tenyearwait

Thanks for the condolences and advice. Sorry for your loss too.
I apologise. I should have come back and posted that I got the Green Card. I should also have posted what needs doing/what I did for others seeking this advice which I'll do now because the process is pretty easy.
Even if the household income drops below the required level (125% of Poverty Level) in my case (specified in the next paragraph) I was not required to satisfy any income requirements although I DID have to complete a form. If this link works, read this to check your own widow(er) status Special Categories - Widow(er) (if link doesn't work, use the search on USCIS website to search for the string "Widow(er)" including that "(er)". Then click on the link titled just "Widow(er)" and find your specific case. My case was:
Widow(er) With Pending or Approved Immigrant Petition
If you were married to a U.S. citizen who had filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you before he or she died, you do not need to file anything. The Form I-130 will be automatically converted to a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. If you have children (unmarried and under age 21), they may be included on the Form I-360 regardless of whether your deceased spouse had filed a petition for them.
To qualify, you must not have have been divorced or legally separated from the U.S. citizen at the time of death. Your eligibility to immigrate as a widow(er) ends if you have remarried.
If this case doesn't apply to you, CHECK THAT LINK and the instructions for Form I-485 before following any of this advice in case it is not applicable although reading the following may give some pointers to your case.
Here is the procedure:
Notify USCIS of your loss by providing a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate. (Funeral directors obtain these for you - get a few as they're cheap if ordered in one go. Funeral Directors are also required to formally notify Social Security and other agencies which saves you some bother). Additonally, if you have an outstanding RFE regarding the Affifavit of Support, request USCIS to cancel/withdraw this RFE as that evidence is no longer required because otherwise you won't get an interview. If you don't/can't notify USCIS by one of the following means and you attend the interview, you will be sent away on the basis that your Petitioner isn't present. It is VERY upsetting to be told your dead relative isn't present! Telephone notification would be nice, but without the Death Certificate in their system, they can't do much except note your telephone call and advise you. They may even give you bad advice (in my case, I telephoned requesting advice on self-petitioning and got told they had to escalate my case - when I reached the senior tier officer she told me NO-ONE could self-petition which is pretty idiotic!!! As far as I know, there are only three ways to notify USCIS :
Either:
Bring the Death Certicate to your final Interview and hand it to interviewing officer at the very start. (Not recommended unless it's the only way). There are 2 points about this: (a) If your interview is imminent, this is the only way you can notify USCIS as a letter or InfoPass appointment will not be in time. However, ask the funeral director how long the Death Certificates will take to obtain (this varies from county to county). If he can't guarantee that you will have a certificate to take to the interview, telephone USCIS, explain the problem and request that the interview appointment is re-scheduled. (b) Although less important, if you CAN notify by one of the other methods, I advise you do so. If you don't have an interview until weeks or months after you obtain the certificates but haven't notified USCIS earlier by another method, things can go wrong. Also, the interviewing officer will probably look sideways at you and at best consider you stupid and impolite. He may have to proceed with the interview, but he may now be wary about anything you have done. Although he will be polite, he may not go out of his way to make you feel comfortable; or Send a letter to the USCIS office handling your case notifying them (and requesting the RFE cancellation mentioned above if applicable) and enclose the Death Certificate (not recommended unless you can't afford the time and money to use method 3 below; or I recommend this method if it is at all possible! Make an InfoPass appointment and take the Certificate with you. The officers may be ignorant of the procedure because it is rare in your area and take some time to work out what to do but they will find out and advise you because that is their job. You can therefore make sure that it is done before you attend interview. They asked me to go and sit down while they searched for a form (they only had one in the whole office and it took some time to find someone who knew where it was) but they called me to the desk and dealt with me ahead of the person who was next in turn They take the certificate and put it in the computer filing system. In my case, I received the notice of interview just after my wife died and I had time to get an InfoPass appointment. Although it took a long time, it was worth it as you'll see..
Even if you have notified USCIS by method 2 above and had an acknowledgement or by method 3, take a Death Certificate to the interview!!!
