Filed AoS, EAD, AP in early September, when should we expect the AoS interview?

[Danielle and Jake 24]

Hey all,

Within the first week of September, my wife (who is the intending immigrant) filed our AoS, EAD, and AP paperwork. We received the appointment for her Biometrics on September 30th. The startling thing about that was how short notice we got (only 12 days). She just got her EAD/AP combo card last week, and currently our AoS is "Fingerprint Fee Received" as it has been since the Biometrics appointment.

Question is, when should we expect to hear about an interview appointment? Looking at the processing times for the Milewaukee Field Office, as of August 31st, 2015, they were processing applications from March 15th, 2015 (if I am interpretting that table correctly - it can be confusing). My concern is that my wife and I plan on going out of state for the ~11 days around Christmas to visit my family. I am just so paranoid and riddled with anxiety that we will get a short-notice interview appointment during that time and we will miss out on our interview (though I don't think the field office would be open Christmas Eve and Christmas). Am I just being my own worst enemy here with my anxiety? I just don't want to mess up an interview (if we have one - I've heard about 50% of K-1 --> AoS applicants get the interview waived, and they'll get a "Notice of Potential Interview Waiving" letter of sorts).

So yeah, I am just kind of a mental wreck right now because of the unknown. I don't want to miss out on a potential interview letter in the mail, but I also am going to feel extremely stupid if I cancel our Christmas vacation trip to my parents if nothing happens that week. We haven't received any RFE or anything, but yeah, our status has just been "Fingerprint Fee Was Received" since they cashed the check for the fee.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jake

Edited November 17, 2015 by Danielle and Jake

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

You don't need to worry, you have plenty of time. If it makes you feel better have a good friend check your mail and contact you if he sees

a letter from USCIS. I really don't think it is an issue. Go and have fun

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from Fam.-based AOS to Fam.-based AOS Progress Forum~

~Inquiry about case status~

[Danielle and Jake 24]

You don't need to worry, you have plenty of time. If it makes you feel better have a good friend check your mail and contact you if he sees

a letter from USCIS. I really don't think it is an issue. Go and have fun

Thanks for the confidence. My only issue with someone checking my mail is the ability to come back early in the case anything happens. Like Christmas Eve and Christmas are on a Thursday and Friday, respectfully. I will be renting a car to to my parents (one-way rental), and doing the same type of rental coming back. There's no way I could get a rental on those two days. I'd be heading back home the Monday after Christmas, so the 28th. Our vacation pretty much spans from December 17th to December 28th. So Christmas time is at the very end of the vacation, and I am not sure if USCIS would schedule anything for that week anyway.

Sometimes I just wish we had a little power over scheduling these interviews (if we even had one), or at least a month's notice minimum. The 12 day notice I got for the Biometrics kind of shook me up a bit because I had to ask for time off work on a whim (which while my manager is cool with it because he himself is going through the immigration process, so he understands 100%, I hate doing it because it feels unprofessional). Also my wife had an interview and got a job at a retail store yesterday (3 days after getting her EAD!), so now there's that. We also went to change her name on her SSN card yesterday and they said that can take up to 4 weeks because they have to check with DHS (which I've seen that response often for people in our situation).

But yeah, my manager offered to check my mail while I am out. My concern is what would I do in the case something happened. I mean there will be 6 days of USPS mail delivery before Christmas, then another 2 days of delivery before I am back in town. So I do see how the timeframe shouldn't be an issue, but as I said, my anxiety gets the best of me during this hwole situation.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

We only had 7 days notice for the biometrics but we are May filers and have not heard a thing since EAD card in August.

None of the field office statistics indicate a soon to be interview date.

If it would curb your anxiety you could still have the guy check your mail and scan you the instructions to re schedule the appointment if one arrives.

I really think you have nothing to worry about, I don't think they schedule that close.

[CAMama3 1]

Sometimes I just wish we had a little power over scheduling these interviews (if we even had one), or at least a month's notice minimum.

