newyorker94

Hey guys, when I had my InfoPass Appointment, the officer said that my case was not in Vermont but rather in the local office. Wish me luck on my interview on Monday! I really don't know what's going to happen.That's the only thing I'm so nervous about - will they even do a combo or if they don't, they might just deny my N-400.

1 hour ago, Villanelle said:

Yes. 

Thank you so much for being helpful. I really appreciate it!

10 hours ago, Villanelle said:

No, the abuse waiver is the only waiver that allows you to naturalize at 3yrs. 

 

 

Does that mean if I checked the abuse waiver along with divorce and hardship, I'll still qualify for the 3 years assuming they were approved?

On 11/16/2020 at 1:33 PM, Villanelle said:

@newyorker94

 

What a great update! It seems they gave you a 6 month stamp rather then a 1 yr stamp because you have the n400 interview as pending/scheduled and they have both 751 and n400 files there. Just keep an eye on your online case status and if you havent already sign up for informed delivery from the post office. Hopefully an interview notice will be generated and in hand soon and you dont want to miss that notice! If you end up needing a new stamp start the process of getting one apx 45 days prior to it expiring. Hopefully you wont need to get another stamp because you would have had your interview and be done with all this. But if you do need an extension who knows how things will be in 6 months. Sometimes it looks like the pandemic is slowing and things are getting back to normal and other times it looks like its getting worse  

 

Also I do not believe anyone gave you incorrect information. You have to remember dealing with USCIS is like dealing with a computer which can be incredibly frustrating. Have you ever used one of those automated phone customer service things? You know where the robotic voice leads you along the menu prompts rather then letting you push buttons on your phone. I always get stuck in loops with them. It will list out a bunch of things you can say and one of them is 'help me with something else'. I'll say 'something else' (leaving off the help me part) and it responds 'sorry I didnt get that, please say help me with something else' If you dont use the exact words it wont respond properly. So I dont think you were ever given incorrect information but rather you were asking the wrong questions or misunderstanding the responses.

 

I dont believe anyone told you the case was at VSC but rather that you need to contact VSC about your case, hence the attempts youve been making to try to find out where your case is. I believe we went over this before- Every petition submitted has some privacy regulations but an abuse 751 has additional privacy regulations. A normal petition you can get information over the phone by verifying some basic info or use the ask Emma online tool or submit service requests. The abuse petitions you can not do any of that. The only way to get information about an abuse petition is by writing to VSC (signing and dating in ink and mailed to/from the address they have on record) OR verifying your identity in person at infopass OR verifying your identity with your congressman who inquires. Your attorney can also inquire as they too have verified your identity and they use a special system which verifies they are the attorney they claim to be. All of this is done for your protection. It can be very dangerous to distance yourself from your abuser. Many abusers have a hard time letting go and will attempt to stalk the victim and/or interfere with things. The additional privacy guidelines ensure this does not happen with your immigration process. You dont want the abuser to be able to get information about your case and know when your appt is so they can show up and harass or harm you. Or even worse cancel your petition or change your address and negatively impact your process. 

 

So even though you know now 100% that your case is at the local office you still can not contact them by writing or calling or using the 800# or online tools. Your contact options remain the same. Infopass, paper letter to VSC, congressman or attny inquiry.  Since infopass confirmed your 751 is at the local office you dont really need assistance from the congressman anymore in finding out where it is.

 

Is your attorney coming with you to the interview? The only issue I see potentially being an issue is the fact that you checked off the hardship box. As I said previously you can request they amend your petition and remove the box for hardship. If the attny is coming to the interview discuss this with them prior. They should know this is an option and if they dont by talking to them ahead of time they can research it a bit if they need to.  If they arent coming to the interview you would need to request the hardship box be dropped yourself if needed.

 

I can walk you through several scenarios of what can happen at the interview you have upcoming. It will be set as the n400 interview. So you should prepare for that as needed. You will do the civics test and all the other things the standard n400 interview entails. If its a combo interview they may address the 751 part first or they may conduct the n400 parts first and then do the 751 parts. They may mash it all together and have you do the civics test and then question you on the n400 and 751 simultaneously. Many of the questions for the two forms they have to go over are the same like asking about criminal records or verifying addresses. The Officer will conduct the interview the way they see fit. 

