MaryQ

Hi everyone! I was curious if anyone else has run into this situation. My hubby is a permanent resident and will be pursuing naturalization as soon as possible. The main reason we are rushing for citizienship is to sponsor his mother who entered the country on a tourist visa but whose status has lapsed. My question is regarding the fact that we will soon be moving to North Carolina but she lives in Maryland. Do you think it will cause any complications that we don't live in the same state? Which processing center would the applications go to? Where we are or where she is?

Update-- sorry I just realized that I think I put this in the wrong section and I don't know how to delete it

Hi everyone,

Hubby and I are in the process of filling out our I-751. Based on what I hear from others and what I see in the form instructions, it seems that the presence of children is a very helpful proof of the marriage commitment. Well DH and I have been unable to have children so far due to infertility problems. So here's my question: do you think it would be worthwhile to have an affidavit from our doctor who is overseeing our fertility treatments (as a proof that we have been trying for quite a while to have children together)? Or is that just going to be weird or overkill?

On slightly related note, in general who is best to use for those two affidavits anyway?

Thanks in advance for your thought!

Thank you both for replying. I hadn't thought of that it might affect a citizenship application--I will check further into that. As for how long he's worked, he's been here and working for many years; he was here on a student visa before we met and was allowed to work.

Any of you know if it's lawful for my husband (a conditional permanent resident) to receive unemployment benefits? He has been searching for a job for a year now and we really need the financial help. Thanks for any answers.

Congratulations on your successful interview!!! Excellent news!

Typically, it takes about 4 weeks to receive the actual green card. You should receive the Welcome letter about a week before the card. Again, some may receive their card sooner and some later. However, most receive their cards in 4 weeks.

Congratulations again and good luck with the rest of your journey!

Thank you!!!

After an uphill battle for more than a year, my husband and I finally had a successful interview on March 1 (yay!). The interviewer was awkward and distant but he apparently approved hubby's AOS because we got on online update saying they're ordering the production of a card. Does anyone know how long it typically takes between the "production" and the actual mailing of the card? Will we receive another update when it's actually in the mail? I'm just super-paranoid about knowing when it's actually in the mail because we've had a lot of problems with USCIS mail not getting to us in the past and it created HUGE problems.

I see your in Fairfax VA, I am in the DMV as well so I would think the closest office would be Baltimore. When I made mine, I had no trouble, that is weird. Maybe they are having problems with there computer, keep trying. They do daily appointments in Baltimore.

Thanks for your reply. Actually, I'm in Annandale and our closest office is Fairfax. I have been there for an infopass appointment once before but now all the sudden they don't have any appointments. I know that Fairfax has our file so I'm afraid Baltimore wouldn't be much help.

Hi there,

I need to get an infopass appointment with our local office but every time I go through the process online it tells me that they don't have any appointments available. It offers no insight as to when or if they will have appointments available in the future. Has anyone else ever had this problem? Any idea what's going on?

Thanks,

Mary

Thank you so much for your comments everyone. We went to the infopass appointment and it turns out they had a number wrong in our address and had been sending everything to the wrong place! They acknowledged the mistake on their end and are going to re-open the case. Now we just have to wait for another interview letter. Thank goodness!

When your application was denied the case was closed. Before you can get an interview you need to either get the case reopened or file another application. Normally, I think you've only got 30 days to file a petition requesting the case to be reopened. Looks like it's been more than 3 months since your case was denied. I honestly don't know what your chances are of getting the case reopened now. USCIS seems to be unsympathetic when it comes to people not receiving their notices. For some reason, they act as if their obligation is complete when they hand an envelope to the US postal service.

I think you need to go to the infopass appointment with your wife. If you can convince them that they screwed up then I think you've got a reasonable chance of getting the case reopened. If they won't reopen the case then submit another petition. Unfortunately, it means paying the fee again, but it would be a lot faster than trying to get an administrative appeal over the denied application.

I'm just curious, and for the benefit of other VJ members in a similar situation, but what did you do since you originally filed to follow your case? Did you track it online, and was the case status updated regularly? Did you call them occasionally, and what did they say? I'm curious because it seems unusual to miss your appointment and not find out about it for three months.