However upsetting it is, don't be put off if the interviewing officer expresses surprise that your Petitioner isn't with you. In my grief I made many mistakes so I had put my certificates in an envelope in the car. The day before the interview, I took them in the house to include in my USCIS pack but forgot. While waiting to be called in, I checked again and had to pass through security twice more to get them from the car - they weren't there. However efficient you were before your loss, don't underestimate the effects of grief - check, check and check again!
My interviewing officer simply asked where my wife was. I explained. He asked me for a Death Certificate. I explained. He told me he couldn't continue the interview. I informed him that I had provided one at InfoPass. He told me that if I had done so, the paper copy would be at the top of the file. He called his supervisor who told him not to proceed. Naturally, I was VERY upset. I was lucky. My interviewing officer was incredibly sympathetic and didn't want to turn away someone who had served his country in the military. Also, I happened to have a photocopy of my InfoPass appointment card (the one you print out from the online InfoPass system). I showed it to him and despite it possibly making him late for his next applicant, he delved in the computer system and finally discovered the filed Death Certificate which my InfoPass officer had input. He apologised and said that they should have printed it out for the paper file. Take one with you to interview!
Disclaimer: I was an existing applicant who had satisfied all RFEs. I didn't have to produce any more evidence except the notification and proof of death.
I hope this helps Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if there is anything you don't understand - if I can't answer, someone else will probably be subscribed to the thread who can! This is an outstanding site with great contributors.
[Off topic, but for what it's worth a note about getting held up on the way to your interview: I allowed 2 extra hours in addition to travel time to be sure I was early. Between the last two exits on the interstate, I found it was a parking lot because of a wreck. the last 4 miles of interstate took me more than two and a half hours. If something like this happens to you, have a cellphone even if you have to borrow one! When I knew I would be late, I called USCIS on their national number (you'll have the interview notice with you so you have the number). Despite passing through a county where cellphoning while driving is banned, I called them and requested an interview later. They won't guarantee it, but at least they notify your local office so that you get on the waiting list. I was lucky and didn't have to wait until closing time to discover they couldn't fit me in. I was slotted in close to the time of my interview but being recently widowered may have been a factor.]

Thanks for the condolences and advice. Sorry for your loss too.
I apologise. I should have come back and posted that I got the Green Card. I should also have posted what needs doing/what I did for others seeking this advice which I'll do now because the process is pretty easy.
Even if the household income drops below the required level (125% of Poverty Level) in my case (specified in the next paragraph) I was not required to satisfy any income requirements although I DID have to complete a form. If this link works, read this to check your own widow(er) status Special Categories - Widow(er) (if link doesn't work, use the search on USCIS website to search for the string "Widow(er)" including that "(er)". Then click on the link titled just "Widow(er)" and find your specific case. My case was:
Widow(er) With Pending or Approved Immigrant Petition
If you were married to a U.S. citizen who had filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you before he or she died, you do not need to file anything. The Form I-130 will be automatically converted to a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. If you have children (unmarried and under age 21), they may be included on the Form I-360 regardless of whether your deceased spouse had filed a petition for them.
To qualify, you must not have have been divorced or legally separated from the U.S. citizen at the time of death. Your eligibility to immigrate as a widow(er) ends if you have remarried.
If this case doesn't apply to you, CHECK THAT LINK and the instructions for Form I-485 before following any of this advice in case it is not applicable although reading the following may give some pointers to your case.
