New York City AOS timeline & Interviews

[FavoredOnes 4]

Bump!

Any New Yorkers?!

[novocastrian 0]

Bump!

Any New Yorkers?!

Yes, I'm another New Yorker. You can see from my timeline I'm also in the waiting game for an interview date. Mine went to scheduling for interview on Jan 09. So frustrating as most other marriage-based-AOS from a work visa who filed in November seem to already have interview dates or even interviewed already (based on what I see on VJ). And it is just not clear to me whether I'll be waiting for another week or two or another month or two! Let me know if you have any developments - you seem to be on a similar timeline to me.

[FavoredOnes 4]

Yes, I'm another New Yorker. You can see from my timeline I'm also in the waiting game for an interview date. Mine went to scheduling for interview on Jan 09. So frustrating as most other marriage-based-AOS from a work visa who filed in November seem to already have interview dates or even interviewed already (based on what I see on VJ). And it is just not clear to me whether I'll be waiting for another week or two or another month or two! Let me know if you have any developments - you seem to be on a similar timeline to me.

Oh I'm glad you posted cos I was starting to feel alone especially as most other November filers have interview dates already. I imagine the delay is due to spots not being available.

I'll def keep you informed. Come join us in the November filers thread, also.

[Brian&Ivy 1]

I am a New Yorker!!! See my timeline below. Will be interviewed in long island city office on Valentine's Day!!

[FavoredOnes 4]

I am a New Yorker!!! See my timeline below. Will be interviewed in long island city office on Valentine's Day!!

Not bad based on your timeline.

What was the timeline for EAD approval or are you working with OPT?

[Brian&Ivy 1]

Not bad based on your timeline.

What was the timeline for EAD approval or are you working with OPT?

haha, i forgot to add my i765 approved time! added it. I use CPT first and then EAD card. Yes, the timeline is not bad. I do not complain.. There are still lots of cases ahead of ours not being scheduled for interviews.

[novocastrian 0]

I just came back from an InfoPass appointment I made a couple of weeks ago at Federal Plaza NYC. I originally made the appointment because I was supposed to be going on an overseas trip tomorrow (but I ended up cancelling the trip, not wanting to take the risk that my GC interview would be scheduled while I'm away) so I wanted to confirm my interview hadn't been scheduled and I just hadn't received the letter yet. I've been trying to reschedule that trip for April or May (I filed my AOS in early Nov), so I still went to the InfoPass appointment to see if they could give me any info on the status of my case. I thought I would report back my observations and what I was told:

The line to get into Federal Plaza to go through security is really long, took around 20-25 mins to get through it.

When I went to level 3 to go to my appointment, there was no wait to see an officer (it was past my appointment time because of the huge security line). Actually, it is a huge room with filled with empty seats, literally no one in there. But plenty of booths with officers waiting to speak to people with appointments - not what I expected since Federal Plaza never has any InfoPass appointments available.

When I told the officer I wanted to understand whether it was ok for me to plan now to go overseas in April or May (I have Advance Parole) as I haven't received by interview appointment yet, he was very relaxed and said sure, just reschedule your GC appointment if it is while you are overseas (but before the interview, otherwise it will be considered abandoned). He was of the opinion that this should be easy to reschedule (but I don't have much faith that he had any experience with people doing this, so I'm not taking much comfort in this).

He then looked up my case on the system, and much to my surprise, he told me my application was still at the National Benefits Center and hadn't even been sent to the NYC office yet. I had assumed that the NYC office was the hold up because my online status went to "interview scheduling" on Jan 9 and because I hadn't heard anything yet (and a lot/most other Nov 2012 filers have already got their interviews scheduled). He said that this happens because the NBC doesn't send individual applications to field offices, they wait until the maybe have 200 applications and then send them all in boxes at the same time. And only when NYC goes through them, will they appoint all those cases interview times. I had already assumed this was the case, but I also assumed that it wouldn't take the NBC over a month to accumulate enough NYC applications in order to send it to the field office - doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm not sure what to assume about my timeline now. Perhaps the NBC is holding on to the NYC cases longer than it holds on to some other field offices (I'm saying this because NYC seems to be much slower than most other field offices). Or else I could just be unlucky and mine has fallen through the cracks and may have missed the last NYC mail delivery. The upshot of this is that I'm not even convinced I'll get an appointment within 6-7 months of when I filed my AOS. Because even if the NBC sends my application to NYC in the next few weeks, NYC may just sit on it for weeks as well because apparently they are busier than other offices, who knows! The last thing I wanted to do is reschedule by GC appointment given how long it takes to get one and there is the risk that I can't successfully reschedule it and my case is "abandoned", but I also have some commitments back at home that I need to attend to and I have AP.