 

In general the interview process starts with them greeting you and explaining the purpose of the interview and then they give you the oath to swear to tell the truth. You then have an opportunity to give them any documents you have or make any corrections before they start like if you realize you entered an address wrong or put a wrong date for employment history. Some Officers are friendly and approachable, others not so much. Read the room and try to go with the flow but if you have any corrections to make (aside from possibly needing to drop the hardship box) you need to do so at the start of the interview. When they explain the purpose of the interview if they say its for the n400 and nothing about the 751 you can ask about the 751- if its possible to do the 751 as well. Most likely if they dont already have the 751 in front of them already they are going to say no. They need to review the case files before the interview and are not going to simply walk across the office and pull it out to work on so it would be a combo interview. So if they say no this is just for the n400 then thats what it is. They may say yes we are going to do 751 as well but first we are doing n400. They may say at the beginning that they have both files.

 

If it is a combo interview (or if you later have the 751 interview) and they have a problem with the hardship waiver check box it will be pretty clear because they would be asking you direct questions about the hardship aspect and imply you dont qualify for such. If the conversation starts going that way and you do not have your attny with you - all you have to do is explain you did not understand the requirements for the hardship waiver and if they can amend it to remove the hardship check box leaving you with just the divorce + abuse check boxes. This is almost never a problem to do. They can make changes to what they have in front of them and you may be asked to sign something acknowledging the changes. If your attny is there they would ask this so discuss this with your attny prior and make sure they know this is an option and are prepared to ask for it to be changed. 

 

Some people like to bring an updated 751 filled out with the correct boxes just incase the Officer says well I can change it but you need a new form filled out (rather then them editing what they currently have). Technically you dont need a new form but if they want a new form to approve you then you need a new form so it can be useful to already have it. Most Officers do not like to be told what policy is and how they should be doing things by the person being interviewed (like insisting you dont need a new 751 and they can make changes to what they have) regardless if they are correct or not. Its usually better to just go along with doing things the way they want as long as its petty things. If at any time though you feel they are being excessive or completely ignoring policy you can ask for a supervisor though. This is rare but you do read horror stories of people who leave the interview in tears from being berated by the Officer and in those cases they should have asked to stop the interview and get the supervisor involved. A benefit of having an attny at the interview is that they kind of act like a moderator. They cant answer questions for you but they can keep the interview in check. 

 

I do not know what you submitted as proof for the hardship waiver- you may have met the requirements. Im only speculating that you may need to drop the hardship box simply because its a rather difficult box to prove for most people and in order to approve the 751 you must satisfy all the boxes you checked. If you cant then you either need to drop the box or present additional evidence that satisfies it. Its much easier to drop the box and dropping the hardship box wont impact your being able to naturalize at 3yrs (thats a benefit from the abuse box). 

 

Please keep us updated on what happens. I really do hope you get the combo interview and it all goes smoothly! 

Hello! Absolutely --  I will keep you in the loop! My interview is scheduled for December 14th, and that's next month. I'm hopeful that the 6-month stamp means that both cases will be adjudicated together. My attorney is not coming with me and the hardship box is kind of a gray area right now where I don't know how that would turn out. 

I appreciate the walkthrough and will prepare everything for the interview. Will *not* dropping the hardship box eliminate my eligibility to naturalize at 3 years? Thanks!

On 9/10/2020 at 3:04 AM, Ring of the lord said:

So USCIS responded to my inquiry today saying that they will process my I-751 and N400 together.

I just went to my InfoPass appointment for the I-551 stamp and the IO said that my case is at the local office, so it would be in Queens. He encouraged me to go to the N-400 interview scheduled in December because they *might* adjudicate both. I think I'll send a e-Request through the portal and figure it out from there.

Hi @Villanelle! I just got back from my InfoPass Appointment today and was given the I-551 stamp with 6 months validity. I also asked if I should go to the N-400 and the officer said yes as they *might* adjudicate both at the same time. It also turns out that my case is not at the Vermont Service Center, contrary to what Customer Service told me, so I've been sending letters requesting updates on my case for nothing. The officer said it's in the local field office, so that would be my office in Queens, right? The officer also mentioned that it's not outside the processing time, another thing contrary to the USCIS website. He said the processing time was five years, which gives me low hopes that it this will all be over soon. I guess I'd just have to keep coming back and get the I-551 stamp for my passport until they finally work on my case.

