portorusa

You don’t need to start over, use the same forms. Good luck!

In the other thread somebody mentioned that USCIS is going to re-start scheduling biometrics after June 22.

The WHO is a joke and so is the CDC in my opinion. The virus was treated like the plague but looking at the numbers it was nothing like we had been lead to believe. Too much fear mongering, too much false information. I'd rather take my chances and die happy than live cowering at home in fear.
 
If anyone disagrees that's fine, spare me your fear.

I am not sure about double first name but USCIS does not support special characters (including the apostrophe ‘) so you have to choose between “O Toole” or “OToole”. 

OK well ask your friend how he got his visa.

I don't think that priority date do work. And it also depends on who is handling your file case 

I filed for my sister in 2010, the petition was approved in 2014, and she is still waiting for her visa number. According to the bulletin and with the same speed as now, her visa will become available in 2024. 

Answering your question - yes, under the circumstances you are eligible to adjust status from the US if your spouse is a U.S. citizen. Many couples found themselves in the same situation. We are one of those. I am a US citizen. Our CR1 visa was ready to be issued in Paris but by then my French husband  was visiting me on VWP and got stuck due to the pandemic. After careful consideration we decided to do AOS. Basically, after 17 months we abandoned the consular processing at the very end (all the money/time spent for nothing) and started anew. The only bonus is an approved I-130.
Whatever decision you take, good luck!

Hi All!
 
Although I just registered on this site, I have been reading it for a very long time and wanted to share my extremely long path to citizenship, in hopes that someone will benefit from it. Thank you everyone who shared their stories and comments, and I want to give specifics thanks to @mindthegap for your contribution: your situation is very similar to mine, and as your posts kept me going, I sincerely hope this post will raise your spirits as well.
 
I came to this country with J1 visa in 2009, met my ex-husband, fell in love, and we decided to start our life together here. I was able to get a tourist visa while in the country, extended it couple of times, till we got married in 2011. And so I applied for residency in the beginning of 2012. This step was very straightforward, the interview was very nice and quick, so I was set with my conditional green card by May 2012 (very fast, right?). That is when the honeymoon phase of my relationship with immigration ended.
 
We filed out a joint petition to remove conditions 2 months before the green card expired, in the beginning on 2014. At the end of 2014, we got RFE, and then we had an interview in May 2015. That was the worst day of my life. And I've had some pretty bad days in my past, believe me.
I have never felt that way, so threatened as my privacy was being violated in such a rude way. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the officer is supposed to know all you private paperwork stuff. I understand they are supposed to make you feel scared of them. But the way I was treated felt like something out of a horror movie (for lack of a better comparison).
The interview was in NJ. While they do not have stokes interview like NY does (officially), they do separate couples without notice. The only difference is that you are not being recorded, so they can "tah-dam" do it wouthout notifying you. They did not let our lawyer stay in the room with my ex (as the lawyer represented just me on G-28 form, not us together), and threatened him with jail and fines to sign a paper that our marriage was fake. He didn't do it, so they questioned him, then brought me in, questioned me, and commented on the results.
All the questions were pretty standard, although I found it very odd that the officer asked us to draw the bedroom, but with her hands - I was not allowed to even touch the paper. Needless to say, it was like drawing though a glass wall - no matter what I say, she would draw it completely differently (I have to admit I am a perfectionist, but how hard could it be to draw a bed that takes up most of the room in the middle? no, she would draw it in the corner taking up 1/8 of the room. then move it to the other side. then when I said it is in the middle, she would give me a look like I have two heads and like no one in this world can access their bed from both sides). My ex told me he had the same issues with drawing. To this day I can't understand why I couldn't draw it myself.
Then at the end she asked us when was the last time we were intimate. Yes, she did. And my lawyer didn't say anything. I did realize by the end of the interview that this specific lawyer was useless, but the whole reason you take them with you is for them to object these types of questions, right? Oh well, I guess the officer got everybody scared in the room, not just me.
I would say we got about 95% of our questions matching. So I am not sure what was the issue (still don't know, after all these years), however that's when everything went silent. The issues I had to deal with while getting the stamps every half a year (and you know, renewing the driver's license every time too)... They probably deserve a different post.
 
I filed for divorce in 2017. It was supposed to be easy, we agreed on everything, he even signed the paper to waive 30-day "waiting for his response" period. Then after waiting for a month, my lawyer calls me to say that the clerk lost my paperwork (after stamps and signatures provided by them that they received it). At exactly the same time, I receive a letter that we are invited for an interview in two weeks. Do you think that was a coincidence? Doesn't look like one to me. The officer held my case for 3 years, and suddenly, the same month we file for divorce, I get that invitation. If I went to that interview, I would have been denied on the spot as we were not officially divorced yet. To me this looks like a set up, and after reading hundreds of similar posts, it looks like it's a very common practice that makes the immigrant look very bad. Would love to hear other people's thoughts on this.
This is the point of my story when I got extremely lucky. I was actually in the middle of moving to NY. Yes, it is a different state, a different jurisdiction, so they HAD TO move my case to NY. So I made sure I went to NJ office to hand them my new NY address and ID, as well as a letter from a new lawyer that he has a hearing in a different state on that day (although the letter itself would have probably been useless in that situation). I was very worried about not showing up for the interview, and I am not sure how, but it worked. They moved the case away from NJ!!
 
