November 2013 Filers?

[garjisme 22]

Hello all,congratz to those who got AP/EAD or GC approval! I am a nov 2013 Aos filer too.Waiting in Testing & Interview status for almost 7 weeks! This is may be my local office Tampa,Florida is too busy!!! Is there anyone whose case is in same Tampa office?

Good luck to all!

[uk2upstateny 13]

We got a letter a few days to say our case is being considered for interview waiver and that we will likely have to wait at least 6 months due to delays. Meanwhile, I still have no EAD/AP (despite the fact it has been approved for nearly 2 months now) due to the fact that USCIS and/or the post office keep losing it in the mail and every time I have to phone back they say I need to wait 30 days before they'll try and send it again. What is this madness? Third time lucky I guess.. Give me strength!

[Lynkali 163]

We had our interview at 10:00 this morning, and were approved, online status now shows Card Production, so I am relieved! (Long summary follows!)

The interview was actually a lot longer than we were expecting, because the interviewing officer was brand-new at her job and apparently felt like she needed to be EXTRA thorough and ask every possible question, along with verifying every single original document and form we had brought in. She even didn't seem that familiar with things I would think were normal -- for example the format of my husband's Finnish birth certificate, the fact that no, he does not yet have a driver's license (it astonished her, but it's really very normal not to have one, especially since we only got our EAD two weeks ago!), and she didn't even seem to know what a Power of Attorney was (one of the legal documents, in addition to our will, that we showed as proof of bonafide/co-mingled life). I would expect any officer who's been doing interviews for a while would have encountered all those things in spades. And in fact we're a really simple, easy case, adjusting from K-1 and no red flags or any sort of irregularities at all, so her unfamiliarity with standard procedures was rather weird.

There were no problems and I never felt like she was in doubt about us at all -- it was all formalities and she was obviously learning how to do her job (she said she'd only been there 3 months and was new to doing the interviews), but it made it slightly nerve-wracking just because she kept asking so MANY detailed questions and things that had long since been established and verified (like all of the things in our initial I-129F/K-1 visa application), then she asked for MANY originals to compare to her copies (good thing I brought a huge stack of original documents!) and she kept writing notes, over a page of hand-written notes. However, she was friendly and kind, and we didn't feel overly nervous or in suspense, just a bit drained. In the end, the interview lasted about 45 minutes at her cubicle, which seems far longer than the average I've seen here. We were at the USCIS office a total of 2 hours, but mostly because we arrived about 45 minutes early -- total time inside was just over an hour.

She stamped a big red APPROVED on our files and signed, but then said she had to get a supervisor's signature as well since she didn't have the final authority. We volunteered to wait, but there was no supervisor available so she told us to go home, and she'd call if there was any problem. I asked if it was possible to get the I-551 passport stamp, but she again seemed unfamiliar with the idea at all, and finally said we could probably make an infopass appointment and come back and do that later if we wanted it. So no stamp, and only a verbal approval -- which was why I was extra relieved to come home to find our online case status had moved to Card/Document Production about 30 minutes after we left the office.

All in all, it was more stressful than I expected, just because we really were guinea-pigs in training her how to do things, but she was professional and warm, and I didn't really have any doubts about the outcome.

Good luck to those with upcoming interviews, hope yours are shorter than ours was!

[f&c 50]

Congrats!

[cee-gee 20]

We got a letter a few days to say our case is being considered for interview waiver and that we will likely have to wait at least 6 months due to delays. Meanwhile, I still have no EAD/AP (despite the fact it has been approved for nearly 2 months now) due to the fact that USCIS and/or the post office keep losing it in the mail and every time I have to phone back they say I need to wait 30 days before they'll try and send it again. What is this madness? Third time lucky I guess.. Give me strength!

I cannot say if this is the case or not, as who knows how USCIS makes any decisions... Quite a few people who asked for an interview waiver has had to wait due to delays, whereas others who did not ask for a waiver were approved within 90 days of filing. Hopefully this isn't the case and you won't have to wait much longer- fingers crossed!

When you check the status of your EAD/AP online, there should be a tracking number from USPS. You might be able to find out where it could be/ or if it was returned? And does USCIS have your correct address? I'm sure you are already on top of it, just trying to cover all bases!

We had our interview at 10:00 this morning, and were approved, online status now shows Card Production, so I am relieved! (Long summary follows!)

The interview was actually a lot longer than we were expecting, because the interviewing officer was brand-new at her job and apparently felt like she needed to be EXTRA thorough and ask every possible question, along with verifying every single original document and form we had brought in. She even didn't seem that familiar with things I would think were normal -- for example the format of my husband's Finnish birth certificate, the fact that no, he does not yet have a driver's license (it astonished her, but it's really very normal not to have one, especially since we only got our EAD two weeks ago!), and she didn't even seem to know what a Power of Attorney was (one of the legal documents, in addition to our will, that we showed as proof of bonafide/co-mingled life). I would expect any officer who's been doing interviews for a while would have encountered all those things in spades. And in fact we're a really simple, easy case, adjusting from K-1 and no red flags or any sort of irregularities at all, so her unfamiliarity with standard procedures was rather weird.