I did contact my local congresswoman a week ago and have no response yet.

Do you have hopes that both the I-751 and N-400 will both be adjudicated? The officer did mention that the N-400 won't be approved without the I-751, which I already know, but encouraged me to go to the interview so I won't have to pay again.

At this point I'm going to gather all the evidence submitted for the I-751 from my lawyer, prepare for the interview, and just hope that it everything goes well.

Just now, Villanelle said:

When you submit a petition to USCIS it's kind of like a train leaving the station, it starts down the track and goes until the end. It can slow or speed up, even pause for a bit but it always goes to the end. The end can be approval or denial.  You can also withdraw to end it. It's a whole thing about them having an obligation to process immigration paperwork submitted. 

 

N400 cases can and do move forward regardless of the status of the 751. It just won't be approved until the 751 is done. You can file n400 when you are eligible whether that's 3 or 5yrs. The 5yr people aren't rejected submissions because ROC wasn't done when they submitted so the 3yr people aren't going to be rejected at submission either.  Neither one would be approved though until the 751 is. They proceed with the n400 processing assuming your ROC will be approved rather than waiting for the ROC to be approved but again the n400 can not make it to the end approval until ROC is done. 

 

If you submitted the n400 and your ROC is denied the n400 will be denied as well. If you submitted ROC as abuse and then n400 under 3yrs and then later switch ROC abuse to divorce and are approved as such the pending 3yr n400 will be denied and you can reapply at 5yrs. 

 

So the n400 is going to move forward on it's track. It will get to the interview step. The interview will happen but you will be told they can't make a decision until the ROC is done. The abuse waiver ROC is generally done by VSC although any office can process it. The NYC would have to pull the 751 from VSC to process it along with the n400 they have currently in front of them. According to Pinkrlion who is familiar with both NYC offices and abuse waivers in general they are not going to do that. It happens like that sometimes. You can search the forums for posts about it, usually titled as n400 decision can not be made due to pending ROC. The only advice for people with a pending ROC who also file n400 and then the n400 moves faster and an interview is scheduled for n400 before ROC is done (or ready) is to try to confirm with infopass or congressman ahead of time that the local office has both. 

Thanks for your response! This all makes a lot of sense. I will definitely ask at the infopass if they will have both cases ready, as well as contact an NY congressman.

On 10/20/2020 at 3:42 AM, Villanelle said:

So you did use an attny to file?? I know you are asking specifically about the timeline and would rather not discuss the abuse- which is fine but its incredibly odd that an attny would file under divorce + abuse + hardship. See the thing is every box you check you need to prove. So you checked 3 boxes- divorce, abuse and hardship. You now have to prove all 3. 

 

Frequently people post asking which box should they check and its an individual choice everyone has to make on their own. Divorce is obviously the easiest box to prove. For that you need to show bonafide marriage + divorce. For abuse you need to show bonafide marriage + abuse. For hardship you dont show bonafide marriage at all, you just need to show hardship. And we are talking asylum type hardships- basically the hardship box is asking them to ignore the marriage completely and grant you status based on not being able to leave because you would be forced back to a bad place. ... 

 

Often in abusive relationships the couple will not have what is considered the traditional bonafide evidence stuff like joint accounts or property (due to one person being controlling and financially abusive) Or they are lacking social type evidences like photos with friends or trips or stuff like that. When you use the abuse box they will take into account the abuse impacting how much bonafide evidences you have. So those who are lacking bonafide evidences will want to use the abuse waiver option. Those who have sufficient bonafides evidences can decide if they want to use divorce waiver only or abuse +divorce or abuse alone. Again hardship waivers are rarely used and when they are its best done with an experienced attny.

