Question about my wife's AOS, EAD and AP

[boynix 0]

Hello VJers,

I have a few questions regarding my wife's AOS status...

Here's a quick timeline -

- In middle August of 2012, I submitted the paperwork and support docs necessary for her AOS (I485) and at the same time, I also applied her for EAD (I765) and AP (I131).

- About a week or so later of sending the packet in, I received 3 official Receipt Notices (Form I-797) for all 3 applications.

- Sometime in early October, we received a letter requesting her to do the biometrics at a nearby office which she scheduled for and completed promptly.

- Late October, we received her EAD card which also states at the bottom "serves as I-512 advance parole"

So here are my questions -

1. When I check her case status at USCIS.gov for AP (I131), it states "Initial Review" (2nd out of 5 status steps). Doesn't she already have the AP with the EAD card? Why is the status stating "Initial Review"? Her EAT (I765) status at USCIS.gov website states "Card/ Document Production" (5th out of 5 status steps).

2. Her AOS (I485) status at USCIS.gov still states "Acceptance" (1st out of 5 status steps). We have not received any notices for more information or anything like that... Is it just taking a long time to process? It's been approx 5 months. What is the average time for I485 approval?

Thanks for your time!

john

[Lainie B 465]

Hello VJers,

I have a few questions regarding my wife's AOS status...

Here's a quick timeline -

- In middle August of 2012, I submitted the paperwork and support docs necessary for her AOS (I485) and at the same time, I also applied her for EAD (I765) and AP (I131).

- About a week or so later of sending the packet in, I received 3 official Receipt Notices (Form I-797) for all 3 applications.

- Sometime in early October, we received a letter requesting her to do the biometrics at a nearby office which she scheduled for and completed promptly.

- Late October, we received her EAD card which also states at the bottom "serves as I-512 advance parole"

So here are my questions -

1. When I check her case status at USCIS.gov for AP (I131), it states "Initial Review" (2nd out of 5 status steps). Doesn't she already have the AP with the EAD card? Why is the status stating "Initial Review"? Her EAT (I765) status at USCIS.gov website states "Card/ Document Production" (5th out of 5 status steps).

2. Her AOS (I485) status at USCIS.gov still states "Acceptance" (1st out of 5 status steps). We have not received any notices for more information or anything like that... Is it just taking a long time to process? It's been approx 5 months. What is the average time for I485 approval?

Thanks for your time!

john

1. The AP status is often not updated. Don't worry about it.

2. It's hard to say what the average processing time is now that NBC are processing them (used to be CSC) but it appears to be around 6 months for the ones that are approved by NBC with no interview, and less for those applications that are transferred to a local office for interview

[boynix 0]

Thanks Lainie,

So it's safe to say she has the EAD & AP and am just waiting for her AOS, right?

Although it still states "Acceptance" for the I485, as long as we didn't receive any notifications requesting additional information, it's processing ok?

Hopefully I'll get some response from USCIS soon.

[sara80 17]

Hello VJers,

I have a few questions regarding my wife's AOS status...

Here's a quick timeline -

- In middle August of 2012, I submitted the paperwork and support docs necessary for her AOS (I485) and at the same time, I also applied her for EAD (I765) and AP (I131).

- About a week or so later of sending the packet in, I received 3 official Receipt Notices (Form I-797) for all 3 applications.

- Sometime in early October, we received a letter requesting her to do the biometrics at a nearby office which she scheduled for and completed promptly.

- Late October, we received her EAD card which also states at the bottom "serves as I-512 advance parole"

So here are my questions -

1. When I check her case status at USCIS.gov for AP (I131), it states "Initial Review" (2nd out of 5 status steps). Doesn't she already have the AP with the EAD card? Why is the status stating "Initial Review"? Her EAT (I765) status at USCIS.gov website states "Card/ Document Production" (5th out of 5 status steps).

2. Her AOS (I485) status at USCIS.gov still states "Acceptance" (1st out of 5 status steps). We have not received any notices for more information or anything like that... Is it just taking a long time to process? It's been approx 5 months. What is the average time for I485 approval?

Thanks for your time!

john

The AP/EAD is a combo card, so it works for both. Don't bother checking the status online, it's not very accurate/doesn't work!

As for the I-485 you may want to phone USCIS although they might just confirm its on acceptance and they are working on it. When you hit the 6 months, you can ask for a service request.

Edit: been too slow in writing my answer.. Lol

Edited January 16, 2013 by sara80

[Yukah 0]

Pretty much same situation here

I filed EAD/AP/AOS in June ;got my EAD/AP in September; done the biometric in August.

The status of my AOS in the website is still at the "Acceptance" stage in July.

Yet I've been checking the processing time at the website lately:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

Look for your USCIS District Office (The 3rd one); you'll be able to see the processing time-frame.

In my case, St. Paul in MN; they're still working on 15th June which hopefully implicated that, they'll be working on mine sometimes next month...

Or I'll give them a call if I didn't receive my green card even thought they've started working on August application

Good luck!!

[Lainie B 465]

Pretty much same situation here

I filed EAD/AP/AOS in June ;got my EAD/AP in September; done the biometric in August.

The status of my AOS in the website is still at the "Acceptance" stage in July.

Yet I've been checking the processing time at the website lately:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

Look for your USCIS District Office (The 3rd one); you'll be able to see the processing time-frame.

In my case, St. Paul in MN; they're still working on 15th June which hopefully implicated that, they'll be working on mine sometimes next month...

Or I'll give them a call if I didn't receive my green card even thought they've started working on August application

Good luck!!

Unless your application has been transferred to your local office for interview, the processing time for your local office is not relevant. Your best bet is to look at the VJ processing times for AOS and see how long it's taking for approvals for applications without interview. Ignore the ones that were transferred to CSC, since they are no longer doing that. ]

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/aoslist.php?op5=5,6,8,9,10,11

Edited January 16, 2013 by Lainie B

[Yukah 0]

Unless your application has been transferred to your local office for interview, the processing time for your local office is not relevant.

Hmm! So how can we checked where is the application at?

It's funny when I called USCIS, the lady on the phone actually had to ask me where was the application

So I assumed it'd be at the local office... Now I thought she probably just checked the website for me...

Edited January 16, 2013 by Yukah

[Hypnos 6,576]

You will need to speak to a tier 2 ISO on the USCIS misinformation line to find out where your case actually is.

The first people you talk to are contractors who can only see what you see on the case status; tier 2 are actually immigration officers who have (some) actual power to do things.

[Lainie B 465]

Hmm! So how can we checked where is the application at?

It's funny when I called USCIS, the lady on the phone actually had to ask me where was the application

So I assumed it'd be at the local office... Now I thought she probably just checked the website for me...

See my edit above. Use the sort function on "decision date" on the VJ processing times for AOS and you'll see that, if you ignore the applications with an interview date, and also ignore the ones with a transfer date (since applications are no longer transferred to CSC) that there are applications from April to June that are now being approved. It's not a very helpful method however, since there are not many approvals hat have been entered since USCIS switched from transferring to CSC to processing at NBC. Another way would be to check the group of filers for the month you filed under http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/131-adjustment-of-status-case-filing-and-progress-reports/

You've probably realised yourself that the USCIS info line is not very helpful. When I was going through AOS they would insist that all applications were sent to the local office for interview, and that no family-based AOS application are ever approved without interview (we know that is not true). The only useful thing was that they would use the local office's current processing date to decide whether they could lodge a service request. However for applications sent to CSC, the service request was useless, they would just ignore it and send an email stating they were super-busy and would get to it when they damn well pleased.