Here is the procedure:
Notify USCIS of your loss by providing a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate. (Funeral directors obtain these for you - get a few as they're cheap if ordered in one go. Funeral Directors are also required to formally notify Social Security and other agencies which saves you some bother). Additonally, if you have an outstanding RFE regarding the Affifavit of Support, request USCIS to cancel/withdraw this RFE as that evidence is no longer required because otherwise you won't get an interview. If you don't/can't notify USCIS by one of the following means and you attend the interview, you will be sent away on the basis that your Petitioner isn't present. It is VERY upsetting to be told your dead relative isn't present! Telephone notification would be nice, but without the Death Certificate in their system, they can't do much except note your telephone call and advise you. They may even give you bad advice (in my case, I telephoned requesting advice on self-petitioning and got told they had to escalate my case - when I reached the senior tier officer she told me NO-ONE could self-petition which is pretty idiotic!!! As far as I know, there are only three ways to notify USCIS :
Either:
Bring the Death Certicate to your final Interview and hand it to interviewing officer at the very start. (Not recommended unless it's the only way). There are 2 points about this: (a) If your interview is imminent, this is the only way you can notify USCIS as a letter or InfoPass appointment will not be in time. However, ask the funeral director how long the Death Certificates will take to obtain (this varies from county to county). If he can't guarantee that you will have a certificate to take to the interview, telephone USCIS, explain the problem and request that the interview appointment is re-scheduled. (b) Although less important, if you CAN notify by one of the other methods, I advise you do so. If you don't have an interview until weeks or months after you obtain the certificates but haven't notified USCIS earlier by another method, things can go wrong. Also, the interviewing officer will probably look sideways at you and at best consider you stupid and impolite. He may have to proceed with the interview, but he may now be wary about anything you have done. Although he will be polite, he may not go out of his way to make you feel comfortable; or Send a letter to the USCIS office handling your case notifying them (and requesting the RFE cancellation mentioned above if applicable) and enclose the Death Certificate (not recommended unless you can't afford the time and money to use method 3 below; or I recommend this method if it is at all possible! Make an InfoPass appointment and take the Certificate with you. The officers may be ignorant of the procedure because it is rare in your area and take some time to work out what to do but they will find out and advise you because that is their job. You can therefore make sure that it is done before you attend interview. They asked me to go and sit down while they searched for a form (they only had one in the whole office and it took some time to find someone who knew where it was) but they called me to the desk and dealt with me ahead of the person who was next in turn They take the certificate and put it in the computer filing system. In my case, I received the notice of interview just after my wife died and I had time to get an InfoPass appointment. Although it took a long time, it was worth it as you'll see..
Even if you have notified USCIS by method 2 above and had an acknowledgement or by method 3, take a Death Certificate to the interview!!!
However upsetting it is, don't be put off if the interviewing officer expresses surprise that your Petitioner isn't with you. In my grief I made many mistakes so I had put my certificates in an envelope in the car. The day before the interview, I took them in the house to include in my USCIS pack but forgot. While waiting to be called in, I checked again and had to pass through security twice more to get them from the car - they weren't there. However efficient you were before your loss, don't underestimate the effects of grief - check, check and check again!
My interviewing officer simply asked where my wife was. I explained. He asked me for a Death Certificate. I explained. He told me he couldn't continue the interview. I informed him that I had provided one at InfoPass. He told me that if I had done so, the paper copy would be at the top of the file. He called his supervisor who told him not to proceed. Naturally, I was VERY upset. I was lucky. My interviewing officer was incredibly sympathetic and didn't want to turn away someone who had served his country in the military. Also, I happened to have a photocopy of my InfoPass appointment card (the one you print out from the online InfoPass system). I showed it to him and despite it possibly making him late for his next applicant, he delved in the computer system and finally discovered the filed Death Certificate which my InfoPass officer had input. He apologised and said that they should have printed it out for the paper file. Take one with you to interview!
Disclaimer: I was an existing applicant who had satisfied all RFEs. I didn't have to produce any more evidence except the notification and proof of death.
I hope this helps Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if there is anything you don't understand - if I can't answer, someone else will probably be subscribed to the thread who can! This is an outstanding site with great contributors.
[Off topic, but for what it's worth a note about getting held up on the way to your interview: I allowed 2 extra hours in addition to travel time to be sure I was early. Between the last two exits on the interstate, I found it was a parking lot because of a wreck. the last 4 miles of interstate took me more than two and a half hours. If something like this happens to you, have a cellphone even if you have to borrow one! When I knew I would be late, I called USCIS on their national number (you'll have the interview notice with you so you have the number). Despite passing through a county where cellphoning while driving is banned, I called them and requested an interview later. They won't guarantee it, but at least they notify your local office so that you get on the waiting list. I was lucky and didn't have to wait until closing time to discover they couldn't fit me in. I was slotted in close to the time of my interview but being recently widowered may have been a factor.]