Almost everyone I have seen on here gets a month's notice for the interview.

Searching through past interview dates (using the AOS immigration timelines above), I haven't seen any that are between Christmas and New Year's. People who are getting their interview dates right now are being scheduled for those few days before Christmas. We are expecting an interview notice soon, but are deducing that we will be in the clear for an interview before the holidays if we haven't heard anything by next week. The fastest way to know your interview date is to check online/sign up for updates. Let's say you did get your interview notice while you were away, it would be okay because you would know the date anyway from checking your status online.

And if you did get an NPIW while you were away, it wouldn't really matter since there's nothing for you do with it. The letter just says you are a potential interview waiver case and processing will take 6 more months.

[Danielle and Jake 24]

Almost everyone I have seen on here gets a month's notice for the interview.

Searching through past interview dates (using the AOS immigration timelines above), I haven't seen any that are between Christmas and New Year's. People who are getting their interview dates right now are being scheduled for those few days before Christmas. We are expecting an interview notice soon, but are deducing that we will be in the clear for an interview before the holidays if we haven't heard anything by next week. The fastest way to know your interview date is to check online/sign up for updates. Let's say you did get your interview notice while you were away, it would be okay because you would know the date anyway from checking your status online.

And if you did get an NPIW while you were away, it wouldn't really matter since there's nothing for you do with it. The letter just says you are a potential interview waiver case and processing will take 6 more months.

Thanks. Definitely signed up for those updates. I am wondering if I can add a secondary email and phone to the account just so we both can get it. My only concern is lets say they did schedule something, and sent out the letter. You said these alerts/emails/etc. will have the date, but if I recall correctly, we had to bring the appointment letter to the Biometrics appointment. So would we need to come back to our home to retrieve it or go straight to the appointment? I ask because Our office is 2-2.5 hours away, and traveling back from my parents' home, the office is actually on the way. But if I had to go retrieve the letter, it would add 5 hours to a trip, if that makes any sense.

Thanks though, that's a big help. What are the grounds for them waiving an interview? I've heard so many different things like they waive 50% of interviews, that it can depend on the country, number of applicants, etc.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Sometimes they do not update online. Many K1's don't get interviews, there are no reasons for it as far as we know. Other visa types

adjusting do have interviews.

[CAMama3 1]

You would get your interview notice letter in the mail a month before your actual interview. The online/text update would/should happen and then you'd get the actual letter and instructions a few days later. That means if you were to have an interview when you were away for the holidays (Dec. 17-28), you would be receiving that letter in the next week or so. IMO, it would be extremely rare for you to get an interview notice in the mail, like the day before you were supposed to interview. And if you got your notice in the mail when you were away, your interview would not be until a month later.

There are no reasons for who gets an interview vs waiver when it comes to K1. Though, some people have pointed out that some offices never give them out (Seattle, where we are, hasn't done so in over a year, another poster noticed) and other offices almost always give them out. If you sort by Milwaukee in the AOS timelines, it doesn't look like any K1s have had interviews in the past year. Of course, it's a small sample and they can change procedures...

[CAMama3 1]

Thanks. Definitely signed up for those updates. I am wondering if I can add a secondary email and phone to the account just so we both can get it. My only concern is lets say they did schedule something, and sent out the letter. You said these alerts/emails/etc. will have the date, but if I recall correctly, we had to bring the appointment letter to the Biometrics appointment. So would we need to come back to our home to retrieve it or go straight to the appointment? I ask because Our office is 2-2.5 hours away, and traveling back from my parents' home, the office is actually on the way. But if I had to go retrieve the letter, it would add 5 hours to a trip, if that makes any sense.

Yes, you would need to go home and get the letter and everything else they have listed to take to the interview.

[Danielle and Jake 24]

Thanks for the replies. That sucks that we'd have to do that, but it seems like we are in the clear for that time being. Yeah with the whole Milewaukee interviews not showing up in a year thing is a good sign, but also uncertain because of the sample size as you noted.