June 2015 filers

[LPK 3]

Congrats!

Congrats!

Thanks.

The online status still says "Interview is scheduled" . But I guess, that's okay. Ah, i'm just being paranoid.

[POM 21]

Congrats on the approvals

[blahblahblog 36]

Got approved as well, in case someone is interested.

[KASH2011 382]

Got approved as well, in case someone is interested.

Congrats to you!

[Toy 18]

Just finished my interview.

The interviewer gave us a sheet of paper and the first box was clicked which state that they need to review it some more before a decision will be made.

Guess i need to start making plans to renew my work authorization.

[Pishi_Pishi 63]

Is anyone that received potential interview waiver still waiting? I got no news since receipt beginning of July. I put service request 3 months ago and reply was they are delayed. Any waiters with no news?

[Toy 18]

Just got a text which say "

On May 24, 2016, we mailed your new card for Receipt Number MSC15********, to the address you gave us. If you do not receive your card by June 23, 2016, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we send your new card to you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address

I did not get a text that says Approved only New Card was mailed to me and my wife's I-130 still say's "On June 24, 2015, we received your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number MSC15********, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case.

Is this something to be worried about?

[LPK 3]

Just got a text which say "

On May 24, 2016, we mailed your new card for Receipt Number MSC15********, to the address you gave us. If you do not receive your card by June 23, 2016, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we send your new card to you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address

I did not get a text that says Approved only New Card was mailed to me and my wife's I-130 still say's "On June 24, 2015, we received your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number MSC15********, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case.

Is this something to be worried about?

Nothing to be worried about - In all likelihood, you should have your card in a few days. doesn't the online status show a tracking number?

Here's how my online status progressed -Interview schedule > Post office picked up the card -> Post office delivered the card -> your case is approved.

I received the approval notice when the online status showed "interview schedule" . The status changed to "case approved" after I got the card in my hand.

[Toy 18]

Thanks for that. Will keep calm

[karalis 5]

Hi everyone,

I have posted my experience on the Dallas filers thread, as I feel that we're a completely different animal from applicants at any of the other offices ..I want to share it here as well, hopefully sharing it can be helpful to someone else

Quick background: my wife and I met in 2008, lived together since 2010, moved to Dallas for grad school and got engaged in 2014. We decided to have the wedding of our dreams on a beach on an italian island (which is where I'm from) and we realistically planned it for summer 2016. Meanwhile, we had a private court wedding -and when I say private I mean the two of us. We obviously told close friends and immediate family, but we didn't want to taint the big wedding. It was actually fun to celebrate something like that just the two of us, sharing a moment without having strangers saying hi and congrats.

We applied for AOS about 2 months after getting married. The employment authorization process was as smooth as it could be. Biometrics after a few weeks, card in hand after 2 and a half months. Piece of cake.

The actual AOS process was a different ball game. I first got an RFE for the financial affidavit: I forgot to sum the number of people in the household on the form, so I literally lost about 2 weeks for forgetting to write 2 in a box, the sum of 1+1 .

After I sent in the RFE, the waiting game began. I didn't hear anything from USCIS for about 8 months. I had heard that the Dallas office was beyond backlogged, so I was not worried. The only concern was that our wedding was scheduled for June 25. Come March, the fun began. I started panicking, realizing that the 10 month period I predicted was looking more like a 13-14 month period in Dallas, as the office was getting even more overwhelmed. I was scared that they would schedule the interview during the period of time we were gonna be in Italy (we are leaving on June 12th).

At the apex of my 2-month panic-attack, I finally get a interview notice. I got all excited, until I started doing the worst thing possible: checking the internet for everything that could go wrong at an AOS interview. I spent a month reading horror stories about canceled interviews rescheduled after 6 months, genuine marriages that were denied, wrong information from fbi name checks of individuals with your same name. It's like google-ing your symptoms when you're simply sleepy and ending up believing that you have cancer. Don't do it. Ever. If you have a honest, legit marriage, stay away from google at all costs.

