eugene-eugene

1 hour ago, IMPC said:

Omg! I have a female friend named Eugene not sure why did I assume! Lol! I apologize for that and thank you so much for your kind response! 😳☺️😃

Haha no worries, this name is used for both men and women in the country I am from too.

12 minutes ago, IMPC said:

Hello sis! I am planning to do this this month for my mom. She is already here in the US and it’s her 4th month staying here already… is it ok if I dm you? I just wanted to know what you ended up doing and also to make sure I won’t miss anything. Thank you so much sis! 

Sure (although I more of a bro than a sis 😄). Happy to reply to the DM. In case somebody else will stumble on this thread later - I ended up writing two separate check which came through. Also I talked to a lawyer and was told that it doesn't matter, one check would come through too.

On 12/4/2022 at 6:20 PM, OldUser said:

If you send all forms in one packet (per person), there is no need to explain it.

 

The way my stuff was organized by lawyer is:

 

Payment

Table of contents

All forms

All evidence organized

Do you by chance know if this was a single payment for the entire package, such as a single check for $1760. Or did you have to write separate checks for $1225 and $535?

Hello, I am filing a GC petition for parents who are already in the US on tourist visas and I need help organizing the documents. I have separate folders, each containing a form and the relevant supporting documents. Internet says that my total price should be $535 for i-130 and $1225 for I-485, with other fees waived because they are already included into this price.

How do I work this into the package? Do I just skip paying for i-131/693/765/864? Do I add a letter into each folder explaining that I paid for other forms? Any other recommended ways of doing this?

Thanks for the info everyone! Just spent all the morning doing a looooooot of printing and will soon send the two packs of documents for my parents.

I am a citizen who wants to submit GC package for my parents who are currently in the USA. Some of the forms have overlapping requirements and require the same supporting documents, e.g. the main I-130 requires a passport copy and I-131 requires "A copy of an official photo identity document" which is also a passport. Do I need to treat these independently, even if I send them in a single package, and include two translated copies of the same passport? Or is it ok to include just one copy?

Just now, Hamilton said:

Ty! And were you able to take your cell phone in? 

Well kind of - yes but it basically ended up in that cabinet with my backpack and everything else. Also I personally had absolutely no connection while inside that building, not sure if my provider is crappy or if they do something with the signal there.

1 minute ago, Hamilton said:

Good to hear it wasn't a huge issue.

 

Are we allowed to take bags and cell phones into the interview? I'm planning to take a bunch of thin file folders in a messenger bag.

 

 

I took a small backpack with a bunch of stuff. Once I sat into the chair, their assistant told me to take out a few things like IDs and put the rest into the cabinet next to the table.

4 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

Congrats!! Did you have any trouble with the remote interview (headphones etc.)? And did you need to get stuff scanned by the assistant person?

I had minor troubles - the connection was good but whatever app they use has a minor delay between when the person speaks and when it starts recording so sometimes the first few sounds are lost. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but the person interviewing me had a fairly heavy accent (not that I am in the position to complain - my accent is much heavier) so I had to ask to repeat a few things.

Assistant asked me to take out all the IDs (green card, etc) and keep them on the table. At the end of the interview, I held them in front of the camera and the person interviewing me probably took screenshots.

On 7/18/2022 at 7:49 AM, eugene-eugene said:

Interestingly, my wife still hasn't received the interview notice, even though I filled out her application the next day. She received her GC through a slightly different route and has a more complex visa history (but no violations or anything like that).

A few updates! My wife got her interview notice too. For whatever reason our interviews are one month apart even though we applied one day apart.

Also I am a citizen now! My interview was scheduled for 10:30am. I arrived at 10am, checked in and then spent over an hour sitting and waiting there. Interview was remote and pretty straightforward: test questions (didn't get anything hard, just a mix of easy and medium questions), read / write a trivial sentence and then the majority of time was spent going over n400. The person was friendly and I never got a sense that I have to remember everything 100% but they did go pretty thoroughly over my form, including branching off into a few details that I can best describe as an informal conversation / small talk around your form (e.g. hey where does your wife work? oh you worked at the same place, did you guys meet there? etc etc). After passing everything, I went downstairs, waited in the room for 30 mins and had a ceremony with several other people. 

