H & T

A bit old, but for what it's worth, I ended up waiting until after our 2 year anniversary and have received the 10-year green card and SSN. It was worth it because it turned out okay, but before our flight, I was a bit worried as the new strain of COVID had started surfacing and it could have affected our flights. Thankfully, it didn't, but these are uncertain times.

NBI schedule availability depends on the area. I'm in NCR and I've seen offices with very limited slots and others with a bigger capacity and you can book a week or so out. I'm not sure that the NBI can be ordered online, but in my case (a few months ago), I registered online for an appointment and went to the office in person to have my picture taken and claim the certificate.

Thank you for the additional responses, VJ community! Your stories about the difficulties associated with the delay in ROC processing (rather than the difficulty of the process in and of itself) are making me lean the other way of waiting a bit despite the uncertainty of the pandemic. 

For whatever it's worth, I'll update this post when I arrive to the US, whenever that will be, in case other people in the future will find this topic.

5 hours ago, HRQX said:

Where would you live in the US? Some Field Offices have way longer wait than others.

We would be living in Utah. Are you familiar with the wait times filing from there?

9 hours ago, Mollie09 said:

 

Nobody was familiar with it. There was a lot of phone calls and googling going on, and I felt like I was trying to talk my way into something or ask for a favor to skirt the rules every single time. Airline check in, entering/exiting other countries, hell, even entering the US! The worst was probably during exit controls in Iceland where I had three people in this booth looking at my passport, expired card, and extension letter for about 20-25 minutes shaking their heads and speaking to each other in exasperated Icelandic. It really felt like they thought I made the whole thing up. I legitimately worked through it in my head what it would look like if I couldn't make it home on that flight. There was also the US immigration guy who didn't believe my ROC was still pending because "these things get processed in three months or less, unless there something really wrong with your application" paired with a suspicious sideways look. Or when I lost the letter and had to go beg (it's what it felt like) USCIS for a stamp, and they only gave me six months because "you shouldn't need more than that".

I have anxiety so that was probably worse for me than most people, but I wouldn't want to go through that again.

Ugh that sounds horrible. The thing is, I'm a certified overthinker and I have anxiety too so I'm relating to your experience.

3 hours ago, wagner17 said:

 

Sometimes it can be bad.  We got pulled from the airplane boarding line, the airline let the entire plan board, then we had to wait for them to figure out the ROC extension letter, then I had to go and explain it to them.  It can be a little stressful and doubt starts creeping in.

 

Other annoyances for me about the ROC process:

1. Getting your driver's license renewed with an extension letter but only for 1 year (or until the end of the extension letter)
2. Having to get an I-551 stamp after your extension letter expires
3. Having to get license renewed again with an I-551 stamp for less than 1 year (until the end of your I-551 stamp)
4. Getting told your ROC is pending security checks
5. The interview or worse getting a Stokes interview
6. The horror and stress when you realize that you made mistakes during the interview
7. Not getting one those easy, short ROC interviews that you read about on Visajourney where people are told "I'm going to recommend you for approval" at the end
8. Morose contemplation of what country you will live if you get denied despite the fact that your spouse explained that only an immigration judge can kick us out and it would take years before our case would be heard.

Wow, damn! I feel like I'd be gaslighting myself, wondering if I really do have legal status lol I didn't realize that there are added complications to renewing the DL too. What a pain. And items 5-8 really get to me. While I'm completely fluent in English and don't have much of an accent, I get so flustered during any sort of interview, even job interviews despite having a decent resume and work experience. I made a couple of mistakes during my CR1 interview though I sounded confident enough that it wasn't questioned, but I was just so nervous. Even after I was told that my visa was recommended for approval, I didn't want to celebrate until I had my visa in hand. My husband will definitely be able to relate to point 8 for sure lol my logic takes a vacation when my anxiety comes out to play.

3 hours ago, Pats5415 said:

These are all true possibilities and I've thought of all of these when I went through the process. Immigration in any way shape or form is probably one of most stressful, expensive, confusing, tiring experience a person can go through. I have had my fair share of sleepless nights of all the "what ifs" scenarios and it mentally destroyed me. With all the adversities an immigrant has to go through to get to where they need all I can say is if you know everything is legit and you have all proper paperwork... ROC process or any other will go fine. Waiting and the unknown definitely is hard and sometimes impossible....but that's part of what we sign up for when we do this stuff unfortunately.

Yeah, I definitely understand it's part of the process so we can be with our loved ones and while it's all worth it in the end, it's a mentally taxing process indeed.

Thank you so much for all of the responses!

3 hours ago, Pats5415 said:

It all depends on you. You will read all sorts of experiences on this site but it won't determine how yours will go. In my experience, I filed May 2019 and completed the ROC process April 2020...no RFE or interview. I sent in a lot of evidence. Its a lot of patience and playing the hurry up and lets wait game. 

Fair point. 

3 hours ago, xyz12345 said:

imo With this pandemic, who knows what international travel will look like in January. It might be much better than these days but who knows? You don't want to be stuck overseas with only 2 weeks visa validity remaining. Maybe get a direct flight to the US or closest international POE just to activate the GC just in case you still want to travel in January?

2 hours ago, Lucky Cat said:

I would definitely wait if I thought I could fly out then........We filed my wife's I-751 in March 2019.  Waiting for an interview since May 2019.  I would avoid it.

This is actually one of the things I'm worried about because we'd be cutting it close, especially as I heard Malaysia banned people from the Philippines from entering due to COVID last month. While spouses have gotten preferential treatment, who knows when that will change? Were COVID not an issue, I'd probably delay but now, my husband is leaning towards just leaving while we still can. 