Hope this sheds some light (I know, not much) for the NYC AOS filers out there.

[FavoredOnes 4]

I just came back from an InfoPass appointment I made a couple of weeks ago at Federal Plaza NYC. I originally made the appointment because I was supposed to be going on an overseas trip tomorrow (but I ended up cancelling the trip, not wanting to take the risk that my GC interview would be scheduled while I'm away) so I wanted to confirm my interview hadn't been scheduled and I just hadn't received the letter yet. I've been trying to reschedule that trip for April or May (I filed my AOS in early Nov), so I still went to the InfoPass appointment to see if they could give me any info on the status of my case. I thought I would report back my observations and what I was told:

The line to get into Federal Plaza to go through security is really long, took around 20-25 mins to get through it.

When I went to level 3 to go to my appointment, there was no wait to see an officer (it was past my appointment time because of the huge security line). Actually, it is a huge room with filled with empty seats, literally no one in there. But plenty of booths with officers waiting to speak to people with appointments - not what I expected since Federal Plaza never has any InfoPass appointments available.

When I told the officer I wanted to understand whether it was ok for me to plan now to go overseas in April or May (I have Advance Parole) as I haven't received by interview appointment yet, he was very relaxed and said sure, just reschedule your GC appointment if it is while you are overseas (but before the interview, otherwise it will be considered abandoned). He was of the opinion that this should be easy to reschedule (but I don't have much faith that he had any experience with people doing this, so I'm not taking much comfort in this).

He then looked up my case on the system, and much to my surprise, he told me my application was still at the National Benefits Center and hadn't even been sent to the NYC office yet. I had assumed that the NYC office was the hold up because my online status went to "interview scheduling" on Jan 9 and because I hadn't heard anything yet (and a lot/most other Nov 2012 filers have already got their interviews scheduled). He said that this happens because the NBC doesn't send individual applications to field offices, they wait until the maybe have 200 applications and then send them all in boxes at the same time. And only when NYC goes through them, will they appoint all those cases interview times. I had already assumed this was the case, but I also assumed that it wouldn't take the NBC over a month to accumulate enough NYC applications in order to send it to the field office - doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm not sure what to assume about my timeline now. Perhaps the NBC is holding on to the NYC cases longer than it holds on to some other field offices (I'm saying this because NYC seems to be much slower than most other field offices). Or else I could just be unlucky and mine has fallen through the cracks and may have missed the last NYC mail delivery. The upshot of this is that I'm not even convinced I'll get an appointment within 6-7 months of when I filed my AOS. Because even if the NBC sends my application to NYC in the next few weeks, NYC may just sit on it for weeks as well because apparently they are busier than other offices, who knows! The last thing I wanted to do is reschedule by GC appointment given how long it takes to get one and there is the risk that I can't successfully reschedule it and my case is "abandoned", but I also have some commitments back at home that I need to attend to and I have AP.

Hope this sheds some light (I know, not much) for the NYC AOS filers out there.

Thanks for posting your experience. Now, I'm thinking whether involving a congressman at this point will be a good idea.

[Brian&Ivy 1]

got approved on spot in long island city office.

The interviewer just asked very simple questions like my husband's birthday, where did you see his parents? any joint account or statements? any plan for today... that area is crappy without an OK place to have lunch..

