hellomms

I was thinking about this insane USCIS process as well, I dont understand why there would be a backlog if you plan that you are to give X number of visas. I initially blamed poor planning but am starting to think (cynical perhaps) that US wants itself to be perceived as 'hard-to-get'. I think there were plenty of reasons to do that or to even believe why US was not an easy place to get in but since 2001, or even before that, US has lost its reputation in the world. I think there are several other places in the world that are much more attractive than here. No, I am not being un-thankful or anything I am just saying, without being political, that the law makers need to open their eyes and realize where the country is heading.

A close friend of mine from India came here to study and then got a job. Lived here for 8 years, went to India a few dozen times ... even got a 2nd visa from the US embassy when his first visa got expired ... without a problem. A month ago he immigrated to Canada and applied for US visa to visit and his passport has been retained for about 7 weeks now for additional security measures. How dumb! I mean how effing dumb these people are ... and I will be one of them ... the irony.

Your interview letter should arrive about 45 days before your interview - will that be enough time for you to get back? You've already got your AP so you are covered there.

Another thing to keep in mind is the length of your time overseas. If you have a GC you are expected to be in the USA for a certain amount of time each year unless you get special permission. I'd hate for you to "move" overseas and have the IO assume you don't live (or want to live) in the USA.

I guess 45 days is enough as I dont plan to travel for long duration ... its just several trips that I dont think I could cancel if I book and interview lands on the same day.

My wife filed for my AOS back in August, I have already received my AP and EAD but have not heard from USCIS on my AOS or my wife's I-130 since then. My employer wants me to go aboard for work related assignments and it would be impossible to come back for interview if it happens while I am outside the US. I dont know why its taking long...

I called USCIS several times and mostly spoke to the Second level IO on the phone and like everyone else got different versions of the story: Some said the case takes one year of process, some estimated that I'd get the interview letter by mid-December, a couple said that the name check is done, one said its waiting for NYC local office for interview, a couple said its still with NBC, etc. But no news or RFE on either I-485 or I-130. I have had my wife write to the local congressman and they said they'd follow-up and in the meantime I wanted to make InfoPass appointment to see if my visit can trigger the case to resume. So I called USCIS today and they are saying that despite what it says on the website (4 Months processing) they are still processing July 3rd applications so they cant issue me a Service Request - that is required for an InfoPass. So now I cant go to the Infopass since I dont have SR ticket.

Do I have any other options to make them look into my case? I cant find many cases that get dragged for so long. I am just nervous that they might reject the petition while I am outside the US, preventing me from coming back

P.S: Most of the August and more specifically NYC cases have been resolved

Came back from Honeymoon, still no interview letter

Sent a request of follow-up to the Congresswomen in our area.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone for your reply. I dont have any criminal record (two traffic tickets) and never overstayed.

As for the interview letter, if I was to estimate I am at least 30 days past-due for the interview letter. This is based on the timeline of people within my city who filed in the month I filed.

I have a honeymoon in Hawaii in December so I am afraid to escalate (InfoPass or Congressman) as they may actually end up sending the letter afterwards and I'd hate to have the date conflict with my honeymoon. Will probably follow-up upon my return from Hawaii.

Cheers!

Thanks, I forgot about the NOA1 and Certificate.

Already got the Canadian visa. Hope all goes well.

I am leaving for Canada in two days on the Advance Parole, I have not left the US in 8 years so a little nervous travelling on AP while AOS is pending. I should have had my interview by now but for reason unknown to me, no news from USCIS yet.

Anyhow, is there anything I need to take with me apart from the AP and the Passport? I am on H1 so I guess I could take the approval of the H1 extension. Any experience on the road travel and the immigration officers? Do I need to have any sort of registration (NASEERS)?

I am also a little nervous about that line on the AP that says "This document is not for admission".

Still no interview letter. In a way I am glad since we are going to our honeymoon from Dec 7 - Dec 15. Called USCIS and they said its not been scheduled. So if they schedule now, interview will probably be after our honeymoon

That said, I am a little concerned as to why they have not scheduled the interview

You are still withing USCIS processing time which is 4 months. They could care less what is going on with other people as long as you haven't gone out of this time frame they won't do much. I think that the officer you talk to on the phone would know if you had an interview at least, call them everyday to check on your status and to see if an interview has come up. Then at least if something has gotten lost in the mail and they didn't update you on it you have reason to appeal.

I hope you get it soon.

Thanks, I was curious what the normal Processing Timeline was.

Its strange, the two different IOs have told me (1) You in queue to get the interview letter (2) Your case is still with the NBC. These two point contract each other, if I am waiting interview letter I would expect to be transferred to the field office and if its still at NBC, then I want to know why and they because of being within the Processing time, they wont say anything.

