New processing times - is the USCIS lying?

[seaflower 0]

ANY ONE APPROVED YET????

[tammiandtom 0]

Card arrived today! About 420 days waiting for Nebraska to do something and then a transfer to California and 16 days later the card arrives. I wonder what it will cost in 2018 to renew it?

GOOD question. That's why my husband sent his N-400 in now. (I realize that not everyone wants to become a citizen though, but Tom does and it's better now before prices go up again).

[winterpassing 0]

Card arrived today!!! So excited! All the information was correct too. Yay!

[NickD 202]

"ANY ONE APPROVED YET????"

Ha, not sure if even the word APPROVED applies here, what is there to approve?

Because conditions were placed on us due to the fact we weren't married for two years, the only process was to remove those conditions, and this was accomplished by resupplying essentially the same proof we supplied to get the original conditional permanent resident card.

The actual action was to change the status of our case from,

Current Status: Doing nothing.

to:

Current Status: Card production ordered.

The most major change besides the expiration date, still stuck with that, is whether my wife will like her second photo more than her first photo, she was more relaxed the second time around and paid more attention to her hair.

We also sent in our N-400, but I sent it in a couple of days late because I was tired of looking at March 27. Now I get to look at March 30, LOL.

We had to send in two passport photos, not sure why they are used, but very professionally done and she had her choice of a bunch of pictures to chose from. Does she get a purple card? Only proof I have of being a US citizen is an old worn out birth certificate that has been around the block a few times.

Gee, can I get a photo ID proof too? Senator Feingold's office invited us to a bunch to meet him, interesting. Seems like we all have to get more involved in politics.

[seaflower 0]

STILL NO ONE WAS APPROVED TODAY????

[coloradogirl 0]

STILL NO ONE WAS APPROVED TODAY????

Certainly not us! And here we are rounding the bend into our 16th month of waiting . But at least I have something else to occupy my time now, health insurance duress, blahh.... that's why we haven't filed the N-400 yet, waiting to see what the insurance company will pay for the ultrasound, ct scan and fine needle aspiration and biopsy that hubby needed on his neck. It's a toss up at this point, pay for the N-400 in hopes insurance will pay the bulk of the bills, or just wait until that's all finally finished then continue on our journey. Talk about stress, it's hitting us from all angles now....

Well, it's 5:00pm here in Boulder, and I'm getting off work, anybody care to join me for a drink and commisserate??

[MDZJ 0]

STILL NO ONE WAS APPROVED TODAY????

Certainly not us! And here we are rounding the bend into our 16th month of waiting . But at least I have something else to occupy my time now, health insurance duress, blahh.... that's why we haven't filed the N-400 yet, waiting to see what the insurance company will pay for the ultrasound, ct scan and fine needle aspiration and biopsy that hubby needed on his neck. It's a toss up at this point, pay for the N-400 in hopes insurance will pay the bulk of the bills, or just wait until that's all finally finished then continue on our journey. Talk about stress, it's hitting us from all angles now....

Well, it's 5:00pm here in Boulder, and I'm getting off work, anybody care to join me for a drink and commisserate??

Nice, I work in Boulder. Maybe next time, the Foundry on Pearl Street? I am getting , too, about the wait. But with the two weeks vacation coming up, I get myself busy with the planning. It is always good to think of something else rather than USCIS. Good luck with the insurance!

Edited April 19, 2008 by MDZJ

[Gulskjegg 0]

My heart goes out to you people. I hope since your husband is from Morocco this isn't an anti-Muslim issue from within USCIS.

[NickD 202]

"Certainly not us! And here we are rounding the bend into our 16th month of waiting mad.gif ."

My goal was to get a couple of valid green cards before June 27, 2008 when the very difficult to explain one year extension ran out, turned out better than I expected by getting our case status changed for both my wife and daughter to cards have been ordered on April 18, 2008. One year and and 22 days to be precise and hope to be as lucky as Illinois77 and get those cards in the mail in less than a week.

If I cannot explain a Federal Form, not very easy to counterfeit, I-797c with unknown dates stating in poor English that expired green cards are good for another year, how am I to explain a blurred stamp in a foreign passport book that my wife and daughter are still permanent residents of this great country? Waiting 16 months months would have driven me crazy, but that's okay regarding insurance, besides a good group insurance policy, as a veteran, also have that medical coverage.

And the thought of another visit to our local field office, over a 400 mile trip just to get a stamp would kill me. Do not like sitting on a folding chair for 3 1/2 hours like a prisoner with armed guards walking around bored to death just waiting for something to happen. Wouldn't be so bad if I was armed as well, yeah we had a 8:00 AM appointment, but weren't called in until 11:30 AM and why were people being called in that came in hours after us? Turned out our interviewer was called out about something to do with her kid in a day care center. Oh, that's okay, we didn't mind waiting.

To get there on time, we got up at 2:00AM to leave at 3:00AM leaving an extra hour as never know what kind of traffic jam we would encounter, form says, if you are late, your appointment will be canceled. What about your interviewer being late? On the way home, got bored of the interstate, have a hard time staying awake so took my secret county road home for part of the trip. That was a mistake, of all things, on a county road was stopped by a state trooper for speeding. He never said how fast I was speeding, had my cruise set at 59, well I was speeding as the limit was 55. Ironically, after listening to a long speech, he let me go without a ticket. Remembered with Homeland Security, they doubled the size of our police force, and these guys don't have anything better to do than to hand out traffic tickets.

So I had plenty of motivation not to make that trip again just to get a stamp and in no way with the problems we had with keeping a valid foreign passport was I going to risk sending that in the mail.

