PK_

On 5/11/2022 at 1:08 PM, flickerstop said:

Hopefully this is the right place to ask.

Question 1:
Does anyone know if your DQ date of your F2A transfers over to the IR1? Currently in Montreal there's a massive wait for both categories and I couldn't find a solid answer if upgrading to IR1 will actually slow me down more.

For example:
DQ: 8/21/2020

F2A is currently working around the DQ's of 6-7/xx/2020 but IR1 is beyond that. So does that mean upgrading will put me first in the IR1 queue?

Upgrading wouldn't affect the DQ date since DOS has finished their initial document processing. Your case won't go back to DOS after upgrading. Upgrading may have a positive impact to the wait time for the interview at the U.S. consulate. Some consulates have different interview wait time for each category. 

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Question 2:

Are you required to upgrade to IR1 after citizenship? If this will just slow down my process because I'm so close already (like a month away) then I'd prefer to not to.

You are required to answer questions truthfully to the best of your knowledge. If there are changes to your citizenship status that affects the petition, you must inform them of the change. The ultimate final green card classification (F-2A/CR-1/IR-1) of your beneficiary is determined at the port of entry, so if you have a change, you should let them know as soon as possible to avoid complications in the future. 

8 minutes ago, MagentaLife said:

Hey I just submitted a request to upgrade my I-130! Are you approved yet? If so how long did it take for you to get approved? 

Yes, my case got approved already. I had to get a congressman involved to make an inquiry to USCIS and get the case properly upgraded. It took about 2 months after I was able to confirm that the case was upgraded, but I don't know the exact timeline of when the upgrade actually happened. 

13 hours ago, cbudd1989 said:

Congrats, my wife was dqed October 6th i hope things keep moving at this pace. The embassy briefly closed all services due to covid concerns on the 21rst then reopened the 28th of December.

For IR-1/CR-1 interviews, I have been tracking the interviews that have been reported on one of the facebook groups. They are making quite a bit of progress. There's one person with DQ on 9/1/2020 that got an interview on 2/27/2021. The wait time from DQ to interview date has been dropping. If the the trend continues, your DQ on 10/6 is projected to have an interview on 3/5/2021 (150 days of wait time). Our DQ is on 10/7, so there's light at the end of the tunnel!

We have just received DQ today.

CR-1

2020-09-29 - NVC case creation, paid AOS/IV 

2020-10-01 - Submitted DS-260 and all the documents

2020-10-07 - DQ

1 hour ago, x3n said:

Thanks for the travel pointers. My fiancé' (Pattama) has her interview scheduled for October 13th and we're hoping to get her on a plane near the end of the month. She's also coordinating with people from the Thai Facebook group to travel together since she's never flown before and is very nervous about doing such a long trip (and transfers) alone. I guess that's going to be pretty common until Thailand starts letting us farang back in.

 

Do you know which Facebook group that she's coordinating with other people? My wife and I have just submitted docs to NVC for CR-1 visa, and we are wondering how big is the interview backlog at the US Embassy in Bangkok. 

5 hours ago, elkski said:

I think Bumrungrad would be the most expensive location to choose for the medical.

There are only 2 options, and Bumrungrad is the cheaper one (7,100 baht).

https://th.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/medical-instuctions-june-2020-english.pdf

Even 1.5 months after the initial upgrade request, the latest response from USCIS says that I'm still on the F2A processing queue at the Nebraska Service Center.

So far, a "note" for the upgrade has been added to my case. I have uploaded the certificate of naturalization on myUSCIS, and I have filed K-3.

You should not have an issue re-entering Canada via land border. See https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-march21-covid19-1.5505540

However, I do not know if you will be allowed into the U.S. through the land border based on the latest non-essential travel ban. (https://ca.usembassy.gov/travel-restrictions-fact-sheet/)

It may be possible that you can do a "flag poling" without entering the U.S. (https://www.immigration.ca/why-is-the-cbsa-trying-to-limit-canada-border-flagpoling)

Note: None of these restrictions apply to air/rail/sea travel. 

1 hour ago, April M said:

I would call and have them explain and if you have been to all the sources to find the information they may be able to tell you how to inquire for the information. 

I have already raised another inquiry, and I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

2 hours ago, Quarknase said:

The case history looks like your upgrade was completed?

It only says completed because the officer responded. However, the response is really saying that a note has been added, but no other changes have been made.

4 minutes ago, orange2341 said:

Did you send a copy of naturalization certificate? Mine was sent right after naturalization which was 4 months ago. However, when I talked to the representative, they found no record of upgrade.

No, I haven't sent it. So far, they have only asked for the certificate number. 

6 minutes ago, orange2341 said:

Yes, my receipt number begins with IOE. Sorry, I haven't created a myUSCIS account. 

If you create the account, there's a place where you can upload additional documents. I uploaded my Certificate of Naturalization, but I don't know if that would change anything. 

8 minutes ago, orange2341 said:

I got the same response!
My referral ID ended with TSC.

Do you have a receipt number that begins with IOE?

If so, what's the date above your current case status right now (on the new myUSCIS portal)?

