certainly caused us some concern and heartache as we went to bed. Happily by the time we woke up the next morning we had a notification that card was in production! Expecting card to be delivered today which is 7 days after the interview.

Congrats! So happy this worked out well for you! I have a quick question: the paperwork you brought with you for the interview, had you also already provided it when you submitted the I-130? I don’t think we’ll have anything in addition to what we submitted, probably just updated versions of the same things, more recent bank statements, lease agreements, photos, etc.

33 minutes ago, RambaCat said:

It is valid for one year from the day it is approved.

So I should get to work on renewing it already?

This is in my USPS informed delivery email this morning. But nothing has changed on the myUSCIS account. Could these be my EAD and AP? Today’s day 249, and I filed an e-inquiry two weeks ago. 

On 7/4/2019 at 2:13 PM, rrobin0609 said:

Here is the letter I received the other day from one of my senators.

Hey Robin, thanks for posting this! (Not sure I agree with his thoughts on what it is that's going to fix the issues though...) We're in SF so I emailed Nancy Pelosi maybe 3 weeks or a month ago. Nothing in response yet. Just wondering when you first contacted Senator Blunt? 

More generally, today the case inquiry date for AP reached my NOA date, but the EAD date is still at Nov 4. (We're Nov 15.) Should I bother doing an inquiry now, or wait a week or so until it's outside the normal processing time for both? Is the only way to do an inquiry (to the National Benefits Centre) through the website - I can't just call them up? How long do people usually wait to hear back after they do an e-inquiry? 

On 5/30/2019 at 1:05 PM, Danieliz said:

I just called USCIS and the representative said they are processing October 31 right now. The also said I should not try yo speed it up at this point because my received date (Nov 16, 2018) is really close and trying to expedite it now might even slow it down.

 

I also checked the case tracker for the 500 case ids in front of ours and there are 12 EAD cases from the last 3 days(including today) which now have the status "New Card is being produced". All this cases are from around Nov. 8. So I'm getting hopeful it will finally happen in the next 2 weeks. 🙂

I was excited about this too, so ready to

call them up about EAD and AP once the case enquiry date hit November 15th. It was October 30th then, maybe 10 days ago. Checked this morning and the case enquiry date is back at October 8th. So infuriating. 

2 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

VJ members are only a tiny fraction of all filers so not an accurate representation of the whole picture.

The sample sizes aren't insignificant though (555 filed by mail in the last 180 days), I'm just wondering who the VJ members are who are getting EAD and AP so quickly, and why they seem to be well ahead of others, and whether VJ takes into account the different types of filing; are EAD and AP processing times different for applicants in the US vs. outside, for example? I don't know. People not updating their timelines would surely only increase the averages? Or just not be included in the calculation? And what sort of extra contingency USCIS put on their dates for case enquiries? Like, if they say you can file a case enquiry if your NOA is from Sept 15th, does that mean they're mostly onto mid-october applications, and they're just covering themselves? Just my maths brain, trying to fill up my unemployed hours. 

4 minutes ago, vaksurik said:

168 over here too 😥 It’s getting so hard. 

Only at 159, so it feels a little better so see others in the same boat; I wish visa journey hadn't told me it was likely by the end of march though. Do we know what throws off those averages so much? Are there people who get their EAD/AP super quickly? 

Hi,

In looking at the processing times on the USCIS website for the AoS, should I be looking at the times for my local field office, or one if the service centres? My NOA for each of I-130, I-131, I-765 and I-485 has the National Benefits Centre as the USCIS Office Address, but the NBC is not an option for I-485 processing times, although it is for the others. 

Thanks! 

I see that Texas is your filing location, that seems to only be for asylum or employment based? But it looks like you're applying for K-1 also? Are these up to date or have you already been married? It looks like marriage based AOS processing times in Chicago are 13-34 months. You could try applying for AP (I-131 - permission to travel outside the country) on the basis of a pending AOS. They're currently taking about 5 months to process. 

If your wife is a US permanent resident or citizen, then you did not need to complete an I-485 for her, since only you are adjusting status. She should have completed the I-130, petitioning to have you in the US, and you should have completed the I-130A, as the beneficiary of her petition. They probably only sent back the second I-485 as it was not necessary. ETA: I wouldn't be concerned about this; it seems you've submitted the correct things otherwise. 

Why do you still have an i-129f if you're already married? They're supposed to shred it after you're married, or? 

I think it depends on whether you are in the US , or applying from elsewhere. I was here on J-1 and got married here. We filed I-130, I-130A, I-485, I-864, and I-765 and I-131.

Good luck!