shadtov

Seattle is definitely NOT the fastest local office these days!!!

I had my biometrics (for Naturalization) done on December 27/07 and have heard nothing since.

My daughter had her biometrics (for removal of conditions on GC) done on January 29/08 and has heard nothing since.

I can't believe your timeline.... you must be getting so frustrated. Hope you hear something soon.

Best wishes.

Thanks for the best wishes. We've noticed that the Seattle office is much calmer than the san diego office ever was. The officers are much friendlier. I took all of that to mean that maybe that weren't as stressed and could get things done more quickly... but it sounds like that is not the case.

My husband's friend had her biometrics 2/6/08 (she was AOS pending since 2006) and she got an email about card production yesterday. When we went in today they at least said that something has the file on their desk. But I guess I shouldn't get too overexcited since it seems they are so quick looking our your stats.

good luck on you end as well.

heather

I thought I'd throw this out so we can compare timelines and experiences in Seattle since the change in the name check policy.

Anyone out there?

-heather

Yesterday we got the following email from USCIS:

Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

On March 25, 2008, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

God I just hope that they are careful with the spelling of my wife's name and etc.... the last thing I want to do is apply for the correction. I hope you guys are next.

Congratulations! You've both been waiting a very long time.

You have lots to celebrate.

Another thought about the memo folks.

I don't think they're going in any particular order, even in individual offices. My husband's friend from school, who filed in Seattle and has been pending name check since 2006, received her green card email already. She had her biometrics renewed 2/6/08 and got the email yesterday, 3/26. We've been pending since 2004. But I'm also wondering if our case is more complicated since we moved in the middle of the process.

dunno...

Still pending:

The results of our infopass appt today:

We had our biometrics renewal on 3/3/08. We went to the Seattle office today to make sure that we're included in the Feb. name check memo. We only had to wait a few minutes to speak with an officer.

The officer looked at our biometrics letter and my husband's ID. He said he had to look through different programs b/c "they don't communicate with one another." That was definitely reassuring. Usually they just look up my husband's name and say, "Sorry, name check pending." This time he asked my husband to repeat his birthday and his father's first name. He asked us if we'd had our interview and if we'd passed. I said yes, in august 2004 in san diego. He asked for the interviewer's name. I said that all I remember was that he was Filipino--it was 4 years ago! He said, "John"? "Frank"? It seemed like an odd question. He found the name in our file on the computer eventually and seemed pleased with himself.

After being kicked off the system and then logging back in, he said that our case has been in Seattle since August 2007. That's when we had the case sent from San Diego to Seattle after our move. That's also the last on-line touch on the case.

The officer said our case has been under review with an officer (I don't remember the exact wording) since March 14, 2008. I'm guessing that was when the results for the 3/3/08 biometrics came in. He thought we'd be hearing very soon and told us not to move. (Like I would do anything to jeopardize mail delivery at this time!)

He said we could come back in 1-2 months if we still hadn't heard or we could call that 1800 number. I said that they're really not very nice and I prefer the officers in Seattle. He said, "sorry." (rather sincerely I have to say, like he's heard that before.)

Anybody else gone back in for infopass appts since the Feb memo? I wonder if I might not get email updates since our case was filed directly to the local office in 2004. That was before you had to mail them to the lock box. It seems our case was always in the chula vista/san diego office until it was moved to the Seattle office. anybody else have a local office case?

-heather

Xapata!

My husband is from Manzanillo, a port city/resort city, about 6 hours south of Puerto Vallarta. It's more of a vacation place for wealthy Mexicans from Guadalajara and Americans from the midwest (kind of an odd mix). But the other poster was correct in saying that the water is dangerous for swimming in many areas. Also, it is so miserably hot in August and they have hurricanes as well. It is nice however if money is a concern b/c, although they have resorts, there are less expensive hotels that are pretty reasonable if you don't mind eating in local restaurants instead of at the resort.

Also, there is always Barra de Navidad, Jalisco. It's on the border of Colima and Jalisco. I'm thinking that your families know about both since they're from Jalisco. There is a beautiful new resort with protected coves for swimming. The manzanillo airport is equidistant from Manzanillo and Barra.

For our honeymoon we went to the colonial cities of Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende. There are some great bed and breakfasts and little hotels that are cute and very reasonable. We were on a pretty tight budget after filing for AOS. There's beautiful architecture, live music and art. Both cities were great but especially San Miguel de Allende.

I'm sure wherever you go you'll have a great time now that you're through this mess of a visa process.

-heather

If my memory serves me correctly....That would not be a Public Charge!!!!!

Look under the Poverty Guidelines

I think it's only emergency Medicaid that is not a Public Charge.

Congratulations Onofre!

If your health insurance from work covers your wife, I would stick with that. You have to meet certain financial guidelines to be eligible for medicaid anyway. But even if you qualified, I think that you'd be responsible to the government as her sponsor. However, once your child is born, and if you qualify financially, he/she would be eligible.

Why did your doctor even ask about medicaid if you guys already have insurance? Did the MD assume that you don't? I know that undocumented women are able to get medicaid during the length of their pregnancy in order to ensure that the babies are healthy, but once the baby is born the woman's medicaid benefit ends.

But that's clearly not your situation so I don't get the doctor's question.

I was curious too..They even sent me email at 11pm EST, I thought they only work during office hours...

I saw another post from Sunday and it looks like weekend updates are pretty common, something about people working by phone.

I wonder why they would touch an application that is already completed...

It's all so confounding.

That just seems odd to me.

