TLJohnson

My husband took his oath yesterday and our journey has finally come to an end! Thank you so much everyone for all of your help and encouragement-you made a stressful process a little less so. Good luck to all!

My husband had his interview on the first and he was approved! His oath has been scheduled for April 20th! Does anyone in Dallas have any experience with the oath ceremony in Irving? We have family that would like to come but we don't know how many guests are allowed to attend. Would hate to have people come from out of state and then not be allowed in. When I try calling our local office to ask all I get is the automated phone system which is terrible, and there is no way to ask an actual person.

We just got notice that my husband's interview has been scheduled for Saturday, April 1st! It seems a little strange that the interview would be on a Saturday-has anyone else seen this?

Well, my husband's status changed to In Line on January 4th. No news since then and no letter or anything. When we call the USCIS they just say that he is being processed, but they gave my husband the impression it could be up to 90 days before he receives his interview letter. Hopefully he will have his interview soon!

My husband calls periodically to check on his status (also Dallas filers with no in line notice yet). About a week ago he was reassured that his application was in line for processing, and that they were just experiencing delays. They mentioned that they were processing from January, so I would not be shocked if it is another month or two before we get an in line notice. My husband had hoped to vote in this election, but it does not look like that will be possible. My only concern is that he gets his oath before inauguration day, which I think will still likely happen .

I see that many March filers have already had their interviews and taken the oath. Congrats!

We filed at the end of March (in Dallas, where we live) and had biometrics a few weeks later. Since then, we've heard exactly nothing online or via mail. Not even 'inline for interview'. I know there's some software / process change taking place that has delayed many, but this seems excessive, even so. I notice, for example, that someone in Houston has even finished the process.

Anyone think it's worth a call? Are we just going to get the usual 'be patient' from some harried official?

Nope, no in line notice yet....

YAYYYYY!! I got the interview letter! It's on September 15! just one month away!

Hope @TLJohnson got their interview letter too!

Not yet but you have given us hope lol! Waiting with our fingers crossed!

We are in the same boat with the Dallas office. My husband had his biometrics on April 14th, and still no in line notice for an interview. He has called before and was told that things are just being processed. Not sure what else we can do.

I am also in South Florida and had my biometrics over two months ago and no changes since.

Service Center : Lewisville TX Lockbox CIS Office : Hialeah FL Date Filed : 2016-02-27 NOA Date : 2016-03-02 Bio. Appt. : 2016-03-23

GC Date: 11/30/12

Same here. No changes, but my husband called earlier this week and they said it is just due to processing times and that they have everything they need.

Thanks for the add! To follow-up, my husband called USCIS yesterday to make sure there were no problems because things are taking so long. They said everything was fine we were just being processed. Does not help with the slowness but at least we feel better.

Hello everyone! A little late but can we please be added to the tracker?

GC-Date: 9/29/2011
Sent: 3/11/2016
Cashd: 3/18/2016
NOA: 3/18/2016
Fprints: 4/14/2016

Still no in-line notice or interview notification letter... We put in an address change in early April so my husband is calling today to make sure nothing got messed up (although mail is being forwarded, so should have received any letter either way).

Hello everyone! My husband recieved his I-797! Date of decision 11/4/13-now we are just waiting on his card!

Transfer Notice received 9/16/13 to CSC, Notice Date 9/12/13. Thanks!

Hey Guys,

Our NOA is dated July 15, 2013, and my husband's biometrics appointment is set for August 14, 2013. Thanks for updating!

Can you add us to the July list please? Thanks everyone for the great information!

I-751 Mailed - July 11, 2013

I-751 Arrived at VSC - July 15, 2013
Check Cashed - July 17, 2013

Awaiting NOA1
Awaiting Biometrics Appointment

My husband and I are a little closer into town, but we went to this clinic and saw the doctor there, and she was extremely reasonable and understood what we needed:

Milby Clinic P.A.

5151 Katy Freeway

Suite 130

Houston, Texas 77007

I spent a lot of time calling around to find a doctor, and most of them had no idea what I was talking about. The nurse here knew right away, and I can't remember what they charged but it was in the neighborhood of $40-60. I had my husband (then fiance) get all of his vaccinations and records together before he came to the US because I knew that they would be way cheaper in Mexico than here. Another thing I liked about this doctor was that one of my husband's vaccination records was unclear, and she gave him the benefit of the doubt and completed the form for us instead of charging us an arm and a leg to have him re-vaccinated. This is not a fancy clinic or anything like that, but I would recommend it.

I would not worry too much about this. My husband also has two last names and it has not caused much trouble.

