September 2015 AOS Filers

[KASH2011 382]

I received the approval notice + GC at the same time in the mail today , thanks to everyone for being there , for sharing your stories and supporting each other , Good luck to everyone who is still waiting & congratulations to those who have already finished this parts of the long journey , see you again in 21 months .

M&Y

Congrats!

[AC&BS 23]

Green Card received today. Sigh of relief.

Thanks to everyone for your support and good luck to everyone still waiting.

[GringoMan 4]

Green Card received today. Sigh of relief.

Thanks to everyone for your support and good luck to everyone still waiting.

Congrats

[ameribrazil 37]

Wife received her AP I-131 approval today yay! But still waiting on the AOS.

[americanirish87 5]

green card received on 2/13! so excited and happy. good luck everyone!! see you in two years on the ROC blogs :-)

[ameribrazil 37]

Question for those who has an AP I-131.

We received this two days ago but the status hasn't change since then. I thought by now it would update stating that they have mailed the document. How long does it take for them to mail and update the status again? We want to book a flight to see her parents but my wife wants to make sure we have the AP on hand prior to booking.

Advance Parole Document Was Produced

On February 17, 2016, we produced your Advance Parole Document for your Form I-131, Application For USCIS Travel Document, Receipt Number MSC16xxxxxxxx. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

[rochestergrad 10]

Interview scheduled on 2.16 and got a call from the case officer at 8am that the interview had to be canceled because of the snow storm in Buffalo area on that day. so sad... The snow piled up to more than a foot high. Now we have to wait to hear from USCIS again.. Can't believe it

[Casprushly 8]

Hi guys,

I have an update on my interview in Pittsburgh PA from Thursday 02/18.

I was a little worried that the center would be closed after there was a snow storm the night before but everything was fine that morning. Interview was at 9:30am so got there nice and early. Had a breakfast at a nearby Panera so we would be in plenty of time. Walked into the center 30 mins early and barely had time to sit down before we were called a little early. Our lawyer was going through security so we had to wait a minute for her.

Pittsburgh is a small center so my lawyer used to be on first name terms with all of the officers but apparently they had recently promoted a few new ones so she had not met our officer before.

The interview started off just verifying various information about each other from the petition, full names, DOB, places of birth etc. Then she asked what evidence we had brought to verify the marriage and I had brought a lot. We basically overwhelmed her with joint bank statements, 2 years worth of joint leases, joint bills but by far the biggest thing was our joint 2015 tax return with all of our income statements. I have the advantage of having lived in the US for 4 years and already be working first with a J-1 visa and now with my EAD card. Also since it is tax season right now we were able to file a joint tax statement prior to the interview which was a huge piece of evidence and I would recommend above all other evidence if you are in a position to do it.

We had a legal wedding ceremony in August at the Pittsburgh municipal court, but we also made a proper day of it, we dressed up in a suit and white dress (not the real wedding dress) invited my friends and her family (none of my family could make it though), then we booked a nice meal and had a friend of ours with a nice camera take some wedding photos in Grandview park overlooking the city. We also had a formal ceremony and reception with as many of my friends and family who could make it in December, but the officer actually paid more attention to the first ceremony so it is definitely worth putting in a little effort to dress up, book a small reception (meal at a restaurant) and take some formal looking photos, even though my family were not there. It didn't cost a lot and was very little effort and looks much better than just showing up with random witnesses.

What really threw me off was when after all that she asked if we had any other evidence to support our marriage, which seemed a little aggressive... but my lawyer chimed in to reassure us that we had already done that and the officer agreed so it was not meant to be like that. I think I was just nervous.

Then went through the standard security questions, got several questions about my J-1 visa and the 2 year home return clause for which I had a no objection waiver. She just wanted to make sure I had completed that. Then we added some relationship photos to add to the file, we brought about 90 over the 2 years we had lived together, she selected a few examples to keep and then we were done.

Overall the officer was nice, but very hard to read. She seemed to go from friendly and chatty to formal and serious very rapidly and it threw me off a little and made me worry I'd said something wrong. She also would not say whether she was going to approve us at the time as she had to do some checks first, which I guess is normal but a little disconcerting. Outside the building my lawyer quickly assured us that we were perfect and there was no way we were not approved. Then within an hour I had an update saying my card was approved so just waiting to receive it now.

