akma

On 10/14/2021 at 6:23 PM, _Layne said:

Hi Akma, I'm the beneficiary and we're in WA state. We filed the AoS on Nov 2019, and after 2 years I got mail about interview scheduled next month Nov 2021. So yeah, it's pretty slow.

How did your interview go, Layne? Since you applied 2 years prior, did you get a 10-year GC? 
We finally got the letter! Our interview is in January 2022 in Portland, OR, even though we live in Seattle, WA. We applied in June 2020. 

On 10/14/2021 at 6:23 PM, _Layne said:

Hi Akma, I'm the beneficiary and we're in WA state. We filed the AoS on Nov 2019, and after 2 years I got mail about interview scheduled next month Nov 2021. So yeah, it's pretty slow.

I think WA is the SLOWEST state, it’s ridiculous to wait TWO YEARS for an interview. Please update us afterwards and let us know if you got a 10 year green card, fingers crossed! 

 

On 10/11/2021 at 2:40 PM, Ally&Axel said:

It is so frustrating. A whole year to get a work authorization is insane. It’s hard to live in the us on 1 income.

ah so no help the second time for the interview? Good lord.

that’s good news though that the processing time went down in Seattle by a few month. At this point you should also get the 10 year green card!!

Thank God I'm a nurse so I still have my job since Covid hit, but yes, it's not easy to live on one income in the US, and WA is an expensive state. My husband felt horrible as a man not being able to provide financially. But USCIS doesn't give a flying f*** about people like us. 
Right, no help from the congressman's office about the interview. We do hope my husband gets a 10 year green card soon, since it's been such a long wait. 
 

3 hours ago, Ally&Axel said:

Hi Akma,

I’m in the same boat than you and still waiting. I filed in may 2020. I have no idea if I’ll get the green card this year. I don’t even know if I’ll get it next year tbh. I think my case is stuck at the nbc and there’s “nothing I can do but wait”. And wait for what? Wait so that the people that applied long after get treated first. I am so furious at this whole process. Soon my ead will run out and of course they don’t have that together either so you have to wait 10 month to put a service request in that will most likely be denied anyway.

I understand your frustration, we feel the same, my husband got his biometrics appointment in May, a year after applying, and EAD in June. That happened after we reached out to our congressman. We reached out again and asked for help with interview appointment, but they called us back and said “everyone is waiting”…. 
I’ve just checked processing times for Seattle changed from 24-28 to 10-24 months so according to this we should get our appointment by May 2022… that’s when my husband’s EAD will expire so we’re prying he doesn’t lose a job after then.

So… anybody still WAITING for their interview appointment? 
We’re in Seattle and still waiting… we even called USCIS and told them we’re willing to travel to Portland or anywhere else for the interview, but the answer from USCIS was they don’t do interviews in another state, which obviously is not the case based on previous posts here… 

So we finally had our biometrics 3 weeks ago, yes, a year after applying! My husband's EAD+AP and SSN arrived on Monday. The case status changed to "Ready to be scheduled for interview". I've just checked the I-485 processing times for Seattle, 24-28.5 months, which means our interview should be somewhere between June-October 2022... I've heard they're also scheduling interviews for Washington residents in Portland, which has I-485 processing times of 13-23 months.
Anyone knows someone from WA who already had their interview scheduled? 

On 5/29/2021 at 1:22 AM, Trese said:

 

Happy for you, at least you got your biometrics scheduled! You can file for an inquiry for case outside processing time for the EAD/AP as soon as your status reflects that fingerprints have been applied to your AOS and EAD cases. That's what I did. Here's my subsequent timeline:

 

05/04 - fingerprints applied; filed for case outside normal processing time

05/22 - EAD card is being produced

05/24 - EAD, AP approved

05/25 - card was mailed

05/26 - USPS picked up card (with tracking number)

05/28 - EAD/AP combo card arrived

 

Now waiting for my SS card to arrive next. Fingers crossed.

I wish we could see updates about our case on the USCIS online account. Apparently, because we didn't file online (we sent all forms via post mail), we cannot see these updates. We asked the USCIS officers if there's a way to fix it so that we could see detailed updates, but they tell us "I don't know" or "I'm not an IT person". 
I guess we'll just file for an inquiry for case outside normal processing time a day after the biometrics and we'll just keep calling and bugging them. 

8 hours ago, Joanna & Rafael said:

 

We are located in Seattle, WA where things were moving slowly.. my husband had his bio appt May 10th and received his combo EAD today!

Finally! Did he get his AP too? How long is AP valid for? 
 