My husband's 4th EAD arrived about two weeks ago. I was checking the website to see if our AOS was touched. It hasn't been touched since 8/15/07 when we changed our address.

Why would they be "touch"ing our already received EAD application? Did they mistakenly update the wrong application?

And do they really work on Easter?

I've never posted here before but wanted to get some advice. My wife has been waiting on her greencard since Oct of 2006. We've called and called, and I involved my congresswoman. It was so difficult to ever get any information from the USCIS. However, through my Congresswoman I was finally able to get a response saying that the only thing pending was the FBI name check . I read the new policy on FBI name checks, and felt at last there was some hope. My wife had to go for new biometrics at the end of Feb, but we haven't heard anything since. I feel that we are now at the point where we need to try to get some answers from the USCIS again. My congresswoman as well. However, we will celebrate our second anniversary on June 11. So the advice that I wanted to ask for was: "Should we wait to request info until then in hopes of skipping the conditional green card? After 17months 2 1/2 months doesn't seem so long, but I don't to push our luck, and something else change." All of your thoughts and advice would be much appreciated

My husband filed for AOS in October 2006 as well. He had a 2nd biometrics appointment on March 7 and got an email from USCIS on March 19 saying that his green card is in production. We were hoping that he'd receive the card after June 3 (our 2 year wedding anniversary) so that we could skip the conditional card, but it didn't work out that way. I think the biometrics appt your wife had in Feb is a good indication that her case will be approved soon. Good luck!

We filed back in April 2004. We had the biometrics taken again 3/3/08. I was so excited when people started getting their green cards Finally! after waiting years.

But now the frustration and anxiety have returned.

You'd think I would have cultivated some sort of zen-like patience after 4 years, but nope.

How do other people deal with this wait? I know there are others out there who have waited even longer than us--or at least that's what they always tell us at our infopass appts. "I have one guy who has been waiting 5 years!" For some reason that is never all that reassuring...

I try to put it in perspective. At least we could always keep renewing the work card and we've been able to visit his mom a couple of times. I think about a couple of friends who were granted asylum and I think, well, they definitely need to get through the system quickly. And I feel for those folks who can't get an AP for status reasons and are also stuck in the name check.

Sometimes I'm even sympathetic to the Senator's staff member who keeps having to deal with my requests.

It always depends on the day.

Anyway, what do people do to cope with being trapped in the name check? What do you do especially now that it seems the system has gotten so efficient. I feel kind of left behind.

WE GOT THE E-MAIL TODAY THAT CARD PRODUCTION HAS BEEN ORDERED!!

I had written to our Congresswoman on Feb 26.

There is hope, friends.

Congratulations! Every couple who gets through means more happy people thinking happy thoughts and fewer people in the backlog.

We have an infopass appt on 3/27. My husband renewed his fingerprints on 3/3. Maybe we'll get some good news soon, too.

fingers crossed.

For my husband and my wedding in 2004. we talked to the local congressman's office to help us with getting a visa for my mother-in-law. My husband had been denied a visitor's visa back when we were dating so we were concerned about applying for my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law owns her own home, but had no money in the bank. She had a job but made $3000 pesos/month. Not much to impress them.

She had her appointment in Guadalajara. The representative at the Congressman's office sent a packet on my mother-in-law's behalf to Guadalajara. The packet included a letter from them that I was a US Citizen in good standing. They also included a letter I'd written and a copy of the wedding invitation. When she got there for the interview, they had the packet from their office and they'd actually looked at it. She also showed them a letter from her employer and a copy of her house title. She said they were skeptical, but they gave her a one-time entry visa for our wedding.

We're in the same boat as you guys are now. We're planning a baby soon and I want her to come up to visit. I'm going to talk to the local senator's office and see if they can help this time. That's all I can suggest right now.

I wish you luck... we'll need it, too.

heather

Hi.

I just want to say thank you to everyone on this forum!

I wish I'd found you guys years ago. My husband and I have felt so alone. I've looked at other sites to find out who else was waiting in the name check hole and never found so many other people with such useful information. I knew there were others out there, but only seemed to meet folks who received their green cards at super speeds. I've gotten pressure from friends to "do more" but I don't think they get how there is so little you can do apart from infopass, phone calls, senator inquiries. But honestly, four years of infopass appts and letters and discussions with attorneys (who of course say there is nothing to do) is a lot! It's such a powerless feeling. It's amazing to know that we're not alone. I've felt so guilty for putting my husband through all of this. sigh... apparently I needed to express some deep frustrations. again thank you! It's amazing to feel that there are actually people who understand what this is like.

This is the gist of our story. We met in 2001 in Mexico and my husband (fiance at the time) came to California on a K-1 visa January 2004.

We submitted AOS in April 2004 and were interviewed in August 2004 (as goes the too well-known story, we were approved pending name check). That was in Chula Vista (San Diego, CA).

Our case is now at the Seattle office since our move summer 2007.

**It's amazing how different local offices can be. Chula Vista staff were polite but an infopass visit could take 3-4 hours. In Seattle, the staff are incredibly kind and we're in and out within an hour, sometimes less than 30 minutes. Of course, the result is always the same: name check pending.

My husband had his third biometrics renewal on March 3, 2008. I'm hopeful that we're headed down the same path as so many others in the forum. We also received a letter from our Senator on March 4th that said something different for the first time in 4 years. It said that the office was waiting for our fingerprint appt and would finish processing our application (summarized). I'm hopeful that means something great.

We just paid for his fourth EAD. We were putting AP on hold this time.

sigh... thank you all for sharing your stories.

It's amazing what that can do sometimes.

Heather