I-751 August 2016 Filers

[Zombie69 363]

55 minutes ago, AustinCanada said:

It sounds like I keep hearing different opinions regarding if it's a good idea to apply for US citizenship while waiting for a 10-year Green Card.  

 

I'm planning to apply for US citizenship at the end of next month unless I hear a strong reason why I shouldn't apply for it.  

You always hear different stories, but the fact of the matter is coming from the USCIS policy manual. It clearly says you are allowed to apply for 400 while 751 is pending and they are supposed to either approve both concurrently or pull out your 751 before they approve 400 if it takes forever to approve 751. Do not be misled by one officer. I have submitted everything to my lawyer and she will file our 400 in 3 weeks.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Zombie69

[Zombie69 363]

4 hours ago, Y&i2015 said:

Just had an infopass appointment, though my 3rd green card birthday is not until October. Scheduling was super easy, i live in Milwaukee so it's not really crowdy. 

He gave me my green card back and stamp my passport for a year valid for travel and work authorization. 

He was actually surprised that I haven't got any answers back then he checked his computer and told me that apparently they are stacked with applications: but my application was assigned to an officer, background check done so I just had to wait for them to get back to me for a RFE or interview . Didn't give me a timeline though. 

Ugh I can't believe I had to stamp my passport. I thought by now, i would have been done. Oh well... 

Ps: he told me not to apply for N-400 until I'm approved, it won't change or trigger anything. 

 

NOA receipt date : 07/22/2017

CSC

Umm, that is not true, this is directly from USCIS' policy manual for adjudication. I am applying for 400 in 3 weeks and my 751 is pending. My lawyer confirmed with me and said it is fine to apply for 400 while 751 is pending after I show her this straight from USCIS.

2. Spouses with Pending Petitions and Naturalization Applications

 

An application for naturalization may not be approved if there is a pending petition for removal of conditions. If an applicant’s petition to remove conditions is pending at the time of filing or is filed prior to the interview, USCIS will adjudicate the petition to remove conditions prior to or concurrently with the adjudication of the naturalization application. [6] 

 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartG-Chapter5.html

[Zombie69 363]

1 hour ago, AustinCanada said:

It sounds like I keep hearing different opinions regarding if it's a good idea to apply for US citizenship while waiting for a 10-year Green Card.  

 

I'm planning to apply for US citizenship at the end of next month unless I hear a strong reason why I shouldn't apply for it.  

Just to remind you again. USCIS policy manual and guidelines for adjudication. 

2. Spouses with Pending Petitions and Naturalization Applications

 

An application for naturalization may not be approved if there is a pending petition for removal of conditions. If an applicant’s petition to remove conditions is pending at the time of filing or is filed prior to the interview, USCIS will adjudicate the petition to remove conditions prior to or concurrently with the adjudication of the naturalization application. [6] 

 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartG-Chapter5.html

[4444510 33]

1 hour ago, AustinCanada said:

It sounds like I keep hearing different opinions regarding if it's a good idea to apply for US citizenship while waiting for a 10-year Green Card.  

 

I'm planning to apply for US citizenship at the end of next month unless I hear a strong reason why I shouldn't apply for it.  

 If you don't file N-400 your I-751 interview has good chances of getting waived. If you file N-400 they can combine I-751 and N-400 and invite your spouse to N-400 interview as well. If it makes no difference to you then I don't know any other reason not to file N-400.

[Zombie69 363]

15 minutes ago, 4444510 said:

 If you don't file N-400 your I-751 interview has good chances of getting waived. If you file N-400 they can combine I-751 and N-400 and invite your spouse to N-400 interview as well. If it makes no difference to you then I don't know any other reason not to file N-400.