On 4/7/2021 at 6:58 AM, Trese said:

To my surprise, I got the Tier 2 callback just a coupla hours later! And thankfully, she was able to schedule my biometric appointment on May 3 (the earliest available slot in Seattle ASC according to her).

How is your case progressing? Did you get your EAD and AP? Any news about the interview?  

On Monday we were finally able to speak to a humane tier 2 officer who scheduled my husband for biometrics, code 3, within the next 2 weeks.
AOS received June 2020, biometrics June 2021... Seattle... btw contacting our congressman was useless, several emails back and forth since December and no help from him. Now we're just hoping for a fast AP processing so we can go overseas for medical treatment. 

On 4/12/2021 at 12:15 PM, Joanna & Rafael said:

Same thing happened to us! I received an email this morning stating we "missed" our appointment. Thank you for all the tips I reached out to Emma and am supposed to get a call back within 72 hours. Hope we can get an appountment scheduled and good luck to you both, at least we finally heard something back from Seattle!!

Were you able to schedule your biometrics? We're still in limbo, no notice, no update, ignored by USCIS and Congressman's office. 

On 4/7/2021 at 5:46 PM, Trese said:

 

The response seems to vary per officer.. The ones I talked to before couldn't/wouldn't schedule my biometrics either. It was only this last one who did.

 

If you have a valid medical reason for wanting to expedite your case, did you tell the agent you talked to about that?

We've told them about the medical treatment issue, but no reply since then, neither from the Congressman's office nor USCIS. Honestly, I think this Congressman has no clue how to help us. Our application was received JUNE 5, 2020 and STILL NO BIOMETRICS... I don't know what to do, would an immigration lawyer be our last hope?  

8 hours ago, Trese said:

Yesterday morning, I went to live chat on the USCIS website (via Emma) and requested an urgent Tier 2 callback due to the ~missed~ biometric appointment. The agent I talked to didn't seem to want to make that service request, but I kept insisting politely anyway until she just gave in and finally made the service request. I asked for assurance that I'd indeed get a callback, as the last time I made a similar request, I did not get a call within the specified timeline. To my surprise, I got the Tier 2 callback just a coupla hours later! And thankfully, she was able to schedule my biometric appointment on May 3 (the earliest available slot in Seattle ASC according to her). She told me to wait for the notice in the mail; and if after 2 weeks and it still has not arrived, to give them another call so they could send me a soft copy of the notice.

Good to know they were able to schedule you. Good luck! 
When we called USCIS back in February and made service request about that "missed appointment", the tier 2 called back within couple hours too. But she said they were no longer able to schedule biometrics appointments and she had to put us back in queue and couldn't tell us when to expect the appointment. I remembered other people on this forum scheduled by tier 2, so I don't understand what the problem is. Maybe she was unhelpful because I referred to her as "tier 2 agent"? When she heard that, she raised her voice and said, "tier 2 officer"... I really didn't know that since she only introduced herself by first name at the beginning of call. 
At this point we're really just want my husband's AP as soon as possible, we need to go outside of the US for medical treatment and we're hoping to go soon. 

7 hours ago, Trese said:

Yesterday morning, I went to live chat on the USCIS website (via Emma) and requested an urgent Tier 2 callback due to the ~missed~ biometric appointment. The agent I talked to didn't seem to want to make that service request, but I kept insisting politely anyway until she just gave in and finally made the service request. I asked for assurance that I'd indeed get a callback, as the last time I made a similar request, I did not get a call within the specified timeline. To my surprise, I got the Tier 2 callback just a coupla hours later! And thankfully, she was able to schedule my biometric appointment on May 3 (the earliest available slot in Seattle ASC according to her). She told me to wait for the notice in the mail; and if after 2 weeks and it still has not arrived, to give them another call so they could send me a soft copy of the notice.

 

On 4/5/2021 at 5:16 PM, Trese said:

Yep, got nothing to show for it.

 

 

My ASC is Seattle too. It really is THE slowest in the country. 😭

On 4/5/2021 at 5:20 PM, Trese said:

 

But I didn't even get a biometric appointment notice in the first place! 😠 Just got this in the email today; prior to this there was nothing. Can I possibly just print out the email, bring it to the ASC? Will they take my biometrics? This is beyond frustrating!

