OldUser

Great to hear it! A lot of interaction with CBP is human factor, so glad it worked in your case.

Congrats! Processing times vary based on your office. You can look it up here: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ Note that the processing times show the past, not the future performance. It's just like stock prices, nobody can definitely predict it. If you still have I-751 it may be slightly longer. Also, new administration is coming and we don't know how USCIS priorities will change in 2025.

I wouldn't be sad about it, it's useless anyways... I'm yet to see anybody reporting they had an accurate estimation. It often "disappears", e.g. because there is outage on USCIS software side. It may come back and give you some outrageous estimate sometime in the future.

You can try following up. I'm pretty sure IO got confused... Maybe they are not experienced, and forgot to update your online case status. Was it a N-400 interview under 3 year rule? Did your US citizen spouse attend with you?

I see, so it's a tour company policy (e.g. taking advantage of tourists) VS Schengen visa policy that requires non-refundable reservations. Good luck and keep us posted!

Schengen Nobody advised lying to officials in any countries. Official resources for Schengen visa suggest booking refundable / amendable tickets and reservations. This is in case if your visa is denied. EU doesn't need people to suffer financially if they can't make the trip.

Congratulations with completing this segment of the journey! Please keep us posted on ROC and Naturalization as well as settling in the US. Good luck!

The main point of my post was. If you got visa for France you must enter and exit via France. Yes, I know for the most part you can travel freely. But no so long ago, for example, Germany set up checkpoints on border with its neighbors.

Schengen. Applying for a particular country tourist visa requires entering and exiting EU through that country. That's at least one downside. Secondly, while there are no borders for travelling, police checkpoints emerge here or there from time to time. I'm not sure how police handles document check in this case (visa for country A, but travelling in country B).

Even when bank says they have some system to notify about upcoming charge - most likely they're making it up. Most of banks nowadays use automated AI based fraud detection. Human can only override some transaction and lift fraud flag only after it occurs

Hopefully, I-485 Ideally, yes, she'd maintain H-1B status all the way through the process, until she receives green card through marriage to you. For that she can find another H-1B employer who will "transfer" her H-1B. She wouldn't need to go through lottery or leave the country to do this. Why would it be beneficial to maintain status? So she could fall back on her H-1B status if marriage based green card does not work out. This is the ideal scenario.... However, she has EAD and is married to US citizen. So she can switch to any employer she wants today. The worst case scenario, even if somehow I-485 gets denied due to technicality (forgot to submit evidence etc), she could refile I-485. Most marriage based GCs are approved unless she's inadmissable due to crime, fraud or misrepresentation etc.

Delete

This is F1 category, not F11. Hopefully this will clear any confusion... Here's visa bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2025/visa-bulletin-for-january-2025.html

What's F11?

There's a great chance your J-1 won't be approved once the DOS learns you're married to a US citizen. And you have to disclose it in application for visa. The most straightforward route is to marry ASAP and file I-130 for immigrant visa. You unlikely going to move in 2025, but hopefully in 2026-2027. Unless your spouse qualifies for DCF and embassy agrees to do it.

This is a US immigration forum. While some people may have anecdotal knowledge on Schengen visa approval rate, it won't be as extensive as VJ user knowledge when it comes to US visas and immigration. I'd recommend searching forums related to travelling or Netherlands. Each EU country has different approval rate, some higher, some lower. US LPR status helps (I hope it was disclosed in application). I know US LPR originally from South East Asia region with weaker passport who got approved for Schenhen visa recently. So it's possible.

So in less than a day a replacement was produced, sent and received? Are you sure it's not just a original letter that finally reached you?

Why bother with J-1 if you have a clear DCF or CR-1 visa route? Besides, you know that your immigration plan is inconsistent with J-1. You cannot plan on getting J-1 to actually adjust and live in the US. Why not marry ASAP (small civil wedding), go either DCF or CR-1 route and then have a bigger wedding celebration before you move to the US?

As I explained, most people receive the second letter you got, first. You just got letters in wrong order because of how USPS delivered mail. Nothing to worry about. Both are accurate. The first letter you received is about your biometrics, they were reused. The second letter is about case filed. The second letter should have been delivered to you first. But order doesn't matter in this case.

Normal. You may or may not see updates within the next few days. I suspect this email is sent if anybody opens your file and closes, regardless of any action actually taking place.

State ID also works in place of DL. Employers may want to reverify once she's LPR. Actually, I'd recommend telling HR she's LPR to have correct status in their system. As mentioned earlier GC is not the best , because then you have to deal with HR not knowing what to do when conditional GC expires... So State ID / DL + SS card is the best. Good luck!

The letter itself may tell which service center your case is pending at outside of case number.

Congratulations! I'd make digital copies of everything and store in the cloud as a backup as soon as it arrives. Also, don't ever use GC for I-9 verification. I highly recommend DL + unrestricted SS card.

Good luck, your risk tolerance is commendable !