November 2013 Filers

[Marie2013 0]

I got my EAD yesterday and will apply for SS no. tomorrow (monday). Have submitted my resume on a few companies but noted that my work availability will be march 2014. Does any one have any idea on how long before the SS no. is issued?

[f&c 50]

I got my EAD yesterday and will apply for SS no. tomorrow (monday). Have submitted my resume on a few companies but noted that my work availability will be march 2014. Does any one have any idea on how long before the SS no. is issued?

My wife received her SS card 6 days after applying.

[Marie2013 0]

My wife received her SS card 6 days after applying.

thank you for the info!

[CCB 3]

Congrats!!! Can you tell us about your interview experience?

It was faster than I expected. He asked for our pictures IDs, my husband showed his driver's license and I gave him my passport. He then asked for my old passport which had my visa and I-94 and also asked to see my I-20. After that, he asked me some of the questions from the I-485 form, the only question I could not answer was my social security number because I don't know it, but since it was in the application he said it did not matter.

He asked us how we meet, when and where and who introduced us. Also, when and where did we meet again after our first meeting and when was my last entrance to the US. He asked me if I had graduated from college and what was my major. He then asked if I have ever lie about being a US citizen and I said no, so he asked me if I had any pictures. I told him I had the ones I had included with my application and some extra ones.

While he was looking at the wedding picture he asked if both mine and my spouse's family members had come to the wedding. Then he asked questions (not related to the interview) about pictures from trip we had taken together. He kept all the pictures I had not included with my application, and told us he was going to run a background check in the afternoon, and if everything was ok then he will approve us. I received the card production text and email around 3:30. I had prepared documents to show that our marriage is real and paystubs and W2 but he did not asked for anything except the pictures.

[Britabroad 0]

Hi VJers

So after my info pass appointment on Friday, regarding my EAD (its100 days since I filed tomorrow ) I was told the following.

1. They are experiencing so many EAD apps that it's taking upto 6 months to process them now.

2. They cannot do anything for me at the field office as far as processing my EAD there.

3. I will probably get my permanent residency before my EAD as my interview is in 2 weeks.

As far as the experience goes, the information obviously was not what I wanted to hear but 2 weeks till the interview I just have to thi positive. The guy was quite sympathetic too and we chatted for about 15 minutes about my case and he showed me the interview room. ( I was the only one in the office) but the basic message is keep in waiting.

I think if there are sports that involve being patient at the Olympics, then people filing at uscis would win gold every time.

Not long to go November filers keep on waiting

[aussie_jason 195]

Hi VJers

So after my info pass appointment on Friday, regarding my EAD (its100 days since I filed tomorrow ) I was told the following.

1. They are experiencing so many EAD apps that it's taking upto 6 months to process them now.

2. They cannot do anything for me at the field office as far as processing my EAD there.

3. I will probably get my permanent residency before my EAD as my interview is in 2 weeks.

As far as the experience goes, the information obviously was not what I wanted to hear but 2 weeks till the interview I just have to thi positive. The guy was quite sympathetic too and we chatted for about 15 minutes about my case and he showed me the interview room. ( I was the only one in the office) but the basic message is keep in waiting.

I think if there are sports that involve being patient at the Olympics, then people filing at uscis would win gold every time.

Not long to go November filers keep on waiting

Open a case with the CIS Ombudsman - https://www.dhs.gov/ombudsman-case-assistance and speak to your local congressperson's office, beyond 90 days is no bueno, that is if you didn't have any RFEs that paused or reset the 90 day counter.

[sdadams 8]

We have our interview tomorrow. Fingers crossed all goes well!

[CCB 3]

Hi VJers

So after my info pass appointment on Friday, regarding my EAD (its100 days since I filed tomorrow ) I was told the following.

1. They are experiencing so many EAD apps that it's taking upto 6 months to process them now.

2. They cannot do anything for me at the field office as far as processing my EAD there.

3. I will probably get my permanent residency before my EAD as my interview is in 2 weeks.

As far as the experience goes, the information obviously was not what I wanted to hear but 2 weeks till the interview I just have to thi positive. The guy was quite sympathetic too and we chatted for about 15 minutes about my case and he showed me the interview room. ( I was the only one in the office) but the basic message is keep in waiting.

I think if there are sports that involve being patient at the Olympics, then people filing at uscis would win gold every time.

Not long to go November filers keep on waiting

I would suggest calling your congresman and opening a case with Obudsman as it has already been suggested but I guess I am not as patient as you are.

We have our interview tomorrow. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Good luck!

[sdadams 8]

We just got back from our interview-- we were approved on the spot, and even got a stamp in the passport to allow us to travel (we may have a work trip coming up).

We got to the office at 9:05 for our 9:20 interview. We were called back at 9:35 and were back out and done by 9:55! The officer asked very basic questions, and was thankfully in a jovial mood. (When he asked my husband if he had any children, I kind of giggled and said "He better not!" and we all laughed.) He photocopied our marriage certificate and some of the things I brought along (wedding invite, newspaper clipping, photo).

I'm so glad this is done, and am so thankful for you all. Without Visa Journey, we never could have done this on our own. Virtual hugs!!

[matt&nat 2]

We just got back from our interview-- we were approved on the spot, and even got a stamp in the passport to allow us to travel (we may have a work trip coming up).

We got to the office at 9:05 for our 9:20 interview. We were called back at 9:35 and were back out and done by 9:55! The officer asked very basic questions, and was thankfully in a jovial mood. (When he asked my husband if he had any children, I kind of giggled and said "He better not!" and we all laughed.) He photocopied our marriage certificate and some of the things I brought along (wedding invite, newspaper clipping, photo).