Similar situation here... and we're in Seattle, WA too... 
USCIS AOS receipt June 5th.
In December, we contacted our district Congress Representative with concerns about the lack of progress, and we asked for help.
We've also been calling USCIS since October, spoke to tier 2 officers a few times, and filed multiple inquiries over the past 6 months. 
On Feb 18, we got an email from our Congress Rep office with a copy of a biometrics appointment notice attached, asking us if we showed up to that appointment... the biometrics appointment was scheduled for Feb 16 apparently... We never got anything by mail. We went to our post office to inquire about it and we were told there was no such letter processed through their facility. So it seems like our appointment notice was mailed elsewhere, or USCIS never mailed us anything. We contacted USCIS again, they didn't even have any updates and didn't know whether or not our biometrics had been scheduled. When the tier 2 officer called back and said we should have received the biometrics letter, we requested the tracking number... the officer said they don't send biometrics notices with tracking... I just said, "that's a very concerning issue, taking into account the sensitive content of such letters, we believe our appointment notice was lost or misplaced, and our post office is willing to help us locate it", but the tier 2 officer got very defensive, said she'll put us back in queue, and hung up. Nothing since then. 
Our Congress Rep told us to print out the copy of the notice from their email and mail it with a cover letter asking to reschedule the biometrics, which we did. The Congress Rep promised to follow up on that and update us. That was a month ago. Since then we've been emailing the Rep office once a week. No response. We also called USCIS on April 2 and now we're waiting to speak to tier 2 officer again. Again...
Btw my husband's USCIS online account hasn't been updated since June, even though we kindly requested that on several occasions via phone and mail. 
We've lost all hopes. What would you recommend at this point? 

35 minutes ago, pigrew said:

  

I was exaggerating a bit. I have not seen a law stating that they have any sort of deadline to issue biometrics. But, YouTube-lawyer Jim Hacking advertises that you should sue USCIS if you have not gotten your PR card within 12 to 18 months. https://asistahelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Mandamus-Actions-Avoiding-Dismissal.pdf is a summary I just found online talking about if the government has a duty to make a discretionary decision (such as granting an EAD). I've not heard of any success is forcing EAD issuance except in cases of asylum.

My personal feeling is that it isn't worth it to sue them for an EAD (except perhaps as part of a class-action). I expect USCIS will speed up in the next few months due to the Biden administration. It'll cost you a few thousand dollars to file a suit, it's better to attack regarding the green card than the EAD.

 

 

We didn't give any documents to them (other than the release form). We didn't say that we needed expediting. We gave them our receipt numbers, filing dates, and a message saying that it's taking unreasonably long for receive our EAD, that we have not yet had biometrics, that we did reply promptly to a RFIE, and that we got no response to service requests submitted directly to USCIS. Clearly state your basis of immigration, that you've submitted an I-485 and I-765 >6months ago, and that its taking unreasonably long for them to process your AP/EAD. We also suggested that lawmakers could remove the requirement of biometrics before EAD issuance or make some other legislative or administrative change to USCIS so that the process would go more smoothly. Make sure that you sign and submit the release form.

Thanks, we did that, we explained that my husband arrived on a K1 visa and we gave them the exact dates of all the steps, we also included a copy of I-797C and a copy of my employer’s medical insurance asking us to provide my husband’s SSN... I also mentioned again that I’m an RN, provide care to Covid patients and may easily infect my husband, therefore it’s of utmost importance for me to make sure he has medical insurance.
This “frontline hero” is sick of USCIS... 

Honestly I don’t understand why K1 AOS applicants should have biometrics here, they already had their biometrics done at the US embassy before the K1 visa was issued. 

On 1/26/2021 at 11:39 AM, pigrew said:

Our Indianapolis biometrics has been scheduled.

 

We contacted Indiana Senator Young's office about delays in biometrics for our I-485 and I-765 (Indianapolis ASC). A week later (on 22 Jan 2020), we were scheduled for 8AM in the middle of February. The senator's office emailed us a receipt notice which was for both the I-485 and I-765. Since it was scheduled for 8AM, my guess is that it was manually scheduled or prioritized somehow due to the congressional inquiry. The other possibility is that USCIS suddenly realized what they're doing is illegal and won't be tolerated by the Biden administration, so they've quickly cleaned up their act.

 

We had also filed service requests on the I-131 and I-765, but got no reply on either. My feeling is that they are unable to reply to service requests as quickly as people are creating them, so nobody is getting responses.

 

I'm most certainly not a morning person. I think we'll have to leave our house at 5:45 AM. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad. We'd normally just get a hotel room closer, but that's a big risk due to SARS-Cov-2.

 

Do you mean it’s illegal if USCIS received our AOS on June 5 and we’re still waiting for biometrics appointment? Where can I find the proof it’s illegal? I need to send some more information to my congressman... 

We sent a letter to our congressman at the end of December. I just got an email from him yesterday: 

“Thank you for contacting me for assistance. I appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

In order to properly assist you, I will need you to complete the attached Information Release Form to ensure that I have your permission to initiate an inquiry on your behalf. The Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579), prohibits the disclosure by federal agencies of confidential information concerning your affairs without your written authorization.