Thanks for the condolences and advice. Sorry for your loss too.
I apologise. I should have come back and posted that I got the Green Card. I should also have posted what needs doing/what I did for others seeking this advice which I'll do now because the process is pretty easy.
Even if the household income drops below the required level (125% of Poverty Level) in my case (specified in the next paragraph) I was not required to satisfy any income requirements although I DID have to complete a form. If this link works, read this to check your own widow(er) status Special Categories - Widow(er) (if link doesn't work, use the search on USCIS website to search for the string "Widow(er)" including that "(er)". Then click on the link titled just "Widow(er)" and find your specific case. My case was:
Widow(er) With Pending or Approved Immigrant Petition
If you were married to a U.S. citizen who had filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you before he or she died, you do not need to file anything. The Form I-130 will be automatically converted to a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. If you have children (unmarried and under age 21), they may be included on the Form I-360 regardless of whether your deceased spouse had filed a petition for them.
To qualify, you must not have have been divorced or legally separated from the U.S. citizen at the time of death. Your eligibility to immigrate as a widow(er) ends if you have remarried.
If this case doesn't apply to you, CHECK THAT LINK and the instructions for Form I-485 before following any of this advice in case it is not applicable although reading the following may give some pointers to your case.
Here is the procedure:
Notify USCIS of your loss by providing a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate. (Funeral directors obtain these for you - get a few as they're cheap if ordered in one go. Funeral Directors are also required to formally notify Social Security and other agencies which saves you some bother). Additonally, if you have an outstanding RFE regarding the Affifavit of Support, request USCIS to cancel/withdraw this RFE as that evidence is no longer required because otherwise you won't get an interview. If you don't/can't notify USCIS by one of the following means and you attend the interview, you will be sent away on the basis that your Petitioner isn't present. It is VERY upsetting to be told your dead relative isn't present! Telephone notification would be nice, but without the Death Certificate in their system, they can't do much except note your telephone call and advise you. They may even give you bad advice (in my case, I telephoned requesting advice on self-petitioning and got told they had to escalate my case - when I reached the senior tier officer she told me NO-ONE could self-petition which is pretty idiotic!!! As far as I know, there are only three ways to notify USCIS :
Either:
Bring the Death Certicate to your final Interview and hand it to interviewing officer at the very start. (Not recommended unless it's the only way). There are 2 points about this: (a) If your interview is imminent, this is the only way you can notify USCIS as a letter or InfoPass appointment will not be in time. However, ask the funeral director how long the Death Certificates will take to obtain (this varies from county to county). If he can't guarantee that you will have a certificate to take to the interview, telephone USCIS, explain the problem and request that the interview appointment is re-scheduled. (b) Although less important, if you CAN notify by one of the other methods, I advise you do so. If you don't have an interview until weeks or months after you obtain the certificates but haven't notified USCIS earlier by another method, things can go wrong. Also, the interviewing officer will probably look sideways at you and at best consider you stupid and impolite. He may have to proceed with the interview, but he may now be wary about anything you have done. Although he will be polite, he may not go out of his way to make you feel comfortable; or Send a letter to the USCIS office handling your case notifying them (and requesting the RFE cancellation mentioned above if applicable) and enclose the Death Certificate (not recommended unless you can't afford the time and money to use method 3 below; or I recommend this method if it is at all possible! Make an InfoPass appointment and take the Certificate with you. The officers may be ignorant of the procedure because it is rare in your area and take some time to work out what to do but they will find out and advise you because that is their job. You can therefore make sure that it is done before you attend interview. They asked me to go and sit down while they searched for a form (they only had one in the whole office and it took some time to find someone who knew where it was) but they called me to the desk and dealt with me ahead of the person who was next in turn They take the certificate and put it in the computer filing system. In my case, I received the notice of interview just after my wife died and I had time to get an InfoPass appointment. Although it took a long time, it was worth it as you'll see..
Even if you have notified USCIS by method 2 above and had an acknowledgement or by method 3, take a Death Certificate to the interview!!!