The first issue we encountered was on his I-94. When he entered the country, the border agent only used his first last name on the document. Not really a big deal, but it came up when he went to get his social security card. Because they had only used the one last name on the I-94, they just put the version of his name with only one last name in the system as an alias.

The second issue was with our marriage license. It turns out that in our county, for people with two last names they are always hyphenated. We just kind of went with the flow on this one, as the license itself really only has sentimental value (and if a very heavily Hispanic county like ours requires hyphenation, it must not be such a big problem). We have not run into any issues with this.

When I changed my name, I just took his first last name, and this has not really caused any problems either. When you change your name, everyone looks to the marriage license for authority. I thought maybe they would make me take both exactly like his or not at all, but they pretty much let you do whatever you want.

When filing out forms (for pretty much anything), my husband lists his first name, then middle name (if they only give room for a first name, he usually lists his first and middle names because he goes by both together often). Then for last name, he just puts both words down without any hyphen.

We are finishing our fourth month of waiting, so it seems like they are going a little slow.

Our return receipt says that our AOS packet was received on the 6th of May, but our check has not been cashed yet either.

Ok, our review of Juarez is posted now.

It sounds like they were a little tougher on them in their interviews maybe then they have been lately? I don't know if this is a new trend or anything but it can't hurt for anyone going through Juarez for a K-1 any time soon to bring as much evidence as you can to show during the interview. Also, it is interesting to read in your review that they drilled your fiance about you not being in Juarez for the interview, and my fiance never even got asked if I was in town or not-so random.

To clarify about the cab drivers thinking you need to go to the border to get the visa stamped, there is a lot of confusion about "activating" the visas. When you get the packet from DHL, it will have a crossing point in Juarez designated on it, and the drivers believe that for any visa you get, you have to immediately go to that checkpoint to get the visa stamped. The letter with the visa packet explains that for the K-1, if you want to cross in Juarez, you should use their designated bridge/crossing point, but that you can cross anywhere. Also, the letter explains that you can fly in or use any crossing point that you want.

All right gang, review is up! BTW-they didn't let me in or ask to see me or anything like that at the interview and I just waited back at the hotel, so everything went smoothly:). Jay-Kay, I think I remember seeing that "Blanket Waiver" language on my fiance's visa as well. I took a picture of it and I am meaning to research it to see what it means-let me know if you find anything out.

When I mailed in our I-129F packet, I blacked-out some things from the emails. I could have used different emails, but I chose the ones that I did for specific reasons, so I really wanted to use them. I understand the argument either way (for one, it is pretty good evidence of your legitimate relationship! but, it is also extremely personal). I will probably try to pick out emails with tamer content for our interview that won't require any blacking-out (haha), but I think for the most part the printouts of your sent/received logs are really great evidence as well, and that should not have any really personal information included.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your quick responses! I ended up checking "Yes" and writing "I intend to likely pursue further higher education in the U.S., but have no distinct plans at this time.", but I think I will probably redo the form and just check "No" for simplicity's sake. I think your assessment is correct that this form is used for many different types of visas, and so this question is probably not so relevant for a K-1 filer.

I really am not sure if you can go to the Juarez consulate and ask for your letter.

Yes, you can go to the information window at the consulate and ask for a copy of your interview invitation letter if you have not received it yet, and they will give it to you there. The only caveat is that you can only get a copy of the letter if they have already sent it out in the mail to you (which means that they have processed your file and are ready for you to come in for your interview). The number that I have called to check and see about the status of my letter is as follows:(011 52 477-788-7070). Make sure that you have your case information ready (like your case number from the NVC). As soon as you receive confirmation that they have sent the open interview invitation letter in the mail, you can go to the information window at the consulate and get a copy of it, and then you can use that letter to get into the medical exam and your actual open K-1 interview.

My fiance and I are planning on going to our interview on September 21st, but I don't think that we will have received our invitation letter in the mail by then, so we are planning on going to the information window at the consulate when we get to CDJ to get a copy of our letter as well. Good luck!

In all of the samples I have seen everyone has just checked the "No" box on question 33 of the DS-156 form that asks if the filer intends to study in the U.S. This would probably be the path of least resistance, but if I know that my fiance plans to pursue a doctoral degree here in the U.S., how should I handle that on the form? If I don't mention it and just check "No" for simplicity's sake, could that come back to haunt us in some way during the AOS process? If I want to be honest and say yes, but there are no firm plans or anything already in place, how has anyone dealt with that in the past? Any guidance would be much appreciated! Thanks!