I-751 August 2016 Filers

[hellfyre 9]

31 minutes ago, Zombie69 said:

That makes sense, I guess I should be ready for the possibility that I may not hear from USCIS soon about my 751 and just look at the bigger picture because like you, my ultimate goal is 400 as well. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully it is true that 400 is moving faster as a result of dual applications! As a matter of fact, one of the immigration officers i talked to on the phone a few months ago said the same thing too, he said my 751 was delayed because USCIS is processing my 400. However, the thing is I still take what he said with a grain of salt, but i wonder an info pass appointment officer is more accurate than a tier 2 immigration officer on the phone?

True, always take it with a grain of salt.    The officer told me my case files were requested by NBC to process N-400 and then the case files were transferred to the NOR office awaiting N-400 interview.  i751 being on hold doesn't really mean much given that July is still being processed at CSC and August end which is where I am is probably months away.     The infopass officer also told me that they were not able to answer any acute case questions because the officer was not familiar with the procedures for adjudicating these types of pending cases.  I would have to call an speak with an officer who is more familiar and I suppose that is an L2 officer.    The officer did their best to interpret whatever the computer screen showed.  My three pending cases are i751 which adjusts status, CRI-89 which produces the physical card and N-400. 

 

I asked the officer about infopass generally and the officer told me that infopass is mainly meant for emergency needs such as travel for family emergency type situation where the person does not have a visa for re-entry or a similar issue like that.  It isn't meant to answer any detailed case questions like we have.  Hence her responses about my case were so-so and she told me so.    Excellent officer and kind person so I am satisfied with infopass and its intended purpose.  

 

I think Q1-2018 is where things may move for me, so until then, I shall stay put.  

Edited October 9, 2017 by hellfyre
more information added

[guvnor 1]

wonder if reaching out to senator will help with the adjudication of the case? 

[hellfyre 9]

1 hour ago, guvnor said:

wonder if reaching out to senator will help with the adjudication of the case? 

No. You should relax and wait.  The privilege to live here is worth it and the experience is not supposed to be like shopping for an engagement ring.   Everyone's case will be addressed.  There are some who have legitimate reasons for wanting the process to move faster such as age or medical, and their numbers are insignificantly small compared to the rest who are just anxious.  

I have been living here for 18 years and am close to the end of the road.   This recent delay is inconvenient but that is all it is, inconvenient.  It is not feasible to have real-time access to the minutia of the immigration process for every individual case like an amazon order with ups shipping.  There are many here who believe they must have real-time access to all the inside information but they need to adjust their expectations.

Cases are being resolved slower than normal but they are being resolved.  Your patience will be rewarded.

 

[Zombie69 363]

1 hour ago, hellfyre said:

True, always take it with a grain of salt.    The officer told me my case files were requested by NBC to process N-400 and then the case files were transferred to the NOR office awaiting N-400 interview.  i751 being on hold doesn't really mean much given that July is still being processed at CSC and August end which is where I am is probably months away.     The infopass officer also told me that they were not able to answer any acute case questions because the officer was not familiar with the procedures for adjudicating these types of pending cases.  I would have to call an speak with an officer who is more familiar and I suppose that is an L2 officer.    The officer did their best to interpret whatever the computer screen showed.  My three pending cases are i751 which adjusts status, CRI-89 which produces the physical card and N-400. 

 

I asked the officer about infopass generally and the officer told me that infopass is mainly meant for emergency needs such as travel for family emergency type situation where the person does not have a visa for re-entry or a similar issue like that.  It isn't meant to answer any detailed case questions like we have.  Hence her responses about my case were so-so and she told me so.    Excellent officer and kind person so I am satisfied with infopass and its intended purpose.  

 

I think Q1-2018 is where things may move for me, so until then, I shall stay put.  

