can2us_

Almost a year later, we finally have my wife's card in hand:

Oct 21 (2019): Paid fee

Nov 2 (2019): POE

March 2: 120 days, called and opened SR with USCIS

April 3: SR was never assigned to agent, so called again. Agent opened a higher priority SR

April 6: Case assigned to agent for response

April 15: Received an email saying they need more time, and if we don't hear back in 90 days to call again.

June 2: Called again, they just told us to keep waiting

June 9: Received letter from USCIS saying they lost the packet (never received it from POE). Called number and waiting for an in-person appointment to be scheduled to re-create packet.

August 17: Appointment with local USCIS office. Originally this wasn't allowed since we weren't an 'emergency' (due to COVID), but we needed an extension due to a mortgage application. Therefore, USCIS gave my wife a new stamp and recreated her GC packet at the same time.

Oct 23: Card in production

Oct 26: Card mailed

Oct 30: Card received.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for their help through the process!

On 6/30/2020 at 7:17 AM, can2us_ said:

Thanks so much for the detailed advice! We'll keep you updated if we go this route.

Update - we filled out the privacy release form and contacted our congressman. They told us that the Trump administration has removed their ability to push the USCIS to do much more. The re-iterated that we'll need to wait until we have an urgent need to get an appointment (as things stand now). They said they'll be able to help if things get close to expiration and we still don't have an appointment. But for now, we just have to wait and hope the USCIS will start taking non-emergency appointments. It was a disappointing outcome, we had some hope going into this option.

12 hours ago, lady3jane said:

You find out who your reps are based on your residential address, for instance we have two senators and a congressman representing us. Since it’s NY with a high flux of immigrants, both senators’ offices were slammed so we went with our congressman, who was Republican and even not- incumbent due to some insider trading. Their political affiliation does not matter much since this is legal immigration, they usually have someone in their office to specifically help with immigration matters. So you find out who your congressman / senator is and pick one with less foot traffic, most reps have privacy release forms online , which you can fill out and explain in detail which federal agency you are having issues with, in our case it is USCIS. Once you sign and  fax / hand in these privacy release forms, the person in their office will put an official inquiry with the said agency. They usually have if i’m not mistaken 48 hours  to give your representative an actual answer. In our case, it was basically what the hell they did with our approved petition and why they did not forward it to NVC as they were supposed to in 30 days or less. 
 

Now in your case and mine in very near future probably, the issue is they failed to produce and mail the green card,  they dragged their feet to inform you why that is in a reasonable timeframe, now if i’m not mistaken, they say they “lost the packet” and again refuse to give you an appointment to rectify the situation and produce the said card. Now they have the Covid excuse, but believe me  this is how they operate. 
 

One last note, If you got your SSn card in mail and manage to get a state ID with your visa on passport and other documents such as lease, bills etc, that should sort out at least the employment aspect of your life. State Id and ssn card should be enough for your future or current employer. You don’t need to show anybody your passport or plastic green card necessarily for that purpose. International travel, border crossing might be a different issue altogether.

 

Keep us posted.  I am bracing myself to have this exact nightmare to play out yet again. I know exactly how this feels,  calling it Kafkaesque is an understatement.  

 

Thanks so much for the detailed advice! We'll keep you updated if we go this route.

17 hours ago, lady3jane said:

at this point, i think you should put a congressional inquiry through your senator or congressman. Our petition got lost after been approved for 6 months, we were given the same run around, made us lose 6 more  months in the process. As soon as  we filed with our  congressman’s office and privacy release forms , the petition reappeared in the field office in about 10 days. We also filed with ombudsman, super slow and no use. 

 

i am pretty sure i am in the same boat.
I am the non-USC spouse

Paid fee on March 14, 2020

POE  JFK March 19th, 2020

USCIS status never changed from “ fee received” as of today

i have a feeling it’s the Texas Processing Center. 

 

I am waiting for the 120 days to pass, at this point I know nothing will happen on its own and I doubt any inquiries with USCIS will yield any results other than a throbbing headache. After the first inquiry i will put just to go through the motions , i am heading straight to the congressional inquiry route. i strongly recommend you to do the same. They have to answer to the representative’s office in about 48 hours by law.  
 

