ahebl

Just to update:

Approval Notice Received in Mail: 2010-05-02

Card in Hand: 2010-05-05

Thanks everybody! Checking out until N-400!

Thanks!! Nice to get a result as soon as we were starting to anticipate one!

Touches to I-130 and employment auth back on 4/25/2010. Checked status online today: I-751 Card Production Ordered 4/27/2010.

WOO HOO!!!

UPDATE: Thanks to happilycontent.

We had been unable to check our status online since getting the biometrics appointment letter. happilycontent told us this happened to them, and that once they went to the bio appointment, they were suddenly able to check their status online after that.

We had our bio appointment yesterday. Even yesterday we were still unable to check status online.

TODAY, lo and behold, we are able to check status online now. Woohoo! Now we just have to wait for approval.

Hi, I'm a March filer, but I have a question for those of you to most recently go through the process. Did any of you have trouble checking your case status online after you got your biometrics notice? We got ours, but when I plug in the application # on the bio notice, it says that our case does not exist. I've been told that this is not uncommon, and that the case status often does not show up until after going to the bio appointment. Can any of you confirm that this happened to you?

Thanks!

For those of you going through CSC who just received your biometrics appointments, are you now able to check your case status online?

Don't fret. I was NOT able to check my online status either using the receipt number on my biometrics letter, until after I had my biometrics appointment. You're not missing out on much it's going to say initial review, until you're approved, unless you get an RFE, and/or interview. I don't know when you received that notice but give it a week or so maybe it will show up then.

Thanks for the peace of mind. This is exactly the type of message I was looking to hear.

Yeah, it starts with "WAC." We don't get anything on the website.

Hey March filers. Our information is in the signature. Please update. We are at CSC. Thanks!

I have a question. Since we received the biometrics notice, I thought we were supposed to be able to check our case status online. I plug in the application number from the biometrics notice and it's not pulling up anything. It says our case is not in the system. Any thoughts? Does it take a couple of days even after you get the biometrics appointment notice before it gets entered into the system?

Thanks for responses!!

Hey Everyone!

Long time no talk. The last time you heard from me, I was mourning our interview cancellation notice, and trying to figure out what to do.

Well, we never got a rescheduling notice, so we went to the originally scheduled, though "cancelled," interview today just to try and see what would happen. We decided that we would not mention the cancellation notice unless directly asked about it.

Needless to say, they called my wife's name after about 1 hour, and everything went as if there had never been a cancellation notice in the first place. My wife was approved on the spot, and walked out of there with the I-551 stamp in her passport.

The lesson - THE CANCELLATION NOTICE MEANS NOTHING, AND YOU SHOULD GO TO THE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED INTERVIEW ANYWAY. You were all right!!! Thanks everyone for their golden advice.

The USCIS website has already updated her I-485 to card production ordered.

What a great day!!!!

Ahebl, I'd go to the interview anyways. If it DOES get re-scheduled, it will be well after your planned trip for your wedding (I think they re-schedule for a few months later from what I have heard), so sounds like you'll be okay either way:)

Well, we are going to go to the interview anyway, but I really hope that you're right, and if it does get rescheduled, it's after the wedding.

Today we received a notice in the mail that our interview was cancelled "for unforeseen circumstances." #######?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

INTERVIEW NOTICE RECEIVED TODAY!!! The date is actually going to work out alright for us, June 3rd. Hopefully, my wife will be leaving the US to go to our religious wedding with a permanent residency stamp in her passport. Fingers crossed.

Time to start worrying about the interview. LOL.

Congratulations!!! We both received our EAD and AP' around the same time frame, but it looks like you beat me to it on the interview Way to go!!!! All the best :-)

Thanks! And good luck to you, I'm sure you'll be receiving your notice any day now.

Yeah, that's the process we followed. Unfortunately, it had no effect on our interview location. It's in Detroit, so we will be traveling to Detroit for it. Better that than worry about rescheduling.

It doesn't say anywhere anything about affecting the interview location on the link you provided anyway. I think we needed to change address MUCH earlier than we did.