2. Spouses with Pending Petitions and Naturalization Applications

 

An application for naturalization may not be approved if there is a pending petition for removal of conditions. If an applicant’s petition to remove conditions is pending at the time of filing or is filed prior to the interview, USCIS will adjudicate the petition to remove conditions prior to or concurrently with the adjudication of the naturalization application. [6] 

 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartG-Chapter5.html

[nightingalejules 678]

6 hours ago, JEWELLA said:

does anyone I751 get touched? or is touch irrelevant to I751's

My last update was September 7,2016.but there's no updates after I did biometrics on October 6.2016.

They don't seem to update our information in the computer until our card is being produced/sent. The occasional person has reported a change in status to "approved" but usually no updates until at least then. I wish they were better at keeping us up to date. I wish a lot of things, like actual action on our files, but an update or two wouldn't kill them!

[JEWELLA 10]

5 minutes ago, nightingalejules said:

They don't seem to update our information in the computer until our card is being produced/sent. The occasional person has reported a change in status to "approved" but usually no updates until at least then. I wish they were better at keeping us up to date. I wish a lot of things, like actual action on our files, but an update or two wouldn't kill them!

I wish for the same,I hate not knowing what is going on.but it is what it is

[AustinCanada 681]

2 hours ago, 4444510 said:

 If you don't file N-400 your I-751 interview has good chances of getting waived. If you file N-400 they can combine I-751 and N-400 and invite your spouse to N-400 interview as well. If it makes no difference to you then I don't know any other reason not to file N-400.

Ah, that makes sense.   If I submit a Citizenship application (N-400), USCIS will combine it with my 10-year Green Card application (I-751).  

 

My citizenship interviewer must interview me for my Citizenship application, and they will have to interview me for my 10-year Green Card application too.   Both my spouse and I should be interviewed for the I-751 application.  

 

It may delay my I-751 application since they will combine with my N-400 application.    

 

Pros and cons of applying for I-751 and N-400 at the same time!  

[4444510 33]

I've just called USCIS and asked: "Sir, can you tell me why now it takes more than a year to process I-751 while just half a year ago it took only 5-6 months?". And he said this is because they received 3 times as more applications during pre-election period since people tried to do it before a new president gets elected. However, it makes no sense to me for 2 reasons: 1. Everyone was sure that Clinton would win so they were not supposed to worry about Trump. 2. How is it possible for application filing to fluctuate if you must file exactly during a period of 3 months preceding the expiration date on your GC. If you have to file from June 1st to August 31st, then you file from June 1st to August 31st and you have no choice. I can say exactly that delays started from applications filed in April 2016. It means, if to believe his words, people who could file from April 1st to July 1st of 2016, suddenly realized that Trump may win and kick out everyone. So June, May and April filers all filed in April and then  July, June and May filers all filed in May and so on and so forth. But at the same time May filers who filed in April gave free space to June filers who filed in June. And June filers who filed in May gave free space to July filers who filed in June. So the processing times cannot increase from 5 to 14 months just because of that. They're lying!  Also I asked: "Sir, so do you mean that this is not because they now look into each case very closely and call everyone for interview?." And he said no.  Does it sound reasonable to you?

[AustinCanada 681]

2 hours ago, 4444510 said:

 If you don't file N-400 your I-751 interview has good chances of getting waived. If you file N-400 they can combine I-751 and N-400 and invite your spouse to N-400 interview as well. If it makes no difference to you then I don't know any other reason not to file N-400.

It seems like it may be in my best interest to see if July CSC filers start getting approved by Aug 22 (the date I can apply for Citizenship).    

 

If I see little movement, I might as well apply for Citizenship.   Wait... What if I get an RFE for my I-751 and they can't close my I-751 case at my Citizenship interview?     Things can be unpredictable!  

 

If I decide to wait until getting my 10-year Green Card, the Seattle office processes Citizenship applications in 8 months (https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do) so I can afford to wait until the end of the year in order to be able to vote for the next federal election in Nov, 2018.    That's assuming that the timeline stays the same (or gets shorter), of course!  

