February 2017 AOS Filers

[NYBEtt 88]

We also received approval that new card is being produced as of 8.12.17 without an interview - 183 days from notice date! Notification came yesterday though- in fact even checked on status on 8.12.17 and had no update.

 

We even called to speak to a tier 2 representative just last week who said he had no information to provide on our case! Moral of the story: you just never know when it's going to happen so just have to keep playing the waiting game.  

 

Best of luck to everyone else!

[TL2016 208]

That's great news! Congrats to the two of you. I hope so be receiving similar news soon, I'm currently at day 169 without an update.

[klm9971 5]

4 hours ago, britontherun said:

 

I am a March filer in Tampa with my wife... that's good to hear and good luck.

Curious if you ever got a notice that your case was ready to be scheduled or did you just get an interview notice in the mail?

 

 

The website status never changed. We got the notice directly.

[britontherun 35]

3 hours ago, klm9971 said:

The website status never changed. We got the notice directly.

 

 

Good luck, I got my citizenship in Tampa and everyone was very polite...

[LillyDH 1]

Hello everyone

 

My I-485 priority date was February 13, 2017. I had my interview yesterday August 15, 2017. So it took 6 months to wait for an interview. The office I filed with was Portland, Oregon. No decision was made on spot. The officer said she needed to review our documents again. My husband and I were disappointed because we hoped we could had an approval on spot. However, an hour later my husband received a text message saying there was an update on my case status. The updated status was "New card is being produced". It didn't mention if that card was the green card though. Now I'm waiting for more updates. My husband and I can only feel relieved after we actually see the word "approved" on our case

[TL2016 208]

3 hours ago, LillyDH said:

Hello everyone

 

My I-485 priority date was February 13, 2017. I had my interview yesterday August 15, 2017. So it took 6 months to wait for an interview. The office I filed with was Portland, Oregon. No decision was made on spot. The officer said she needed to review our documents again. My husband and I were disappointed because we hoped we could had an approval on spot. However, an hour later my husband received a text message saying there was an update on my case status. The updated status was "New card is being produced". It didn't mention if that card was the green card though. Now I'm waiting for more updates. My husband and I can only feel relieved after we actually see the word "approved" on our case

If that's the I-485 case that was updated to card is being produced, then you've officially been approved. The IO might've said they can't approve you on the spot because they needed their supervisors approval, which is very common. Don't worry about the approved update because it will probably never come, the next one will be "card was mailed to me" and that's the end of your AOS process. 

 

Congratulations! 

[MyMistaLovaLova 24]

Good Morning All!!! I love hearing so much good news on here.

 

My husbands case has yet to change on the portal, still says "February 17th."  So I decided to call a Tier 2 Officer last night, which let me tell ya'll it took me 3 tries!  A tier 2 officer finally called me back and was able to speak to me about the case, he told me that my case was transferred over from Missouri to the Oakland office 3 weeks ago.  He also told me that the case is just waiting for the local office to schedule an interview.  So I guess, it is time to play the waiting game with the local office, they are so backed up! Right  now, the local office are working on august 2016 filings. So, this SUCKS!  

[allyrose 31]

Hi everyone. Spoke to USIS about the green card- bad news is Orlando is still processing cases from October 31st  So we are applying for AP for December. I'm just struggling with the language. My husband came in on K1 and we are married now, obviously. He has his EAD and we are waiting for his green card. But the lingo in the AP instructions is confusing.

 

"Upon returning to the United States, most individuals must present a valid H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa and must continue to be otherwise admissible. If you do not have a valid or unexpired H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa, then you generally need to obtain an H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Department of State (DOS) visa issuing post. Individuals will need a valid nonimmigrant visa, advance parole, or other travel document to present for reentry." 

 

So his K1 expired 3 months after he arrived, which is the standard procedure. Is this saying that advance parole will take the place of that? 

 

Also this: 

 

"Your application for adjustment of status generally will not be deemed abandoned, even if you do not apply for an Advance Parole Document before traveling abroad while an adjustment application is pending, if you currently are in one of the following nonimmigrant classifications, and remain eligible for and would be admissible in one of the following categories upon applying for admission at a port-of-entry: a. An H-1 temporary worker, or H-4 spouse or child of an H-1; b. An L-1 intracompany transferee, or L-2 spouse or child of an L-1; c. A K-3 spouse, or K-4 child of a U.S. citizen; or d. A V-1 spouse, or V-2/V-3 child of a lawful permanent resident"

 

But a K1 isn't listed on there? Someone please help, we are so sick of paper work. Thanks! 

