January 2014 AOS Filers

[izzylove11 19]

I had an RFE that I mailed back on Feb 8 and was received by USCIS on Feb 11. I'm curious how much longer before we hear some news on the case. We did biometrics on Jan 17 but our appointment was supposed to be Jan 31. I am nervous because of the RFE. I'm ready to hear something!

[jannapa 12]

Jannapa..you can call USCIS and request an expedite in your EAD.

thanks, this is actually my plan. i was, however, advised to wait for a week after my biometrics before doing so. i will call them on thursday.

[Me-Myself-and-I 4]

Hello Everyone!

How are you guys doing? Its been awhile since my last post, been visiting some relatives in NJ, NY and PA. Anyway, I received my biometrics notice on January 29th. My biometrics appointment was scheduled on the 12th of February at 11 am and I am supposed to be back here in Manchester on the 11th, was worried there might be a problem of not adhering on the scheduled appointment so we tried our luck to do an early walk-in..

I have been doing my research on early walk-ins specifically in Manchester area and learned that Manchester only allows appointments on the biometric's scheduled date and time (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/367977-thinking-of-early-walk-in-for-biometrics/page-6). Also it varies per center/state/office if they allow early walk-ins, just click the link and it will show the thorough information regarding early walk-ins per state and per center/office.

With these information, I felt bad since there is no chance of having an early walk-in and at the same time feeling anxious due to the dates being too close and might cause a problem with the whole process. Just to make sure, my husband advised me to send an email to our processor, inquiring if we can do an early walk-in. Before we received a reply from them, I decided to try our luck. We went to the Manchester Office on the 3rd of Feb, Monday around 12 noon. I brought with me my train tickets, my biometrics appointment letter and all NOAs. We went through the whole scanning/checking security process and we showed them the appointment letter and my husband tried to explain our situation (given that the weather is also not in our side), the security officer told us that maybe we can get through it today and inform the officer-in-charge with the situation, they didn't even look at my tickets. We were asked to wait since the in-charge was taking her break. In less than 5 minutes we were asked to go to the next room and wait for the officer-in-charge and I guess it took her a minute or 2 to meet us in the waiting area. We were the only ones in there which makes me feel more anxious. She then asked us what our concern was/were and my husband offered to explain our situation, telling her that my appointment is supposed to be on the 12th but I am travelling from 4-11th of Feb. I gave her my appointment letter, my husband also informed her that due to the weather condition, I might have a delayed departure going back on the 11th. I was about to give her my train tickets to confirm the dates but she didn't bother to ask for them. She smiled at me and said, "ok, no problem", then hand me a form to fill-out for the biometrics. She was soooo nice and very accommodating. The whole biometric process took me less than 10 minutes. We went out with smiles on our faces and felt soooo relieved. The security officers were happy for us too.

I am hoping that the whole process will speed up from here point on. Regarding RFEs, even if I haven't received any, it does not mean I will never receive one. I learned that some filers received RFEs even after biometrics. So I am still hoping everything will be fine.

Good luck to us all!

Edited February 17, 2014 by Me-Myself-and-I

[emyardy 11]

hello all,

biometrics done.

whoever needs to do it in indianapolis, it is an easy walk

i arrived 2 hours early (contrary to what my husband had assumed, i didn't get lost, and found a parking spot right outside the office)

i checked in, showed a letter to a very pleasant lady, who asked me to sit and wait to be called

i didn't even take my coat off and the same lady stepped out and asked me in

the technician claims they don't do walk-ins, but i have a feeling that she was just instructed to say so

btw: having completed the goal of my two hour trip to indy in seven minutes, i felt sort of disappointed;)

so i took a nice walk around downtown before heading back north and - SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

hope coming out of this long winter will give a kick to uscis;)

Thanks for the tip!! We are going for biometrics in Indy next Tuesday.. Should be short and sweet!!

[CJC 18]

Hey CJC so glad to hear your appointment was a walk though lol. If only everything else in life was the same. Sounded like they weren't too busy there. The darn snow has stopped me getting my bio appt letter cos the postal service was not delivering yesterday. Hopefully today they have done something.

To make things worse I applied for 17 jobs and a reply for a interview for 7 what bad luck cos I got no EAD to work yet lol. I wonder if I can delay the interviews or go and delay commencing work. My hubby is laughing cos he was shocked It has not not taken any time for me to start getting interviews I only applied last week. I guess hospitals are desperate for staff now days.

How's the baking going? I made a white chocolate cake the other day. Only took one slice and well 2lbs weight gain I was so upset

These people cleared out the supermarket cos a little snow meant the world was ending my god the shelves in walmart publix and Kroger was so empty even the mouse was malnourished from lack of food. I thought I saw one lying on the shelf in walmart begging me for food lol. Jesus they really over exaggerate bad weather in this country. Don't no one come live in the UK cos they wouldn't be able to survive the rainy and snowy days.