In addition, please clearly describe your issue in writing and provide supporting documentation that is relevant to your case so that I can present this information to the proper agency.” 
 

So what other documentation should we provide? We sent a copy of our I-797C notice when we first contacted him.
I’m losing all hopes. 

42 minutes ago, Trese said:

Still no biometrics up to now. 06/15 PD, Seattle ASC. I have already lost hope for this process. 😭

We’re in WA too, PD 6/5, no biometrics appointment yet. Nor any status updates. A week ago we wrote to our district congressman and waiting for a response. 

1 hour ago, Goshlook said:

Any filers from June STILL waiting for biometrics? We're still waiting here, multiple inquiries later, with no word from the USCIS.

Yes, we’re still waiting, our packet was received June 5, we contacted USCIS multiple times since October and still nothing. 
I’m seeing people on CR, F or H visas getting biometrics. 
Maybe let’s ask this: June filers with K (fiancé) visas living in Democratic states, have you gotten your biometrics appointment yet? 
 

On 12/5/2020 at 5:25 PM, RayCal said:

If you checked the YES box on question 14 of your I-765 (EAD) application.

 

We did

BTW, anyone knows how to get medical insurance without SSN? It's crazy, I'm a nurse working at a hospital and my employer would cover my husband but only with SSN. We called USCIS and explained the situation, asking about a temporary SSN only for purpose of getting my husband a health insurance, but nope... so much for the appreciation of the Covid first responders, thank you not USCIS.... 
 

36 minutes ago, RayCal said:

Congrats! I filed 6/5, a few days after you. We have the same biometrics date. Hoping to get the approval soon. Did you request SSN with the I-485? If yes, did you received along with EAD?

Our application was received 6/5 too. And still no biometrics appointment or any update online. 
How do I check if we requested SSN? 

3 hours ago, Juanitaa said:

Hey guys,

 

Count me in the group of June 2020 AOS filers who are still waiting for biometrics appointment (and jobless & frugal for at least half a year now). We are all in the same boat!

Seems like it's the May 2020 AOS filers who are currently being processed. I had a peek at the May filers forum, some of them have received their biometrics appointment letter recently.

I guess whatever info provided in the USCIS website processing time tool is truthful, as it says the current receipt date being processed for I-765 (in NBC) is May 16 and it coincides with the experiences being shared by May filers.

The good news is: June 2020 filers: We are up next! And we will get there!

Just hoping to encourage anyone reading this who are in the same situation. I'm also tired of waiting but just realized I have to adjust my expectations realistically to stop being anxious. Good luck to everyone!

 

Let’s hope so! We’re just hoping to go see family as soon as we get my husband’s AP. 
Anyone knows if AP can only be used once and only in emergency, or for what reasons? We’d like to see my family in Europe and his in Mexico in May 2021, but I don’t think he’d have his green card by then yet. 

On 11/20/2020 at 7:36 PM, mlong1397 said:

Case received June24th (originally submitted Jun 2nd but was rejected). Got the biometrics appt letter today. Scheduled for 12/10. Local office is San Antonio, TX. Going to try a walk-in on wednesday 25th and see what happens... Anybody else from San Antonio?

Our case was received June 5, but still no biometrics appointment scheduled :( 

we’re in Washington state. I guess the current president has been doing his best to stall and delay all immigration cases, let’s hope things will start moving early next year. 

Ok so how do we file service request or request for tier 2 agent to call us? 
What we were told last week over the phone was to go to e-request.gov and fill out “did not receive notice by mail”, we did that and in the note we stated we still haven’t received biometrics appointment. After submitting that request, it said we should hear by December 3. 
After reading your posts, I’ve just tried to also fill out “case outside normal processing time”, but it didn’t allow me to submit, I guess it’s because our I485 was received by USCIS 06/05/20 so it’s not 6 months yet and our case is within processing times? So how are you going around that since you also applied in June? 

Anyone knows what’s going on with biometrics appointments? 
My husband came to the US on a K1 visa in February, we got married and sent out our I485 with AP and EAD end of May. Received I797 NoA in June and still waiting for that biometrics appointment letter. We called USCIS 3 weeks ago and they told us we’d receive a letter by end of October with appointment for November. Still nothing. Today we called again and this time they said they don’t know what to tell us, don’t know processing times or anything else. In the end they just told us to fill out the form on e-request.gov, which we did but what’s going on? I mean it’s been over 5 months since we applied and still nothing?! We’d like to go to Europe in March but without his AP we can’t even plan anything.