This has become a key issue with me, what in the hell is a permanent resident anyway and how does that differ from a US citizen? If you are a permanent resident of this country, you can't be a permanent resident of a different country, and if you are not a resident of that country, how do they expect you to have a valid passport of that country? You are either one or the other, but not both, and I have been hitting my congressman hard with this question. Even brought up this subject last night with a group of friends, some said they never thought about that, maybe that is the problem, people don't think. Not sure about this permanent resident thing, haven't checked on that history yet, but wasn't the case when my grandparents came here. Matter of fact, anybody that came here was at one time or another, an immigrant, even the Indians were immigrants, but no laws at that time.

While my efforts have paid off in not having to make that long trip again to our nearest field office, not exactly like SS where one is available in every county, yeah that too, to get SS cards for my wife and daughter, and again no way was I going to send key original documents in the mail, we have to make that trip again for fingerprints for the N-400.

A 3rd set of fingerprints with the USCIS? What's wrong with the first two sets? Why can't our local police department do that, yeah I know, one agency does not trust another agency, the key reason for 9/11 and another reason for the DHS. And why another 50 page copy of my divorce papers, long winded attorneys, killed me to dig that mess of papers out again, trying to forget that terrible experience, but not one copy, two, in case they lose the first copy. While my divorce may be considered private information, it is a public document available for anyone to read, can even post the website where it's listed. Ha, thought just about supplying the link, but don't want to make problems for the USCIS.

What a mess this country has become with city, township, county, state, and federal laws, least in my small town, I can keep my guns, that is part of our constitution in the Bill of Rights, but not so in Milwaukee and other large cities, you cannot own a gun, doesn't that contradict the US Constitution?

Ha, looked over that 99 question quiz for citizenship, not much on the Bill of Rights, nor the right to bear arms, just have to know the colors of our flag.

Ha, as I said before, will be nice when all this is over and just have to pay taxes to be left alone. That is another crime where I have to spend hours of my own town keeping books to collect sales taxes for our state and don't even get a piece of the action. And if I make a 39 cent error, can be fined for that, that already happened. Seems like they keep better books than I do and know exactly about every cent I make. So why put us through all that as well?

And we are fighting for the a country for their freedom when they don't even want that freedom? One of us is cracking up, has got to be me.

[coloradogirl 0]

STILL NO ONE WAS APPROVED TODAY????

Certainly not us! And here we are rounding the bend into our 16th month of waiting . But at least I have something else to occupy my time now, health insurance duress, blahh.... that's why we haven't filed the N-400 yet, waiting to see what the insurance company will pay for the ultrasound, ct scan and fine needle aspiration and biopsy that hubby needed on his neck. It's a toss up at this point, pay for the N-400 in hopes insurance will pay the bulk of the bills, or just wait until that's all finally finished then continue on our journey. Talk about stress, it's hitting us from all angles now....

Well, it's 5:00pm here in Boulder, and I'm getting off work, anybody care to join me for a drink and commisserate??

Nice, I work in Boulder. Maybe next time, the Foundry on Pearl Street? I am getting , too, about the wait. But with the two weeks vacation coming up, I get myself busy with the planning. It is always good to think of something else rather than USCIS. Good luck with the insurance!

Foundry on Pearl would be great! pm me some time and I could meet you there. Have a great vacation!

[coloradogirl 0]

My heart goes out to you people. I hope since your husband is from Morocco this isn't an anti-Muslim issue from within USCIS.

I've wondered about this myself. Our AOS interview 'way back when' went very well. I've not kept very good tabs on the other north african countries or other muslim countries spouses who post on here so I really can't say. But believe me, it's in the back of my mind all the time....

Thanks for your support!

[sandy2000 0]

well I am from Algeria colorado girl, and our AOS interview went well also , but you never know with stupid USCIS how they think.

[sandy2000 0]

hopefully somebody gets approved tomorow

[Gulskjegg 0]

My wife was strongly opposed to American citizenship due to the fact Ukraine does not allow dual-citizenship. I did some research, and the Ukrainian dual-citizenship problem stems from their ongoing disputes with Russia (divided loyalties?).

I did some research and it turns out that the Ukrainian "rule" against dual-citizenship is mostly symbolic. It is actually in opposition to international law, as the only "legal" reason to strip someone of their passport is over convictions due to treason and so forth.

Thus, my wife can get her American passport and keep her Ukrainian passports without any problems. The only difference is, if she were to commit a crime in Ukraine (not likely) the Ukrainian justice system would not notify the American embassy but would indeed treat her exactly like a Ukrainian national.

Its a problem that, once I showed my wife, became a paper tiger and nothing to fear. Now, my wife wants to get her passport if for no other reason then we never have to deal with USCIS ever again.

[danutuke 0]

Hello,

Today I went to Chicago USCIS office to get my second stamp (first one they gave me was valid only for 60 days and my NOA is 01/31/07).

Lady who was assisting me was quite interesting. I asked her if there is a reason why my I-751 has not been approved for 15 months and some people have their completed in 3-4 months. She said that it is me who is married to my husband and not somebody else and that there is not universal processing time for everybody........It made me think they do not like my husband.........or me????????

I have N-400 interview in June and I asked her if my husband should come since my I-751 is still pending. At first she said she doesn't know, but later she said if they need my husband- they will let me know. So I guess he can go to work and not waist his time.

Finally, she was looking at my passport for 15 minutes. I have many visas and stamps since my college years in Europe, and apparently she liked looking at them. After 15 minutes she put a stamp for 5 months only!!!!!!!! and stapled my green card inside my passport. It looks terrible, as there is a hole in my passport now and giant staples.

Anyway, hopefully after my naturalization interview I will NEVER have to deal with USCIS.

Thanks

Danutuke