If they don't resume service soon I will physically go and put the salt on the roads for them so people can get to work. My hubby wasn't complaining cos he got a day off.

Hey Nurseling Yep the appt was a walk through, but they were pretty busy and so so serious. I am a chatty soul (especially that I don't get out much..lol) and I received monosyllabic answers to all my (tedious?) questions...I wanted to giggle outwardly, but well, I just laughed on the inside..he he

It is so fantastic to hear that you have interview replies already....seriously, that is so wonderful and I am happy for you. I am sure you will get your EAD soon. I seem to think those who don't hear anything are being worked on and go straight to the top of the pile....good luck with it, I wish you and all AOS speed...

Backed off baking and seriously considered sienna...lol....I am now down to counting calories and cupcakes have too many of them. So I am doing my own 'Biggest Loser'...Jillian would be proud of me....ha ha ha

Are you done with the moving and unpacking yet?

I read/watched about all the snow you are having down south. Crikey, it is hard to believe that everything shut down?!?!?! Nothing shuts down here but I guess it is more of a regular thing here than in Georgia. Perhaps once you have become a USC you could run for Mayor and organise those salt trucks and food drops? lol

Well I do hope you hear something soon and have that nice lil EAD/AP in your hot lil hand in no time. Have an awesome week!

[CJC 18]

thanks for the heads up CJC. i dont wanna take my chances then. i was thinking to call them once they received my RFE response to the 1st one and find out if i need to resend it again. but with that experience, i wont risk it,....

also, i tried calling the FBI, they said they are not allowed to disclose any info and advised me to call uscis abt the status of the BI check....oh well, i am sure it would move along ...

Hey JBForever.....We will all get there in the end and on the bright side, most applications take up to 90 days (for EAD/AP) so it means that in no time at all we will hear good news for us all! (Well that is my story and I am sticking to it...lol)

Just had my interview date in the mail. March 18th. 2 months after sending out the package. This is incredibly fast. YAY!

Wurstbrot.....I am so happy for you, congratulations....this is truly wonderful news

Jannapa..you can call USCIS and request an expedite in your EAD. I did and they sent me a mail to fax back proof of why I need this ( in my case, I don't mind waiting for the regular processing time but I just decided to request the expedite to see how it works..if it works, I guess that will be good news..if it doesn't, I'll just wait for regular processing time). It usually takes about 2 days from the time of your request for them to send the mail. I made the request on 3rd February and they sent the mail on 6th February. I didn't receive the mail till 11th February. I faxed back the proof on 12 th February and I haven't heard from them yet. If you're lucky they would email you instead of send a mail.

I cooked my first meal today without assistance from my wife lol (Funny how wait is making me channel my energy into some other productive things). So I guess I used that to celebrate Wurstbrot_royal's rapid progression and to our lucks on the whole. God bless us all!

Won't be long now Jannapa, the expedite sounds like the way to go!

MaleAlpha.....so you cooked a meal, this is awesome and you are right about channeling your energy. I never baked before and admittedly I have thrown out more than I have eaten but that's the way we learn I guess. Good for us I say...lol Hope you go to your mail box and there waiting for you is your EAD

Hello Everyone!

How are you guys doing? Its been awhile since my last post, been visiting some relatives in NJ, NY and PA. Anyway, I received my biometrics notice on January 29th. My biometrics appointment was scheduled on the 12th of February at 11 am and I am supposed to be back here in Manchester on the 11th, was worried there might be a problem of not adhering on the scheduled appointment so we tried our luck to do an early walk-in..

I am hoping that the whole process will speed up from here point on. Regarding RFEs, even if I haven't received any, it does not mean I will never receive one. I learned that some filers received RFEs even after biometrics. So I am still hoping everything will be fine.

Good luck to us all!

Hi Me-Myself-and I. Great that things worked out for you and the biometrics, what a huge relief Sure RFE's can come at any time but I have decided to carry on believing that I won't get one now my biometrics are done, it is either that or go insane.....lol Good luck to you and us all indeed, may things speed up for everyone now that most of us have had our biometrics done

Have a great week everyone

[JBForever 12]

hey CJC thanks for the words of encouragement. i called up uscis today and the tier 2 basically said even if i seem to have a duplicate RFE, i best send it again to satisfy the paperwork documentation on their system. What to do?

oh well, good times! now for you guys that want to cook to channel your energies, may i suggest watching the videos of Chef John on food wishes.com? he is really good and most of his dishes are really great! of course with everything, its up to you how the final taste of your concoction would come out. Just have fun!

[charissevd 2]

Hi, I have been reading this forum and got a lot of inputs from all the members. Thank you! I will be having my biometrics pretty soon in USCIS Seattle, I would like to know what your experiences were like and if it was quick or long, etc. Thank you!

[ajhigh 2]

So despite the FBI telling me that my fingerprints hadn't been cleared yet (see earlier post), my AOS app just got moved to 'testing and interview'.

