BWJ

12 hours ago, BWJ said:

379 days after filing our AOS, we finally have a green card in hand!

 

Good luck to everyone who is still on their journey.

Actually it was 409 days... math, am I right?

We finally made it to the end and our case was approved! I'm sending all my left over positive vibes to those still waiting. Hold on to hope, there is a finish line to this all!

After our interview notice being lost in the mail twice and missing return phone calls from Tier 2 agents twice—we finally had our interview yesterday in Los Angeles.

We arrived 15 minutes early as we were asked, we checked in and waited in a waiting room for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. They told us that they were several agents short that day and so that's what was taking so long.

Once we were called back, my wife (the applicant) and I went together. The officer was nice, she swore us in under oath and asked basic questions (name, address, where we work, how did we meet, any kids, etc). She looked through our application and confirmed a couple details (phone numbers, wife's employer, etc) She asked for copies of birth certificate for my wife and then asked her all of the (yes/no) questions about whether she was a terrorist or a criminal, etc. She asked if we had any additional documents to add to our file, so I handed over info regarding a shared credit card, renters insurance, and lease with both our names as well as a few new photos of our life together since we submitted the I-485 last February. She commented on our travels together and then told us that we were approved. She handed us a paper that she said would work the same as a Green Card if my wife had to travel outside the country before the actual card arrived. And that was it. Asked us if we had questions and wished us on our way.

In total we were in the interview office for about 15-20 minutes. The most difficult question she asked was "how many times have you entered the U.S." since neither of us could answer off the top of our heads and we hadn't memorized the answer.

So after having an interview scheduled and never receiving a notice in the mail, then having the interview canceled, we now just got another update that's got me freaked out for the first time in in this long frustrating process.

We moved Dec 10th. I set up mail forwarding with the USPS and we changed our address with USCIS as well. We got our next update about having an interview scheduled on Dec 23rd. Since then we keep getting updates online but no real details. When we called USCIS last week, they said a notification would be mailed out—but it seems like it was returned to them.

The line, "This could have a serious effect on your case" is not something anyone wants to see.

Another update. 

After never receiving our interview date in the mail after one was issued on Dec 23, having our status updated to "interview cancelled and notice ordered" last week. We've now been updated again to "Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview", which is where we had previously been waiting since April 20th.

It's never ending.

Update: The trick i used to immediately get through to a real representative was to say "technical problem" when asked what I needed help with. And repeated the same when asked a second time. The previous "press 9, press 0, press 9" trick no longer seems to work.

Once we got through, while on the phone with the representative, USCIS Case Tracker app updated to say the "Interview Cancelled And Notice Ordered..." So the woman couldn't even tell us when our interview was scheduled, but apparently it's now been cancelled anyway.

I assume they are cancelling over COVID? The representative couldn't tell us why. Frustrating.

13 hours ago, chxakx said:

I did this in November and it worked so hopefully it still works  

They must have fixed this bug. Now when pressing 9 the second time she says "if you continue to press buttons, I will end the call." I keep getting told to go online and fill out a document request form.

6 hours ago, Cornflake said:

You better call again and try to find out what's the date of your interview ASAP. I got a notification on Dec 23, LA office as well, and I already received the notice in the mail like a week ago. Also, the most important fact is our interview scheduled for Feb 1, so if yours scheduled around the same date and if you wait till Feb 4 it could be too late.

Best for luck! Call again, until they tell you the date or resend the notice.

Thanks alot. I remember you mentioning your interview date which is what got us worried. We keep calling but can't get beyond the automated system which just keeps repeating that "an interview has been scheduled."

Is there a number to reach a live person? The one off the USCIS website isn't working.

We got notification on Dec 23 that an interview had been scheduled, but a notice never came in the mail with more details.

We've requested to have the document resent and it said "we can expect a response by Feb 4." Which seems like a long way away. I've seen others getting their inteviews scheduled within 2-3 weeks of receiving the notice—so we're worried we might miss the interview date.

I don't understand why it's taking so long and why it can't tell us in the myUSCIS the details of the interview. We also haven't been able to get anyone one the phone who can help us.

12 hours ago, Cornflake said:

What city are you in? I'm in LA and it took 10 days for the mail to be delivered.

Did yours finally arrive? How far out is your interview?

Still nothing for us in Los Angeles. We just moved and I updated our address with USCIS 3 days before we got notice that an interview had been scheduled. I hope it's not lost in the shuffle of forwarded mail.

Just now, Cornflake said:

Did you get the mail? 📬

Nope not yet. I'm assuming the holidays slowed it down. But hope it arrives soon!

@Cornflake

Congrats! We just got the notification too!

And in Los Angeles as well. Seems like they finally woke back up!

Very happy Christmas indeed.

