I-797C Notice of Action AFTER immigration

[David & Diana R 1,005]

10 hours ago, bcking said:

Spoke to someone on the phone who said the system had "conflicting information" about whether she even needs to attend the appointment. One part of the system says she is fine and we are just waiting for a greed card, another part says they need her biometrics, but then he couldn't even see that we had an appointment scheduled. I'm now waiting for a higher up officer to call me back.

 

The incompetence of this system never ceases to amaze me. 

I would drop everything and get her to that appointment.  Why take a chance?

[bcking 3,157]

23 minutes ago, David & Zoila said:

I would drop everything and get her to that appointment.  Why take a chance?

Spoke to two officers on the phone. Both said we can go later and just show up. We tried today in the afternoon but they were too busy. All it will do is delay things.

 

Honestly though I'm trying to get an answer for why they even need her to repeat it. Both guys on the phone said they couldn't answer that and wanted to escalate, but both escalated officers needed to speak to my wife and she wasn't around.

 

I'm honestly sick and tired of this whole system. It's full of incompetent idiots running a system that seems decades old. They have taken her biometrics 3 times. If they can't put all that togetherness they are truly useless. We aren't going to cancel a trip just because they are full of idiots.

 

We'll reschedule and get the green card later. At this point she is here (after nearly 12 months).

 

God i wish I could have left.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

I didn't get a biometrics notice after I entered with my CR-1, but my Green Card arrived about 6 months after I entered, a long long time after the group of us on VJ at the time had entered. I'd called Tier 2 at about month 4 or 5 and submitted a service request, then got my card during month 6.

 

The hilarious part was I finally got a response to my service request about 9 months after I submitted it telling me that they would be looking into my case. Then I got another notice that my Green Card had been printed, then this mysterious second card never moved any further along the stages in the My Case Status system. They're just so weird.

 

Also, your wife's SSN card most likely won't arrive. Despite the fact this has been an ongoing issue for years, nobody has thought to fix it. I don't know why they don't just take that option out of the DS-260. Your best bet is to go to an SSA office about 2 weeks to a month after arrival so CBP has time to enter her into the SAVE system. If the SSA complains that her first and middle name are in the same field on their system, it's a non-issue. It's just CBP has "Given names" only and SSA has separate "First name" and "Middle name" fields.

 

It's all a huge joke and incompetent as anything but you'll get what you need in the end.

[bcking 3,157]

4 minutes ago, Ketsuban said:

I didn't get a biometrics notice after I entered with my CR-1, but my Green Card arrived about 6 months after I entered, a long long time after the group of us on VJ at the time had entered. I'd called Tier 2 at about month 4 or 5 and submitted a service request, then got my card during month 6.

 

The hilarious part was I finally got a response to my service request about 9 months after I submitted it telling me that they would be looking into my case. Then I got another notice that my Green Card had been printed, then this mysterious second card never moved any further along the stages in the My Case Status system. They're just so weird.

 

Also, your wife's SSN card most likely won't arrive. Despite the fact this has been an ongoing issue for years, nobody has thought to fix it. I don't know why they don't just take that option out of the DS-260. Your best bet is to go to an SSA office about 2 weeks to a month after arrival so CBP has time to enter her into the SAVE system. If the SSA complains that her first and middle name are in the same field on their system, it's a non-issue. It's just CBP has "Given names" only and SSA has separate "First name" and "Middle name" fields.

 

It's all a huge joke and incompetent as anything but you'll get what you need in the end.

Already went to SS office about 1 month after her arrival. She wasn't in the system yet. Have to wait another like 4 weeks before following up on that.

 

The only get away with this junk because they have no accountability. We have no way to complain and as soon as we each get what we need we move on. Easiest job ever for them. They can be as bad as they want and it never matters.

[bcking 3,157]

Another update/explanation:

 

Called for an officer a third time (had a 200 minute wait time, luckily it was a "call back " system). Finally got answers since my wife was with me to give the "okay" to talk to me.

 

Apparently the Embassy, CBP and USCIS all use different systems, and they all communicate with each other essentially with snail mail. So when you do biometrics at the Embassy, or at Customs, the information is then physically sent to USCIS. Customs also sends information to the SSN office, but separately. 

 

So even though everything can look find at Customs, or the Embassy, or both...since the systems don't actually communicate and since it is all sent physically, there can be an error when it arrives at USCIS. When that happens, USCIS needs to take their own biometrics.

 

The officer seemed to think that the SSN card would not arrive, but then when I told him we already went there he wasn't sure and confirmed it is completely separate. He did also claim that she couldn't work until she gets her physical green card. I tried to clarify and ask if she could work with a SSN number and the temporary greenward in her passport, and he said no she can't, but did so hesistantly. 

 

So now we are mailing in the "reschedule" form since we tried a walk in time and that failed. Most likely our new biometric appointment date will be in 6-8 weeks, then will likely have to wait 2-3 months after that to get our green card. How quick is the adjustment of status for a K-1 again? I thought the whole point of  CR-1/IR-1 was that you wait initially for a lot longer but once you are in the country you can work and get on with your life. She came in April. If she doesn't get the green card until September or beyond I don't see what the benefit really is.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

5 hours ago, bcking said:

The officer seemed to think that the SSN card would not arrive, but then when I told him we already went there he wasn't sure and confirmed it is completely separate. He did also claim that she couldn't work until she gets her physical green card. I tried to clarify and ask if she could work with a SSN number and the temporary greenward in her passport, and he said no she can't, but did so hesistantly. 

 

So now we are mailing in the "reschedule" form since we tried a walk in time and that failed. Most likely our new biometric appointment date will be in 6-8 weeks, then will likely have to wait 2-3 months after that to get our green card. How quick is the adjustment of status for a K-1 again? I thought the whole point of  CR-1/IR-1 was that you wait initially for a lot longer but once you are in the country you can work and get on with your life. She came in April. If she doesn't get the green card until September or beyond I don't see what the benefit really is.

 

K1 greencard is taking maybe 8 months now. And that is after marriage, getting the certificate back and filing which people don't pull off Day 1 in the country. Many take a couple of months before they file.

 Work permit is supposed to be with 90 days of filing.

SSN can be obtained first week if all goes well at the office.

 

Your wife is a permanent resident and is allowed to work right now, as well as get a driver license in TX. . Her passport is marked to show proof.  She can do anything, but vote.

 

Her employer will want a SSN to put on the payroll documents. So that is what is holding her up right now. You don't have to wait for somebody to put her information into the SAVE database. That is populated automatically when she enters the country by a passport scan. The manual entry of that information ceased several years ago.  Waiting around is not going to make it happen.  Look at her I-94 entry record.

Is her name [FIRST] [MIDDLE] [LAST]

or is it [FIRSTMIDDLE] [LAST]

Sometimes the passports scan that way and so she is not going to be found as Mary in the database. She will be found as Maryfrances. If your SSA worker said "Nope, no Mary here" you need to push for finding her entry. Take a SSN as Maryfrances if that is found. The number will be valid for her use. After she gets the physical greencard issued, USCIS will update her status and the new status will populate the SAVE database.  At that point you can go back to Social Security and they should find her as Mary Frances and will correct her Social Security records and issue a new card with the proper name.  

 

Does she have an I-94 showing she entered the country in April? If so, she should be in that SAVE database.

 

Also the Texas DPS will require her SSN and physical card. They use the SAVE database as well and must find her legal entry.