Sarah08

Hello! Our interview was Feb 5th and we were approved! Finally done!

Hi everyone!

We had our interview yesterday and Ede's GC was approved! For those who are going to have the interview in the near future, I'll tell you all what happened!

Our interview was in Chicago, and we got there ~1 hour early. It just so happens that they were behind, so we were waiting there for over 2 hours, but at least we had a chance to relax for a while before we had to go in. They finally called Ede's name and we went back and sat down. The guy who was doing our interview asked for our IDs, asked Ede where he was born, when he came here initially, etc.

Then he goes "Have you ever been arrested or convicted of any crimes?" And Ede kinda of grins and says "No, never" to which the interviewer responed "you're smiling. That gives me a reason to believe that you are lying to me." Ede says "Well, I just think it's interesting that you would ask me about this since I have already declared in my paperwork that I have never been involved with any of that" And the guy goes "So you think it's funny that we ask people this?!" Well, it ended up all right in the end.

I brought with us the pictures from when I went to Hungary to visit Ede's family, so he was looking thru those and asking questions about the trip. Then he asked a few questions about the civil marriage and he was kind of concerned about the fact that we are so young, but we convinced him that we have been together for 3 years now and that we don't want to be with anyone else because we have been thru so much together already.

So that was basically it...he asked about our living arrangements, some about our I-864 and commented that it looked good, and then told us that we are approved! He didn't ask to look at any other forms, so that was good. He took Ede's EAD and I-94 and said "you won't need these anymore!" Then explained about lifting conditions in 2 years, and that we should have the GC in 2 weeks! The whole thing took about 15 minutes.

Thanks everyone for your support through this whole process, and if anyone has questions about the interview, I will be glad to answer!

-Sarah

Hello,

I have an update! We have our interview on Feburary 5th. Thanks!

Anyone from Chicago area? I filed my AOS application just before the fee increase, had my fingerprinting on Sep 6th. Haven't heard anything since then, not a single 'touch' shows up in the online status. I'm able to check I-485 status, but not I-130 status. This is the I-485 status:

On August 28, 2007, we received this I485 APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow any instructions on this notice. We will notify you by mail when we make a decision or if we need something from you. If you move while this case is pending, call customer service. We process cases in the order we receive them. You can use our processing dates to estimate when yours will be done. This case is at our NATIONAL BENEFITS CENTER location. Follow the link below to check processing dates. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

By now I should have received a letter about the interview appointment. What to do? So frustrating...

Yes! We are in the same boat. I am a few hours from Chicago. We went to Waukegan at the beginning of November to have the biometrics done and have not had ant touches or anything since then. They don't even have our I-130 online yet to check the status, and it's been since September I think when they finally accepted it. I wonder if calling the customer service # would help? Good luck!

And another one! It's been over a month now since we have had our biometrics. The AOS hasn't even been touched, and I still can't loook up the I-130 online.

I have another update for you!

Our biometrics appt is November 2nd. We're moving along pretty quickly now! (Knock on wood...)

I was wondering that too. I read somewhere on the USCIS website that they are still back logged on getting all of the updates into their system, so it could take 3-4 weeks.

After being rejected twice for improper fees (which were actually the right fees), we finally got our NOA1 on Octover 17th, thanks to our congressman! Add that to the list please! Thanks!

Hi everyone-

As most of you may have seen, I had a post going before because our AOS was rejected for improper fees, even though it was postmarked by the 30th of July. After all this waiting, we FINALLY have our NOA1! Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement - it seems like we are on the right track. If we get off the track, you guys will be the first to know!

Another Update!!

I went to the congressman's office today to see his constituent manager. I showed her all of the receipts and everything, and she called a special phone number for USCIS. She explained te situation to the person at the other end, gave her the receipt #s, etc, and then she took down someone's name and address to send the package to. She said that she is going to go thru everything in the package one more time just to make sure we didn't leave anything out, and then she is going to write a letter of explanation and mail it directly to this person instead of to the big mail processing center. So anyway, she is very optimistic about everything at this point, and so am I! She said that she would have everything mailed off today, so hopefully we are back on track! Thanks a lot, and I'll keep you all updated.

***UPDATE***

Hi everyone! Today I spoke to a staff person at the congressman's office, and I am going to be stopping by there tomorrow morning to drop off the AOS package, and she said that she will take care of it for me, so then hopefully I won't need the InfoPass appointment after all! I'll let you know for sure what happens, but that's what I know as of right now. All of the "good lucks" seem to be working! Thanks again for all of the support!

