May 2017 AOS Filers

[mushroomspore 3,044]

9 minutes ago, Hawksquill said:

That's exactly how we felt! We received his EAD less than a month before we got the interview notice, which was scheduled a month in advance.  So basically only a two month difference.

 

He found a job within a month but doesn't start until a few days before his interview anyway.  All in all, it just seems silly that EAD takes so long when the net benefit of getting slightly earlier work authorization is almost negligible. 

Definitely agree.  I'm glad it worked out for you guys.  Good luck with your upcoming interview!  

[spanwilder 8]

2 hours ago, mushroomspore said:

6.5 months?! What the hell....that's so ridiculous. If they're gonna take that long for EAD, they should just schedule the interview super fast for you guys and approve your GC.

Agreed. This defeats the purpose of EAD. Of course, their goal of discouraging foreign workers is fully accomplished, as I have seriously considered leaving for Canada/Australia! I am a PhD and my wife is MD and this is NOT what we had in mind after all those years of graduate/medical school and residency/postdoc training.

[cool_beans 6]

I called USCIS to inquire about my spouse's i-485, but they told me that my i-130 needed to be accepted first. I thought they were done at the same time, no? They said they were processing i-130 up through May 31st at MSC, but I can't find any processing times for the i-130s anywhere on USCIS's website. I think the officer I was talking was mistaken and that the i-485 needs to be taken care of first.

[notquitesurehow 9]

Well, I finally have some good news to share with you guys - my EAD approval notice arrived in the mail yesterday! Oddly enough, case status still hasn't been updated... Took them 173 days. Almost twice as long as the normal processing time! Still don't have an interview scheduled, but the EAD was really my biggest concern and I'm just happy that part is over with. Waiting for the card now! Good luck to those still waiting - if I got mine, I'm pretty sure you're getting yours any time now!

[Shushulsan 32]

I am a late March/early April filer. The reason I am here is to help those in my situation.

 

As you can see from my timeline in my signature, I have an approved I-130. I am married to my wife for over 11 years, have a 6 year old child with here and have lived in this nation for over 17 years. I have no criminal record that I am aware of. My PD is April 4, 2017. I have also been waiting for my interview since my online status changed to "ready to schedule your appointment" on June 6, 2017, close to 6 months ago. I have filled 2 SRs to shed some light on this case both to no avail. Yesterday I finally got a chance and called USCIS hot line and talked to level 2 officer. He informed me that my case is still sitting motionless in National Benefit Center in Lee Summit, MO. I was so surprised. He told me that he can't see why that is the case but he kindly informed me that based on his experience has to do with background check that is pending. He advised me to contact my local congregational representative. Upon getting off the phone I did exactly that. I found our representative, filled in the online form, printed it, signed it and mailed it all in a matter of an hour. Now need to wait for his office to inquire on my behalf and find out what is going on?

 

After doing that I got online and start researching. I am a medical researcher and very good at pulling information from dark corners of the web! What I found is not pleasant. Based on my findings citizens of certain nation that this administration isn't on good terms with are receiving the short end of the stick. Most probably they have internally advised department employees to scrutinize, delay, deny and block applications from citizens of those nations that this administration hates/dislikes. You would assume that this can't happen in a democracy without some level of transparency. Based on all public internal memos I could get my hands on from Department of Homeland Security and its subdivision, USCIS, There is nothing that indicates the problem I am describing. But when you collect individual date from forums and post you realize that indeed some nefarious activities are ongoing.

 

There was a recent media report that during first so-called visa-ban in early days of this administration and subsequent court stay on the order. This administration violated the court order and continued its practice in extrajudicial manner. So the moral of story, if you are a citizen of those ban nations, Mexico, some African and Latin American nations and you have been waiting for your interview for over 7 months and nothing has moved in regard to your application process you owe it to yourself and your family to call, inquire and get in touch with your congregational representative. Don't let the time laps.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Shushulsan

[cool_beans 6]

8 hours ago, Shushulsan said:

I am a late March/early April filer. The reason I am here is to help those in my situation.

 

As you can see from my timeline in my signature, I have an approved I-130. I am married to my wife for over 11 years, have a 6 year old child with here and have lived in this nation for over 17 years. I have no criminal record that I am aware of. My PD is April 4, 2017. I have also been waiting for my interview since my online status changed to "ready to schedule your appointment" on June 6, 2017, close to 6 months ago. I have filled 2 SRs to shed some light on this case both to no avail. Yesterday I finally got a chance and called USCIS hot line and talked to level 2 officer. He informed me that my case is still sitting motionless in National Benefit Center in Lee Summit, MO. I was so surprised. He told me that he can't see why that is the case but he kindly informed me that based on his experience has to do with background check that is pending. He advised me to contact my local congregational representative. Upon getting off the phone I did exactly that. I found our representative, filled in the online form, printed it, signed it and mailed it all in a matter of an hour. Now need to wait for his office to inquire on my behalf and find out what is going on?

