Amaterasu

GC arrived today! One week from the interview. Much quicker than the EAD.

Best of luck to everyone, no immigration worries for the next 1.75 years

2 hours ago, pkingking131 said:

Do you family unwell would be appropriate reason?

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I'm in the same situation. My father was diagnosed with cancer back in May and so I intended to spend more time with him over the conditional period once I receive my GC, especially as he's going through chemo.

I'll be making sure to gather evidence such as doctors notes, diagnosis's, communication with my family etc so that if it does come up then I can explain and prove it. As long as you can prove you had a legitimate reason, I don't think they're going to fault you for it.

It might be worthwhile to seek the advice of an immigration lawyer as well.

15 hours ago, troseryensid said:

Hi guys... my interview is on Monday and I just printed all the things!

I am bringing:

-all notices ever received from USCIS
-I-693 in sealed envelope
-apartment lease and renter's insurance, utility bill
-credit card statement with SO (petitioner) as an authorized user
-joint checking account statement
-joint investment account statement (just an online bank)
-wedding venue/cater vendor agreement (we married in front of a judge just the two of us in Jan, but was planning on having a bigger ceremony in Sept,,,postponed TBD at this point cuz of COVID  otherwise there aren't really many things related to wedding itself)
-just a few photos of trips we took and some outdoor activities
-SO's W2s, tax transcript, pay stubs

Original and made copies of:
-marriage certificate
-both our birth certificates, translations
-passports, visa, I-94, licenses
-old EADs (didn't make copies tho)
 

Anything else I should add? I tried to add some more things that have both our names on it since the application in Feb, which is just the new lease/renter's insurance and wedding planning contracts. I-864 was already submitted of course but I did print the W2s and tax stuff just in case, but didn't print any of the immigration forms themselves (I-485,I-864 etc.)

A bit nervous...wish me luck!

What time of day is your interview? We read somewhere that if it's morning, its pretty much a shoe in, afternoon appointments they save for any which may have further questions. (This could all be speculation however).

Make sure to bring anything they listed on your interview schedule letter. You've got slightly more than we do as we haven't managed to put too much in each others name due to COVID and delays (we're working on it though!). If you have each other as beneficiaries on life insurance etc that's also worthwhile bringing.

Any photos with SOs family is decent evidence as well, I think one of the red flags they look for is if either family is unaware of the marriage. We fortunately took a trip to Disney with my family back in Febuary and have managed to see SOs family during COVID.

7 minutes ago, fromsweden said:

We’re at the ASC about to have biometrics first thing 8am. There’s a line out the door. Any questions ask and I’ll try my best. Hoping for no hiccups.

Best of luck!

1 minute ago, B3M said:

That's great! Congrats!! When did you do Biometrics? Also when did you file and from which state? 

Thanks! Here's my timeline below. State is Arkansas

1 minute ago, ourwildjourney said:

If anyone lives in Vermont, PLEASE keep calling Senator Leahy. He’s the one who got the furlough pushed last time and he’s the one who wrote the letter trying to push it now. Actually we all should call our senators and congresspeople to push the furlough. 

Ours is Tom Cotton, so we're not getting our hopes up for his assistance. I agree that people should be calling their representatives about this.
 

3 minutes ago, Basil123 said:

 

Yeah, it's scary. And all we can do is sit and watch, and make sure to educate friends and family. Though I sure for most of us our friends & family are on the liberal spectrum and know to go vote

I certainly hope no USCs of any FB based applicants are going to be the "turkey that votes for thanksgiving" 😅

1 minute ago, Basil123 said:

 

 

 

Yeah, I know they've been struggling. However, I was guaranteed that Express mail is not affected. It also says so on the website. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered spending 30 bucks, you know? 

 

But yeah, I guess the administration is popping champagne everytime an immigrant gets affected by it haha

Yeah, kinda underhanded that express mail is also affected yet they're not acknowledging that.

I worry about what's going to happen after November, life could really get difficult for us if this charade continues.

13 minutes ago, Basil123 said:

Ahhhhhh, I'm annoyed. As I told you guys, I sent out my old appointment letters with request to reschedule on Monday via Express. I paid 30 bucks for that with guaranteed delivery by today at noon. Well, it's 10:30am in Virginia and my letter is still in the distribution center in Denver, where I sent it from. I guess this just isn't meant to happen for me. So frustrating ☹

That is annoying. Sorry to hear that's happening to you.

There's a huge logjam at the moment at USPS. I've got mail currently that's been just sitting in transit for days. My EAD was sent from near Kansas City MO, which is a 4 hour drive away and yet won't arrive for a week after dispatch.

The kneecapping of USPS has become quite effective, and it's affecting nearly every person in this country right now. Bonus points if it's affecting legal immigration, I guess...

43 minutes ago, Ihatebaseboards said:

As you all know by now I received my EAD already. Guess what came to mail today- biometric appointment for 765, 131 and 485. None for 130 though. Scheduled to be within 1st week for September (before Labor day). For security reasons will not include date/time. 

Madness!