I have talked to 2 or 3 tier 2 immigration officers on the phone, and none of them that they told me was true. One told me my case was just pending and nothing I could do about it(That was probably the most accurate one,lol) One told me i would be adjudicated by mid Sept, one told me late Sept(Yeah right, i thought it was just too good to be true). The conclusion is really that you can't really trust what they say because if you do, you most likely will be bound to disappointment. The lesson learned is we can speculate, we can guess ,we can assume, and the sad part is whatever we discuss on this forum is all pure speculation. Action speaks louder than words, we can only assume a "trend" based on a sample of VJ account users here, and it is still pure speculation that may or may not be true. In our situation, I still believe we did the right thing since we have no idea how long the delay is going to last or how much worse it will get. It seems like CSC is stopping again processing the early July filers according to the activities on VJ. So since the wait for 751 seems to appear to be indefinite again(At least that is how I feel). it is just the right thing to apply for 400 while you are eligible if your ultimate goal is 400. It is for the long run, after all, being a conditional resident is no different than being a 10 year permanent resident except its "CONDITIONAL" status, so it is right just to stay put and forget about 751 for now. Your attitude is practical and the right approach in my opinion. We shall see how it plays out, I got my 551 stamp anyway, and it is good till next mid July anyway.

1 hour ago, guvnor said:

wonder if reaching out to senator will help with the adjudication of the case? 

As far as I know it won't hurt, and it won't help that much either, but I don't see any reasons why not. USCIS has their way of doing business, I am not sure a senator/congressman can change the way they adjudicate. If you get a help from a senator/congressman, the best you can get is they might get back to you more quickly, and unfortunately, they probably will get back to you with a generic response like "Your case is your inside the normal processing times, we apologize... bla ba bla" The best thing to do is to wait at least 1.5 years and start trying the senator and send service requests to them if you don't hear anything from them I guess, even that is not guaranteed unfortunately, just have to stay put and wait it out.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Zombie69

[Zombie69 363]

11 minutes ago, hellfyre said:

No. You should relax and wait.  The privilege to live here is worth it and the experience is not supposed to be like shopping for an engagement ring.   Everyone's case will be addressed.  There are some who have legitimate reasons for wanting the process to move faster such as age or medical, and their numbers are insignificantly small compared to the rest who are just anxious.  

I have been living here for 18 years and am close to the end of the road.   This recent delay is inconvenient but that is all it is, inconvenient.  It is not feasible to have real-time access to the minutia of the immigration process for every individual case like an amazon order with ups shipping.  There are many here who believe they must have real-time access to all the inside information but they need to adjust their expectations.

Cases are being resolved slower than normal but they are being resolved.  Your patience will be rewarded.

 

Totally agreed.  I think it is also healthier to step back, relax, and try to be patient because basically we have no control over our applications. USCIS calls the shot, not us. I have been with my spouse for 20 years, another year or even 2 should not make a difference, but the thing is I want my spouse who is approaching 90 years old(we are a same sex couple) to be there at my oath ceremony, it is deeply personal and it means a lot to both of us, but I am fully aware there is not much I can do and in my circumstances except being patient, I know i did the right thing by applying for 400 two months ago even though 751 has been pending for 14 months. Knock on wood, my spouse's health is stable, so I pray I can get naturalized soon before it is too late. We just have to stay patient and hang in there, like you said, and I agree, my patience will be rewarded. 

[sddude89 31]

9 hours ago, guvnor said:

wonder if reaching out to senator will help with the adjudication of the case? 

Not at all.

First, the senator (or people that work for him) will gather the facts.

Then the senator will learn the facts:

• USCIS receives close to 9,000 I-751 applications per month.
• California Service Center is currently processing I-751 applications from July 2016
• The reason they are behind is because they are loaded with work reviewing all sorts of applications (not only I-751)
• Your application at California Service Center is in a pile with 9000 other applications of August 2016.

What can Senator do? Ask USCIS to give you preferential treatment over the other 9000 or more applications? That would be unfair. He won't do that. Ask USCIS to hire more workers? Can't. They have a budget.

 

On the other hand, Senators should be concerned and occupying their time with other VERY important issues for the country, such as health care and taxes reforms (or not), NOT an anxious I-751 filer.

 

In consideration of the issues above, I would not call the senator for this.

[GreatDane 366]

On 10/8/2017 at 3:04 PM, Romerican423 said:

Thank you.

 

In the event we need to stay and her 10 year green card is issued in January or February which would be well under one year we would have been abroad will it cause any problems other than being gone for 8 months and explaining to cbp?