Seems like you have exhausted all the options, bringing in your representative’s office should set things in motion.

 

Best luck! 

Thanks for your suggestion. I've heard of the Ombudsman process, but I don't know much about the congressman/senator path. Is there an 'official' process for this? Or how did you go about making this filing?

We received more frustrating news a few weeks ago because they told us to schedule an appointment to remake the packet, but they won't schedule one for us because they're 'emergency only' right now. 

Update on my wife's status:

Oct 21: Paid fee

Nov 2: POE

March 2: 120 days, called and opened SR with USCIS

April 3: SR was never assigned to agent, so called again. Agent opened a higher priority SR

April 6: Case assigned to agent for response

April 15: Received an email saying they need more time, and if we don't hear back in 90 days to call again.

June 2: Called again, they just told us to keep waiting

June 9: Received letter from USCIS saying they lost the packet (never received it from POE). Called number and waiting for an in-person appointment to be scheduled to re-create packet.

7+ months and no end in sight.

A lot of cards have gone into production in the last few weeks. Hopefully that's a good sign for my wife's.... we're over 6 months since entry at this point and still no card  

9 hours ago, GodsEye said:

How many years did you guys get after all the long wait ? 

Are you asking about whether the green card for my wife is 2 or 10 years? We actually don’t know yet, that will be something we find out when they finally print the thing. 

Update on my wife's status:

Oct 21: Paid fee

Nov 2: POE

March 2: 120 days, called and opened SR with USCIS

April 3: SR was never assigned to agent, so called again. Agent opened a higher priority SR

April 6: Case assigned to agent for response

April 15: Received an email saying they need more time, and if we don't hear back in 90 days to call again.

So here we are approaching 6 months, and they just told us to wait 3 more months with no additional information...

1 minute ago, Chris and Jenn said:

What is your wife's POE?

YWG Airport (Canada has US pre-clearance, so she had her visa processed there).

Adding my wife's status:

Oct 21: Paid fee

Nov 2: POE

March 2: 120 days, called and opened SR with USCIS

April 3: SR was never assigned to agent, so called again. Agent opened a higher priority SR

April 6: Case assigned to agent for response

Today (Apr 10): Still haven't heard anything. Case is still in "Immigrant Visa Fee Payment Received"... 5+ months and waiting...

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 9:58 AM, Enoeto said:

 CR1 visa. Over 1 month since POE and still no sign of SSN & no sign of Greencard. Getting worried. How long more should I wait? Anybody else waiting? 

Can you provide an update on this? How long did it take to receive your SSN and GC? Thanks!

1 minute ago, elcampesino said:

What was it like once the packet was received and crossing over for first time at POE? Was there an interview or just secondary inspection and stamping passport? 

 

Anyone else with experience have info about what to expect?

Just a secondary inspection. My wife got pulled into the side room for about 20 minutes while they processed the documents. There were no additional questions, just fingerprints and some waiting while they processed everything. 

9 hours ago, mlml19 said:

 

Hi Can2us, would you mind following up on your GC arrival date when it arrives? Thanks your timeline summary really helps to set expectations.

 

Sure - will do. 
 

It has been 3 weeks from my wife’s entry and we haven’t yet received the SSN or GC. On Tuesday (2.5 weeks since entry), we called the SSN office and she wasn’t even in the system yet. We called again yesterday and she has been assigned a number and we should be receiving the card soon. 
As for the GC, no signs yet. The IOE status still just says “fee paid”

4 minutes ago, sadee said:

Thanks for update. My interview was done on Nov 12, got verbal approval and ceac status shows issued with AP note. Still same update in CEAC. Is it normal? Will it take 2 weeks to get passports back?

Through my reading of the forums, I've certainly seen situations where it takes that long (or longer). But for us, all I can say is that it was fast and took a couple of days. But it did go through the same CEAC status that you see (although it transitioned out of it within 24 hours).