Now my interview day. I went to the office in Irving. Great office, sort of new, very polite and nice staff - different experience from any public office I've ever been to. I got to my interview 15 minutes early. Officer came out and recognized us, she said she had been looking at the pictures I sent as initial evidence.I was like good, i brought 200 more. She made us swear in and then we went into the actual interview. Let me start by saying that we got THE BEST OFFICER EVER. Very nice, young, conversational and really helped me feel more at ease, although I was obviously nervous. She started with basic bio questions about each other - asked my wife my name, my dob, my mom's name..then she did the same thing with me, asking for her info. I think throughout the interview I was asked my wife's date of birth about 6 times -- I know that I will NEVER forget a birthday from now on . The rest of the interview was seriously very, very smooth, it was a very nice conversation. Talked about how we met, and when we mentioned we met in 2008 she had a look like oh ok this is an easy one. We talked a bit about our story, without going into much detail. For some reason we ended up talking about dogs for a minute, since we mentioned that we have a puppy. She looked at our pictures from 2009 to 2016, I brought pictures abroad, pictures with family, halloween pictures. Then she asked for supporting documents that weren't sent in as initial evidence: I gave her the copy of our two past leases, wife's life insurance documents with my name as a beneficiary, health and auto insurance with both names, last tax return filed jointly and maybe something else I forgot. She didn't even ask for her birth certificate, american passport was enough. Mind that I was pretty nervous and she could tell, she kept telling me there was no need to.

At the end of what I thought was the best interview in history, she hands us a letter saying that a decision could not be made, and she mentions that it takes on average 2 months. I freaked out for 2 reasons: a) my EAD is about to expire; b) we were 3 weeks away from going to Italy. She noticed that and she said that ours should not take that long. I obviously went home and started looking at catastrophic cases where there are huge delays after the interview

Long story short (yeah right) i did not get any text or online update, my case status was stuck on "interview scheduled" . Then monday I check the mail, and find the approval notices for the I-485 and I-131. Online status was not updated until today, when I got a message saying my card was mailed yesterday.

So here are some takeaways:

1) it's a long process, it's not their fault, they're really overwhelmed. It will take time so don't worry if you don't hear anything for a while, just make sure you renew any temporary permit in time.

2) DO NOT sweat the interview. If you are a legit couple, this should not be a stressful event, there is nothing to fear, nobody will trick you into a blackhole. Rather than stressing about everything that could go wrong, like I did, ENJOY this big step with your wife/husband, make it a fun experience.

3) The officers are there to help you get something you have a legal right to. They know people are nervous, and at least in my experience they are trained to make you feel at ease. It's not a trial, it's a conversation!

4) Don't rely too much on the online status, sometimes it does not get updated

5) Last minor thing...it's ok to say "I don't remember" ..don't try to memorize stuff, if you have a looong relationship it is ok to forget what you guys ate 475 days ago.

Hopefully this was not too long and dry, I really hope my post can help some applicants make this into a more enjoyable experience. Nothing to stress about!!

Edited May 25, 2016 by karalis

[KASH2011 382]

Just got a text which say "

On May 24, 2016, we mailed your new card for Receipt Number MSC15********, to the address you gave us. If you do not receive your card by June 23, 2016, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request that we send your new card to you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address

I did not get a text that says Approved only New Card was mailed to me and my wife's I-130 still say's "On June 24, 2015, we received your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number MSC15********, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case.

Is this something to be worried about?

Congrats!

[cantofla 44]

Hey June 2015 Filers!

 

It's starting to be that time for everyone pretty soon to start our ROC!!! Can you believe it's been two years (well technically a year and nine months)? Where has the time gone?!

 

My ROC date opens up on July 30th and we are starting to gather our paperwork together to send it in.

 

I hope all of you are doing well. Looking forward to seeing familiar usernames in the ROC thread

 

[Bondgirl0078 3]

Hi Cantofla and all. Who would believe it's almost 2 years already? how time flies........Good luck in your ROC ,my ROC window opens by November 1st.Hopefully we'll all meet again at ROC thread.Goodluck everyone in all you do...

[Yelli 8]

Hi everyone! It's been a long time. Can't believe it's almost ROC time either! Time has been going by so fast.

So just a little update and how we're doing

I got pregnant around the time of our interview and we now have two handsome boys, Tristan (3 yrs) and Owen(5 mos). We still haven't visited Mexico and I'm dying to go but last year my midwife didn't allow me to go because of the zika virus and now we haven't because both boys need passports and my husband needs to renew his and I became a stay at home mom after having my baby so money has been tight. Hoping to go soon though, especially now that my parents have moved back over there and i miss them so much. But that's about it here. 

How's everyone else?

[cantofla 44]

Been doing great here! Bought a house is the most exciting thing we've done so far haha.

 

I actually received a letter in the mail today - reminding me to remove my conditions on my green card. I didn't realize they sent reminder letters.

I did some research online and it seems to be split. Some people get the letter, others don't.