We are done too. Wife received her card in the mail yesterday. We wont need to go through this again to remove conditions since it's valid for 10 years. Glad it' over after 19 months.

On 10/4/2017 at 8:39 PM, msmontader said:

Interview update: the interview went really well (and fast)!. The officer started by asking me about the normal questions on the green card application (have been involved in XYZ) and after that, he asked about a missing page in my application ( luckily I have a copy so I handed it over). Also, he asked for the medical exam since my old one is expired so I handed over the new one that I did. After that, it was just very basic questions on where we live and what we do. The officer took most of the time just looking for the I-130 application in the files they have and when he found it he just made sure everything looks good. The interview took about 20-30 minutes total. He said that they are just waiting for the background check clearance and I should expect to get the green card within 3 weeks. Very excited to see that this process has finally come to an end. Thanks to everyone who posted and updated about their cases and helped us in this long process. I will post again when I get the physical card in the mail!. 

Congrats

On 7/27/2017 at 7:58 PM, Linyahui said:

YOU GUYS!!!!

 

OK, mailed the RFE package on Saturday and this afternoon received a text message alerting me that our case status was updated on the USCIS website. I signed in, clicked on the i-485, and it said YOUR CASE HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!

 

That means the green card will soon be in the mail without interview, right? RIGHT?!?!??!

 

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Congrats! It seems this thread is coming to an end. Only msmontander and I are left.

We had our interview this morning. Everything went well. The lady interviewing us was very nice and polite. She went through a series of questions for both of us taking turns to respond, they included birthdays, jobs, our address, what we did for my birthday that was just a few weeks ago, etc. Then we showed her some photos and she started asking my wife about all my relatives in it, she knew all the names which surprised me because I wouldn't have remembered my cousin's boyfriend name or the name of my mom's friend.

She asked for a new medical as the one we submitted had expired, which we didnt have, she said we have 90 days to submit it and that she'll approve it afterwards. She also suggested that it would be better to wait 20 days before submitting it, that way we'll be over the 2 year anniversary and we wouldn't need to file again to remove conditions. So in the end everything worked out well.

1 hour ago, Linyahui said:

 

I was thinking the same thing. Thanks for the reassurance!! 

 

RFE packet is now prepared; will do a final review of the materials and cover letter tonight and then send it off....

Good luck!

On 7/6/2017 at 10:21 AM, Linyahui said:

Thanks for the feedback. Hubby and I both have some family in the Houston area, plus the climate is more similar to Taiwan. However, I grew up in the Midwest so am not accustomed to the heat/humidity...I might melt, haha. We'd ideally like to stay in the Midwest, but the job situation for both of us hasn't been great (he hasn't found full-time work; I'm not able to grow professionally in my current position), so we're open to new locations. 

 

How are you feeling as we inch closer to your interview date? 

My wife and I are fine so far, maybe once it gets closer to the day I'll start frantically reviewing the documents to see we have everything :-)

On 6/30/2017 at 10:51 AM, Linyahui said:

I'm planning to prepare in the same way...my biggest concern would be if they asked to take a document for which I didn't have a copy. I have a complete duplicate binder at home, but wonder if they lose/ask for one of the documents, then I won't have a copy myself. I guess that's why VisaJourney guides recommend making two copies of everything. Poor trees.

 

I don't think we'll hire a lawyer, either. I can't really see the need for one at this point. Our case is so simple (yet taking so long....). 

 

How do you like Houston, Elikhom? There is a big Taiwanese community down there (and warmer weather). We are weighing our options. What's the job market like, especially in education? 

Houston is ok, the economy was roaring till mid 2015 until oil prices tumbled, now it's just average. From what I read education and healthcare are still good areas to be in. If you get a good position here it's a good city, home prices are not that expensive and standard of living is good. Weather is awesome if you have a house or live in apartment complex with a pool as it's warm 3/4ths of the year.

We will be here probably for another 5 years or so and then move closer to family, mine lives in Chicago and hers in London so either city is in our long term future.

17 hours ago, Linyahui said:

Thanks, elikhom. We think (hope) that the items being requested will be relatively easy to collect. Hubby has his second medical tomorrow and I've requested the IRS tax transcript. Other items we already have.