Hi,

I filed for AOS, I-130, AP and EAD back in the beginning of August (Timeline below), I have received EAD and the AP in time without any RFE or any other problems. I am getting concerned about the fact that I still have not received my interview letter and there hasnt been any update on the I-130 or I-485 since August. I have called USCIS and spoke to the IO and they said that as of 2 weeks ago my interview was still not scheduled and the application was still at the NSC, not transferred to the Field Office. They said my case is in the normal timeline, which I dont agree with.

I have seen many cases already getting their letter, some who filed in Mid-September have received the interview letter. I am afraid that they may have tried to deliver and I didnt get it or got lost in the mail.

Is there anything I can do at my end?

Still no interview letter. Called and they said hasnt been transferred to the Local Office yet!

I'm so confused ! 4 days ago i got an update from USCIS says that they ordered me the EAD '' it was under card/document production''.Now i got an update says On October 19, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I765 APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION. '' under post decision activity'' !!!!

I would disregard it. I think got 3 EAD related emails, so you may even get one more.

Excellent Reference.. from the prev. preson's post and all the important responses given.. I hope the OP in this thread will now make the decision to cancel / postpone the trip or any decision that would be in their favor.

I agree with h1a1. Infopass is a critical step. The OP in that earlier reference only called USCIS. Based on what I have ready (for past 2 days on VJ and other resources) there is DISCONNECT between the USCIS Support Center (Phone Call) and the Local Field office. And to bridge this gap, its VERY critical that we notify the Field Office, who essentially has the power to make the reschedule changes.

I appreciate everyone's feedback but I am going to present a counter reference http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/174638-reschedule-initial-adjustment-of-status-interview/

...the OP in this thread was successfully able to reschedule by writing to USCIS Field Office, I know she mentioned that InfoPass wasnt helpful but she wrote to the Local Field Office to get it done. Again, the Local Office helped her re-schedule. By the way, someone else at the end of the thread also mentioned success in their reschedule. It also seems like people announce the failure more than they do the success of reschedule

I know I dont have anything yet and I am freaking out and it might be a moot point if I get my interview before or after my travel but I think it would be a great help to everyone if somehow we can establish how re-schedules are done. I have made up my mind to go with reschedule if there is a conflict and I'll be sure to update everyone with lots of details

p.s. My husband and I did have our honeymoon trip to Hawaii in this likely timeframe and did make the decision that even if we had to fly all the way back and eat the $$ and pay $1000 on tickets, it would be worth it to protect his status. Ultimately, we didn't plan ahead far enough and that was our own fault.

Well, our trip is also in Hawaii We booked it in May of this year. I didnt think it would be close as I originally filed in mid-July and due to wrong form version ended up reapplying and now the NOA1 date is Aug 13. Still thought that we'd make it until I saw NYC's timeline.

I would consider making the change to our itenirary if the interview is one day away. If not, I might just take the risk of reschudling as I am already on H1B so they cant really deport me until that is valid ... or may be they can

As soon as I get the interview letter and (hopefully NOT) shows conflict I'll make InfoPass with my wife and see what they say.

The problem is you cannot get "re-scheduled" until you get scheduled.

We are at different point in process but would not be suprised if people call/email and never hear back. Murphys law says you will get interview during your vacation. We just had a ruined vacation because interview was scheduled after we made arrangements but we made the interview a priority.

Technically I am not asking to 're-schedule' but to avoid a schedule on certain date. I was calling USCIS and one ISO said I should make a request and give it to local office, the way she said it I was not convinced that this would help at all but now I am thinking that Infopass wont hurt.

Well, its our Honeymoon trip and we have a committed very decent amount of money on it. Foregoing that is going to be very painful, financially and mentally.

Sorry No this is not possible. Would be a good thing that the office come up with... But you will be toldthat applicants are advised not to make arrangements until approvals to avoid conflicts. You can however seek arrangements to have it rescheduled and with valid reasons.

From what I have ready, reschedules are possible and my reason would be valid given the financial implications.

Seems like there is major miscommunication between the NBC and the Field Office. I have read that people call USCIS for reschedule service request but it never gets communicated to the local office and thats why people get those denial notes.

I have been trying to find a success story with details of how they re-scheduled, any idea?

Me and my wife (USC) have spent a significant chunk of money on the trip between December 7th and December 16th, its a non-refundable trip and we really cant re-schedule that. I thought I had filed early enough to avoid conflict but now its starting to concern me. Thus far I have not received any communication or RFE and the Last Update was 8/18/2010 on my I-485. I am scared that USCIS might schedule the AOS interview between these days.

I dont know whether my case is awaiting interview in the NYC office or its still being reviewed at the NBC. The timeline for the NYC office (based on VJ and Trackitt) indicates that some people have already gotten their interview letters while the USCIS timeline indicates that they are taking a little over 4 months to process I-485.