Hi everyone (again, lol)

Thanks a lot for your interest and support! It really means a lot, because we feel pretty helpless right now. Today I got a call from my congressman's office (of course I was at work, so I had to let it go to voicemail), but she said that she needs to see the rejection letters and our whole package, and then they will be very happy to help us get this sorted out. So I'm going to give her a call back tomorrow morning, and see where to go from there. Thanks for the suggestion that I do that. I am from Illinois, so I also contacted Barack Obama just for fun, lol. Whether someone form there actually reponds, well, we'll see Anyway, I'll keep you all posted! Good night

The next step is the interview, which they will also send you a letter about. After that, they usually tell you if you are approved. Good luck!

Ok, well I just scheduled the infopass appointment - there was nothing open until next Tuesday, so I took that one. No news yet from the congressman. Anyway, that's where we're at right now! I'm not too excited about driving 3 hours to Chicago and 3 hours back for an appointment that probably won't even take 15 minutes, but I guess it's worth it if we get what we want!

When fees went up last time, the same thing happened to Yodrak and I remember he sent it in two or three times until his wife just told him to pay up so she could have her GC. It may not be something you can fight, and after the InfoPass you may have to accept it - they can keep sending it back and you really have no recourse if they won't take it.

Aww...that's just too depressing. I'm trying to be optimistic. This is their mistake, and I intend on showing them that.

when you last sent the package back did you send them a copy of the certified mail card, that they signed when they first recveived the package on 28th July, if you have this evidence, surely they have to accept it.

If you go for the info pass appointment make sure you take that card as evidence that they actually received and signed for your package on the 28th July

When they mailed back the package the first time, they also mailed me back the priority mail envelope that I sent it in, and there was the stamp in the corner that had the postmarked date on it, which said "July 27, 2007". They had that in a plastic ziplock bag that was stapled to some of the paperwork. I took that out and highlighted the date for them so that after I sent it back, that part would stand out. I also made mention of that in the cover letter. But it seems that they didn't even take time to read my cover letter, or look at anything else. I plan on taking everything with my to the appointment. Thanks again!

AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07082862 (posted Aug. 28, 2007)

If you receive a rejected petition or application on the basis of improper fees, please do the following:

1. Verify RECEIPT and POSTMARK date:

As a reminder, I-485s filed by "Aliens Whose Priority Dates Were Current Under the July Visa Bulletin" and their associated I-765s and I-131s were subject to the OLD fees until August 17. They must have been received by USCIS by August 17, 2007. Note that the NEW fees apply to I-140 petitions, even if filed concurrently with an I-485/I-765/I-131 packet. I-140 petitions concurrently filed with above I-485s were subject to the NEW fees effective July 30th.

All other applications or petitions are subject to the NEW FEES effective July 30th. These applications must be postmarked or entered into a courier service tracking system prior to July 30th for the old fees to apply.

2. If it appears to be an improvident rejection, resubmit the original application/petition to the Service Center with a brightly colored cover sheet along with proof of timely delivery/postmark stating:

ATTN: CRU SUPERVISOR - CASE IMPROPERLY REJECTED FOR FEES

Enclose a cover letter detailing what fees were enclosed and what date the case was postmarked and/or received.

I found this in another thread rejection letter hope it helps out

Just a thought did you sent the coreect amount in, in the first place, I beleive it was $190 for the I-130, $325 for the I-485 plus $70 for fingerprinting, and $180 for the EAD.

just a thought.

Yep, I checked about a million times before I mailed it. I sent one money order attached to the I-130 for $190, and another money order attached to the I-485 for $395. The EAD we have already, so that's not a problem.

AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07082862 (posted Aug. 28, 2007)

If you receive a rejected petition or application on the basis of improper fees, please do the following:

1. Verify RECEIPT and POSTMARK date:

As a reminder, I-485s filed by "Aliens Whose Priority Dates Were Current Under the July Visa Bulletin" and their associated I-765s and I-131s were subject to the OLD fees until August 17. They must have been received by USCIS by August 17, 2007. Note that the NEW fees apply to I-140 petitions, even if filed concurrently with an I-485/I-765/I-131 packet. I-140 petitions concurrently filed with above I-485s were subject to the NEW fees effective July 30th.