56 minutes ago, orange2341 said:

Hello. Has your upgrade been processed? If so, can you tell me what email you received? My request has been processed but the email I received just gives me some information about my inquiry request. No where does it say that my visa category has been upgraded to immediate relative. I was expecting an email where it says my visa category has been upgraded to immediate relative and my petition should be approved within 5 months, but there wasn't any such email. Following is my Case History:

Here is the disappointing response that I got on the same day.

"Only the officer reviewing your case can make the corrections that you have requested. We have forwarded your concerns to your file and they will be reviewed by the officer at the time of adjudication. No corrections have been made at this time." 

I'm following up to see if they will process it as the IR1/CR1 category. No replies yet.

Was your referral ID ending with "NSC"? All of the previous upgrades were handled by the California Service Center (WAC).

5 minutes ago, David & Olga said:

Would holding a CR-1/IR-1 visa in your passport consider you a US Permanent Resident even before you reach the Point of Entry? 

You are already a spouse of a US citizen. Just the marriage certificate and the proof of your spouse's citizenship would be sufficient to get through the travel ban. 

4 hours ago, O&R said:

Not if the field office is Montgomery, AL. In this case you'll find 0 info.

You should start a new topic for your local USCIS field office.

Also, you might want to update your timeline so that others can learn from your wait time as well.

6 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Forgive me for not searching previous threads on the subject, but I want to report information I'm aware of on two cases where the petitioner filed I-129F after the I-130 in an attempt to speed up I-130 approval.  Both were filed in either late September or early October.  One approved three weeks ago and the other (actually the earlier filing) approved yesterday.  Both IOE case numbers.  Just an FYI.  This does indicate anything about now or the future.  Just a couple data points.  Neither is a VJ member.

Which service centers processed their petitions?

The estimation is so inaccurate anyways. It's better to track the N-400 interview dates here on VJ topic about your local USCIS field office.

23 minutes ago, Daxnet said:

How did get to know about the transfer ?

 

You called USCIS ?

Yes, I asked them. I was already on a call with them to upgrade my I-130 from F2A to CR1, so I asked which service center was processing my petition. 

5 minutes ago, PK_ said:

Unfortunately, they only send ballots by mail.

"To ensure you receive your ballot, update your mailing address at votewa.gov or with your county elections office. Your ballot can be mailed to you anywhere in the world; however, your residential address must remain in Washington. You may not vote in more than one place."

https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/2020 prespri info pgs.pdf

Oh, I guess you can receive ballots by fax or email as well.

https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/voters/military-and-overseas-voters.aspx

1 minute ago, Dantrolene said:

Great to know thanks!! Will I be able to vote ONLINE for all primary and presidential election or it's got to be mailed at some point ? 

Unfortunately, they only send ballots by mail.

"To ensure you receive your ballot, update your mailing address at votewa.gov or with your county elections office. Your ballot can be mailed to you anywhere in the world; however, your residential address must remain in Washington. You may not vote in more than one place."

https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/2020 prespri info pgs.pdf

3 hours ago, Dantrolene said:

Hi Y'all, now I am a USA citizen. I tried to log into uscis account but keep saying invalid entry despite my certainty of username and password. Is it because I am done with this journey they closed my online account ? I would like to have access to my online documents I uploaded. 

 

Second question, I would like to register to vote, but I am wondering if I can do the whole voting thing Via Email only?  I don't like to get anything in the mail since I am moving and traveling frequently.  Please let me know if I can register online and vote also in November online as well!? 

Your online account should continue to work. This is your account for many other things too (for example, filing to replace your Certificate of Naturalization).

You can register to vote online at https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx. Note that today (March 2) is the last day to register online/through mail for the Presidential Primary election on March 10. You can still register in person until the Presidential Primary election day.

2 hours ago, Galileo Gafer said:

Are the USCIS officers at the USCIS office ask to write (in the writing test) only what is on the vocabulary writing list? Or could it be something from outside the list?

They will ask you to write a sentence that only consists of words from the list. 

13 hours ago, Vermyndax said:

OK, I got the approval notifications in the mail.

 

The approval notices came from Texas Service Center. This proves to me that cases with IOE* are not tied to a particular center's timeline. When we received our first NOA-1 last year, it was sent from Nebraska. The approvals appear to have come from Texas. I did not receive any transfer notices of any kind.

The IOE cases are still assigned to a service center; however, they no longer send notices for transfers. You are getting the approval from Texas Service Center because there was a workload transfer of cases away from Nebraska at the beginning of this year. (https://www.uscis.gov/workload-transfers)

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We transferred some of the following cases from the Nebraska Service Center to the Potomac Service Center, the Texas Service Center, the California Service Center and the Vermont Service Center:

• Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, IMMEDIATE RELATIVE PETITIONS

I suspect that the December date update on your case was actually due to the transfer. I have a similar update on my case on Feb 23 which was actually a transfer from California to Nebraska as well.

For IOE, it appears that they don't send out transfer notices anymore. My F2A IOE I-130 got transferred from California to Nebraska without any notices.