 

After doing that I got online and start researching. I am a medical researcher and very good at pulling information from dark corners of the web! What I found is not pleasant. Based on my findings citizens of certain nation that this administration isn't on good terms with are receiving the short end of the stick. Most probably they have internally advised department employees to scrutinize, delay, deny and block applications from citizens of those nations that this administration hates/dislikes. You would assume that this can't happen in a democracy without some level of transparency. Based on all public internal memos I could get my hands on from Department of Homeland Security and its subdivision, USCIS, There is nothing that indicates the problem I am describing. But when you collect individual date from forums and post you realize that indeed some nefarious activities are ongoing.

 

There was a recent media report that during first so-called visa-ban in early days of this administration and subsequent court stay on the order. This administration violated the court order and continued its practice in extrajudicial manner. So the moral of story, if you are a citizen of those ban nations, Mexico, some African and Latin American nations and you have been waiting for your interview for over 7 months and nothing has moved in regard to your application process you owe it to yourself and your family to call, inquire and get in touch with your congregational representative. Don't let the time laps.

This is not good for us...do you have links or any other evidence showing that they are discriminating against travel ban countries? I thought for marriage based status changes, country of origin should have no impact. At least you i-130 was approved. Ours still has not been.

[mszr 10]

Finally received combo AP/EAD card today   (after 180 days waiting for it ) 
Still no news about interview -- Ready to be scheduled since July 12 

Edited November 30, 2017 by mszr

[Troy P 34]

So we are still waiting to be scheduled for an interview....SR was opened around three weeks ago. 

[papasmf 90]

No update on our SR just yet either, still at "Fingerprint Fee Received" on our 485 since May 3 (may 9 is the date on that status).  SR entered Nov 9, awaiting assignment.

 

So - If you're waiting for an interview to be scheduled you are much further ahead than we are, hang in there - it all depends on your specific case, where it got sent, and where you live.  Some 485 take a year or more, and K1 485s sometimes never get an interview

Edited December 1, 2017 by papasmf
Corrected date on SR to nov 9, not the 7th

[Gordo2 23]

Hello folks!

We finally completed our interview yesterday. The officer was pretty nice and asked us basic relationship questions (how we met, who proposed to whom, etc). At the end of the interview our officer stated that we were approved and that we should get the provisional G.C. in 7 to 10 business days.

I'm happy the process is almost over but won't celebrate until I have the card in hand.

 

As a side note, the online status has not changed from "interview scheduled".

Good luck to everyone who is still waiting!

[papasmf 90]

Congrats Gordo!

[EMBELL_17 102]

It's been a looooong time since I've been here. I got my EAD obviously. I've been working just waiting for an update. Now I am getting nervous again. My student loans have doubled and I need to refinance. My husband's ship date got delayed so money is tight. I need freedom. So I booked an infopass for 12/18.

 

Strange thing, I received an RFE for my EAD. But my EAD was already approved. The RFE was asking me to confirm whether I wanted a renewal or a replacement EAD, and stated because my EAD was not set to expire within 90-120 days I cannot get a renewal. How odd. I did not re-apply for a renewal or replacement. So I replied saying I wanted neither a replacement or a renewal - I am happy with the EAD they issued me a few months ago. I'm hoping this does not mean I got pushed back to the back of the line.

 

I'm going to my infopass to request status of the current location of my application. I just want it to be in Baltimore now. I produced sooooo much evidence - I'm so frustrated, guys

Edited December 6, 2017 by EMBELL_17

[Wiz_Fit 26]

Nothing new for us since August, just sitting on ready for schedule. We also used our AP this past week and wasn't to bad. Just a 20 minute delay while my wife was sitting to be interview. Didn't even get asked questions just got called to a room to sit then got told, all good and to go ahead in LAX.

 

However, I am trying to figure out how to read the site for time lines for interviews.

 

For our interview, will it be field office or service center? If its field office, I am confused on how to read it for the Dallas set up(Link below). It shows 9/30/17 in the top screen and a date about the 485(so back logged!) but in the logger section it shows December 1st updated...

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do

[Gordo2 23]

Hello folks, just wanted to let you all know that the GC arrived yesterday. Also my status never updated online after the interview.

 

Good luck everyone, I hope that you all start seeing those interview notices soon.

[cool_beans 6]

On 12/7/2017 at 3:57 PM, Wiz_Fit said:

Nothing new for us since August, just sitting on ready for schedule. We also used our AP this past week and wasn't to bad. Just a 20 minute delay while my wife was sitting to be interview. Didn't even get asked questions just got called to a room to sit then got told, all good and to go ahead in LAX.

 

However, I am trying to figure out how to read the site for time lines for interviews.

 

For our interview, will it be field office or service center? If its field office, I am confused on how to read it for the Dallas set up(Link below). It shows 9/30/17 in the top screen and a date about the 485(so back logged!) but in the logger section it shows December 1st updated...

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do

 

Your interview will be conducted at the field office. 9/30/17 is when the data was collected by USCIS from the field office. At the Dallas field office on that date, they were processing I-485 cases that have a PD of 11/14/16. Since the data was collected on 9/30/17, and because that was 70 days ago, they are probably processing applications with a PD of 1/23/17 next week, but that is just a guesstimate. The 12/7/17 is when USCIS last updated their processing times data on the web, which they do once every month.

Edited December 9, 2017 by cool_beans