3 hours ago, user555 said:

I think it's $400 extra if you enter before 2 yrs of marriage and go through ROC vs getting the 10 yr. You'll basically have to gather evidence again like you did at the interview. I wouldn't want to do that again, so we're entering after 2 yrs of marriage. 

Fair point. That's definitely a consideration too, in addition to @Lucky Cat's experience of the super delayed interview. 

2 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

It’s not a pain if you can read English and follow instructions. An Inconvenience? Maybe. Plus it costs money. I think a lot of people would say to wait until your second anniversary to immigrate since it’s sort of close- however that’s a decision for you and your husband. Who knows If countries will shut down come January and you can’t fly out And then you risk a visa expiring. There is so much uncertainty in the world and personally I think it will get worse that I wouldn’t change it and I would   Have left when the visa was issued.

Lol at first sentence. When I checked USCIS' instructions and the guide here on VJ, it seemed doable, but the stories of long interview wait times and how it can be a hassle to travel when you just have the stamp have been weighing on me. Obviously if my visa expired before I could enter, it would be a moot point so that's the bigger issue.

1 hour ago, Mollie09 said:

I filed with a divorce waiver so slightly more nerve-racking than the normal process. It cost money to file, I also paid for a lawyer to help me gather evidence for my specific situation, and collecting evidence took A LOT of time and printing.

I filed December 2015 and was approved February 2017 with no interview. In the meantime I had an expired green card and had to explain ROC every time I traveled, which was a lot, and when I got a new job. I also had to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing whether it'd be approved, so I didn't buy a house when I had the chance, and made other decisions with an eye on having to leave. Mentally, it was way more expensive than monetarily.

We're planning on traveling so thank you for sharing your experience regarding that. I'm a bit worried about explaining ROC. Did it take long to explain or were they familiar with it? I can only imagine the mental toll the whole process took and I'm sorry you had to go through it, though I'm glad you were approved and not have to worry about that aspect.

Thank you again for chiming in! Your responses have been very helpful. I think what I've gathered here is we should have moved our wedding up a few months lol we're probably going to move sooner rather than later.

Hi Everyone,

How much of a hassle is the ROC process? I have my visa in hand but I'm debating if I should enter the US after our 2nd wedding anniversary to get the 10 year GC. My visa is valid until end of January and our second wedding anniversary is mid January so visa validity isn't an issue. My husband and I would rather move sooner, but I've also read how much of a pain removing conditions is, so it's giving us pause. 

Any experiences/insight/advice?

20 hours ago, Hank_ said:

If you have never used a different name, then an AKA shouldn't be needed.   Embassy may wonder on this .. traditional ways of the Philippines so don't be surprised.

 

It costs nothing extra to add the AKA for married name to the NBI even if you have never used it .. it would remove all doubt and avert a possible delay after the interview.

I understand and that makes sense. We are currently in the NVC stage and unfortunately, with COVID, NBI is not currently processing clearances and I happen to have an NBI clearance about two months old with just my maiden name. I was wondering if I should submit that and risk it, or wait however long so I can get an NBI Clearance with an AKA for my husband's surname, thus the question. 

Hi Hank, thanks for the reply! I have read this, thus the question. While non-traditional, my married name is the same as my maiden name so I was wondering if an AKA with my husband's surname which doesn't appear on any legal documents is required. Anyway, I might try to call the embassy to be sure.

As the topic states, for the police clearance, do I need an AKA with my husband's surname even though I haven't and I'm not going to change my name?

1 hour ago, Cp192019 said:

We've been approved!

 

PD: January 22

Date changed April 8th, May 8th, then approved today

Congratulations!! Because of your post, I checked our case status too and we've also been approved today!! 

PD: January 12, 2020

Date changes: February 23, May 1, May 8, then approved today as well!

1 hour ago, Millikkl said:

Has anyone here applied for the K-3 visa in addition to their CR/IR-1? I was under the impression when we started this whole process that the K3 was becoming obsolete but am seeing that it is still an active option on the US Dept of State website and can be applied for in conjunction with the CR-1. Any insight on this? 

It used to be a hack that, after submitting, usually led the service center to check one's application earlier which resulted in a faster processing time. As mentioned though, not sure if it still works. Filing it is free though, so why not?

2 hours ago, Millikkl said:

Wow, congrats! So many people getting quick approvals. It makes me a little nervous to see all these people who submitted after us get approved before. I’ve only seen an update on our case April 2 that it is under review. 

I know what you mean. I almost wish we had just submitted later. 

We also got a date change. Last date change before this was 02/23. I think someone else asked Emma if the date change was a transfer and the agent said it wasn't.

Just found out that our case (PD: 01/11/2020) was transferred to VSC from TSC on 02/23/2020. I really hope this doesn't mean a longer wait. Good luck to all and congrats to those who have gotten their approvals.

1 hour ago, MlgSea said:

Update on our case:

 

01/27/2020: I-130 petition package (paper format) delivered to Phoenix Lockbox, via USPS

02/03/2020: USCIS cashed our fee payment (personal check)

02/03/2020: Received text receipt with IOE#

02/09/2020: Received Form I-797C (NOA1) in the mail, got assigned to Texas Service Center

04/20/2020: Received Approval Notice online (email and web account)

 

We got our petition approved last night, so it took less than 3 months, wild! We were assigned to Texas service center but our approval notice came from Potomac, so they must have reassigned it at some point? We're thrilled (and confused), but expecting the NVC phase to take a lot longer than normal, what with the consular services shutting down from covid, and the supposed impending executive order..

Wow, congratulations! Did you file a K-3 or do anything else? Seems like approvals have been happening left and right for PDs that are all over the place.

Filed online on January 11, and the NOA1 showed up online January 14. We were assigned to Texas. Buckling down for the (hopefully not so long) wait.