I-751 July 2016 Filers

[AK_2014 113]

56 minutes ago, LUAL said:

3) how did you make copies of your GC if you have not received it? (or did you make copies of your expired one?)

We uploaded photos of both sides of the expired GC as well as a scan of the extension letter.

[Ken Adams 41]

2 hours ago, joo-lye-fai-lar said:

Hey all!

 

July 29th filer here, and as per the infopass officer, my 10 year GC was approved 4 days back so I should be getting it any day.

 

Short Summary

• VSC
• 7/29/17: I-797 Notice of Action Receipt Date
• 8/13/16: I-797C Notice of Action Date (biometrics letter)
• 7/19/17: as per the infopass officer, my 10 year GC was approved 4 days ago
• 7/19/17: InfoPass appointment (got the i-551 stamp for 6 months)
• 7/19/17: Filed my N-400 today online (I got my conditional GC sometime in Sept 2014)

If you're a casual July filer, or a filer from a different month/board who wants the basics, you may leave. All others may move on to the next section.

 

Long Version

I've been following this thread for a few months now, but never created an account to contribute because - it sounded like too much work. But today I feel like I have enough to contribute, so here goes.

 

I'm a fellow July i-751 filer as well. I've traveled internationally multiple times with my I-797 NOA along with my expired GC. The customs officers in the US are normally familiar with the letter and they don't give me any issues. Whereas the officers in other countries, always scratch their heads and study the letter for a good 10 minutes before they let me board a plane to the US.

 

But anyway, since my precious I-797 NOA was was about to expire on July 29th, I got an infopass appointment for today (as directed by others on this thread). I also filed my N-400 today. So I've noted all the details below, both about the I-551 stamp and the N-400 application process.

 

InfoPass (I-551 stamp)

The I-551 stamp is a stamp on your passport that is good to have if your I-797 NOA is about to expire and you are still waiting for your 10 year GC. This stamp basically lets you continue working and also travel abroad.

 

All you have to do is go to the infopass website and make an appointment. Be aware though that you might not get an appointment immediately. The first date I could get was 2 weeks in the future (I'm in NY).

 

The appointment itself was quick. I was in the building for less than 20 minutes.

 

The officer asked me for the below documents: 

-- passport

-- expired green card

-- I-797 NOA extension letter

-- I-797C - Biometrics appointment letter from a year ago (along with the stamp on the form that said I did in fact go for my appointment)

 

The officer asked me why I wanted the i-551 stamp and I said that my work required it to continue working. So he asked me what I did for work. 

 

He looked up my file and was surprised to find that my case was already IR6 whereas my expired GC said CR6 (which I later deduced meant conditional resident). After some more investigation, they informed me that my application was approved 4 days ago, so my 10 year GC should be in the mail. They gave me a I-551 stamp that's valid for 6 months.

 

N-400 application

I came home from my appointment and decided to file my N-400 online. I am also $725 short after completing that application - the portal lets you pay either with your bank account or with a credit card (hello rewards points! always a bright side, right?).

 

The below information is for an N-400 application if you're married to a US citizen. I don't know if it applies to other types of applications.

 

This is where you file: https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/ 
Make sure you bookmark that link because I had a hard finding that link after I got lost in the interweb. No amount of googling was able to get me back to that link.

 

You might need to create a new account. I learned that you can't use the same username/password that you use to check for your I-797 case status. This is a different portal altogether.

 

You can also print out the 21 pages of the application and fill it out by hand (which I had done initially before I found out about the online portal, at which point I shredded everything - all those poor trees).

 

The only confusing question on the application was the line that asked me for my "USCIS Online Account Number". I left it blank. After a bit of googling I had found that if you've never made a payment via their portal, you most likely don't have a "USCIS online account number".

 

If you're applying online, I would suggest making sure that you have scanned copies of the below documents together before starting just to make things easier:

• marriage certificate
• tax documents (3 years) - to prove that you pay your taxes
• mortgage/lease documents (if any)
• joint insurance documents (if any)
• spouse's birthday certificate/passport or other proof that they are a citizen
• your green card (front and back)

You will also need the below information (along with start and end dates) - this was the most painful part of the application since I had to look up the various dates:

• 5 year history of work/school
• 5 year history of addresses where you lived
• 5 year history of international travel

 

Since I am applying N400 as 3 year GC holder should I provide 5-year experience and 5 years stay (2years outside the US before entry to the US). what is the solutions???