1 minute ago, sadee said:

How was your interview? Did you get email regarding passport delivery?

It went well! As I mentioned - this was 'follow-to-join', so it was actually my wife interviewing to 'join' my EB2 case. She arrived at the consulate around 6:45 for an 8:00 interview, and she was actually first in line. Once they opened the building up, she was out in about 20 mins. Apparently they barely asked her any questions. Basically what my name was, what my phone number was, and maybe one other question. At that point they informed her that she was approved!

Regarding CEAC status and visa delivery, these were the high level updates:

Oct 15 8am interview: CEAC status Ready

Oct 15 5pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (with text about administrative processing)

Oct 16 12pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (your visa is in final processing, if you have not received it in 5 working days go to this link...)

Oct 17 10:30am: Email indicating visa has been delivered (to Winnipeg). CEAC status is still in same state (ISSUED: your visa is in final processing...)

Oct 21: Paid IV fee, received IOE number that is used to track status on USCIS site

Nov 2: POE at YWG airport (straight forward, took 20-30 mins)

Today: Still waiting for SSN and GC. CEAC status still says issued, and USCIS site (with IOE number) still just says that IV fee was paid

Alright, so the visa was delivered. In total, it took about 2 days from interview to delivery (to Winnipeg).

Oct 15 8am interview: CEAC status Ready

Oct 15 5pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (with text about administrative processing)

Oct 16 12pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (your visa is in final processing, if you have not received it in 5 working days go to this link...)

Oct 17 10:30am: Email indicating visa has been delivered. CEAC status is still in same state (ISSUED: your visa is in final processing...)

On 10/15/2019 at 6:09 PM, tracylynn1 said:

Hello.  I just received my interview date for Montreal (CR1).  What wait time have you been experiencing to receive your documents  and be able to travel to US after the interview is complete?

Thank you!

I should be able to tell you soon. My wife had her interview on Oct 15, this is the timeline so far:

Oct 15 8am interview: CEAC status Ready

Oct 15 5pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (with text about administrative processing)

Oct 16 12pm (approx): CEAC status Issued (your visa is in final processing, if you have not received it in 5 working days go to this link...)

Oct 17 Waiting for next update.

CEAC is working again for me. Hopefully it's working for everyone else too.

1 minute ago, Travel is life said:

Do you think calling NVC would do any good?

It's hard to say. From what I can tell, calling NVC rarely amounts to anything. Although in this case, hopefully someone has notified them so they're aware of the issue. 

10 minutes ago, Travel is life said:

 

In what country is your case in? Mine is at the US Embassy in Ghana. I was wondering if this was an issue with the whole website itself, or just coming from certain countries.

My case is in Canada. I think the issue is with the whole website.

2 minutes ago, Travel is life said:

Hello! This is the 3rd day that my wife and me have been trying to check the status of our case (on the Ceac Website). We type in the our correct case number and the correct captcha code, but we keep on getting the same error message and we can’t check our status. Is it a problem with the entire Ceac Website, or is it for certain countries? Does anyone know what is going on here? We are a bit worried. Our case is at the US Embassy in Ghana. Thanks!

I'm having the same issue and I've seen it reported elsewhere on the forums.

I am curious if anyone has spoken with NVC about this, and if so, when they'll have it fixed.

13 minutes ago, sadee said:

Thanks and congrats again. Waiting for October VB to get released and hopefully will get IL soon for everyone.

 

Thanks! Good luck - I hope you guys get yours soon too!

18 minutes ago, sadee said:

Congrats, what was your PD and country of chargeability? still waiting impatiently.

My PD was August 2017, and Canada is my country of Chargeability.

This is a follow-to-join case for my wife. I came down as an EB2, and I'm sponsoring her. She inherits my category in this type of case (E22).

We just got our IL   

October 15th date. Check your emails everyone!!

17 hours ago, wingman23 said:

scooterjones got oct30 interview date. that's where my info came from.

That is a K1 example which uses a different interview scheduling process than EB applicants. My hope is that there will still be some October interview dates available for EB’s. Hopefully we’ll find out in the next week or two.