However upsetting it is, don't be put off if the interviewing officer expresses surprise that your Petitioner isn't with you. In my grief I made many mistakes so I had put my certificates in an envelope in the car. The day before the interview, I took them in the house to include in my USCIS pack but forgot. While waiting to be called in, I checked again and had to pass through security twice more to get them from the car - they weren't there. However efficient you were before your loss, don't underestimate the effects of grief - check, check and check again!
My interviewing officer simply asked where my wife was. I explained. He asked me for a Death Certificate. I explained. He told me he couldn't continue the interview. I informed him that I had provided one at InfoPass. He told me that if I had done so, the paper copy would be at the top of the file. He called his supervisor who told him not to proceed. Naturally, I was VERY upset. I was lucky. My interviewing officer was incredibly sympathetic and didn't want to turn away someone who had served his country in the military. Also, I happened to have a photocopy of my InfoPass appointment card (the one you print out from the online InfoPass system). I showed it to him and despite it possibly making him late for his next applicant, he delved in the computer system and finally discovered the filed Death Certificate which my InfoPass officer had input. He apologised and said that they should have printed it out for the paper file. Take one with you to interview!
Disclaimer: I was an existing applicant who had satisfied all RFEs. I didn't have to produce any more evidence except the notification and proof of death.
I hope this helps Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if there is anything you don't understand - if I can't answer, someone else will probably be subscribed to the thread who can! This is an outstanding site with great contributors.
[Off topic, but for what it's worth a note about getting held up on the way to your interview: I allowed 2 extra hours in addition to travel time to be sure I was early. Between the last two exits on the interstate, I found it was a parking lot because of a wreck. the last 4 miles of interstate took me more than two and a half hours. If something like this happens to you, have a cellphone even if you have to borrow one! When I knew I would be late, I called USCIS on their national number (you'll have the interview notice with you so you have the number). Despite passing through a county where cellphoning while driving is banned, I called them and requested an interview later. They won't guarantee it, but at least they notify your local office so that you get on the waiting list. I was lucky and didn't have to wait until closing time to discover they couldn't fit me in. I was slotted in close to the time of my interview but being recently widowered may have been a factor.]

Yeah. Only c&p.
Also, Intrigued by your signature, but your timeline is empty.
Edit: Never mind! Just read your bio. Crazy! The processes you started out on wouldn't even fit in the timelines. Good luck getting everything sorted out!

No way to convert it!

If a US citizen spouse petitions for their husband or wife using an I-130 but then dies before the alien spouse is interviewed for their visa at a US mission abroad, the pending or approved I-130 is automatically converted to a pending or approved I-360 under 8 CFR 204.2(i). If the I-130 is still pending with USCIS then the alien should provide them with a certified copy of the death certificate for the US citizen spouse, and the petition is automatically converted into a pending I-360 and will be adjudicated on that basis. If the I-130 has already been approved and is with the consular section of the relevant US mission, then the alien should provide them with a certified copy of the death certificate and the approved I-130 will be automatically converted into an approved I-360.
If the alien entered the US legally and is still present when the US citizen spouse dies, they should be eligible to file for adjustment of status to permanent resident without leaving the US, as widow/ers remain immediate relatives if they file within two years of the US citizen spouse's death.
You can find the policy memorandum which governs this here: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2009/Widower120209.pdf

I've had a couple of people asking me why I am filing I-360 (non-VAWA) instead of I-130 as most people do here, so figured I would do a brief overview of how things came to be.
While studying at university in the UK I started talking to a girl online. Things progressed, to the point where we wanted to meet, so during a break in my course I came to visit for a couple of weeks. It went well, and another visit soon followed. At this point we weren't sure if we had something or it would just fizzle into nothing, so I applied for a B-2 visa from the American Embassy in London and after graduation came here again for an extended visit.
We hit it off and so looked into options for the next step. We read about adjustment but she was making just under the required amount. Her father was going to be our co-sponsor but he lost his job shortly after I arrived, shutting the door on that possibility. Her family didn't really care for me (she had been with some bad people previously, which had resulted in her having an unplanned child, so perhaps this was understandable to a degree) and so I was not able to file for AoS.
