When to expect Green Card?

[LauraDP 10]

Hi everyone

The kids and I relocated to the US in mid-October and we finally received our SSN cards a few weeks ago. Well, four of us did - the one for my oldest son is missing so we need to get into the city and the SS office to deal with whatever has gone wrong there. My question is when we should expect our green card to turn up.

The reason I am asking rather than just being patient is that - despite me filling out change of address forms for USCIS - they are still sending everything to my co-sponsor's address. Problem is that he had to move out suddenly when a flood in the apartment above his led to that apartment collapsing into his. That happened just after our SSNs were delivered there so we were very lucky. We have set up mail forwarding for anything with our name on it from that address but I am still paranoid that something is going to get lost in the system.

So that is why I would appreciate some information on a possible timeline for receiving the Green Cards.

Thanks in advance for letting me pick your brains again.

Best wishes

Laura

[Darnell 8,478]

i say talk to an ISO at USCIS National Call Center,

and go over the ELIS status with that ISO.

You probably want to update the address in the ELIS system, as well.

Good Luck ! It's not a trivial phone call.

FWIW, USCIS postal mail is never forwarded by USPS, even with a USPS forward order -it's all returned to USCIS.

You can circumvent that by logging into ELIS system and updating the address there.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Darnell

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks for the prompt reply, Darnell.

So do you reckon we should have received our green cards by now?

I did the electronic submission of our change of address before but it seems the SS people at least took no heed of that and sent them to the old address (where no one now lives, of course, because of the flood damage). I will try again though. I will also try phoning but I had no luck with that when it came to the SS people. I was on hold for ages each time (and I probably tried a dozen times) and then they hung up on me because they were apparently too busy to respond to my call. Ugh.

Thanks

Laura

[Darnell 8,478]

I'm sorry - the address update you did with USCIS is stored at the datacenter in Elizabethtown, KY

and mostly, they don't share data with other USCIS units that need it.

Go back over post #2, you'll find these might be new terms for you - you really need to talk with an ISO at USCIS via telephone, and go over ELIS status. Since you not mention logging in to the ELIS system to check your status, you probably not have or keep your ELIS IOE number - and if you not have that, an ISO can give it to you.

recently, ELIS tracking here is between 2 to 4 months from POE date to green card delivery. Also, in the ELIS systme, you can change your address - it'll be that address used to send out the green cards.

4 people? wow - i wonder if it's 4 ELIS accounts or if all 4 are within the ONE ELIS account.

Regardless - good luck with that phone call - it's not a trivial phone call at all, as first you have to get a CSR, then badger the CSR to transfer you to an ISO. You might get some bad attitudes, as well, as the CSRs don't know anything and tend to make sh|te up.

There IS an ELIS topic in the General Immigration sub-forum, check it out when yer able.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Laura-- A change of address with USCIS wouldn't transfer to Social Security Administration. Different parts of the government. Call USCIS about the greencards. If they were returned for lack of being able to deliver, that should be in the records they access. Some people have to go to a local SSA office and apply for a SSN if the cards don't come like they are supposed to.

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

I guess it was too much to expect that different agencies would share information. I am not so worried about the SSN thing though. I mean, it was ridiculous that they timed me out and hung up on me a dozen times but we will just have to go to the office in person. I just have not been able to since I have three kids in school and, therefore, cannot make it into the city on school weekdays. Hopefully I can find some time to do it soon - and at least it is one of the kids' ones rather than mine that has gone missing.

My husband set up an ELIS account when he paid for the last bit of the whole immigration hoo ha so I will see if we can do what we need to do with his login details once he is home from work. Hopefully we can check the change of address thing online at least. I will then aim to phone USCIS on Monday morning and see what is going on with our green cards.

Thanks again for your helps with this.

Best wishes

Laura