April 2017 AOS Filers

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

3 hours ago, Shushulsan said:

I stumbled on this article this morning "Marriage Fraud".

 

It is an article from Huston 2 published today. This goes on to show you that since there are some individuals out there hell-bent on taking advantage of the system, government is more vigilant and more suspicious of even most robust family based applications. Article also points out the fact that USCIS now interviews every single case of Fiance applications (K-1), which previously was mostly granted permanent residency without interview. This inevitably slows every case and delays our interviews. It is sad to note that actions of few bad people impact us all  in the most adverse way.

Man, this is an issue that angers the hell outta me for two reasons:

1) What sort of horrible person lies to someone for years so that they believe you love them when you really don't and are just using them to get papers? They must be sociopaths without any sort of empathy or regard for other people's feelings. I feel so bad everytime I read one of these stories. Imagine the heartbreak!

and 2) As you said, the fact that we innocents pay the price! It is so frustrating to know that, because of a few rotten apples, we have to wait longer than we would if no one abused the system. 

I actually have a story about this that shows how, unfortunately, this problem is more common than we think:

When I was buying my wedding dress back in Spain, the lady that did the tailoring and fittings of my dress, who by the way was really nice but she obviously didn't get that this wasn't okay, one day told me about her niece from a different country (not gonna say which country cos I don't want innocent people from there to get reprisal!) who had made an "arrangement" with an American guy sort of like the one in the movie "Green Card". They had arranged to get married so that she could move to the USA and get the papers, and the deal was that after a while they would get a divorce. The tailor lady was all like, "Oh, but the man is a bad man, because now he says he doesn't wanna divorce her. He says that he is in love and he doesn't want a divorce, but she does because that was the deal. And oh, he is such a bad, bad man." I was surprised at how normal she found the fact that her niece was gaming the system, and also pissed off because I had been going through such bad separation anxiety from my fiance, missing him so much, hating the distance and the wait... and I realized that part of the blame was on those people that cheat the system and make it harder for us.

[Shushulsan 32]

8 hours ago, agnesita84 said:

Man, this is an issue that angers the hell outta me for two reasons:

1) What sort of horrible person lies to someone for years so that they believe you love them when you really don't and are just using them to get papers? They must be sociopaths without any sort of empathy or regard for other people's feelings. I feel so bad everytime I read one of these stories. Imagine the heartbreak!

and 2) As you said, the fact that we innocents pay the price! It is so frustrating to know that, because of a few rotten apples, we have to wait longer than we would if no one abused the system. 

I actually have a story about this that shows how, unfortunately, this problem is more common than we think:

When I was buying my wedding dress back in Spain, the lady that did the tailoring and fittings of my dress, who by the way was really nice but she obviously didn't get that this wasn't okay, one day told me about her niece from a different country (not gonna say which country cos I don't want innocent people from there to get reprisal!) who had made an "arrangement" with an American guy sort of like the one in the movie "Green Card". They had arranged to get married so that she could move to the USA and get the papers, and the deal was that after a while they would get a divorce. The tailor lady was all like, "Oh, but the man is a bad man, because now he says he doesn't wanna divorce her. He says that he is in love and he doesn't want a divorce, but she does because that was the deal. And oh, he is such a bad, bad man." I was surprised at how normal she found the fact that her niece was gaming the system, and also pissed off because I had been going through such bad separation anxiety from my fiance, missing him so much, hating the distance and the wait... and I realized that part of the blame was on those people that cheat the system and make it harder for us.

True! Marriage Fraud is in fact nothing new. It has been going on since the 60's. I know few people that did exactly that. They did deals with some individuals here and paid something like $1000 back in the late 80's. At the time no one was talking about it and it was simple. As time went by and number people and applicants increased, system is overwhelmed by regular honest to goodness folks, let alone those that are there to cheat it.

 

Sad.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Shushulsan

[Asha6222 0]

What is your priority date.

[Shushulsan 32]

On 11/18/2017 at 10:16 PM, Asha6222 said:

What is your priority date.

04/04/2017. I am approaching 8 months this coming December.

[Fairylou 11]

Yah!! Today I received my green card. What a process! So last Tuesday morning I got my interview. By 4 pm my status had change to card order. Saturday I received my welcome letter, Monday my status change again to card send and today I received my card!! What better way to celebrate thanksgiving. All in all it took 7 months the process, the longest was waiting for my biometrics appointment. But I am so happy and hoping that all you will receive good news soon!!