Technically, leaving the country for more than six months of the year can be considered abandonment. I wouldn't risk it, especially when you're so far along in the process. If you get denied entry, she will have to wait outside the US for the time to process a CR1 and you would start the entire process over. 

[Romerican423 1]

8 hours ago, GreatDane said:

Technically, leaving the country for more than six months of the year can be considered abandonment. I wouldn't risk it, especially when you're so far along in the process. If you get denied entry, she will have to wait outside the US for the time to process a CR1 and you would start the entire process over. 

Thank you all for the advice. We bought our plane tickets to go home last night so we don't run into any issues. She'll be able to file for naturalization in  just a few months so not even worth it to risk any problems. 

[AustinCanada 681]

On 10/9/2017 at 7:14 AM, Zombie69 said:

That makes sense, I guess I should be ready for the possibility that I may not hear from USCIS soon about my 751 and just look at the bigger picture because like you, my ultimate goal is 400 as well. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully it is true that 400 is moving faster as a result of dual applications! As a matter of fact, one of the immigration officers i talked to on the phone a few months ago said the same thing too, he said my 751 was delayed because USCIS is processing my 400. However, the thing is I still take what he said with a grain of salt, but i wonder an info pass appointment officer is more accurate than a tier 2 immigration officer on the phone?

I wonder if you make an infopass appointment on your I-751 (once it's passed the average processing timeline), that will make your N-400 application get processed faster if they've already combined your applications.  

[Zombie69 363]

1 minute ago, AustinCanada said:

I wonder if you make an infopass appointment on your I-751 (once it's passed the average processing timeline), that will make your N-400 application get processed faster if they've already combined your applications.  

It is possible, but your guess is as good as mine. Who knows at this point?? Looks like CSC is stalled again?!? The more it delays, the more I think we did the right thing by applying for 400 while we could.

[AustinCanada 681]

8 minutes ago, Zombie69 said:

It is possible, but your guess is as good as mine. Who knows at this point?? Looks like CSC is stalled again?!? The more it delays, the more I think we did the right thing by applying for 400 while we could.

Well, CSC may not be in operation this week since they're fairly close to wildfires in the LA area!  

[Zombie69 363]

3 minutes ago, AustinCanada said:

Well, CSC may not be in operation this week since they're fairly close to wildfires in the LA area!  

The wild fire is around the wine country though as far as I know, but looks like CSC is stuck again processing early July filers. Here we go again...

Edited October 10, 2017 by Zombie69

[lesly87 27]

4 minutes ago, AustinCanada said:

Well, CSC may not be in operation this week since they're fairly close to wildfires in the LA area!  

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Here is the list with all USCIS office closings. It looks like it was last updated today. 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/uscis-office-closings

 

[indiandude1111 27]

17 hours ago, sddude89 said:

Not at all.

First, the senator (or people that work for him) will gather the facts.

Then the senator will learn the facts:

• USCIS receives close to 9,000 I-751 applications per month.
• California Service Center is currently processing I-751 applications from July 2016
• The reason they are behind is because they are loaded with work reviewing all sorts of applications (not only I-751)
• Your application at California Service Center is in a pile with 9000 other applications of August 2016.

What can Senator do? Ask USCIS to give you preferential treatment over the other 9000 or more applications? That would be unfair. He won't do that. Ask USCIS to hire more workers? Can't. They have a budget.

 

On the other hand, Senators should be concerned and occupying their time with other VERY important issues for the country, such as health care and taxes reforms (or not), NOT an anxious I-751 filer.

 

In consideration of the issues above, I would not call the senator for this.

You nailed it...

 

Being very realistic,  we should be approved by Feb- March 2018. 

[Zombie69 363]

5 minutes ago, indiandude1111 said:

You nailed it...

 

Being very realistic,  we should be approved by Feb- March 2018. 

That is about right, I am afraid. If that is the case, my 400 will have been pending for 6 months which is kind of wild. We may be close to my ultimate goal. I may not even get my 10 year green card and might just jump right to the 400 interview where they lawfully have to approve 751 and just send me to the oath ceremony. We will see.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Zombie69