[NorthByNorthwest 352]

45 minutes ago, allyrose said:

Hi everyone. Spoke to USIS about the green card- bad news is Orlando is still processing cases from October 31st  So we are applying for AP for December. I'm just struggling with the language. My husband came in on K1 and we are married now, obviously. He has his EAD and we are waiting for his green card. But the lingo in the AP instructions is confusing.

 

"Upon returning to the United States, most individuals must present a valid H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa and must continue to be otherwise admissible. If you do not have a valid or unexpired H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa, then you generally need to obtain an H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Department of State (DOS) visa issuing post. Individuals will need a valid nonimmigrant visa, advance parole, or other travel document to present for reentry." 

 

So his K1 expired 3 months after he arrived, which is the standard procedure. Is this saying that advance parole will take the place of that? 

 

Also this: 

 

"Your application for adjustment of status generally will not be deemed abandoned, even if you do not apply for an Advance Parole Document before traveling abroad while an adjustment application is pending, if you currently are in one of the following nonimmigrant classifications, and remain eligible for and would be admissible in one of the following categories upon applying for admission at a port-of-entry: a. An H-1 temporary worker, or H-4 spouse or child of an H-1; b. An L-1 intracompany transferee, or L-2 spouse or child of an L-1; c. A K-3 spouse, or K-4 child of a U.S. citizen; or d. A V-1 spouse, or V-2/V-3 child of a lawful permanent resident"

 

But a K1 isn't listed on there? Someone please help, we are so sick of paper work. Thanks! 

 

Advance Parole + valid passport are all the documents needed to be allowed to check in on a US-bound flight as well as be re-admitted - at the discretion of the CBP officer. In practice that means as long as there are no factors that would make you inadmissible you'll be paroled back into the US, get a "PAROLED" stamp in your passport with the same validity as the expiry date of your AP.

 

I've been out and back in to the US 5 times since getting my AP in June, twice by land border, three times by air. Mind you, you'll have to go to secondary inspection every single time which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to hours, so if you have connecting flights after reentering the US I'd advice having a minimum of 4 hours between flights.

 

For me the land borders have been the strictest with officers asking all kinds of questions about marriage etc, for air and business travel it has never been an issue.

 

For air travel you can have a look at the guidelines used by airlines to determine if you are allowed to check in:

 

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Carrier Information Guide- English.pdf

 

[TL2016 208]

8 hours ago, allyrose said:

Hi everyone. Spoke to USIS about the green card- bad news is Orlando is still processing cases from October 31st  So we are applying for AP for December. I'm just struggling with the language. My husband came in on K1 and we are married now, obviously. He has his EAD and we are waiting for his green card. But the lingo in the AP instructions is confusing.

 

"Upon returning to the United States, most individuals must present a valid H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa and must continue to be otherwise admissible. If you do not have a valid or unexpired H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa, then you generally need to obtain an H, L, K, or V nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Department of State (DOS) visa issuing post. Individuals will need a valid nonimmigrant visa, advance parole, or other travel document to present for reentry." 

 

So his K1 expired 3 months after he arrived, which is the standard procedure. Is this saying that advance parole will take the place of that? 

 

Also this: 

 

"Your application for adjustment of status generally will not be deemed abandoned, even if you do not apply for an Advance Parole Document before traveling abroad while an adjustment application is pending, if you currently are in one of the following nonimmigrant classifications, and remain eligible for and would be admissible in one of the following categories upon applying for admission at a port-of-entry: a. An H-1 temporary worker, or H-4 spouse or child of an H-1; b. An L-1 intracompany transferee, or L-2 spouse or child of an L-1; c. A K-3 spouse, or K-4 child of a U.S. citizen; or d. A V-1 spouse, or V-2/V-3 child of a lawful permanent resident"

 

But a K1 isn't listed on there? Someone please help, we are so sick of paper work. Thanks! 