 

Generally speaking your ROC is not being processed any differently then anyone elses ROC- its just being done at VSC so you have to take into account your processing times may be longer then average and may be longer then VSC times overall because the overall times for VSC take into account all the ROCs (joint, abuse, hardship) and your case will have to go to an Officer who does abuse cases- so it may take a bit longer. Currently ROC is taking 1-2 yrs for most people. You send your package and it sits and waits for an Officer to get to it. When they do they will send the RFE for the divorce decree. Depending on what evidences you sent you may get the RFE for additional abuse proof or additional hardship proof. IF you do then you need to speak with your attny about withdrawing some of the boxes. They may have overzealously checked off boxes either intentionally or because they dont know what they are doing- Im not sure. But if you get an RFE for abuse or hardship you can respond by asking them to withdraw your request for those waiver types -or- you can send the evidence they require. They are under no obligation to withdraw your boxes but they almost always do as a courtesy. If they refuse you would have to file (and pay for) a new 751 with the appropriate boxes checked. 

 

Because your case is at VSC and tagged as abuse you can only contact them through the mail system or through an attny. (or congressman) you can not get any info over the phone. Its generally advised to NOT send unsolicited stuff like the divorce decree because it often does not make it into your case file. If you do send it (or already have sent it) I hope you have another copy ready to send if you are RFE'd. If you dont have additional copies- get them now. 

 

Your n400 shouldnt have much impact on your overall timeline. Historically the n400 gets processed faster then the 751, so often the n400 comes across their desk first and when it does they will pull the 751 because you need the 751 done to do n400. Your 751 has been pending a while now so it may come up before the n400 does. You can search the forums for 'combo interview' for more information and current timelines of those waiting for combo (751-n400) interviews. In some places those who are waiting for combo interviews are waiting longer then if they just did the 751. 

Hello! Yes, I did use an attorney to file and he advised to check all 3 boxes and we gathered all sufficient evidence, although the extreme hardship was mostly in the written statement along with the divorce and abuse. I submitted the divorce decree without an RFE and as of yesterday, November 6, my N400 interview was scheduled without the letter in the document tab which should take about a few days.

So my question would be, how likely will it be a combo interview? I have an InfoPass appointment and was thinking I could ask the officer who will give me the I-551 stamp I requested what the process will be like. I really hope this works out and this will all be over soon. I really, really appreciate your response as I have been reading cases similar to mine in different forums and always found your reply to be super helpful. Bless your heart!

Hi all,

I hope you're staying positive and testing negative! 😉

I wanted to start this thread since I haven't seen any new ones about this topic recently.

My attorney and I filed for the I-751 with the divorce, extreme cruelty, and extreme hardship waivers in New York City. The case is currently at VSC where I also know the VAWA Unit is. The divorce was still pending at the time of filing. We filed on the 1st of April 2019 and still have not heard. Here's a very short timeline:

April 1, 2019 - Filed I-751

April 19, 2019 - Case was received

July 1, 2019 - Case was updated to show fingerprints were taken

July 23, 2019 - Divorce was finalized by Supreme Court of New York

* I did not receive any RFE*

I checked the processing time and it said 11-18 months, but today it shows 11-19 months. My CPR expires on November 24, 2020 and I've contacted customer service and they say there's a 30-day period prior to expiration that I can set up an Infopass appointment to get a stamp on my passport extending it for another year. However, it's going to be 19 months from November 1st. I sent a letter September 21, 2020 addressed to the VAWA Unit at VSC in September asking for an update on my case after being advised by customer service to do so. I then called up customer service again asking why I never received an RFE for the final divorce papers. They told me I could send the divorce letters with a cover letter and copy of my I-797, passport, and front and back of green card.

Another fault of mine is, without knowing COVID-19 would be a huge part of the backlog at USCIS, I applied for N-400 which is also taking longer than expected to process. So I guess it's good since it buys me time. I know it was not so smart and maybe I was too confident my I-751 would be adjudicated before then. I knew that if it gets approved that I'd be able to apply for citizenship under the 3-year rule. Heck, I didn't even know you could file for the waiver before the 2-year period ends (I was separated from my spouse before the deadline came closer). I didn't seek for a lawyer's assistance since I had no money, nor did I know what a Pro Bono lawyer was. Yeah, trying to get your life together alone is hard, especially in New York City.

I still haven't heard anything. Does anyone have the same case as I do? If anyone has any input, can you please help? What should I do?

Note that I did not specify as to what kind of abuse I suffered, as those were all included in my application and something no one wants to talk about. Just asking about the timeline. Thank you!