As time went on and I went out of status, I fell into the role of house-husband (since I could not legally work); cooking cleaning and raising my step-son (whom I considered my own). Our own daughter was born a couple of years after that.
I was out of status but hopeful that things could move along once either another sponsor came along or a better opportunity for her. And then it happened, she was head-hunted for a well-paying job that would be enough to sponsor me and then some. We were excited and eagerly awaiting the end of the year so she could file her taxes and we could then file my AoS.
At this point she started having some discomfort in her abdomen, and went to the doctor to have it checked out. It was cancer. To be specific it was a very rare and very aggressive form of ovarian cancer. We started chemo right away and hoped that we had gotten it in time, but these hopes turned out to be unfounded. After a few months it became clear that this was not a battle we could win, and she went on hospice care at our home where I was essentially caring for her full-time.
Since we had never gotten around to doing it legally (although Texas recognises common-law marriage, which is how we held ourselves out to others) I asked her to marry me, and she accepted. We were married in our bedroom by the hospice chaplain, since at this point she was not physically able to leave the house.
Not even three weeks later, she passed away in my arms at our home.
Some time later, I consulted an immigration attorney to see the lay of the land. I fully expected to be told that I was out of luck, that her death had removed any avenue I had to obtain permanent residency and a green card. Instead, the attorney told me that due to a recent change in the law I was actually able to file as her widower. Previously, marriages that lasted less than two years (even if only by a single day) could not be the basis of a family-based AoS and all such applications were denied. This was known informally as the "widow penalty". However, in late 2009 President Obama signed into law a change that said marriages lasting under two years could be adjusted, if they were valid marriages in the normal sense and not done solely for immigration benefits, etc. This one stroke of a pen had given me an opportunity I would not otherwise have.
With the help of the attorney I filed for my AoS and that is where I am now, raising our two children and hoping that my application will be approved.

Thanks for the condolences and advice. Sorry for your loss too.
I apologise. I should have come back and posted that I got the Green Card. I should also have posted what needs doing/what I did for others seeking this advice which I'll do now because the process is pretty easy.
Even if the household income drops below the required level (125% of Poverty Level) in my case (specified in the next paragraph) I was not required to satisfy any income requirements although I DID have to complete a form. If this link works, read this to check your own widow(er) status Special Categories - Widow(er) (if link doesn't work, use the search on USCIS website to search for the string "Widow(er)" including that "(er)". Then click on the link titled just "Widow(er)" and find your specific case. My case was:
Widow(er) With Pending or Approved Immigrant Petition
If you were married to a U.S. citizen who had filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you before he or she died, you do not need to file anything. The Form I-130 will be automatically converted to a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. If you have children (unmarried and under age 21), they may be included on the Form I-360 regardless of whether your deceased spouse had filed a petition for them.
To qualify, you must not have have been divorced or legally separated from the U.S. citizen at the time of death. Your eligibility to immigrate as a widow(er) ends if you have remarried.
If this case doesn't apply to you, CHECK THAT LINK and the instructions for Form I-485 before following any of this advice in case it is not applicable although reading the following may give some pointers to your case.