 

In other news, a BIG CONGRATS for getting your interview notice!! It sure is about time! Gives me hope that we won't be far behind as we're at the 15.5 month mark. How are you preparing and what are you planning to bring to the interview? Do you have a lawyer? We haven't used a lawyer in the process and sometimes I wonder if that would have helped with the long wait. There are lawyers you can retain just for the interview, but not sure it's worth the money. Thoughts?

I'm just making a file with originals and copies of all the documents that they listed in the interview notice. It's basically everything I already sent plus my new tax return and a few new photos of our last vacations and recent bank statements/insurance bills/etc. 

Not planning to hire a lawyer, I only hired one the very first time and tbh it's more for peace of mind than anything else, he only did small talk to the uscis officer for a minute and then it was just questions for me/us and that was it, they were all relatively fast. IIRC most of the time was spent by the officer checking his/her computer and files making sure he had all the forms than asking us for documents.

Said that, I'm big on peace of mind, I like to feel well prepared so I'd get one for the interview if that will make you feel better.

On 6/22/2017 at 10:09 PM, Linyahui said:

March family, we need your help and advice!

 

Hubby and I came home tonight to find an RFE from USCIS. WHY we have to get this after we've already been waiting for 15 months is beyond my comprehension, but there you go.

 

Here are the items being requested:

 

- Copy of the government-registered marriage certificate of the petitioner 

- I-693 Medical Certification by a Civil Surgeon

- Supplemental Form I-693 Proof of Immunization for the beneficiary

-Current pay statement for the beneficiary

-Evidence of a share life together with "IRS income tax transcripts for 2016" circled

 

The pay statement is simple enough. I am assuming the medical certification and proof of immunization are being requested because more than a year has passed since my husband had it done in Taiwan (even though we submitted the I-485 well within that one-year timeline, arghhh).

 

Questions:

1. Why is the marriage certificate specific to me? We already submitted an original copy of our marriage certificate with the original I-485 application. Do they want us to submit another original?

2. Can hubby have the medical stuff done when he's back in Taiwan in a couple of weeks (using the same civil surgeon he did for the F-1 visa that is approved by the US Embassy)? If not, can someone point me in the direction of a list of approved civil surgeons for this purpose?

3. Would the summary printout from TurboTax that I got from filing our 2016 taxes be sufficient for the IRS tax transcript, or do they want the bona fide tax transcript? 

 

Expedient answers much appreciated!! We will also be calling USCIS in the morning for clarity. Sigh...

I think this is good news, at least someone is actively taking a look at your case.

On the transcripts, those are easy to obtain, you can request a hard copy from the IRS (just google irs transcripts) or get one online from the website, I have always done printouts either from turbotax or from the irs online service for everything (my own GC 10 years ago, my citizenship 5 years ago, my mother's GC and now my wife's) and never had a problem.

On my side, we finally got an interview notice last week for late July. After 16 months it was about time.

22 hours ago, Linyahui said:

Hey, March family. I am in need of some advice and a little bit of a morale boost today.

 

Since my last update about six weeks ago, we haven't heard anything from USCIS and the case status hasn't been updated in our USCIS account. I want to call USCIS again to confirm where our file is now physically located, because I'm having some doubts about whether it's actually been transferred to our local office as we were told at the end of April. Wouldn't we have heard something by now? However, my husband feels like we are bothering USCIS when we call and (I think) fears that our monthly calls will somehow affect the case outcome. That is silly, to me, but since he needs to give his consent for the officer to speak with me about the case, I want to respect his wishes and not call for awhile. BUT IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY NOT HAVING ANY UPDATES!!! What do you all think?

 

The second thing is how I can better support my husband through this ongoing transition to life in the U.S. In Taiwan, he was the assistant director of an international education center and was involved in a side business with his best friend, which he was really passionate about. Now he's teaching Chinese part-time at a local high school and hates it. Not to mention the salary is not great and there are no benefits associated with the position. I'm feeling some stress because my job is our steady income and is used for paying rent and all bills, while we are trying to build some savings from his. He's been applying to jobs all over the country (as have I) with little to no success. We're both feeling a bit down with no progress on the green card, no updates, and inability to move forward with getting a bigger place, a dog, thinking about kids, etc. due to wanting to be smart about our finances right now.