You're overthinking / underestimating literally everything. From underestimating the GC processing times, to overthinking the AP process. Let me clear some of that up for you.

 

1. You were just told the most generic answer available on the phone. The Orlando is processing I-485 cases from October 31st as of June 30th. They're likely at least a month ahead of that now. And even then, that time ONLY applies to those waiting to get an interview at the Orlando office, not people in line for an interview waiver. All that information is readily available here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

 

2. Apply for the AP NOW. The current wait times for EAD and AP documents are anywhere between 3 and 4 months on average. You really don't want to risk being out of luck without the GC or AP when you want to travel internationally. And to be honest, it's not that unlikely that you won't hear a thing about the GC until after Christmas. A lot of us are in the same boat, but it's not a secret that the AOS process can take up to 12 months, sometimes even longer. When you apply for the AP, just send in a copy of your used K-1 visa and a copy of the I-485 acceptance letter and you'll be fine.

 

3. You'll be fine using the AP for normal reasons. Like I said in another post, as long as your reason for using it is somewhat reasonable (family vacation, honeymoon, visiting family...) and not necessarily going to a "black list country", you'll absolutely be fine coming back to the US. You'll most likely go through the secondary inspection and answer a few questions about your trip, but that's just a formality. AP is NOT just for emergency issues. 

Edited August 18, 2017 by TL2016

[MIAMIL305 2]

Hi everyone, this neverend blind waiting is literally getting me sick.
I got my EAD card already last may, but since Feb no news about my AOS, only Biometrics and no more communications whatsoever from USCIS.

Last Aug 31 i sent a E-request asking from news about my case, and i got an automatic replay giving to me a Referral Number, and telling me that my inquire would be process and an replay will be send to me by Aug 21. Well today is already Aug 22 and the status of the enquire is "currently not assigned for processing"

In the meantime i just keep seeing other people who has filed in April getting approved and receiving their GC. 

I'm sorry for sharing my post eclipse mood, but got not anybody else with whom cooling off this anxious.

Peace x all. 

 

AOS

Date Filed : 2017-01-18

NOA Date : 2017-01-31

Bio. Appt. : 2017-02-22

EAD: Bundle Work Authorization / Advance Parole

Approved Date : 2017-04-27

Date Card Received : 2017-05-05

Comments : 1 yrs validity

Processing

Estimates/Stats : Your EAD was approved in 99 days

 

[ymv 5]

Congratuations to you. My husband and i went for our interview today in Los Angeles and i had an instant approval. The interview was pretty long though, but i must say the Immigration Officer was good at doing his job, he was professional, thorough and friendly at the same same. Congrats to all others still waiting for their approval, we got home, we prayed and thanked God and tonight my husband and i are going to celebrate in a fine bar.

[James and Joan 4]

We got approved Friday the 18th in Chatsworth , California, the IO was pretty straight forward and looked through all our evidence including our pictures he only asked my wife a few questions though, my name, B-day and address he didn't really key on me at all. They can tell if you are BS-ing them so if your relationship is real and you have nothing to hide your good, just be honest if you don't have things they ask for. What a relief !!!!!

[ymv 5]

1 hour ago, James and Joan said:

We got approved Friday the 18th in Chatsworth , California, the IO was pretty straight forward and looked through all our evidence including our pictures he only asked my wife a few questions though, my name, B-day and address he didn't really key on me at all. They can tell if you are BS-ing them so if your relationship is real and you have nothing to hide your good, just be honest if you don't have things they ask for. What a relief !!!!!

I totally agree with you, they know when your marriage is real. Just be truthful to them irrespective of the situation, that's what we did too. What a great relief indeed!!

[TL2016 208]

Just called USCIS to speak to a Tier 2 officer because my case has been pending for longer than 180 days. Unfortunately that wasn't of much help. All she was able to tell me is that my case is still at the MSC, not even that it's in line for an interview waiver or anything. She said besides the day they received my biometrics they don't have any other updates for me. 

 

She did submit a service request on my behalf as well as a second service request to see if my case can be sent to Albany instead of NYC in case I need an interview. She said it's unlikely but she at least tried to get some info for me which is something I guess. I have to say I'm a little disappointed, I was hoping for some more information but unfortunately my call didn't do much besides submit the service requests.