The wait didn't end though. I actually started seeing a psychologist around that time because of my anxiety over immigration. So... I got fed up with all of that, and in February 2019 (five(!) years after I filed I-751) I filed for citizenship based on the 5-year rule. That's when everything changed. They scheduled I-751 waiver interview for May, it was very long and detailed, but the officer was very respectful and did not make me feel threatened at all. I received my green card, and ironically, before I got time to enjoy it, I was called for the 440 interview I think in October. I cried when I got my certificate - literally a little over 10 years after I came to the country.
 
Damn, this turned out very long, and I didn't even included all the details I wanted to. Enjoy the shortened version
At the end, I just want to say that there's always hope, and I hope all of you who are waiting (for whatever immigration owes to them), will get it resolved very soon. I hope you will meet all the great people of this country who are nice, helpful, and who genuinely care about others. Believe me, especially important in this day and age, there are a lot of people like that. 
 

We also filed our taxes jointly for the past 2 years. And no, we did not include any assets/debts in I-944 at all as my foreign husband has neither and I did not want to provide more paperwork other than 2019 tax transcript and paystubs because my income is well over the poverty guideline. So far our AOS package was accepted and no RFE yet (knock-knock-knock!).
Why would you spent your hard earned $$$ on lawyers when this Forum is for free? You can find all the info you need here. Besides, here we saw plenty erroneous legal advice and paperwork mistakes/omissions done by lawyers. 

😀 It’s quite the opposite for us, we’d rather get EAD so my husband can finally start working and we’d rather wait on GC till November...when the marriage is 2 years old and to avoid the whole removal conditions saga and all the stress associated with it.

I just made a report. I’m waiting for the officer to call me back 

Per your timeline you sent your package on 4/27. It’s not a month yet. But if I were you, I’d chatted with Emma first thing in the morning to check if your case is in the USCIS system yet. Personally I found out my I-485 case number that way. Good luck! 

We also filed our taxes jointly for the past 2 years. And no, we did not include any assets/debts in I-944 at all as my foreign husband has neither and I did not want to provide more paperwork other than 2019 tax transcript and paystubs because my income is well over the poverty guideline. So far our AOS package was accepted and no RFE yet (knock-knock-knock!).
Why would you spent your hard earned $$$ on lawyers when this Forum is for free? You can find all the info you need here. Besides, here we saw plenty erroneous legal advice and paperwork mistakes/omissions done by lawyers. 

We also filed our taxes jointly for the past 2 years. And no, we did not include any assets/debts in I-944 at all as my foreign husband has neither and I did not want to provide more paperwork other than 2019 tax transcript and paystubs because my income is well over the poverty guideline. So far our AOS package was accepted and no RFE yet (knock-knock-knock!).
Why would you spent your hard earned $$$ on lawyers when this Forum is for free? You can find all the info you need here. Besides, here we saw plenty erroneous legal advice and paperwork mistakes/omissions done by lawyers. 

Your case might have fallen into the rare category of a pilot program. This is quite interesting. Let's hope your approval comes faster and smoother than for the rest of us!🤞

About 1,000 employees in the Kansas City area working for the National Benefits Center, an agency under the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, received notice on Friday that their jobs face elimination in what would be one of the largest mass layoffs of the year for the region. National Benefits Center has offices in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park.  The NBC’s largest workload is Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.
 
NBC also serves as centralized hub for appointment scheduling and notifications.

Finally we got our I-485 case number today, ouf! What a relief. Chatted with a real agent on Emma and obtained this way. They mailed the letter on 5/20.
We mailed the AOS package (from VWP) on 4/24, it was delivered 4/28, the bank check is yet to be cleared, and no texts received (we never filed for those text notifications, anyway). 
Don't lose hope those who are still waiting, stay patient, the day will come for you soon!🌸

Finally we got our I-485 case number today, ouf! What a relief. Chatted with a real agent on Emma and obtained this way. They mailed the letter on 5/20.
We mailed the AOS package (from VWP) on 4/24, it was delivered 4/28, the bank check is yet to be cleared, and no texts received (we never filed for those text notifications, anyway). 
Don't lose hope those who are still waiting, stay patient, the day will come for you soon!🌸

It saddens me to read these kind of comments here. I didn't put here any details about how he emotionally and mentally abused me, yet I feel like being judged. I already talked to some legal counselors and advised me what to do next. 
 
Thanks for all the comments here.

You have met in person, right?

Yes, quite a number of applicants are in the same situation. It's hard to explain why some got their NOAs quickly, some after a reasonable time of waiting, and some reaching a 3-4 weeks mark, and go crazy worrying.

Yes, quite a number of applicants are in the same situation. It's hard to explain why some got their NOAs quickly, some after a reasonable time of waiting, and some reaching a 3-4 weeks mark, and go crazy worrying.

And how is he going to reveal the ugly truth... "hey, boss by the way, this is my REAL social, and disregard the old one"?
 
Off topic: I always wonder, how people are able to use FAKE SSNs? Do they steal them? Aren't they realize this is a criminal activity? and how much harm they inflict on the victims of this crime? And most of all, how are they able to get away with it for years?😠

And how is he going to reveal the ugly truth... "hey, boss by the way, this is my REAL social, and disregard the old one"?
 
Off topic: I always wonder, how people are able to use FAKE SSNs? Do they steal them? Aren't they realize this is a criminal activity? and how much harm they inflict on the victims of this crime? And most of all, how are they able to get away with it for years?😠