On 7/13/2022 at 8:03 AM, eugene-eugene said:

Hello! Just to give you all some hope: I just got an interview notice for the end of August and I applied only at the beginning of October (reused biometrics) so perhaps things are improving! The interview is in their Seattle location.

Interestingly, my wife still hasn't received the interview notice, even though I filled out her application the next day. She received her GC through a slightly different route and has a more complex visa history (but no violations or anything like that).

23 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Congrats! It sure does seem like they are improving! Also, do you mind adding your data (application date, interview notice date, interview date, etc.) to this tracking spreadsheet? The more datapoints we have, the better the estimates for new applicants.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FcItCasVItCDsUNEbDu15IRQ-AbDMRJWsiljwtz5WRI/edit#gid=1497976778

Thanks! Updated the spreadsheet just now.

Hello! Just to give you all some hope: I just got an interview notice for the end of August and I applied only at the beginning of October (reused biometrics) so perhaps things are improving! The interview is in their Seattle location.

54 minutes ago, phdng said:

Totally agreed here.

 

I know we're all anxious and temped to jump at any update to our cases (I know I was), but that online estimated time to completion is the one thing I learned to totally IGNORE.

 

Please do yourself a favor and just disregard whatever the time estimation says -- you'd sleep much better at night. I'm interviewing next month and my online estimation jumped from 3 months (2 weeks ago) to 18 months (last week when I got my interview notice) and now 20 months.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day -- I have yet to see any occasion where this prediction is accurate, nor any rhymes or reasons on how the prediction changes. As a data scientist, I'm really curious what kind of model and data USCIS is using to make these prediction -- it's so hilariously random and bad.

Haha yes, I as myself a software engineer but worked closely with DS stuff and I have been wondering about the same. They must use some dumb median at best, while the real thing probably has a lot more nuance and signals. E.g. did the person apply during pandemic? (see people who applied during the pandemic and still wait, while people who applied much later receive their notices in less than a year). I'd also speculate that their data pipeline has ridiculous delays as well as gaps, possibly, i.e. you don't get a uniform flow of applications but the data rather comes in discrete and non-uniform dumps (for example maybe they suddenly cleared up the old backlog and dumped a bunch of processed applications from years ago and suddenly median jumps from 12 months to 18).

11 minutes ago, W8ter said:

Mine was also showing this + now my eta time doubled (3 to 7 months)

For what it's worth - by all accounts that ETA time is entirely meaningless. There are people who take much more or much less time than ETA. For me personally this ETA has been wildly jumping back and forth and there was even a day when it jumped twice within a single day. Lately it has been stable though.

8 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

Hi all! Just filed for citizenship, can't believe I get to join the club for one of the slowest local offices!! The system is predicting 14 months, but maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised!

Welcome! I am on month 4 of them "actively reviewing" my case. Very thorough people.

34 minutes ago, X2-X2 said:

Thanks for your answer 

You just mentioned that you keep Online account. 

Do you receive all letters and information from Uscis about your case by Mail and your Online account as well ?

Yes, I do! I can log into my account and see the same letters there. They look like scans of the paper letters I received a week or so later.

Now since it has been months since any update, I am really struggling to recall if I was notified about those online letters in any way. I think I did receive some SMS or email but my memory is hazy about this so don't quote me on this part.

I keep online account only because I don't trust USPS - they have lost mail that was important to me on multiple occasions. I don't know for sure the answers to your other questions but my educated guess would be that your case will keep processing as usual if you ignore the online account and that if you do create it, you'll keep receiving both mail as well as online notifications.

Joined the waiting game at the start of October. Kind of really wish there was a checkbox in the application with "willing to travel literally anywhere in the country for the interview" option.