On 12/17/2020 at 9:57 AM, beefmaster2 said:

200 days on the same status here!

250 days here. 😑

On 11/14/2020 at 1:48 AM, Cyndy&Onyi said:

Anybody else waiting to be scheduled for an interview? Anybody in particular waiting from a California Field Office???

 

Mines would be Imperial, CA (I assume since it's the nearest one to me, 55 minute drive away from my home).

In California (Los Angeles). AOS filed 02-17-2020, no RFE, Biometrics 03-16-2020, EAD received 08-17-2020...

Been waiting for an interview to be scheduled for 222 days.

4 minutes ago, Frankcastlle said:

I honestly think that the furlough will happen unfortunately. The democrats will let it happen so they can blame Trump before the election.

There's a dump truck worth of things to blame Trump for before the election and unfortunately the woes of USCIS don't even measure on the radar of most Americans.

12 hours ago, Sarge2155 said:

No such thing as a conditional SS card. It's  just a SS card, but I do understand what you meant. You are talking about the statement typed on the SS card about not valid for work without DHS approval right? That statement does not make the SS card conditional. That number is issued for life!

Right. Thanks for that clarification.

I assume that after the GC is issued my wife can get one without the "for work only" statement printed on it?

My wife received her conditional Social Security card today in the mail, one week after we got our approval for the EAD and AP. Still no physical EAD/AP card though.

We applied for a SSN concurrently in the AOS packet since we sent it in a few days after our marriage.

cc. @bodgie19

My wife's EAD and Travel waiver were both updated today from " New Card being produced" to "Case Approved."

AOS received: 02/17
Bio Appt: 03/16

21 minutes ago, fromsweden said:

This would all be funny if it wasn't so sad. 

 

I am now going to the press with what is happening here. I have e-mailed Catherine Rampell from the washington post who broke the story on the card processing delays (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-trump-administration-is-turning-legal-immigrants-into-undocumented-ones/2020/07/09/15c1cbf6-c203-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html). I want to light a fire under someone's feet to address this. 

One of the more infuriating quotes from that article since we've all already paid our fees, but still can't get processed. Seems like a failed pyramid scheme.

USCIS, which is funded almost entirely by fees, is undergoing a budget crisis, largely caused by financial mismanagement by political leadership. The printing disruptions are no doubt a preview of chaos to come if the agency furloughs about 70 percent of its workforce, as it has said it will do in a few weeks absent a congressional bailout.

“The bottom line is that applicants pay huge filing fees, and it appears that these fees have apparently been either squandered through mismanagement or diverted to enforcement-focused initiatives, to the great detriment of applicants as well as the overall efficiency of the immigration process,” says Anis Saleh, an immigration attorney in Coral Gables, Fla. “The administration has accomplished its goal of shutting down legal immigration without actually changing the law.”

EAD was just updated this morning to "New card is being produced." No update on our travel waiver or AOS which were all sent together.

We were able to get Biometrics on March 16th, the day before offices closed.

Has anyone seen this latest article from yesterday evening?

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/immigration-system-budget-cuts

 

Quote

 

“Backlogs will grow longer. People will wait longer to become citizens, get green cards. Asylum will grind to a halt,” said Amanda Baran, a former immigration policy official at the Department of Homeland Security who is now a consultant. The number of furloughed employees, she said, would lead to “devastating consequences for people trying to enter and for those living here.”

 

"It essentially will shut down the immigration system — sort of the final nail in the coffin,” said Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a former agency official. “The anticipated agency furloughs will not only result in the loss of employment for thousands of US workers, it will also bring halt the US immigration system to a grinding halt, negatively impacting families, US businesses, educational institutions, medical facilities, and churches throughout the United States.”

...He also acknowledged the impact of the furlough cut: “In terms of anyone applying for a green card, for adjustment of status, or applying for naturalization, the wait times are going to increase substantially to be adjudicated. For non-immigrant visas, any sort of requests for employment authorization, any requests … to change or extend a visitor status of some sort — all of those, the wait times are going to increase.”

 

Such a giant cluster...

@fionayuki

It's an app called "Lawfully." It's similar to "Case Tracker" but with a better design.

Just checked on our AOS and noticed that it was updated on April 15 to "Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview."

Thankfully we were able to knock out the biometrics on March 19th—right before they shut down the local office in Los Angeles.

I assume it's just more of a waiting game now. Hoping that they increase the number of waived interviews 🤞

Hey February Filers!

Fiancé arrived Feb 4th, we got married Feb 12th, and we just sent our packet off today February 17th.

We leave for our honeymoon tomorrow. So we thought it would be good to pass a couple weeks of time with our minds occupied elsewhere.

Good luck to everyone and happy to continue the journey.