All other applications or petitions are subject to the NEW FEES effective July 30th. These applications must be postmarked or entered into a courier service tracking system prior to July 30th for the old fees to apply.

2. If it appears to be an improvident rejection, resubmit the original application/petition to the Service Center with a brightly colored cover sheet along with proof of timely delivery/postmark stating:

ATTN: CRU SUPERVISOR - CASE IMPROPERLY REJECTED FOR FEES

Enclose a cover letter detailing what fees were enclosed and what date the case was postmarked and/or received.

I found this in another thread rejection letter hope it helps out

Thanks for the suggestion. That's what we did the first time it was rejected, and apparently the kind people at USCIS can't read, lol.

I just sent an email to my congressman, and added in there that I know that we are not the only ones that this has happened to. And also that if the government wants to cut down illegal immigration, they should make legal immigration a little easier for those of us who want to obey the laws, so hopefully this can be prevented in the future. Thanks everyone for you replies so far!

I had the same problem and contacted my congressman. They got in touch with USCIS and asked me to mail the package again with attention to the name of the person they talked to. Its on its way there, lets see what happens.

Here's the thread I started about the problem before I had gotten in touch with my congressman, got several suggestions there.

Good luck, let me know what happens!

Thanks a lot for the link to your thread! I looked thru the posts really quick and it seems like we really did the right thing by emailing the congressman. We're going to try and get our InfoPass appt for Tuesday (i realized that I can't schedule it now because we don't have a printer to print the confirmation with, so I'll do that tomorrow). Anyway, thanks again, and good luck with yours as well! Let's keep in touch!

I just sent an email to my congressman, and added in there that I know that we are not the only ones that this has happened to. And also that if the government wants to cut down illegal immigration, they should make legal immigration a little easier for those of us who want to obey the laws, so hopefully this can be prevented in the future. Thanks everyone for you replies so far!

I realize your absolute frustration and feeling of unfairness, but dunno if you should be fighting this. Seems like a lot of trouble and effort that might not bring results. The last working day to accept the old fees was July 27th, but your package was received on the 28th, which was not a working day. Then 29th Sunday and 30th first day of new fees. If I was in your position, I would just get the cash through a credit card (or loan from family/friends) and pay up. It stinks but they are overwhelmed with applications right now and I don't know if an infopass appointment will help. This is government we are talking about, not exactly on the side of the little guy. And you guys have already gone through nearly 2 months of delay!

But anyway I'm wishing you the best and sending my prayers for success, for whatever you decide to do!

I know that we were cutting it close by sending it in so late (got screwed around with the medical exam..), but everywhere it clearly states that if your package is postmarked by the 30th, you will not be subjected to the new fees. Because it clearly says that, even on their website, I think that we have grounds to fight it. I realize that they are backlogged, but that's not my fault. They were asking for it when they tripled the application fees. So hopefully we can get something done here, but I really can't afford to take out another loan right now.

Hi everyone-

As some of you may know, our AOS was rejected for improper fees, even though our NOA1 clearly states on it that they received our package on July 28th. We made a cover letter stating that the package was improperly rejected, highlighted that the envelope was originally sent on the 27th of July, etc. and sent everything back.

Yesterday in the mail, we got the whole package back, AGAIN, for improper fees! After I am done with this post, I'm going to schedule an InfoPass appointment, because this isn't right, and we are both very frustrated. We're both full-time college students, and don't have the time or the money to deal with this any other way right now. Anyone have any other suggestions or experience with this? Thanks for your support!

After you get your visa (k-1 or whatever it was) and file for your GC, there should only be one interview, unless you need to have one for the work permit. So it doesn't matter if it is for the 2 year GC (which is what you will get if you were married for 2 or less years before your application was filed) or the 10 year GC, there is still only the one interview.

No, unfortunatly the EAD fee is not included in the I-485 fee, it is separate (if I understood correctly what you were asking...). Here is the link for the new fee changes:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments...edule052907.pdf

The amount of time it takes to process the application varies from case to case. I have seen people have their GC in hand in about 2-3 months, and for some people it takes a few years. No way to know for sure, and I'm not sure what all they look at that makes the time vary so much. As far as getting an automatic "temporary" GC after you send in the papers, I don't think that happens - they just don't allow you to leave the US whil your case is being processed, unless you file for what is called "advance parole." And you can also apply for the work permit while you are waiting for the GC, which is a good thing. Hope that helps! Good luck!