April 2012 AOS Filers

[DC85 113]

Thanks for the advice.

I contacted my representative in the House, Congressman Mac Thornberry and Senator John Cornyn this morning. They have forms on their websites that you fill in detailing your issue and you can then fax those to their offices, which I did. I did not contact the office of Texas' other Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, since I have read multiple examples on these forums of how...unhelpful her office had been in other cases, or just flat out non-responsive.

I already received a response from a staffer at Congressman Thornberry's office acknowledging my request for assistance. He said they have filed an information request with USCIS through their Congressional channels and will let me know what comes up. I believe federal agencies have 48 working hours to respond to these types of requests and so I am hopeful of hearing something next week.

I believe the better thing to do, IF you feel the local office could adjust your case and they just through it to Vermont, is to contact the Ombudsman check this link and keep us updated

http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0497.shtm

[Hypnos 6,576]

Thanks for that link.

I will hold off contacting them for now (since I am not 100% sure that the Dallas office has jurisdiction; I think they do) and will wait to see what information my Congressman gleans next week. Perhaps that will get something moving and no further action will be required.

[EkaterinaR 0]

My interview experience http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=10090

Sorry that I didn't share my interview experience any time early.

Thanks to visa journey members for support!

[Joshua P 0]

I mailed my I-130 I-485 and I-765 in OCTOBER of last year. I'm posting here because after cashing the checks in October, they didn't open my case until April this year. After much much patience, biometrics, medical exams, and everything else, I finally have an appointment for an interview on August 29th. It seems like that not only did they take their sweet time opening my case in the first place (6 MONTHS!!!), they are also taking their time going through it.

I just had to post somewhere to at least vent my frustration.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Joshua P

[twonightowls 1]

I mailed my I-130 I-485 and I-765 in OCTOBER of last year. I'm posting here because after cashing the checks in October, they didn't open my case until April this year. After much much patience, biometrics, medical exams, and everything else, I finally have an appointment for an interview on August 29th. It seems like that not only did they take their sweet time opening my case in the first place (6 MONTHS!!!), they are also taking their time going through it.

I just had to post somewhere to at least vent my frustration.

Wow.Did they ever explain why it took so long?

[coocoo 2]

Wow.Did they ever explain why it took so long?

Yeah, I can see them sending him a NOA saying "Dear applicant, we're terribly sorry that we lost your case. It must have fallen under the couch."

I called the hotline to ask what's up with my green card, (haven't heard anything since approval on July 11.) and after asking me 3 times how far I am with the process, the lady finally said "Our current status is that we've received your application on April 6. and we've sent you mail, explaining how we will proceed. Your local office are working on cases filed in February right now, so you'll have to wait a while until you hear from them." I was like "Well, I've already completed the whole process and have been approved, all I'm waiting for is a physical card" and she went like "Oh yeah, right. Well I don't know why they're not sending it, but do call back when 30 days have passed." Seriously? What should I call back for? They have no clue what they're talking about.

Anyways, the green card won't change anything in my current position, so I'm not really in a hurry. But don't be surprised if you have to wait for another month after you think it's all over.

Joshua, I'm sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience, man. Your avatar rocks, by the way.

Edited July 29, 2012 by coocoo

[Joshua P 0]

They never even recognized that it took so long lol. When I called them up, they told me that I "didn't sound male enough" to be myself, to which I thought was absolutely hilarious of course. Apparently I have to be some sort of deep baritone or something to be "male enough" to deal with them over the phone, never mind the fact that I have all of my documentation to prove who I am over the phone. But yeah, they haven't given me an apology for taking 6 months to open my case after cashing the check. I wish I could do that with computer work: "I know I cashed your payment, buuuuut, I don't feel like even touching your computer to fix it until January next year.

