Timeline and stages for I-751

[gyselle 4]

Hi all,

I've just submitted my paperwork for 1-751.

I am curious what the various stages are (and the estimated time in between)?

There is:

1. Recieved

2. NOA

3. Biometrics

4. RFE/Interview (maybe?)

5. Approval.

I've seen that the approval might take 4-6 months.

I have to travel for work and will have to re-enter the country around the time my 2-year green card expires.

I read some people recieved a 1-year extension. Does anyone know which stage this might happen? How long will it take?

I know the RFE/Interview might affect the timeline...but can anyone comment?

Thank you

[kzielu 1,149]

All, not some people received extension. NOA1 serves as extension and you get it right after submitting package.

[victorian221b 12]

It's a pretty straightforward process really, you just keep tacking on how many days you have to wait from the day you submit your application for ROC. If you take a look at the various filing months you can deduce the amount of wait between each process.

So basically this is how it works:

1) Receipt of your ROC application by USCIS will generate a 1-year extension letter that you get. It extends your GC one year after it expires. And in technical terms this also means USCIS has up to 1 year to process and make a decision on your ROC. Now, the majority of the people on this forum have received their 10-yr GC within 6 mos or less (and according to the USCIS website, this is loosely accurate). This is because USCIS can but does not mean they need to make a decision within 6 mos. Please keep this in mind.

2) You will also get a biometrics appointment letter which is scheduled about 1-2 months after your application has been received.

3) And then you wait.

What I have seen this year the processing time has been averaging about 3-4 months since anyone submitted the application. However, let's assume you aren't the majority "lucky" ones and need to wait much longer. So here is how it will look like for the worst case scenario:

1) USCIS does ask you to contact them if you have not heard back from them in 6 months.

2) You called and they place a service request and you will be asked to wait for another 30 days.

3) At this point maybe they responded to you and realized they need to send you an RFE. So maybe you get the RFE within 2 weeks of the service request response.

4) Then you need time to put together an RFE - they give you 3 months. Let's say you used up all 3 months and responded.

5) Respond to RFE and now they ask that you give them 60 days to respond.

6) 60 days is up and still nothing so you call them and then you have to put in another service request. Another 30 days.

7) If you need interview they will respond and say interview is needed and then wait some more. The interview could be any time they have available. This I can't comment on.

Now if you do get approved in any period noted above there are also timeframes for those.

1) USCIS will tell you to wait 60 days for your card to be made as of the date of the approval letter.

2) Once you get the notification that your card is being mailed, they tell you to wait another 30 days.

All of the above is using the worst case scenario and may be exaggerated. However, there have been people here who are still waiting after 1-year and needed to get another extension from an Infopass appointment. Whether or not that is a rare situation I can't say because VJ is a very small snapshot of the entire population group.

You can take a look at my timeline to see the various stages of my process as I got an RFE. It took a total of 8 months for my approval to happen whereas some only got in less than 6. So it all varies.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the possibilities but not necessarily the actual situation for each case.

Good luck.

Edited December 30, 2013 by victorian221b