RamonGomez

Hi all,
This is just a summary of the events that led me to file a lawsuit with al lawyer called "Writ of Mandamus" to move my case forward.
Removal of conditions filed in July 2019.
October 2019 Fingerprints taken
No movement for 2 years. In the meantime all my fellow July 2019 filers had been approved.
In March 2021 my case was very much outside processing times, so I started contacting the DHS Ombudsman, my local representative and my 2 US Senators. Not one of them ever replied, nor contacted me in any way. With USCS I filed about 8 or 9 Service Requests. Not a single one was ever adressed. They were closed without any explaination.
 
After 30 months waiting, I decided to file a lawsuit in October of this year, within 3 weeks my Removal of Conditions was approved and my N400 interview was scheduled and last week I became a Citizen.
 
This should not be normal. Blaming COVID for these ridiculous delays is an easy excuse.
I have a strong case, both me and my wife have good jobs, I am not from a "conflictive" country (whatever that means) of course no criminal records and I pay a lot in taxes to Uncle Sam.
 
This process has been a complete nightmare to me and my family and I hope I never have to step inside a USCIS office ever again. 
 
I wish you all the best of luck,

Thanks for sharing. I figured it wouldn't be trivial.
 
I did just put in an e-Request for a typo and supposedly they should get back to me within 3 weeks. The one service request I put in a few years ago actually did work for a green card that never got mailed, but it took more like 2 months. So I'll at least give it one try before calling USCIS.  It really sucks that this letter is also the extension for the 2-year-card. I still can't believe how a one-letter typo can cause so much havoc and be so difficult to fix. The US federal government should just subcontract out the IT infrastructure and all logistics to Amazon or Google because this is a disgrace.  Like, could they not verify what they typed against the A# number? Or just look up the applicant based on the A# rather than typing things in manually?

Happened to me and it was a huge hassle. I made a few different tries to put a service request in through the USCIS Live Chat. Time went on, nothing happened. A new tier 1 agent would take the request, and time would go on, nothing.
 
In the end I called the Service Center, they scheduled a call from Tier 2 agent. Even he was unsure what to do, because he thought he can’t have the NBC send me a new letter. So he scheduled me an Infopass appointment. Once I had that appointment, the rude lady told me I did not qualify for her precious ADIT stamp. She made a call to the National Benefits Center, and in the end they sent me another extension letter with correct spelling. But it was such a waste of time to have to travel there and back for nothing.
 
Once I got the biometrics appointment letter, it too had my last name misspelled. I mentioned it to the contractor who took my biometrics, and he added the correct spelling of my name as an alias.
 
The interview letter had the correct spelling, but I still made sure to double-check with the interviewing officer that my name was correct in the system. I was anxious waiting for the 10-year green card, thinking they would mess that up, too.
 
Surely not the first-hand experience you want to hear, but such a mess for something that was USCIS error to begin with.

I sent my stepdaughter's I-751 last week and got a text a few days ago that her case was accepted. I just saw in our USPS informed delivery that her I-797 NOA is arriving today, a week later. But they spelled her first name wrong!! I checked the I-751 and I spelled it correctly. I looks like a lowercase 'q' was replaced with a g. Also the packet had a copy of her green card so I do see how they could've botched this.
 
There is a tool for e-Requests and I noticed that one of the options in the dropdown is Notices. Has anyone tried to use this tool before? Would they be able to re-issue the I-797? Are there any other options that we have? We're really frustrated with this!!!

Be hyper-vigilant about this. We moved during our I-485 application and made sure to file the address change form. I even called USCIS to verify they got my new address.
 
The interview notice arrived at our new house with a big yellow 'reroute' sticker from USPS. It was addressed to our old apartment, and fortunately I had set up mail forwarding with USPS. Our attorney also got a copy.
 
I mentioned this at the interview and the officer told us USCIS uses "about 5 different systems that don't talk to each other" (literally his words). All other communications (e.g. the I485 approval notice, the actual green card) made it to our new address. But apparently the interview scheduler is on a different system that doesn't always sync up with the other systems.
 
Set up informed delivery. Make sure you set up mail forwarding with USPS. You may even want to contact the person that lives at your old address now and let them know to contact you if any mail from USCIS accidentally goes to there address. It's a major PITA to deal with a missed interview letter.
 
