i-751 April 2016 Filers - Part 2 (merged)

[tomca 1]

Just now, Mtro said:

I am strongly  thinking they put us in different process no matter how strong your evidences. Maybe they just transfer our files to local offices and let them deal with it which it probably takes much longer time and most likely interview. That's my guess but i hope i m wrong.

Yeah, maybe. We were convinced that we have a pretty strong case, but who knows. I guess there's no other way to know but to wait....

[moments12 8]

4 hours ago, vkhutchings said:

Congratulations to everyone getting their approval letters!! We got ours today - total surprise, thought we'd be waiting a lot longer. Our decision date was 04/25/17 and our original receipt date was 05/03/16 (Vermont).

 

So I see in the letter it says not to leave the country before you receive the card (which can take 60 days).... well we have travel planned for the end of May. I guess we should get a passport stamp? 

I'm also traveling end May... not sure what to do either. I did chat with a tier 2 officer today, and he said it was up to me. I think if we were to go, it's completely up to the officers to chop your passport. Ugh!!!

[moments12 8]

Just to update everyone! I just received my approval letter today too! Date of decision was April 21.

 

I did call same day last week to put in a service request. Not sure if it affected the process though...

[Sukie 1,460]

55 minutes ago, Mtro said:

I am strongly  thinking they put us in different process no matter how strong your evidences. Maybe they just transfer our files to local offices and let them deal with it which it probably takes much longer time and most likely interview. That's my guess but i hope i m wrong.

Our file (we are CR1) was NOT transferred to a local office.  We were adjudicated at the VSC.  We did have a VERY complete and organized file.  It was logically prepared, with lots of financial and social connections.

 

I think that each officer checks out a stack of files, and moves through them as they can.  Some officers are quicker than others, and some files are easier than others.

 

Mtro, are you a CR-1 or a K-1 process?

 

Sukie in NY

[lucybelle 453]

I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to what those people do or how they get it done. I feel they approve people like that joke about teachers grading papers- take a huge stack, throw them down the stairs, and the papers that get the farthest get done first.

[Mtro 0]

It is a simple statistic, I checked every i751 approved person's profile and timeline in here (some of them private though) and I didn't see anyone who were here first with visas like J1,F1, H1, Tourist or any other temporary visitors that got married with Us citizen and then start his/her immigration process.

[Private One 44]

15 minutes ago, Mtro said:

It is a simple statistic, I checked every i751 approved person's profile and timeline in here (some of them private though) and I didn't see anyone who were here first with visas like J1,F1, H1, Tourist or any other temporary visitors that got married with Us citizen and then start his/her immigration process.

Timeline doesn't tell the full story for many. Take me for example. I don't have a formal timeline but some of my past info is in my signature. I came here as a B-2 visitor and then changed to F1 Student. Got married for the first time about 4 years later. Filed for AOS with the first marriage but things fell apart before the first interview. Got married for the second time in 2012. None of this info is listed in my "timeline". Maybe I'll include it at some point when I have the time to find exact dates.

 

I guess you can use this rule of thumb - Anyone filing for AOS most likely came here on some temporary status not related to getting married.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Private One
Added more info

[St.James-One 14]

55 minutes ago, Mtro said:

It is a simple statistic, I checked every i751 approved person's profile and timeline in here (some of them private though) and I didn't see anyone who were here first with visas like J1,F1, H1, Tourist or any other temporary visitors that got married with Us citizen and then start his/her immigration process.

 

45 minutes ago, Private One said:

Timeline doesn't tell the full story for many. Take me for example. I don't have a formal timeline but some of my past info is in my signature. I came here as a B-2 visitor and then changed to F1 Student. Got married for the first time about 4 years later. Filed for AOS with the first marriage but things fell apart before the first interview. Got married for the second time in 2012. None of this info is listed in my "timeline". Maybe I'll include it at some point when I have the time to find exact dates.

I was here on F1 visa too then filed AOS after getting married. I got approved for I-751 under one year. I'm still not sure about (but I won't discard) your theory @Mtro

[Mtro 0]

I am glad to be wrong! 

Waiting with no update and seeing people who filed in late March 2016 getting approvals already is frustrating. Also walking to mailbox and ending up with junk mails everyday is really painful.

 

[MyHeartWillGoOn93 8]

19 hours ago, Sukie said:

Oh, fabulous!  Our status just changed to "Card was mailed"!!!  Looks like it's taking 2 days from "Card is in Production" to "Card is Mailed" for most of us.

 

We should get the card in the middle of next week.  What a relief!

 

Pulling for you, Lucybelle!

 

Sukie in NY

hehe I checked again yesterday and my status changed to "Card was mailed" woohoo!!! It looks like I will receive my GC before May 6th, the expiration date. I never knew that was possible with the way VSC was going haha!

[vkhutchings 15]

21 hours ago, moments12 said:

I'm also traveling end May... not sure what to do either. I did chat with a tier 2 officer today, and he said it was up to me. I think if we were to go, it's completely up to the officers to chop your passport. Ugh!!!

Hmmm, well I'm thinking I'll get the stamp to be on the safe side. Better to be careful, right?!

[nyc-and-india 0]

On 4/28/2017 at 5:27 PM, Sukie said:

Oh, fabulous!  Our status just changed to "Card was mailed"!!!  Looks like it's taking 2 days from "Card is in Production" to "Card is Mailed" for most of us.

 

We should get the card in the middle of next week.  What a relief!

 

Pulling for you, Lucybelle!

 

Sukie in NY

Our files must have been sitting on the same desk up in Vermont... Our status changed on the same dates as yours, with same approval date, I believe, too. Never got a text or email about anything in the past year.

 

Hoping to see the new card in the mailbox on Monday! Fingers crossed.

 

AOS from H-1B, if anyone's curious...

Edited April 30, 2017 by nyc-and-india

[Sukie 1,460]

5 hours ago, nyc-and-india said:

Our files must have been sitting on the same desk up in Vermont... Our status changed on the same dates as yours, with same approval date, I believe, too. Never got a text or email about anything in the past year.

 

Hoping to see the new card in the mailbox on Monday! Fingers crossed.

 

AOS from H-1B, if anyone's curious...

I was thinking a similar thought yesterday - in wondering if individual officers hit a button on their computer that generates the texts/emails.  Some officers do and some don't.  If we had the same officer, this might be true!

 

Sukie in NY

[lucybelle 453]

Just FYI- (still no letter)

 

My esposo came back into the USA yesterday on the day his letter expired. Evidently the immigration officer said "this expires today". My esposo calmly said "no, read the letter it gives me a one year extension on my GC and that expires on July." Officer looked at letter again and was like "okay!"

 

So evidently there's enough grey area that you can just talk your way through it!

[Sukie 1,460]

9 minutes ago, lucybelle said:

Just FYI- (still no letter)

 

My esposo came back into the USA yesterday on the day his letter expired. Evidently the immigration officer said "this expires today". My esposo calmly said "no, read the letter it gives me a one year extension on my GC and that expires on July." Officer looked at letter again and was like "okay!"

 

So evidently there's enough grey area that you can just talk your way through it!

Good to hear that our immigration officers can be educated as to the correct rules.  I still maintain that knowing the right answer and gently explaining to an officer is a "good thing".

 

If they were to look his dates up on their system, they would see that his eligibility is for July!  That's what happened to Julie - they took her to secondary where the officer looked up her actual dates.  Unfortunately, she gets really nervous in front of authority figures, and that doesn't help her case.

 

So happy for you and your esposo, Lucybelle.  Now let's get your letter!

 

Sukie in NY