 

How do you all deal with this everyday life stuff? 

Hi,

Sorry to hear you case is still stuck somewhere.We haven't heard about ours either but at least my wife got her AP and EAD extensions fast.

Has your husband thought about going back to school to do a Masters or something similar? If his degrees are only from Taiwan I can imagine why he's having a hard time finding a good job here.

I came to the US 16 years ago (I'm a citizen now) and my college degree was pretty much useless here even though it was the top school in my country. The university I attended for my masters degree gave me tuition waiver plus a small salary working as a teaching assistant so I didnt have to take any loans, and masters are only 1.5 to 2 years long. I didnt have any problems finding a good job afterwards.

Might be an option worth looking into. 

That's good Linyahui, congrats!

My wife just got a letter asking to redo the biometrics (appointment on Friday). Not sure if this is good news and someone actually took a look at her case or if this was just computer generated and nothing has been done. Sigh

5 hours ago, Linyahui said:

Our case status is exactly the same--"fingerprint fee was received on March 11, 2016."  It hasn't changed since March last year. 

 

Do you have an account with USCIS? That is the only way you'll see items in the case history (versus simply checking the case status via the receipt number on the website). And, the only items you'll see in the case history are service requests you file. They won't update anything there about background check, when the file was last reviewed, if it was transferred to another office, etc. The case history only shows actions taken from your side (including responses to RFEs, I think).

 

Fellow March family, please feel free to weigh in if the experience has been different for you. 

Ok, thanks. Yeah I set up an account to keep track of everything including the EAD and AP renewals.

On 4/19/2017 at 9:49 AM, Linyahui said:

Thanks for sharing info about your case, elikhom. We're in a very similar boat to you--PD of March 11, 2016 and our local office in St. Paul, MN is processing cases from April 2. Although our local office is quite slow compared to other offices around the U.S., we did find out that our case specifically is still stuck in background checks and that is the reason for the delay. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but wait at this point. Even our congresswoman can't intervene to speed up the process with the FBI.

 

I'd suggest calling USCIS, requesting to speak to a Tier 2 officer, and asking, specifically, whether your wife's background check has been completed. If so, then you know the delay is due to manpower at your local office. If not, the delay is due to the background check. You may have to call USCIS several times to get to a Tier 2--we called last night around 5:30 pm local time, were transferred, and got an automatic message saying we'd get a call back from an officer (this is normal). However, the wait time at that point was 528 minutes--nearly nine hours!! We did get an automated call back around 11 PM last night but it was just to say that no officers were available at that time (duh) and we could email our question. We will just try calling again another day.

 

The point of this is that you may have to be persistent to get further information about your wife's application. Don't despair or worry too much--it can take time to work your way through the system to get the answers you need. If a phone call doesn't work, you can also try an InfoPass. During our InfoPass, we found out that we're on the interview waiver list, which is very heartening. Despite our long wait, we still have good news. That always helps. 

Hey Linyahui,

Thanks for the info. Quick question, what does your case say online? Mine says:

Fingerprint Fee Was Received

On March 9, 2016, we accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, Receipt Number MSCXXXXXXXX. Our National Benefits Center location is working on your case. We mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

Case History is blank

Is yours the same? Or has any items in the case history?

On 4/19/2017 at 9:15 PM, Duy Nguyen said:

Did you call them and find out if your case is already schedule for the interview?

My wife called the hotline when I wasn't there. She said that the guy told her they'll submit a service request to see whats happening. That's it.

I asked her to wait for me to make the call and to ask for a Tier 2 rep and she didn't do either <sigh>. I'll wait a couple weeks and call again.

The case just says:

On March 9, 2016, we accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, Receipt Number MSCXXXXXXX. Our National Benefits Center location is working on your case. We mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

And the case history is blank, so I'm assuming they haven't even opened our file since last year.

16 hours ago, Duy Nguyen said:

Just checked their processsing time and Priority already pass . I dont understand why you havent received your interview...

Yeah, I saw that yesterday. I guess it's time to call and speak with someone in the know.