BTW regarding the wait time - could be a few months, could be 2+ years. It depends on the workload of the field office unfortunately.

Be hyper-vigilant about this. We moved during our I-485 application and made sure to file the address change form. I even called USCIS to verify they got my new address.
 
The interview notice arrived at our new house with a big yellow 'reroute' sticker from USPS. It was addressed to our old apartment, and fortunately I had set up mail forwarding with USPS. Our attorney also got a copy.
 
I mentioned this at the interview and the officer told us USCIS uses "about 5 different systems that don't talk to each other" (literally his words). All other communications (e.g. the I485 approval notice, the actual green card) made it to our new address. But apparently the interview scheduler is on a different system that doesn't always sync up with the other systems.
 
Set up informed delivery. Make sure you set up mail forwarding with USPS. You may even want to contact the person that lives at your old address now and let them know to contact you if any mail from USCIS accidentally goes to there address. It's a major PITA to deal with a missed interview letter.
 
BTW regarding the wait time - could be a few months, could be 2+ years. It depends on the workload of the field office unfortunately.

Be hyper-vigilant about this. We moved during our I-485 application and made sure to file the address change form. I even called USCIS to verify they got my new address.
 
The interview notice arrived at our new house with a big yellow 'reroute' sticker from USPS. It was addressed to our old apartment, and fortunately I had set up mail forwarding with USPS. Our attorney also got a copy.
 
I mentioned this at the interview and the officer told us USCIS uses "about 5 different systems that don't talk to each other" (literally his words). All other communications (e.g. the I485 approval notice, the actual green card) made it to our new address. But apparently the interview scheduler is on a different system that doesn't always sync up with the other systems.
 
Set up informed delivery. Make sure you set up mail forwarding with USPS. You may even want to contact the person that lives at your old address now and let them know to contact you if any mail from USCIS accidentally goes to there address. It's a major PITA to deal with a missed interview letter.
 
BTW regarding the wait time - could be a few months, could be 2+ years. It depends on the workload of the field office unfortunately.

Ugh LIN sucks. There was a wave of Nov/Dec 2020 approvals and then it's been silent for a month. Seeing all the EAC and SRC approvals makes me feel nervous about our case...

Ugh LIN sucks. There was a wave of Nov/Dec 2020 approvals and then it's been silent for a month. Seeing all the EAC and SRC approvals makes me feel nervous about our case...

Someone from the Dec 2020 thread just reported getting the 10-year card from the LIN service center. Hopefully this means it's back in action after several weeks of no reported LIN approvals. I filed in Feb 2021 so I'm hoping we get it by the end of the year.

Well hello everyone! It's been a while!
 
After nearly three years we finally have our interview date...We received a notification today that we will have our interview on November 23rd in Santa Ana, CA! 
 
We had actually had two interviews get cancelled right at the start of Covid and nothing since. A lot has changed since those cancelled interviews last year. We moved across state, bought a house and had a baby two weeks ago just shy of our 5 year anniversary!
 
That should help with our bonafides :) 
 
Detailed info: Filed December 18th 2018, California Center. Transferred to National Benefits Center. If you're still waiting, there is hope! 

Do AOS applicants still need to include a photocopy of their entire passport? If not, then how would USCIS even see this? Unless they flagged it in their computer system. 
 
Anyways, there are numerous cases out there of people who have AOS'ed without any problems with that annotation. I'm not an immigration super-expert but I don't think it's up to CBP to decide who and who isn't eligible for immigration benefits.

Someone from the Dec 2020 thread just reported getting the 10-year card from the LIN service center. Hopefully this means it's back in action after several weeks of no reported LIN approvals. I filed in Feb 2021 so I'm hoping we get it by the end of the year.

I'm so sorry about what happened. And I really feel bad for the young child who is getting dragged along in this.
 
We as adults can process things and eventually move on, but young kids are a different story.
 
At this point the best thing for you would be to end this ASAP and break all ties. Your marriage most likely isn't valid, but I'd consult an attorney immediately on how to proceed since the mechanics/formalities may differ slightly between states/counties.
 