The immigration system loves to jerk me around though. This is the second time applying after them declining the first time, after taking like a year, over something ridiculous. Now at least I have a lawyer in case they try to do something blatantly illegal. I've been in the country for 4 1/2 years now, married March 31st 2008 and I'm still trying to get my green card. At least this time I've actually gotten to the interview stage, so I actually have the possibility of getting it. Thank god that my wife is rather patient about everything and understands that this is all out of our control. Though at this point, I think she wants to move to Canada lol. It just rather sucks that my career is ruined after being 4 years out of work.

[DandT14 272]

They never even recognized that it took so long lol. When I called them up, they told me that I "didn't sound male enough" to be myself, to which I thought was absolutely hilarious of course. Apparently I have to be some sort of deep baritone or something to be "male enough" to deal with them over the phone, never mind the fact that I have all of my documentation to prove who I am over the phone. But yeah, they haven't given me an apology for taking 6 months to open my case after cashing the check. I wish I could do that with computer work: "I know I cashed your payment, buuuuut, I don't feel like even touching your computer to fix it until January next year.

The immigration system loves to jerk me around though. This is the second time applying after them declining the first time, after taking like a year, over something ridiculous. Now at least I have a lawyer in case they try to do something blatantly illegal. I've been in the country for 4 1/2 years now, married March 31st 2008 and I'm still trying to get my green card. At least this time I've actually gotten to the interview stage, so I actually have the possibility of getting it. Thank god that my wife is rather patient about everything and understands that this is all out of our control. Though at this point, I think she wants to move to Canada lol. It just rather sucks that my career is ruined after being 4 years out of work.

Wow, that really sucks. Why were you denied the first time?

[Joshua P 0]

Had to do with my wife's birth certificate not reflecting things properly. Getting that changed took like a year, with the runaround over which state had the ability to change it, which made me angry. Minnesota says "Colorado should be able to change it" (Which makes no sense), Colorado says "We would, but we have no jurisdiction"...stupid stupid stupid. At least we were eventually able to fix it and reapply and pay the $1500 again...so now we're about $4000 in the hole for all of this lol

Wow, that really sucks. Why were you denied the first time?

[SOflaherty 40]

Our interview experience, FINALLY! It's been such a crazy week with the kids and Paul starting his new job!

We got to the Atlanta USCIS building in Atlanta at 7:20, our interview was scheduled for 8am. Only a couple of people in line for security, and it was JUST like going through for airline security. Checked in downstairs, and they sent us to the 3rd floor waiting room.

There were about 6-8 other couples in there with us, only one of them had a lawyer with them, another had one show up who introduced herself to the couple, must have been someone else from the firm they used. Two couples seemed to have their whole family with them(5+ people sitting together). Some people were in jeans and tshirts, a few in suits, most in business-casual type stuff(think church clothes). Couples were being called back pretty steadily, and we got called somewhere around 8:05.

Our officer was an African-American man in his 40's(?) last name Singleton. He was VERY stern and serious, and stayed that way pretty much the entire time. It made me nervous, because I am used to people who are more personable, and this guy never really smiled at all.

He told us our interview would be in two parts, one for the marriage and one for the i-485. He took our ID's and Paul's i-94. He asked me to confirm my name, address, and daytime phone number. He asked Paul his full name, daytime phone number, and asked why he didn't have a driver's licence yet(AL won't allow since he is out of status). He then asked for anything additional we'd brought with us to prove the marriage. He made a comment about 'but I've already made up my mind about you two' that I was curious about, but let slide because I was so nervous. We handed over the joint bank statements, statement showing him as a non-driver on my insurance, father's day cards from my kids, and an envelope of pictures. He really just kind of glanced over most of it, and started flipping through the pictures. Then he did the standard yes/no's, sort of pausing and clairfying about Paul's weapons training(he was int he Irish army for a few years) but it wasn't an issue.

He then told us he wanted to approve our case, BUT...He needed a new translation of Paul's divorce papers because he'd done them himself. You guys know LOADS of people on VJ have done their own and had no problems, but for whatever reason they were not ok with this there. He said it could even be done through Google Translate(the person doing it didn't have to speak Danish) but they just needed someone else's signature on the papers other than ours. He reccomended going next door to an immigrant services office that had set up there, they did translations, notary, etc, and gave us until 3pm that day to get it back to him, otherwise we'd have to mail it in.