Here is the procedure:
Notify USCIS of your loss by providing a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate. (Funeral directors obtain these for you - get a few as they're cheap if ordered in one go. Funeral Directors are also required to formally notify Social Security and other agencies which saves you some bother). Additonally, if you have an outstanding RFE regarding the Affifavit of Support, request USCIS to cancel/withdraw this RFE as that evidence is no longer required because otherwise you won't get an interview. If you don't/can't notify USCIS by one of the following means and you attend the interview, you will be sent away on the basis that your Petitioner isn't present. It is VERY upsetting to be told your dead relative isn't present! Telephone notification would be nice, but without the Death Certificate in their system, they can't do much except note your telephone call and advise you. They may even give you bad advice (in my case, I telephoned requesting advice on self-petitioning and got told they had to escalate my case - when I reached the senior tier officer she told me NO-ONE could self-petition which is pretty idiotic!!! As far as I know, there are only three ways to notify USCIS :
Either:
Bring the Death Certicate to your final Interview and hand it to interviewing officer at the very start. (Not recommended unless it's the only way). There are 2 points about this: (a) If your interview is imminent, this is the only way you can notify USCIS as a letter or InfoPass appointment will not be in time. However, ask the funeral director how long the Death Certificates will take to obtain (this varies from county to county). If he can't guarantee that you will have a certificate to take to the interview, telephone USCIS, explain the problem and request that the interview appointment is re-scheduled. (b) Although less important, if you CAN notify by one of the other methods, I advise you do so. If you don't have an interview until weeks or months after you obtain the certificates but haven't notified USCIS earlier by another method, things can go wrong. Also, the interviewing officer will probably look sideways at you and at best consider you stupid and impolite. He may have to proceed with the interview, but he may now be wary about anything you have done. Although he will be polite, he may not go out of his way to make you feel comfortable; or Send a letter to the USCIS office handling your case notifying them (and requesting the RFE cancellation mentioned above if applicable) and enclose the Death Certificate (not recommended unless you can't afford the time and money to use method 3 below; or I recommend this method if it is at all possible! Make an InfoPass appointment and take the Certificate with you. The officers may be ignorant of the procedure because it is rare in your area and take some time to work out what to do but they will find out and advise you because that is their job. You can therefore make sure that it is done before you attend interview. They asked me to go and sit down while they searched for a form (they only had one in the whole office and it took some time to find someone who knew where it was) but they called me to the desk and dealt with me ahead of the person who was next in turn They take the certificate and put it in the computer filing system. In my case, I received the notice of interview just after my wife died and I had time to get an InfoPass appointment. Although it took a long time, it was worth it as you'll see..
Even if you have notified USCIS by method 2 above and had an acknowledgement or by method 3, take a Death Certificate to the interview!!!
However upsetting it is, don't be put off if the interviewing officer expresses surprise that your Petitioner isn't with you. In my grief I made many mistakes so I had put my certificates in an envelope in the car. The day before the interview, I took them in the house to include in my USCIS pack but forgot. While waiting to be called in, I checked again and had to pass through security twice more to get them from the car - they weren't there. However efficient you were before your loss, don't underestimate the effects of grief - check, check and check again!
My interviewing officer simply asked where my wife was. I explained. He asked me for a Death Certificate. I explained. He told me he couldn't continue the interview. I informed him that I had provided one at InfoPass. He told me that if I had done so, the paper copy would be at the top of the file. He called his supervisor who told him not to proceed. Naturally, I was VERY upset. I was lucky. My interviewing officer was incredibly sympathetic and didn't want to turn away someone who had served his country in the military. Also, I happened to have a photocopy of my InfoPass appointment card (the one you print out from the online InfoPass system). I showed it to him and despite it possibly making him late for his next applicant, he delved in the computer system and finally discovered the filed Death Certificate which my InfoPass officer had input. He apologised and said that they should have printed it out for the paper file. Take one with you to interview!
Disclaimer: I was an existing applicant who had satisfied all RFEs. I didn't have to produce any more evidence except the notification and proof of death.
I hope this helps Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if there is anything you don't understand - if I can't answer, someone else will probably be subscribed to the thread who can! This is an outstanding site with great contributors.
[Off topic, but for what it's worth a note about getting held up on the way to your interview: I allowed 2 extra hours in addition to travel time to be sure I was early. Between the last two exits on the interstate, I found it was a parking lot because of a wreck. the last 4 miles of interstate took me more than two and a half hours. If something like this happens to you, have a cellphone even if you have to borrow one! When I knew I would be late, I called USCIS on their national number (you'll have the interview notice with you so you have the number). Despite passing through a county where cellphoning while driving is banned, I called them and requested an interview later. They won't guarantee it, but at least they notify your local office so that you get on the waiting list. I was lucky and didn't have to wait until closing time to discover they couldn't fit me in. I was slotted in close to the time of my interview but being recently widowered may have been a factor.]