[nitehero 6]

I just came back from an InfoPass appointment I made a couple of weeks ago at Federal Plaza NYC. I originally made the appointment because I was supposed to be going on an overseas trip tomorrow (but I ended up cancelling the trip, not wanting to take the risk that my GC interview would be scheduled while I'm away) so I wanted to confirm my interview hadn't been scheduled and I just hadn't received the letter yet. I've been trying to reschedule that trip for April or May (I filed my AOS in early Nov), so I still went to the InfoPass appointment to see if they could give me any info on the status of my case. I thought I would report back my observations and what I was told:

The line to get into Federal Plaza to go through security is really long, took around 20-25 mins to get through it.

When I went to level 3 to go to my appointment, there was no wait to see an officer (it was past my appointment time because of the huge security line). Actually, it is a huge room with filled with empty seats, literally no one in there. But plenty of booths with officers waiting to speak to people with appointments - not what I expected since Federal Plaza never has any InfoPass appointments available.

When I told the officer I wanted to understand whether it was ok for me to plan now to go overseas in April or May (I have Advance Parole) as I haven't received by interview appointment yet, he was very relaxed and said sure, just reschedule your GC appointment if it is while you are overseas (but before the interview, otherwise it will be considered abandoned). He was of the opinion that this should be easy to reschedule (but I don't have much faith that he had any experience with people doing this, so I'm not taking much comfort in this).

He then looked up my case on the system, and much to my surprise, he told me my application was still at the National Benefits Center and hadn't even been sent to the NYC office yet. I had assumed that the NYC office was the hold up because my online status went to "interview scheduling" on Jan 9 and because I hadn't heard anything yet (and a lot/most other Nov 2012 filers have already got their interviews scheduled). He said that this happens because the NBC doesn't send individual applications to field offices, they wait until the maybe have 200 applications and then send them all in boxes at the same time. And only when NYC goes through them, will they appoint all those cases interview times. I had already assumed this was the case, but I also assumed that it wouldn't take the NBC over a month to accumulate enough NYC applications in order to send it to the field office - doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm not sure what to assume about my timeline now. Perhaps the NBC is holding on to the NYC cases longer than it holds on to some other field offices (I'm saying this because NYC seems to be much slower than most other field offices). Or else I could just be unlucky and mine has fallen through the cracks and may have missed the last NYC mail delivery. The upshot of this is that I'm not even convinced I'll get an appointment within 6-7 months of when I filed my AOS. Because even if the NBC sends my application to NYC in the next few weeks, NYC may just sit on it for weeks as well because apparently they are busier than other offices, who knows! The last thing I wanted to do is reschedule by GC appointment given how long it takes to get one and there is the risk that I can't successfully reschedule it and my case is "abandoned", but I also have some commitments back at home that I need to attend to and I have AP.

Hope this sheds some light (I know, not much) for the NYC AOS filers out there.

I too i'm from NYC and sent my application on the same day as you did (11/09/12). My case has been in Testing and interview since late December and I'm still waiting too. What the officer said doesn't make one bit of sense if you ask me(200 applications can be gathered from NYC in days)

[Brian&Ivy 1]

kinda struggling right now.. was approved on spot one week ago, but haven't got any update yet!!!!

[Lornaevo 48]

kinda struggling right now.. was approved on spot one week ago, but haven't got any update yet!!!!

Maybe they are slow because of President's Day. Don't worry much. They said you're approved.

[X Factor 1,112]

Maybe they are slow because of President's Day. Don't worry much. They said you're approved.

[Brian&Ivy 1]

Hey guys, just give you an update. Finally my 485 moved to decision stage after I called customer service yesterday, which is 12 days later after I got approved on the spot. On February 27, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we had registered this customer's new permanent resident status.

130 hasn't been updated yet. However, I am fine now.. Will keep an eye on the flight tickets back to China!!

[Striker_Immig 1]

Any update here? Been tracking NYC cases in another forum and notice that someone who filed in mid November 2012 just got an interview date in Long Island City.

Here is my timeline.

Dec 27, 2012 - Filed application

Dec 31, 2012 - Priority Date

Jan 7, 2013 - Biometrics Appointment scheduled

Jan 29, 2013 - Biometrics Appointment

Feb 6, 2013 - I-485 Status changed to "Testing and Interview"

Feb 25, 2013 - EAD and AP Approved

Mar 6, 2013 - Received EAD and AP

Still waiting for interview date.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Striker_Immig