I'm impressed by how quickly you received your EAD also, mine's estimated to get here a week after they shipped it. USPS is certainly slowed down in my area. This feels like it's the longest wait at this stage.

2 minutes ago, amyS said:

Thank you for the tips !  I checked my USCIS account, it shows my case is received and thats it, where can you find the extra information? 

Should be on the bottom left under "Case History" if you're tracking your case statuses.

1 hour ago, amyS said:

Update: my case status changed again 😮 from card is being produced to fingerprint is taken, I am confused, what is the order of these status, I thought fingerprint is taken should come before card is being produced 

Do you have a MyUSCIS account? It should give you more details. Mine was on "Fingerprint is taken" but had "Card being produced" in the extra information.

10 minutes ago, fromsweden said:

Finally getting our appointment letter in the mail for next Monday. Really hoping to see more of those 5 day turnaround times like I've been seeing here and reddit.

 

 

Did you have a separate appointment you had to take for a 131? Or did you even file for 131 (advanced parole)?

I did not file for a 131 (mainly because I was being lazy and wasn't planning on travelling when I filed).

Therefore no combo card for me, only the EAD.

1 minute ago, FreyandRyan said:

So you had biometrics and roughly a week later got EAD approved? Thats really good news. Hopefully it all smooth for everyone now. 

Not quite, unfortunately.

I was actually approved earlier for EAD on July 15th, and had my biometrics taken after approval (August 10th).

I got the notification on August 15th that my card had been mailed out (most likely on August 14th).

A few of us here have been approved prior to biometrics being taken which has been a little confusing.

6 minutes ago, Tensheets said:

What’s your line of work? If you don’t mind me asking! Just with us being in the same part of the world.... 

Software Engineer, fortunately there's a few remote roles out there, especially at the moment.

I believe Walmart may be hiring some as well, but I'm not 100% sure if I want to go that route just yet.

What about yourself?

19 minutes ago, Sarge2155 said:

Great you'll be working soon!

Started applying today, next challenge in the COVID market.

Ironically I'm finding more remote jobs available from back home in the UK.

20 minutes ago, Tensheets said:

I got my biometrics appt finally today for 8/27. Receipt date was 2/24, original appt was sometime in March, cancelled of course. Family based. Fort Smith ASC. Haven’t made any calls or appeals or anything. There is hope people! 

Glad to see another UK Bentonville expat! Good luck with your biometrics, I had mine last week.

Fort smith is certainly different to Bentonville...

Just checked the USCIS website and our status has changed to: "Case is Ready to Be Scheduled for An Interview" for AOS.

Still no word on the EAD card given that we've been Approved and have completed Biometrics. Hoping that it's not stuck in limbo as it's been completed out of order.

15 hours ago, Magna said:

I finally did my biometric done today. The Minneapolis ASC appears to have 4 fingerprinting devices, but, as we all know due to the COVID-19, only 2 are used at this time. I arrived at the ASC parking lot 25 minutes before the scheduled time and entered the ASC 15 minutes before the scheduled time, and there are 6 applicants including me; 2 appear to be there far earlier than my scheduled time (the reason why I think so is he talked with staff talking about some issues, and he and his son left after discussion);1 finished his biometric, but he did small talk with staff (and I believe I didn't see him getting into the entrance, so he should be there before 25 minutes my scheduled time); 1 entered right before me; 1 appears to come next to me. I was there 15 minutes after my scheduled time to see who else get into there, but I didn't see any. 

 

BTW, I'm a bit worried about my fingerprint since there was an issue of scanning one of my fingerprints, but the staff simply ignored the message. I may be crazy if I need to go there again...

I had the same issue, the warning sign appears when one of your fingers doesn't match the "stamp" (4 finger) image. It shouldn't affect the overall outcome, I believe. My opinions is that it's just an alert for the ASC staff to make sure it's not borked.

15 hours ago, Ihatebaseboards said:

To add to celebrations, I guess. 
 

I just received case update on my EAD case status - new card is being produced. 
 

 No biometrics were collected.my ASC is open since 7/13. Weird. 
 

Also last week I requested expedite for I-485. Today it was accepted and additional clarification requested. Not sure  if that had any influence on the card production. 

Congratulations! That's an excellent outcome.

1 hour ago, TDB said:

I have managed to get a US Amex credit card as they used by UK credit score. Not sure they have reported anything to the credit agencies yet though as only had it for just over a month.

Is there any resource online that you could point me to take a look into this?

15 hours ago, James120383 said:

OMG you got notice today for tomorrows appointment. 

I expect this to be occurring more often due to the kneecapping of the USPS. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing people receive their appointment letters AFTER their appointments.
----------------------------------

My case updated on USCIS to "Case Was Updated To Show Fingerprints Were Taken". Feels like a step backwards from "Case Was Approved" 😅

My abridged timeline is:

2020-02-14: Case filed
2020-02-19: NOA1
2020-07-15: EAD Approved
2020-08-10: Biometrics taken

Going to keep an eye out for when the card begins printing, assuming that this will happen considering events being out of order.