Sorry for the long post but if you are in Pittsburgh and waiting for an interview hopefully it is especially helpful.

Overall the interview was 25 mins

[ameribrazil 37]

Interview scheduled on 2.16 and got a call from the case officer at 8am that the interview had to be canceled because of the snow storm in Buffalo area on that day. so sad... The snow piled up to more than a foot high. Now we have to wait to hear from USCIS again.. Can't believe it

Sorry to hear that but I hope you get a new schedule soon!

Cheers

Hi guys,

I have an update on my interview in Pittsburgh PA from Thursday 02/18.

I was a little worried that the center would be closed after there was a snow storm the night before but everything was fine that morning. Interview was at 9:30am so got there nice and early. Had a breakfast at a nearby Panera so we would be in plenty of time. Walked into the center 30 mins early and barely had time to sit down before we were called a little early. Our lawyer was going through security so we had to wait a minute for her.

Pittsburgh is a small center so my lawyer used to be on first name terms with all of the officers but apparently they had recently promoted a few new ones so she had not met our officer before.

The interview started off just verifying various information about each other from the petition, full names, DOB, places of birth etc. Then she asked what evidence we had brought to verify the marriage and I had brought a lot. We basically overwhelmed her with joint bank statements, 2 years worth of joint leases, joint bills but by far the biggest thing was our joint 2015 tax return with all of our income statements. I have the advantage of having lived in the US for 4 years and already be working first with a J-1 visa and now with my EAD card. Also since it is tax season right now we were able to file a joint tax statement prior to the interview which was a huge piece of evidence and I would recommend above all other evidence if you are in a position to do it.

We had a legal wedding ceremony in August at the Pittsburgh municipal court, but we also made a proper day of it, we dressed up in a suit and white dress (not the real wedding dress) invited my friends and her family (none of my family could make it though), then we booked a nice meal and had a friend of ours with a nice camera take some wedding photos in Grandview park overlooking the city. We also had a formal ceremony and reception with as many of my friends and family who could make it in December, but the officer actually paid more attention to the first ceremony so it is definitely worth putting in a little effort to dress up, book a small reception (meal at a restaurant) and take some formal looking photos, even though my family were not there. It didn't cost a lot and was very little effort and looks much better than just showing up with random witnesses.

What really threw me off was when after all that she asked if we had any other evidence to support our marriage, which seemed a little aggressive... but my lawyer chimed in to reassure us that we had already done that and the officer agreed so it was not meant to be like that. I think I was just nervous.

Then went through the standard security questions, got several questions about my J-1 visa and the 2 year home return clause for which I had a no objection waiver. She just wanted to make sure I had completed that. Then we added some relationship photos to add to the file, we brought about 90 over the 2 years we had lived together, she selected a few examples to keep and then we were done.

Overall the officer was nice, but very hard to read. She seemed to go from friendly and chatty to formal and serious very rapidly and it threw me off a little and made me worry I'd said something wrong. She also would not say whether she was going to approve us at the time as she had to do some checks first, which I guess is normal but a little disconcerting. Outside the building my lawyer quickly assured us that we were perfect and there was no way we were not approved. Then within an hour I had an update saying my card was approved so just waiting to receive it now.

Sorry for the long post but if you are in Pittsburgh and waiting for an interview hopefully it is especially helpful.

Overall the interview was 25 mins

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to you guys! Cheers!

[KASH2011 382]

Hi guys,

I have an update on my interview in Pittsburgh PA from Thursday 02/18.

I was a little worried that the center would be closed after there was a snow storm the night before but everything was fine that morning. Interview was at 9:30am so got there nice and early. Had a breakfast at a nearby Panera so we would be in plenty of time. Walked into the center 30 mins early and barely had time to sit down before we were called a little early. Our lawyer was going through security so we had to wait a minute for her.

Pittsburgh is a small center so my lawyer used to be on first name terms with all of the officers but apparently they had recently promoted a few new ones so she had not met our officer before.