[Earthmoon 3]

16 hours ago, AK_2014 said:

Hi @Earthmoon,

 

We haven't ever had to file a change of address during the period when a case was open, so we never had to give a receipt number. But I've heard that if you look up the regular USCIS case status website, only one of those numbers will actually work (the number that is on the Biometrics only and does not appear on the original NOA), so maybe try using that one?

 

Does anyone else have direct experience re: which case number to use for change in address? (see above post)

 

When we've notified of changes in address, we've done it online for my wife since she could, and I as the sponsor used the paper sponsor form because that's the only sponsor option.

 

It does seem to be a good idea to call USCIS after a couple weeks and/or stop by for an InfoPass, if you can, to make sure the new address actually got entered into the system properly.

 

Best of luck in your new space!

 

 

Hi AK_2014,

 

Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it. Biometrics looks like has two receipts number too. 

 

Thank nk you very much for your help. 

[joo-lye-fai-lar 5]

9 hours ago, LUAL said:

 

Thank you for posting this. I have a few questions:

 

1) did you find it easy to fill online?

2) did the USCIS officer suggested to apply online? (I am asking because being a new process I am not sure how to trust it)

3) how did you make copies of your GC if you have not received it? (or did you make copies of your expired one?)

4) I have been here (USA) since Dec 2013 but don't have 3 years worth of taxes because the first year I did not work. Will the last 2 be sufficient?

 

Thank you in advance.

1) Yes it was was an very easy process. The system did keep timing out if I spent too long trying to gather the information to answer a question, so I would have to log back in, but otherwise it was good. Oh and if you upload the wrong document, it let's you delete it. But when you go to the final page to review your whole application, you will see that they didn't actually get deleted. I couldn't figure out a way to delete the unwanted documents (I had uploaded and deleted the same document multiple times).

2) No I didn't speak to the officer about the N-400. I applied online after seeing that several people on here had applied online. Honestly I didn't realize it was a new process.

3) I uploaded my expired GC. 

4) Just 2 years should be fine I guess as long as you have a valid explanation (of course that's just my opinion). The entire tax documents section is to make sure you pay your taxes on time and you don't owe any taxes. So since you weren't even in the country, I doubt they'd expect you to show taxes for that year.

 

Also regarding 3 and 4 - from what i remember, the entire upload section of the online application is optional - if you're not comfortable uploading your personal documents online, you can just bring them with you when you go for the interview (it says so at the beginning of the document upload page - please verify this for yourself when you do your online application - that's just what I remember reading). So if you get your 10 year GC by the time the interview comes around, you can just take your 10 year GC with you for the interview. That's what I plan to do. I will also be taking a copy of everything I uploaded along with me to the interview (when the time comes).

[joo-lye-fai-lar 5]

9 hours ago, CoolGirl said:

Since I am applying N400 as 3 year GC holder should I provide 5-year experience and 5 years stay (2years outside the US before entry to the US). what is the solutions???

Yes if you're filing online, it won't let you proceed if you don't specify what you were doing at all points within the past 5 years (whether is work, school or unemployed). From what I remember, the system does allow you to enter addresses and jobs outside the US as well (in case you were employed/studying in a different country).

 

For example, if you state you had a job from 8/13/15 to 8/13/16 and you started your new job 2 days later on 8/16/16, the system won't let you move forward. It will tell you that you didn't enter anything for 8/13/16 to 8/16/16 (the 2 days between jobs). So in my case, I entered a period of unemployment for those 2 days from 8/14/16 to 8/15/16 (kind of silly).

 

Also, if you're applying today (7/20/17), the system requires you to enter what you were doing starting from 7/20/12. In my case, my job history didn't start till 9/1/12, so I just entered a period of unemployment from 7/15/12 to 9/1/12.