[Shushulsan 32]

Today I finally called USCIS after they failed to respond to my service request filed on Oct 20^th, 2017. The level 2 office I talked to was very friendly and informed me that my case hasn’t moved from National Benefit center to my local office. The is in contrary to what I was told 6 months ago upon my info pass appointment in local office, that my case has cleared background check and moved on to schedule appointment status.

 

He advised me to contact my congressional representative and ask them for help looking into my case. He could not see why my case is sitting in the MSC motionless for over 6 months. He speculated that it has something to do with background/name check, in other words, security clearance.

 

Very frustrating. I will file that paperwork and send it to our congressman ASAP.

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

2 hours ago, Shushulsan said:

He advised me to contact my congressional representative and ask them for help looking into my case. He could not see why my case is sitting in the MSC motionless for over 6 months. He speculated that it has something to do with background/name check, in other words, security clearanc

 

Very frustrating. I will file that paperwork and send it to our congressman ASAP.

 

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

Sorry, had some problems with the quoting tool.

That is so frustrating. I wonder if my case is also still at NBC. I've had zero news since April 4th. Been almost 8 mnths now. I also submitted a service request at the beginning of this month. They haven't replied. I guess I'm gonna have to spend one morning calling USCIS to see if they can give me more information.

If need be, what is the proccess to contact your congressman?

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

PS: Also, my medical exam at the embassy was on december 9th, last year. I didn't do one when applying for AOS, cos technically the K1 medical is valid for a year.
But seeing as they're taking forever to process my case, and as the medical is valid for one year, does that mean I'm gonna have to pay for a whole new medical exam and vaccine reccord? 

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

PS: And what congressmen should we contact? The federal ones, or the state ones?

[cyanmavi 101]

4 hours ago, agnesita84 said:

PS: Also, my medical exam at the embassy was on december 9th, last year. I didn't do one when applying for AOS, cos technically the K1 medical is valid for a year.
But seeing as they're taking forever to process my case, and as the medical is valid for one year, does that mean I'm gonna have to pay for a whole new medical exam and vaccine reccord? 

The medical should be valid when you apply for AOS. Doesn't matter how long AOS takes after that (although they may ask for a new one if it has been a very long time).

 

3 hours ago, agnesita84 said:

PS: And what congressmen should we contact? The federal ones, or the state ones?

Contact all and see who is most responsive and willing to advocate for you. They should have an online form on their websites.

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

4 hours ago, cyanmavi said:

The medical should be valid when you apply for AOS. Doesn't matter how long AOS takes after that (although they may ask for a new one if it has been a very long time).

Contact all and see who is most responsive and willing to advocate for you. They should have an online form on their websites.

Thanks cyanmavi!  

Is an 8-month wait enough to contact our congressmen, or will they be like "keep waiting"?

[Shushulsan 32]

16 hours ago, agnesita84 said:

Sorry, had some problems with the quoting tool.

That is so frustrating. I wonder if my case is also still at NBC. I've had zero news since April 4th. Been almost 8 mnths now. I also submitted a service request at the beginning of this month. They haven't replied. I guess I'm gonna have to spend one morning calling USCIS to see if they can give me more information.

If need be, what is the proccess to contact your congressman?

 

I wouldn't worry if I were you since you are Spanish and I am Persian. One would assume in a democracy everyone will be seen through one lens; Nationality and geography of birth would not favor one over the other but in reality these are all urban legend and truth is way darker.

 

The method by which one can contact a representative is to first search who is your representative ? Every state has two senators regardless of population and every state has few house members based on size (population). You can either contact one of those two senators or find out what district in a given state your are located and find out your representative. This is where google comes in handy. States are divided to districts or jurisdiction and they have representative in the House, one of the two sections of US legislative branch. Once your pin pointed the guy or the gal, go to their website and look for constituent help. They all have it. They usually ask you to fill up a form, sign it and send it through mail. They need your signature or otherwise your consent to contact USCIS on your behalf.

[Ninatica 56]

Hello dear all,

 

We are planning to visit my country for X-Mas holidays, I have my combo card (EAD/AP). Have you traveled overseas with this 'combo' card? Is it risky? 

BTW ... SINCE June 21 my I-485's most recent status says: Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview ... so still waiting.

 

Kind regards,

 

Ninatica

[Catalina Cuqui 17]

5 hours ago, Shushulsan said:

 

Thanks so much @Shushulsan I will wait until next week, and if by December 4 (8 months since "Fingerprints received") I have no news, I will contact my Senator.
 

Edited November 29, 2017 by agnesita84