I have been reassured by what I have read online. It is pretty much a consensus that an expired passport with the I-551 stamp, in combination with a valid passport, is enough to gain reentry. Whew, I think we are going to be just fine.

No, we need to go to the consulate in person.

YAHOOOO!!!! We just received the EAD card in the mail today.

We also, realized it expires in a year. Do we have to apply every year? Or after the approved AOS and he gets a green card does he use his green card as proof he can work.... Or do we apply/fill out form I-90 for a new EAD... 90 days before it expires?

So confused!

I THINK I FOUND THE ANSWER! ONCE HE HAS A GREEN CARD HE DOES NOT HAVE TO RENEW. SEE BELOW:

Renewing your EAD (assuming you filed for AOS). You may renew your EAD when your EAD nears expiration. You must renew your EAD to be able to work until you become a Permanent Resident (or Conditional Permanent Resident) at which time your "Green Card" will be proof of eligibility to work. A suggestion before filing is to check the processing time currently for EAD's and file at a time equal to the number of days before your EAD expires. ex: if the processing time is three months then apply for a renewal three months before your EAD expires. You will file as category ©(9), "adjustment applicant". (Where to file: mail, walk-in if allowable, efile)

Oh yeah, once you have your green card, you can do pretty much anything a US citizen can do except vote and work for the government (though you also might be hassled at passport control a little bit more), and you don't need anything else to do it.

BTW, I think I may have found a bit of an answer to my question, but I would appreciate any thoughts people have about how much I should believe it.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...04051519AACN46E

This page SEEMS to answer the question, but I was wondering if anyone can confirm or deny.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...04051519AACN46E

That is an interesting idea. I wonder if they confiscate the old passport while the new one is being processed. If they do, then coming back might be problematic, if not, Toronto does have a huge portuguese population and a full service consulate, so that's something worth thinking about.

Another problem is that consulates are huge pains about only serving their regions within the country they are located, and the New York consulate serves Michigan, so I wonder if Toronto would just turn us away.

But I guess the biggest thing is finding out if I can mail the green card, or use the I-551 stamp in an expired passport, since she is guaranteed to rapidly get a passport in portugal.

Yeah, I think that's what we may have to do. Unfortunately, no portuguese immigrants live in Detroit except my wife, so the nearest portuguese consulate where they actually do passport renewals is in New York!! They only serve their large immigrant populations, unfortunately. There's a portuguese consulate in Chicago, but they don't actually do anything there except tell people to go to New York.

I just want to know if she can use her old passport + stamp, or will they reject it out of hand merely because the passport is expired. And if so, I want to know if I can mail her the green card since I am coming back to the US before she does, and it should be waiting in the mail when I get there.

It seems like it's going to be a hugely difficult pain for us to get the passport renewed quickly enough while in the US, but she can do it in like 1 week over in Portugal.

Thanks everyone, but I still managed to find something else to get really worried about.

See this thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=124146

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

So, my wife's portuguese passport expires June 27. Our AOS interview is June 3rd. When we walk out of the interview with the permanent residency stamp in her passport, she plans to travel to Portugal immediately for the remainder of June. While in Portugal, she will get a new passport.

Will the stamp in the old passport be usable to get back into the US when she comes in July, even though the passport it is in will have expired? I.e., can she use her new passport in combination with the old passport + stamp to get back in?

If not, and her green card arrives, and I am already back in the US, can I mail it to her and have her successfully be able to use it to come back?

Another question:

If we don't get approved immediately on June 3rd, she still plans to travel back to Portugal immediately thereafter. She has AP. Will her failure to get approved immediately have any effect on the validity of her AP?

Thanks!!

INTERVIEW NOTICE RECEIVED TODAY!!! The date is actually going to work out alright for us, June 3rd. Hopefully, my wife will be leaving the US to go to our religious wedding with a permanent residency stamp in her passport. Fingers crossed.

Time to start worrying about the interview. LOL.

Wow. As I found out with the I-131 and I-765, touches are meaningless. Apparently that is true with the interview notice as well.

Speaking of meaningless touches, my I-130 was touched yesterday.

Wow. As I found out with the I-131 and I-765, touches are meaningless. Apparently that is true with the interview notice as well.