He mentioned again how if it were up to him we'd be approved on the spot, and said again how he'd already made up his mind about us. I was making a joke and said 'Oh, don't believe everything you hear!', and he said no, it was the pictures of the tattoos. About a year ago he and I had gone and gotten similar themed tattoos together with each other's names, our wedding date, and his family motto. I ended up sending pictures of those in because I figured it has to be pretty sure proof we are really in a relationship, right? Paul now says it was the best $500 we ever spent...LOL. The officer asked were we drinking when we did it(no), and said he thought it was crazy, but it definitly convinced him. We just needed the translated doc and we'd be approved.

We went to the place next door, and once we explained what we needed, they got us fixed up pretty quick. Paul ended up re-typing his divorce document because of all the weird Danish characters, and the guy working there just ran it through Google Translate for us and put it on their letterhead and signed it and we went back to USCIS.(Yes, we did get charged $20 instead of $30 since Paul did most of the work! LOL!)

We checked in downstairs again, and she had us sit and wait while they tried to get hold of our officer so he could come down and get the documents. We waited a bit, and then realized it was 10:40, and checkout at the hotel was 11, so Paul said why don't you run back over(hotel was literally around the corner, 45 second drive away) and get us checked out and come back. So ran and did that, and as I was leaving the hotel again, Paul called me. It's done! Approved! LOL! I missed the whole thing because I had to go check us out of the hotel! He said the guy was nice and more relaxed and almost smiled even, so I'm really sorry I missed that part I picked him up outside the building and we headed back the 6 hours to Mobile

[Old_Dog_Barking 36]

Our interview experience, FINALLY! It's been such a crazy week with the kids and Paul starting his new job!

Congrats!

[Mrsaveemac 0]

Awesome! its amazing how we interpret what ppl say. i would've been irritated by his 'already made up my mind about you' comment. luckily he made it up with the right assumption. sorry you missed the exact moment of approval.

[Hypnos 6,576]

In all honesty they have made up their minds about 95% of interviewees before you have even walked in the door. The documentation you bring with you just reinforces the decision they have already reached when they read your file after they get to work in the morning.

[ibee 7]

Congrats again, SOflaherty! That experience must have been nerve wrecking...

Does anyone know the approval rate of concurrent marriage based AOS or where to find it? Just curious... seems like everyone here is doing well, but maybe our results are not a good representation of all AOS applications (I think we're positively biased since we have each other and send each other in the right directions)

[Aimee K 1]

Hi all,

sorry it's been about 6 weeks since I last updated, a lot happened in the interim and I forgot to update..

Firstly, I got approved, yeay! I got an email and simultaneous text message on Friday June 15th I think, the same day we signed for our new apartment.

Then I had 9 days of organising for my wedding, a religious ceremony with about 14 days in total spent in some sort of celebration. During that time, I received my EAD/AP card and GC on the same day (d'oh).

I only had one small problem with my card and none of it was to do with USCIS [who were very prompt to change our addresses in the system when we registered with them. When I left to go on my honeymoon, my GC wouldn't scan automatically. When I was returning, it didn't scan at the departure airport in the foreign country we visited, and they marked my ticket and ID which seemed to result in going to secondary examination.

Coming back through US immigration was a breeze (especially compared to the last time when I had an out-of-date travel signature on my I-20!) and it felt good to officially travel 'as a family'.

wishing those who have already heard their news, best wishes and those waiting to hear, best of luck.

Should any future filers read this and want some assistance filing, I'm definitely no expert but we seemed to have no troubles and went from filing AOS from F-1 to GC in 2.5 months. Feel free to PM me (hopefully my notifications will forward to my email) and ask for help.

Hope to 'see' you all in two years for ROC!