 

Once again - I'm just speaking from my experience. I'm not sure if everything that I did in my application is correct. Please do your due diligence/use your own judgement when you apply.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by joo-lye-fai-lar

[MadeForEachOther_ 42]

Is we have to submit 2 copies of I-751 ?

 

As i remember for I-130 for CR1 they need two copies of complete form of I-130.

[drex33 12]

So i had an info pass appointment today in Chicago. They gave me a stamp in my passport for 6 months only and if by January 2018 I don't get my GC to go back and get another stamp. I asked them if there is any update on my case NOA 7/25/16 CSC, he said no- still pending. He also gave me a list with emails of the different service locations so i can email CSC and ask them myself about my case, so weird. I hope they will start processing July 2016 soon, so frustrating this wait time....

[AK_2014 113]

3 minutes ago, drex33 said:

So i had an info pass appointment today in Chicago. They gave me a stamp in my passport for 6 months only and if by January 2018 I don't get my GC to go back and get another stamp. I asked them if there is any update on my case NOA 7/25/16 CSC, he said no- still pending. He also gave me a list with emails of the different service locations so i can email CSC and ask them myself about my case, so weird. I hope they will start processing July 2016 soon, so frustrating this wait time....

Thanks for the update. Dang -- that's unfortunate about the 6 months only. My wife will need a stamp in Chicago as of early October, to be able to renew her driver's license, which is currently only valid for one year because it expires when the extension letter does. If she has to pay the full four-year license fee again ($30) now for only 6 months of a new license, and then again $30 for another 6 months if it's still pending next spring, which is entirely possible (late August I-751 filing)... aargh! They say Illinois is basically bankrupt, but we'll be the ones singlehandedly keeping the dmv afloat! 

[drex33 12]

12 minutes ago, AK_2014 said:

Thanks for the update. Dang -- that's unfortunate about the 6 months only. My wife will need a stamp in Chicago as of early October, to be able to renew her driver's license, which is currently only valid for one year because it expires when the extension letter does. If she has to pay the full four-year license fee again ($30) now for only 6 months of a new license, and then again $30 for another 6 months if it's still pending next spring, which is entirely possible (late August I-751 filing)... aargh! They say Illinois is basically bankrupt, but we'll be the ones singlehandedly keeping the dmv afloat! 

I heard they will give you 1 year stamp but I got only 6 months, not sure why, maybe because my extension letter expires in 5 days and i am very close to the date and they are expecting approvals soon, who knows. 

[Y&i2015 2]

57 minutes ago, drex33 said:

I heard they will give you 1 year stamp but I got only 6 months, not sure why, maybe because my extension letter expires in 5 days and i am very close to the date and they are expecting approvals soon, who knows. 

Yeah that's really odd that they gave you a 6 month extension... Maybe it's a illinois only restriction ? Who knows at this point. Ugh 

[silvershadow369 18]

20 hours ago, nightingalejules said:

Well, some states, like Oregon, do give a full term (in OR, 8 year) even to a conditional gc holder.

Illinois too. I got my state ID (~5 years validity) and drivers license (~5 years validity) even before I received my conditional green card.

[silvershadow369 18]

20 hours ago, 4444510 said:

I ensure you your height is the last thing they care about. No one is going to compare. Answering your question, in your particular case I would put the height indicated on your DL. They like when information matches.

Lol... RFE! Send additional evidence to prove your height 

[MadeForEachOther_ 42]

1 minute ago, silvershadow369 said:

Lol... RFE! Send additional evidence to prove your height 

[AK_2014 113]

37 minutes ago, silvershadow369 said:

Illinois too. I got my state ID (~5 years validity) and drivers license (~5 years validity) even before I received my conditional green card.

I wonder if Illinois has changed rules lately; they definitely tied my wife's DL (issued a year ago) to the expiration date of the GC, which in her case was the extension letter.

[MadeForEachOther_ 42]

Is CR1 expiry date separate from Green card expiry date ?

 

In I-751 from Page 1 Item 14 :

Conditional Residency expire on (mm/dd/yyyy) :

 

Which date we have to fill :

 

The expiry date written in passport or expiry date written in Green Card ?