Obviously don't show up to the AOS interview.

I've seen at least one case where someone was approved without an interview, despite the status tracker saying their case was ready to be scheduled for an interview.
 
I also know of one person who waited 14 months for an interview. At the interview, the officer told the couple they got an interview because he literally just needed to clarify one detail on the petition in person LOL. It was a 2 minute interview, with 14 months waiting. 🤔

I wish you the best. Alcohol issues are absolutely awful, and my wife (a very loud Guangdong/Cantonese lady) would also NEVER put up with alcoholism in the family so I can understand you ☹️  BTW I'm sorry if I sound ignorant on this topic, but does HK have any consulates in the USA? If they do, you may want to ask them about your situation, especially any issues involving citizenship of your child.
 
Sometimes I miss our time in HK so much. My wife has family that lives in Tseung Kwan O (part of her family left the mainland for HK many, many years ago), some of the best memories of my life were the time we spent over there.
 
I wish you the best of luck and hope that things work out for you and your family 🙏

My wife is from mainland China, but because our kid was born AFTER she got her US green card, our kid is NOT considered to be a Chinese citizen. So our kid needs a tourist visa or family reunion visa to go back to China. And this is great, since my wife will be applying for US citizenship next year so we will all have the same citizenship/passport.
 
If our child were born on Chinese soil in the US before my wife got her green card, our child would have been considered a Chinese citizen, at least until the age of 18. I'm not sure if this is the same in HK.
 
With regards to taking the kid back to HK... it'd be better if you had the explicit permission of the father. If you took the child back without the permission of the father, it's technically international kidnapping/abduction. HK/China are not part of the Hague Convention so take that news however you may. 

My advice? See a marriage counselor. With the way things are going in HK I have no idea why you'd be going against traffic.

That’s very true. I never thought about the explicit permission. Thanks for remind me that! And yea things are still messy back in Hong Kong. 
 
Just out of topic, im not sure if I want to save this marriage cos I gave him so many chance to get sober and he’d never listen to me and lately he even started abuse me.  

My wife is from mainland China, but because our kid was born AFTER she got her US green card, our kid is NOT considered to be a Chinese citizen. So our kid needs a tourist visa or family reunion visa to go back to China. And this is great, since my wife will be applying for US citizenship next year so we will all have the same citizenship/passport.
 
If our child were born on Chinese soil in the US before my wife got her green card, our child would have been considered a Chinese citizen, at least until the age of 18. I'm not sure if this is the same in HK.
 
With regards to taking the kid back to HK... it'd be better if you had the explicit permission of the father. If you took the child back without the permission of the father, it's technically international kidnapping/abduction. HK/China are not part of the Hague Convention so take that news however you may. 

My advice? See a marriage counselor. With the way things are going in HK I have no idea why you'd be going against traffic.

CR1 visas gets a mandatory ROC interview. It could literally be 2 minutes long and a rubber stamp approval. Unfortunately, it could also be a very long wait until the interview depending on the field office workload... some people are waiting 2+ years for an interview (COVID obviously didnt help)

A few weeks ago LIN had a bunch of approvals from Nov/Dec 2020 and even one from Jan 2021. It's been pretty quite since then... 

If I recall correctly some parts of Thailand are opened to vaccinated travelers (Phuket in particular). Both US and Chinese citizens can do a visa on arrival, I think, unless that's changed.
 
Just as a warning your GF will need to do a 2 week hotel quarantine (at her expense) upon returning to China, plus 7 days at home.

As long as there's zero possibility of an emergency trip than you're all good... I'd be nervous. Anyways, glad it all worked out for you and hopefully you get the interview soon (and hopefully NOT scheduled on a day that your wife is in Taiwan)

CR1 visas gets a mandatory ROC interview. It could literally be 2 minutes long and a rubber stamp approval. Unfortunately, it could also be a very long wait until the interview depending on the field office workload... some people are waiting 2+ years for an interview (COVID obviously didnt help)

Not 100% sure since this is kind of a unique situation - if my math is correct your father filed for her 12-13 years after her mother passed away? 
 
But typically a marriage certificate + step-daughter birth certificate should be enough to link the step-father/step-daughter. I would bring anything else that could possibly be useful.