My local office is Chicago which seems to have pretty long wait times on average, but I thinks this means I'm now in the local queue (case was being processed at NBC).

[MaleAlpha 314]

AJHigh..you realized what I told you? Lol. The FBI guys wee giving you some BS. I'm happy for you. Keep us update when you get scheduled on a specific date for the interview. Yaay! To us January filers..we're finally getting there too lol

[Nurseling 34]

Hey Nurseling Yep the appt was a walk through, but they were pretty busy and so so serious. I am a chatty soul (especially that I don't get out much..lol) and I received monosyllabic answers to all my (tedious?) questions...I wanted to giggle outwardly, but well, I just laughed on the inside..he he

It is so fantastic to hear that you have interview replies already....seriously, that is so wonderful and I am happy for you. I am sure you will get your EAD soon. I seem to think those who don't hear anything are being worked on and go straight to the top of the pile....good luck with it, I wish you and all AOS speed...

Backed off baking and seriously considered sienna...lol....I am now down to counting calories and cupcakes have too many of them. So I am doing my own 'Biggest Loser'...Jillian would be proud of me....ha ha hax

Are you done with the moving and unpacking yet?

I read/watched about all the snow you are having down south. Crikey, it is hard to believe that everything shut down?!?!?! Nothing shuts down here but I guess it is more of a regular thing here than in Georgia. Perhaps once you have become a USC you could run for Mayor and organise those salt trucks and food drops? lol

Well I do hope you hear something soon and have that nice lil EAD/AP in your hot lil hand in no time. Have an awesome week!

Hey cjc

What a week it has been for me!!!

The new place really did have roaches. I was just joking about it and lord behold when they showed us the place before we signed the lease as I opened one of the closet doors a roach ran across the door stood there while I was sceeming and waiting for the two ladies showing us the place to come running in the bedroom to see him. I have never been so disgusted in my life. I do not live with roaches cos they are worse than mice. They are vermins and honestly once you have them they are hard to get ride off. I bet at night they are having a party in that apartment with ladie roaches and the bacardi breezer being passed around the room. No thank you not chasing no out of my palcoholic cocroaches out of my pantry and kitchen every day lol. My hubby agreed when I said I won't be living with no roaches he was quiet disgusted too. What a real shame cos the apartment was very big. 3 bed two bathroom 1534 square foot. Anyways we lost 400 deposit and the silly people said we can get the place sprayed for you. Well i wend abd did my sherlock holmes thing by knocking on 3 neghbours doors to ask if they had roaches and they all did so that there's a infestation in that building that was no safe house that was a roach house lol. So we spent the day searching for a place and eventually had to settle for a two bed two bathroom that was smaller. They did not have a 3 bed vailable till june. So we figured we will wait. Took my binoculers out to check for any vermins when we viewed this one.I didn't see none. Thank god. We moved in and I still have a load of unpacking to do. On the upside this new place is 5mins walk to the mall and the farmers market hooray!!

Ok so biometrics letter arrived on friday . So I thought ok I will walkin on Monday To get it done. Silly immigrant that I am didn't know it was presidents day a governent holiday . So there I was at the biometrics cebter early in the morning at the crack of dawn sitting outside there offics like a confused potatoe. Till I decided Took call my hubby at work who said oh yeah I forgot its a holiday. My god the man doesn't know about his own countrys holiday so what hope does a immigrant like have. I felt like a right lime but my husband was definatley the lemon in this situation lol. So I had Took go back today Tuesday 18th after waiting 3 hours cos I never had a appt I finally got my biometrics done by a soar face woman who was peeved cos there was so many of us doing walkins cos she wanted Too go home lol

biometris done so happy.

The waiting begins again. Got online changed address on uscis website so they dont be mailing my letters Too the roaches. They maybe suprised if mr and mrs #######-aroach turns up for the green card interview if they mail it there those roaches will finally be legal in this country lol.

How are things getting on with you. Yes seriously stay away from those cupcakes they do some damage Took the belly fat. I can send you To my senna dealer if your intrested lol

[Nurseling 34]

Just read my rant what poor spelling lol. Sorry guys its Too early me To spell right i am sure you can slot the words in for me. Haha

[Me-Myself-and-I 4]

Checked my AOS status online last night and it was changed to Testing and Interview

I am still waiting for my EAD! I want it sooo baaaadly!

CJC, yes you are right! Being optimistic is all I need right now.

Good luck to us all and have a wonderful week everyone!

[MaleAlpha 314]

I just received a text telling me my case status had been updated. I checked online and the I-485 status now says Testing and Interview...Yaay! I guess we're making a lot of progress. Hopefully soon they will mail out the information for the interview. My wife was 'twerking' to it when I told her lol. I know she's silly lol.

Edited February 20, 2014 by MaleAlpha

[vbtwo 54]

Nice to read all you who have seen progress. My status has been stuck at acceptance for AOS and initial review for AP and EAD ever since the beginning. Sigh. Maybe it's just not updating, but something is actually happening.