[AustinCanada 681]

30 minutes ago, 4444510 said:

I've just called USCIS and asked: "Sir, can you tell me why now it takes more than a year to process I-751 while just half a year ago it took only 5-6 months?". And he said this is because they received 3 times as more applications during pre-election period since people tried to do it before a new president gets elected. However, it makes no sense to me for 2 reasons: 1. Everyone was sure that Clinton would win so they were not supposed to worry about Trump. 2. How is it possible for application filing to fluctuate if you must file exactly during a period of 3 months preceding the expiration date on your GC. If you have to file from June 1st to August 31st, then you file from June 1st to August 31st and you have no choice. I can say exactly that delays started from applications filed in April 2016. It means, if to believe his words, people who could file from April 1st to July 1st of 2016, suddenly realized that Trump may win and kick out everyone. So June, May and April filers all filed in April and then  July, June and May filers all filed in May and so on and so forth. But at the same time May filers who filed in April gave free space to June filers who filed in June. And June filers who filed in May gave free space to July filers who filed in June. So the processing times cannot increase from 5 to 14 months just because of that. They're lying!  Also I asked: "Sir, so do you mean that this is not because they now look into each case very closely and call everyone for interview?." And he said no.  Does it sound reasonable to you?

I think USCIS call center reps are instructed to tell us that it's taking longer due to a lot more applications.  

 

They think it sounds "reasonable" and there is no way for us to know it's not true!  

 

I used to call USCIS for my I-130 application.  They always told me they had lots of applications to process.  We found out it was because they weren't processing any I-130 applications for 6-7 months since they were processing other applications instead.  

[OfficialNP 0]

I got my passport stamped yesterday. The USCIS officer told me that I-751 is backup for about a year. 

[Zombie69 363]

3 hours ago, AustinCanada said:

It seems like it may be in my best interest to see if July CSC filers start getting approved by Aug 22 (the date I can apply for Citizenship).    

 

If I see little movement, I might as well apply for Citizenship.   Wait... What if I get an RFE for my I-751 and they can't close my I-751 case at my Citizenship interview?     Things can be unpredictable!  

 

If I decide to wait until getting my 10-year Green Card, the Seattle office processes Citizenship applications in 8 months (https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do) so I can afford to wait until the end of the year in order to be able to vote for the next federal election in Nov, 2018.    That's assuming that the timeline stays the same (or gets shorter), of course!  

The thing is we don't know for sure whether they will really just combine the two. They are two different processes, aren't they? The chances of 751 being approved prior to the 400 interview are bigger than being combined I believe because we have been waiting for almost a year. I am just not sure if you file 400 and 751 is pending, they will really just combine them? The 400 application will cause USCIS to delay 751 further so they will combine the two until the 400 interview??

Edited July 20, 2017 by Zombie69

[Zombie69 363]

3 hours ago, AustinCanada said:

Ah, that makes sense.   If I submit a Citizenship application (N-400), USCIS will combine it with my 10-year Green Card application (I-751).  

 

My citizenship interviewer must interview me for my Citizenship application, and they will have to interview me for my 10-year Green Card application too.   Both my spouse and I should be interviewed for the I-751 application.  

 

It may delay my I-751 application since they will combine with my N-400 application.    

 

Pros and cons of applying for I-751 and N-400 at the same time!  

You are assuming your 751 won't be approved anytime soon because of the filing of 400? I think we still can be 751 approved after we file 400.

[Sam_Son_83 17]

I know this is a bit of a dumb question, to which I probably know the answer ("it will be longer than that" - I'm a CSC filer), but I'm a little nervous about something.

One of my best friends back in Europe is going to get married, and obviously I would like to attend. I would be gone the first week of August (and I have already scheduled an info pass appointment for my extension stamp next week), but now I've had a thought nagging me:

What if I get my ROC denied while I'm outside of the US? That would really make it complicated (read: impossible) to do the whole immigration court deal, as I would simply not be let back into the country and lose my status.

I know that it is highly unlikely that my case will be adjudicated by then, but as it often is the case, once you start with a line of thought…

 

Should I worry about this happening?