Is there ANY way I can prevent USCIS from scheduling the interview between Dec 7th and Dec 16th? I really dont want to be in the position to re-schedule the interview or the trip.

thanks in advance!!

Based on the NYC timeline they are taking 126 days to process. That means as of:

10/16/2010 they are processing 6/11/2010 applications

11/16/2010 they will process 7/11/2010

12/16/2010 they will process 8/10/2010 --->

If thats the case would it mean that they will issue the interview letter around 12/16/2010 or I will have interview around (not exact) 12/16/2010. The reason I ask is because if the interview is after 12/16/2010, I wont worry at all.

yep, i know what you mean but they also said this and im quoting the uscis website

"If the office is processing a particular type of application in less time than our processing goal, you will see the processing times expressed in months (for example, if the office is processing naturalization applications in less than our 5 month goal, the processing time will state “Five Months”). However, if that office is taking longer than our processing goal to handle the form type in question, you will see the filing date (e.g., “April 10, 2003”) of the last case we processed on the date the website chart was last updated. The charts are updated on or about the 15th day of each month.

IMPORTANT: If your receipt notice date is earlier then the processing date shown, we suggest you call our USCIS Customer Service Office "

so thats why they got their letters right away, their office is within their usual goal of 4 months.

about the other site you were saying, you are right, they got theirs right away.

Ha! only if I have paid attention to the little details

Can have a copy of the file? thanks

Could not upload on this website so uploaded on a free server. Here is the link

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/276545/Trackitt---NYC-xlsx.html

Oh you can check it on their website... you'll notice that i-485 is still dated march 2010 and that was as of july 2010. There's like a 4-month gap, so if our notice date is August we'll get our interview letter late this month or early November and get interviewed around December... Well, that's just my guess it could be earlier (i hope so).

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

I think that these timelines are either NOT applicable to us or NOT accurate. If they are applicable, they certainly are not accurate for cities other than NYC. Here is why:

1) AmyKathleen2005 applied from Cleveland, USCIS website shows 4 Months processing time (Took amykathleen a little over 2 months)

2) Bruin85 applied from Los Angeles, USCIS website shows 4 Months Processing time (same, took Bruin85 less than 3 months.

m+m:you're the only person I know who's filing aos concurrently and from nyc, most are filing from k1 status.

You are probably right. I went to Trackitt website and applied filters for concurrent NYC filters (I have the file if anyone interested), there are 3 August concurrent filers. If the trend of past year continues, I should have the interview appointment before the first week of December and I really hope that becomes true.

The other thing I dont know if the case has been transferred to field office or not. Thats another important factor because based on Trackitt the 3 cases from August 2010 have interview scheduled in the end of October, so apparently NYC office was not that busy for those 3 cases. So I dont know where the hold up is

I was just thinking about you. You, me and AmyKathleen are the 3 original August 2010 Filers. Her husband was approved Tuesday, my wife & I have our interview this coming Friday, but you are still waiting for your interview letter. I know New York is probably backed up, but still, it's surprising that you don't have an interview appointment by now. Maybe you should pay a visit to your Congressman's office. Afterall, election day is fast approaching, so maybe they will do something for you. Anyway, I hope you get it soon. You've waited long enough.

You are right, I should pay a visit to the Congressman's office. I have a 1.5 week long trip in December and I am really worried that they will schedule and interview during that.

I did apply with I-130 so may be thats what might be the differentiator but like you said, I should have the interview letter by now or at least an RFE, I have checked various other resources including VJ where people from NYC have already gotten their interview letters(except member poopie1010) and they filed I-130 so this is scaring me a little.

Last I spoke to the ISO on the phone (2 weeks), they said the case has not been transferred to the local field office.

Allomst 2 months after NOA1 and still nothing!! No biometric letter no touches on I-130, I-485 or I-765 Starting to go crazy. Anyone else in my shoes? . Why is mine taking soooo long? many August fillers have their I-765 approved already and i'm still waiting on Bio. Did a service request, but nothing yet. I'm going crazy here NBC...Take me out of my Misery PLEASE!!!!! Insha'Allah next week will bring some good news?!?!? I can only hope

Well, since you have not received RFE, I think you should be getting your EAD/AP approval emails soon.

I do however understand your feeling, I am desperately waiting for the interview letter!!!!

Hey guys,

So I set an infopass and spoke to them today and the lady made copies of the confirmation letters for rescheduling interviews.

She said they will review my case and give me either a new interview date or an update in 30 days.

I think the main reason it was denied was coz my local office dint get any notice of rescheduling interview.

Anyone have any experience or advice on this and do you think its a good sign??

Pls let me know what you guys think.

Thanks

Good luck to you, any updates from the local office?