The interview started off just verifying various information about each other from the petition, full names, DOB, places of birth etc. Then she asked what evidence we had brought to verify the marriage and I had brought a lot. We basically overwhelmed her with joint bank statements, 2 years worth of joint leases, joint bills but by far the biggest thing was our joint 2015 tax return with all of our income statements. I have the advantage of having lived in the US for 4 years and already be working first with a J-1 visa and now with my EAD card. Also since it is tax season right now we were able to file a joint tax statement prior to the interview which was a huge piece of evidence and I would recommend above all other evidence if you are in a position to do it.

We had a legal wedding ceremony in August at the Pittsburgh municipal court, but we also made a proper day of it, we dressed up in a suit and white dress (not the real wedding dress) invited my friends and her family (none of my family could make it though), then we booked a nice meal and had a friend of ours with a nice camera take some wedding photos in Grandview park overlooking the city. We also had a formal ceremony and reception with as many of my friends and family who could make it in December, but the officer actually paid more attention to the first ceremony so it is definitely worth putting in a little effort to dress up, book a small reception (meal at a restaurant) and take some formal looking photos, even though my family were not there. It didn't cost a lot and was very little effort and looks much better than just showing up with random witnesses.

What really threw me off was when after all that she asked if we had any other evidence to support our marriage, which seemed a little aggressive... but my lawyer chimed in to reassure us that we had already done that and the officer agreed so it was not meant to be like that. I think I was just nervous.

Then went through the standard security questions, got several questions about my J-1 visa and the 2 year home return clause for which I had a no objection waiver. She just wanted to make sure I had completed that. Then we added some relationship photos to add to the file, we brought about 90 over the 2 years we had lived together, she selected a few examples to keep and then we were done.

Overall the officer was nice, but very hard to read. She seemed to go from friendly and chatty to formal and serious very rapidly and it threw me off a little and made me worry I'd said something wrong. She also would not say whether she was going to approve us at the time as she had to do some checks first, which I guess is normal but a little disconcerting. Outside the building my lawyer quickly assured us that we were perfect and there was no way we were not approved. Then within an hour I had an update saying my card was approved so just waiting to receive it now.

Sorry for the long post but if you are in Pittsburgh and waiting for an interview hopefully it is especially helpful.

Overall the interview was 25 mins

Congrats!

[wanderlust_16 7]

USCIS received our RFE response on December 7th, and we have had no updates since then. :/ Anyone else waiting this long?

[Flyy 0]

USCIS received our RFE response on December 7th, and we have had no updates since then. :/ Anyone else waiting this long?

You are not alone. My last update was on October 13 when my case was ready to be scheduled for interview. The waiting is so frustrating ?

[ameribrazil 37]

You are not alone. My last update was on October 13 when my case was ready to be scheduled for interview. The waiting is so frustrating ?

USCIS received our RFE response on December 7th, and we have had no updates since then. :/ Anyone else waiting this long?

You're both not alone! Our lawyer did update us yesterday as they contacted the USCIS to get a status on our file. We are told that my wife's file has been sent to our local field office New Jersey for processing. Unfortunately, based on the USCIS website, as of December 31, 2015, they are only on March 16, 2015 files which equates to about 8-9 months. So it appears that we will be waiting for ALONG time. But at least we got her AP and we plan to visit her country this summer.

[MaggieA 0]

You're both not alone! Our lawyer did update us yesterday as they contacted the USCIS to get a status on our file. We are told that my wife's file has been sent to our local field office New Jersey for processing. Unfortunately, based on the USCIS website, as of December 31, 2015, they are only on March 16, 2015 files which equates to about 8-9 months. So it appears that we will be waiting for ALONG time. But at least we got her AP and we plan to visit her country this summer.

Still waiting too.... Ready to be scheduled since Nov 19. There seems to be a huge delay at our local office

[nolee 7]

USCIS received our RFE response on December 7th, and we have had no updates since then. :/ Anyone else waiting this long?

Also still waiting. Our NOA1 date was Sept. 23. Received RFE on Dec. 1. Our RFE response was delivered on Dec. 28. The last update on USCIS case checker was on Sept. 23 for "Fingerprint fee received." Strangely the RFE came from the Barrigada, Guam field office.

Feeling worried with waiting for so long. Losing patience. =( I hope we get some sort of updates since all of us have been waiting.