There were no problems and I never felt like she was in doubt about us at all -- it was all formalities and she was obviously learning how to do her job (she said she'd only been there 3 months and was new to doing the interviews), but it made it slightly nerve-wracking just because she kept asking so MANY detailed questions and things that had long since been established and verified (like all of the things in our initial I-129F/K-1 visa application), then she asked for MANY originals to compare to her copies (good thing I brought a huge stack of original documents!) and she kept writing notes, over a page of hand-written notes. However, she was friendly and kind, and we didn't feel overly nervous or in suspense, just a bit drained. In the end, the interview lasted about 45 minutes at her cubicle, which seems far longer than the average I've seen here. We were at the USCIS office a total of 2 hours, but mostly because we arrived about 45 minutes early -- total time inside was just over an hour.

She stamped a big red APPROVED on our files and signed, but then said she had to get a supervisor's signature as well since she didn't have the final authority. We volunteered to wait, but there was no supervisor available so she told us to go home, and she'd call if there was any problem. I asked if it was possible to get the I-551 passport stamp, but she again seemed unfamiliar with the idea at all, and finally said we could probably make an infopass appointment and come back and do that later if we wanted it. So no stamp, and only a verbal approval -- which was why I was extra relieved to come home to find our online case status had moved to Card/Document Production about 30 minutes after we left the office.

All in all, it was more stressful than I expected, just because we really were guinea-pigs in training her how to do things, but she was professional and warm, and I didn't really have any doubts about the outcome.

Good luck to those with upcoming interviews, hope yours are shorter than ours was!

Congratulations!

[kimkaye 0]

Hello November filers....I sent my AOS package Nov 16, 2013 which was a Saturday. USCIS received it Nov 19th..NOA was sent NOV 21. I filed at the chicago lockbox location and received email and text on Nov 24 saying my case is accepted and routed to the National Benefits Center. Biometrics notice sent Nov 27. I did my biometrics December 19th as stated on my notice because I couldn't get a walk-in bio. On Jan 27, 2014 Received text saying my EAD was approved and mailed out. I received my EAD Jan 29th. On Jan 27th my i485 updated to ready for interview scheduling.

I still haven't received interview date. I'm hoping it will be soon

[Warren and Vivian 10]

I've been checking our case status evey afternoon and evening and it still says that they are reviewing our RFE evidence. However, today we received the potential interview waiver letter. We're hoping that we get the same results as others......a card soon.

[Lynkali 163]

Green card arrived today in the mail, so ... probably no need to keep checking VJ religiously until late 2015! But what am I going to do instead of reading VJ posts???

Good luck to all of you waiting for interviews and waivers/cards ... and see you in 2 years for removing conditions!

[Jozeybee 0]

My wife and I filed in Nov 2013.

Dec 2013 I had my Biometrics and shortly before Christmas we received an RFE to provide proof of additional financial support

Sent response to the RFE in Feb 2014

And TODAY (March 6, 2014) I checked the status online and my EAD and Travel permit have been approved and in "Card Production" status. AND our nterview is scheduled for April 9, 2014!!

[m&m1 1]

received a potential interview waiver letter in the mail today dated feb 28. hope the wait is not too long.

[vendar 4]

Hi everyone,

we sent our AOS/EAD/AP package in November too. USCIS received it nov 26th, and my AP and EAD are still on initial review.... Really frustrating!

I have called USCIS many times but they wont do a service request for me because they say my case is still in normal processing time? NBC has been looking at application from nov 22nd for over 2 weeks.... or thats what they say on the phone..

Finally a week ago they did some kind of a service request for my EAD, and sent me something in mail on wednesday(they told me this on the phone),

Im wondering if its actually going to be my combo card or something else?? My status still hasnt changed online.

[Cowface 5]

Any Atlanta filers here?

I've been on Testing and Interview for almost 3 months.

Nothing new.

Any Atlanta filers here?

I've been on Testing and Interview for almost 3 months.

Nothing new.

[f&c 50]

Atlanta filer here. From everything I've read on VJ, Atlanta is backed up and slow.

[uk2upstateny 13]

Finally received my combo card in the mail a couple of days ago. Green card is most likely on interview waiver, so that will take a while, but at least I can work now!

[Cowface 5]

Atlanta filer here. From everything I've read on VJ, Atlanta is backed up and slow.

Oh geez, that is a bad news