I'm so glad this is done, and am so thankful for you all. Without Visa Journey, we never could have done this on our own. Virtual hugs!!

congratulations!!!!

We have our interview tomorrow!

[AgnesC 3]

We just got back from our interview-- we were approved on the spot, and even got a stamp in the passport to allow us to travel (we may have a work trip coming up).

We got to the office at 9:05 for our 9:20 interview. We were called back at 9:35 and were back out and done by 9:55! The officer asked very basic questions, and was thankfully in a jovial mood. (When he asked my husband if he had any children, I kind of giggled and said "He better not!" and we all laughed.) He photocopied our marriage certificate and some of the things I brought along (wedding invite, newspaper clipping, photo).

I'm so glad this is done, and am so thankful for you all. Without Visa Journey, we never could have done this on our own. Virtual hugs!!

Congratulations!!!

[WinstonsDad 0]

Hi everyone, my wife is sdadams, and she posted a quick update above on our approval. Here's a slightly longer version of how our interview went, in case anybody finds it useful...

Our interview was at the DC office in Fairfax, VA (a 10-minute walk from Dunn-Loring Metro Station, NOT 5 mins as stated on the website - which makes a big difference when it's snowing!!). Also, for other DC filers, the website says there is limited parking around the office. That's not true, as there is multi-storey parking everywhere, including a car park right next to the USCIS office!

We arrived just after 9am for our 9.20am appointment, and we were eventually called back by the case officer at 9.35am. We'd brought copies of everything we had sent in previously, as well as further proof - insurance details, joint bank account statements, utility bills, our wedding invitation, wedding pics and even a copy of a Washington Post article about our wedding. The officer asked us questions about each other - name, date of birth, where we met, if we had been married previously and whether we had done this before. I was then asked a few of the security questions which I'd answered on the forms before: if I'd been involved in any illegal activities, drugs convictions, weapons training, if I'd been in a military unit, that sort of thing. It was all rather straightforward - nothing particularly difficult.

After that, the officer seemed satisfied that our marriage was bona fide and said he was 'probably' going to approve us today - not that he was uncertain about our marriage, but whether he was going to get around to it today. He told us that we should expect the green card in 3 weeks, but we asked if it was possible to get a stamp in my passport in case I need to leave the country before that (unlikely, but you never know). He told us he could do that now if we didn't mind waiting, so we did. We went back into the waiting room, and about 10 minutes later (I was halfway through an apple!) he came out with my freshly-stamped passport!

I hope people find this helpful - I guess my top tips for the interview based on my experience is to ask for your passport stamp, and also to possibly get your marriage mentioned in your local US newspaper.

Also, thank you to everybody else here on VJ - we couldn't have done this without the information and encouragement of everybody on this forum!

[Jamaican_Gooner 36]

Congrats to you both!!

We just got back from our interview-- we were approved on the spot, and even got a stamp in the passport to allow us to travel (we may have a work trip coming up).

We got to the office at 9:05 for our 9:20 interview. We were called back at 9:35 and were back out and done by 9:55! The officer asked very basic questions, and was thankfully in a jovial mood. (When he asked my husband if he had any children, I kind of giggled and said "He better not!" and we all laughed.) He photocopied our marriage certificate and some of the things I brought along (wedding invite, newspaper clipping, photo).

I'm so glad this is done, and am so thankful for you all. Without Visa Journey, we never could have done this on our own. Virtual hugs!!

Hi everyone, my wife is sdadams, and she posted a quick update above on our approval. Here's a slightly longer version of how our interview went, in case anybody finds it useful...

Our interview was at the DC office in Fairfax, VA (a 10-minute walk from Dunn-Loring Metro Station, NOT 5 mins as stated on the website - which makes a big difference when it's snowing!!). Also, for other DC filers, the website says there is limited parking around the office. That's not true, as there is multi-storey parking everywhere, including a car park right next to the USCIS office!

We arrived just after 9am for our 9.20am appointment, and we were eventually called back by the case officer at 9.35am. We'd brought copies of everything we had sent in previously, as well as further proof - insurance details, joint bank account statements, utility bills, our wedding invitation, wedding pics and even a copy of a Washington Post article about our wedding. The officer asked us questions about each other - name, date of birth, where we met, if we had been married previously and whether we had done this before. I was then asked a few of the security questions which I'd answered on the forms before: if I'd been involved in any illegal activities, drugs convictions, weapons training, if I'd been in a military unit, that sort of thing. It was all rather straightforward - nothing particularly difficult.

After that, the officer seemed satisfied that our marriage was bona fide and said he was 'probably' going to approve us today - not that he was uncertain about our marriage, but whether he was going to get around to it today. He told us that we should expect the green card in 3 weeks, but we asked if it was possible to get a stamp in my passport in case I need to leave the country before that (unlikely, but you never know). He told us he could do that now if we didn't mind waiting, so we did. We went back into the waiting room, and about 10 minutes later (I was halfway through an apple!) he came out with my freshly-stamped passport!

I hope people find this helpful - I guess my top tips for the interview based on my experience is to ask for your passport stamp, and also to possibly get your marriage mentioned in your local US newspaper.

Also, thank you to everybody else here on VJ - we couldn't have done this without the information and encouragement of everybody on this forum!

[Charizard 0]

Ead came in the mail today! !

[CCB 3]

Congrats on the gc approval and EAD card!