Hi there, I'm responding to you because I'm Luighi's wife. I agree with you that it seems so strange to have a missed appointment and not know about it for three months; that is what worries me most about trying to get them to reconsider the case--I'm sure they will say "what took you so long?" Here is what happened that led to us not figuring it out until now:

We made a change of address in late March. We received his work permit in late May, which made us think "Great, that means they have the right address and that the case is moving along." (we would later find out that the interview appt. letter had already supposedly been sent a couple of weeks prior). I did check the online status periodically but it never said anything so I stopped checking it as frequently. I could have sworn I also signed up to receive email updates on the case but never got anything. By the end of June I told my husband we should call the help line and just check in. Well he calls about his 485 and is told "we sent you a letter on June 10th" They would not tell him what the letter said, why we didn't get it, or what address it was sent to. They just said they would resend it and it would take 30-60 days. So we thought we had no option but to wait. Fast forward to late August and we still don't have any communication from them. I get online and see that a DENIAL letter was what they sent on June 10th (for i-130 and i-485). Before this we had no idea it was a denial and no clue that that was even a possibility really. I call immediately and I'm told again that all they can do is resend the letter and it will take 30 days. I get online to make an infopass appointment and first available is Sept. 15 so I take it. I call back again and ask some questions and ask to be transferred to Tier 2 but they refuse. Then last night, my husband called and somehow after a long time convinced them to transfer him to Tier 2. This is how we find out that we were supposedly sent an appointment letter in May, and then since we didn't respond, a denial letter in June.

I just don't know what else to say. We would have had to have psychic powers in order to see all this coming! We just never received any correspondence about those petitions from them, and when we called the help line they simply weren't helpful no matter how much we pushed (until last night). I thought it was just slow bureaucracy and never dreamed they would have scheduled an interview so fast but then the letter never got to us.

an ISO can tell you a lot, actually.

please get an ISO on the phone, yes?

OK, thank you very much for your advice. I didn't completely understand what you meant the first time but now I know that I really have to insist to talk to an ISO.

could you not make an infopass appointment and go speak to someone in person about your case and get them to tell you what the leter is and have your address fixed etc.

I did make an infopass appointment but the first available date was September 15 so I haven't gone yet. I just wanted to see if there was anything we should do in the meantime. Also I am hoping and praying they will be helpful at that appointment--the people at the USCIS phone line said that the office may or may not provide me with a copy of the letter.

I also just wanted to ask generally, do people almost always get lawyers to handle the application process? If you talk to an attorney they say it's absolutely a bad idea to do it on your own but then I've heard from others that you don't need an attorney at all, you just have to be smart and careful.

Thank you for your response. I have called several times and they insist that they cannot verify the address in the system since we are no longer "pending." I've asked many questions but there are never allowed to give me any answers it seems. By checking online, I do see that some travel documents were returned to them as undeliverable and maybe that's why we weren't getting other documents. Anyway, I suppose I will just keep calling and asking questions.

i think is time to talk with an ISO ( see http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/gc_1221837986181.shtm#5 )

and get some exact details of your case.

it may be that an RFE was issued, and for some reason, you never received it.

an ISO can verify that the address you give them is the one they have on file and

verify if anything was 'returned from USPS' and can

request to resend any 'failed delivery' notices.

not that it helps, exactly, but - to 'know more', always, is useful.

Hi there. I will be so grateful to you if you have any helpful advice on this topic:

My husband is from Peru and was here on an F-1 student visa when we met. We married in November 2009 and then filed for AOS in early February 2010. We received receipts for all our forms and he went in for the fingerprints and medical. We thought we'd then be invited for an interview. But we called the "help" line at the end of June and were informed we had been sent a letter. We never received it, didn't know what it was, and they would not verify the address. They said they were sending it again, we still haven't received it. Anyway, I figured out how to check the case status online last week. I see that we were sent a DENIAL letter on June 10th. It doesn't say online why we were denied. I have again requested to have the letter re-sent and still haven't received it. Our 30 day window to appeal has obviously passed. We are scared and don't know how to proceed. I don't know what my husband's status is or what our options are. We talked to an attorney who said we need to re-file and need an attorney. We barely have enough money to re-file and definitely don't have money for an attorney. But do you we really need to scrape together the money and get one? Just hold our breath for the letter? I made an infopass appointment for Sept 15 (earliest available) but I have this bad feeling they won't be helpful there. Thank you so much for your help.