20 hours ago, Linyahui said:

Hi, Elikhom. Which country is your wife from? Do you know whether she is still undergoing security checks or is it just that the Houston office is slow to schedule interviews? 

 

If I were you, I would call the 1-800 number and ask to speak with a Tier 2 officer. They are the only ones with real access to your records and can tell you whether your wife has passed through security checks or not. That seems to be a big reason for delays in case processing. The service request through the website is basically useless; we've already done three and have submitted a fourth a month ago, but they never result in anything. It's more for my peace of mind, feeling like I can do something to push processing forward, even though it really does nothing.

 

 

Hi Linyahui,

My wife is from the UK, she was here with an L1 already when I met her and remained here with that visa until we got married and got the EAD. The Houston office is especially slow, this is their timeline posted as of yesterday.

So they are saying that by end of Feb they were processing cases from April. Our priority date is March 4th and it's already mid April there has to be some progress or reason why it's not moving.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try calling sometime this week.

Hey Guys,

Like you we are still waiting to get any kind of response from USCIS about our AOS process, we applied back in early March 2016 but haven't heard anything. I understand the Houston office seems to be backed up, but even the website says that in Jan they were doing Feb 2016 cases, it has been 2 and half months since then and no news about ours.

My wife called back in Jan (when I called they told me they needed to speak with the applicant, not the sponsor) to see whats going on and they told her that she just needed to wait. So now I'm thinking about making a more formal request for a status. Any recommendations on how to do this? Should I call and ask for a Tier 2 representative? I saw some of you send an inquiry status thorough the website, does that work? 

We submitted EAD/AP renewal 6 weeks ago and haven't heard about those either and the EAD is expiring in a week or so.

I really wish I had started this back in Sep 2015 when we got married but since she was in an L1 we didnt rush. I for sure wasn't expecting to take over a year.

Any news from anyone in Houston recently? We applied early March 2016, and still nothing. 13 months now. We had to sent new EAD and Advance parole forms since the old ones are expiring in a week.

This link says they were processing mid Feb 2016 back in January, so for the last month I was expecting to hear something.

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do

We applied on early March 2016 and still waiting. The Houston office will test your patience.

Still waiting, submitted for the wife in early Mach 2016

Thank you for your advice! We sent an email today and we hope to have any news soon!

Giuliana,

Look at this https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

San Antonio AOS is processing Jan 2016, you should get news in the next month or so. I'd only worry if they are processing April 2016 and you haven't heard anything.

I'm in Houston and they are processing Nov 2015 right now so I'm assuming I'll have to wait another 3 or 4 months to hear anything.

I also called USCIS, they filed a request and everything, but they'll just tell you that they are behind.

Take care

Wow

I filed for my wife on March 9th. I was getting worried about the amount of time it's taking but after seeing here that there are people from Oct & Nov 2015 who haven't gotten an interview I guess it's safe to say that it's still going to be a few more months until we hear anything.

If your field office is San Antonio you should call and ask to talk to tier 2, the lady in tier 2 told me this office is currently working on early March cases and that is why it was proper to submit a service request.

If your wife came with a K1 visa , your case might be just get approved without an interview (that's what I'm hoping for my case too)

We really waited forever and it's about time to get good news from them!

Ah cool, thanks for the tip. We'll do that as soon as we get back to the US in late September.

She arrived with an L-1 visa, as she works for BP and travels back to London often. I'm the one who is more worried about the delay than her.

Hey Giuliana,

Same here, I submitted the application for my wife who is British in March.

This is what I get from the website. "On March 9, 2016, we accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485..."

I'm also located in Texas btw.

Hmmm, I think your case is rare but included in one of the USCIS memos I have posted before.You did the right think in filing jointly if you haven't filed for divorce yet.

They have also taken the expected route in these cases, that is sending for an RFE and asking for additional proof of a bonafide marriage if any.

A good lawyer would be a plus but a bad one can be worse than nothing, when I was calling lawyers for my case I found several that were terrible so be careful.

Check my previous posts for documents that I have posted when people with similar cases asked question, and after reading you can make your own conclusions, not following what good intentioned but sometimes misinformed people tell you.

Take care.