Anyone got any experience adjusting status through the Philadelphia field office?

[tab0712 141]

WOW! So both of you submitted your AOS last September, and are now, only 12 months out getting your Interview letters? That is great to hear, as A) We submitted ours mid November 2017, so maybe only a few more weeks to go. And 2) USCIS site states the wait time for Philly is between 12-33 months. Nice to see they are on the lower end of the range ,and I hope that goes for us too. 

 

It is interesting to see that they are doing as many interviews as they are. Do any of you remember when going through the K1, there was only like 5% of AOS needing to do a second interview (second being after the K1)? 

 

[geowrian 22,337]

41 minutes ago, tab0712 said:

WOW! So both of you submitted your AOS last September, and are now, only 12 months out getting your Interview letters? That is great to hear, as A) We submitted ours mid November 2017, so maybe only a few more weeks to go. And 2) USCIS site states the wait time for Philly is between 12-33 months. Nice to see they are on the lower end of the range ,and I hope that goes for us too. 

 

It is interesting to see that they are doing as many interviews as they are. Do any of you remember when going through the K1, there was only like 5% of AOS needing to do a second interview (second being after the K1)?

Correct..just about 12 months. The 12-23 months actually means they anticipate to adjudicate 50% of applications within 12 months, and 90% within 23 months.

 

Yes, I remember. This policy was changed to remove interview waivers for AOS from K-1.

[tab0712 141]

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Correct..just about 12 months. The 12-23 months actually means they anticipate to adjudicate 50% of applications within 12 months, and 90% within 23 months.

 

Yes, I remember. This policy was changed to remove interview waivers for AOS from K-1.

So they are interviewing all AOS beneficiaries? My husband absolutely despises the thought, and just about had a panic attack before the K1. So. we really need to prepare hime mentally for it. I knew we should have done a Spousal petition from the start. The K1/AOS has been an nightmare for us. We entered the US together a year ago (in 5 days), submitted the AOS in November, he got the EAD/AP in March with an error on the card...and we still have not received a new one. He is NEEDS to work, and USCIS could care less about our welfare. 

[geowrian 22,337]

27 minutes ago, tab0712 said:

So they are interviewing all AOS beneficiaries? My husband absolutely despises the thought, and just about had a panic attack before the K1. So. we really need to prepare hime mentally for it. I knew we should have done a Spousal petition from the start. The K1/AOS has been an nightmare for us. We entered the US together a year ago (in 5 days), submitted the AOS in November, he got the EAD/AP in March with an error on the card...and we still have not received a new one. He is NEEDS to work, and USCIS could care less about our welfare. 

Probably not all, but general waivers for AOS from K-1/K-2 and employment visas are no longer available via policy (https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume7-PartA-Chapter5.html).

 

Ugh, that's rough. That's awful that they made a mistake on the card. Fixes are just so slow.

Our journey has been delayed longer than we wanted, but overall it's been a fairly smooth ride overall.

Edited September 17, 2018 by geowrian

[Mzkyia79 5]

Hey Everyone! Our interview is tomorrow finally!! Our AOS was accepted September 17,  2017. I had a question. Do we need to do another Affidavit of support and submit tax returns and employment info again if we submitted that with our application? I’m the sponsor so I’m just wondering what all is required of me? Thanks in advance! 

[geowrian 22,337]

31 minutes ago, Mzkyia79 said:

Hey Everyone! Our interview is tomorrow finally!! Our AOS was accepted September 17,  2017. I had a question. Do we need to do another Affidavit of support and submit tax returns and employment info again if we submitted that with our application? I’m the sponsor so I’m just wondering what all is required of me? Thanks in advance! 

Good luck!

 

A new I-864 is not required. But they could request a new one so I generally suggest having one on hand just in case to avoid an RFE for it after the interview. Assuming there's not a significant change in circumstances (new job, loss of employment, etc.), they aren't likely to ask for a new one.

[valkyriex 194]

Hi Everyone!

 

Had our interview 2 days ago (25th Sept) at Philadelphia field office!

 

Greencard approved an hour after the interview! 

 

The Immigration officer who interviewed us was a nice person. Asked the yes & no questions, date of birth, full name, country i was born. Where am I currently working, proof of address with our current address.  Asked if there were any instances that we lived apart.

 

Didn't ask for new i864 nor taxes. He only asked for proof of address, (gave him our electric bill, internet bill, joint bank statement, my paystubs) and recent pics. But better be ready just incase they ask for it.

 

At the end of the interview he said everything seems good and our relationship seems simple. he will review our case and let us know if he needs more documents. An hour after we left I received a notification from USCIS that my case was updated. Checked it and is says, "card being produced"

 

Thank you Lord!

 

Goodluck to everyone!

 

Sincerely,

Val

[vaidy88 3]

I am from Wilmington and I am assuming my field office will be Philadelphia. 

 

Thanks this thread has been really useful to understand the processing times. I filed for my AOS on March’18 and I do not think I can expect interview call in near future.

 

Anyone else who filed in the same time frame ?

[tab0712 141]

On 9/25/2018 at 8:43 PM, Mzkyia79 said:

Hey Everyone! Our interview is tomorrow finally!! Our AOS was accepted September 17,  2017. I had a question. Do we need to do another Affidavit of support and submit tax returns and employment info again if we submitted that with our application? I’m the sponsor so I’m just wondering what all is required of me? Thanks in advance! 

How was the interview? 

[tab0712 141]

On 9/16/2018 at 9:03 PM, geowrian said:

Probably not all, but general waivers for AOS from K-1/K-2 and employment visas are no longer available via policy (https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume7-PartA-Chapter5.html).

 

Ugh, that's rough. That's awful that they made a mistake on the card. Fixes are just so slow.

Our journey has been delayed longer than we wanted, but overall it's been a fairly smooth ride overall.

 

My husband STILL does't have his EAD/AP. October 1st he did a service request since we went over the 6 month processing max time. That STILL has not be given to an officer for review. We now have Senator Casey's office on the case. That was done Friday, so we shall see what happened. We are now 11 months from submitting the AOS. Got the stupid work permit with the error in March, and it's not 7 months later and no card reprint. We are about to pack up and leave. It's been a very bad year here (our anniversary is tomorrow). We are both mentally broken from this process. 

[tab0712 141]

Well it seems the Congressional inquiry not only pushed the updated EAD/AP card through, but the day before the card came in the mail, we got notification that his interview is set for December 20th. Needless to say, we both HATE interviews and just want it over with. 

[tab0712 141]

Seems this page is quiet now  My husbands interview is on the 20th. Anyone around to "chat" about their time at the office recently?

[Tella&T 183]

8 hours ago, tab0712 said:

Seems this page is quiet now  My husbands interview is on the 20th. Anyone around to "chat" about their time at the office recently?

I am really curious how it will go and feel sympathy for your husband as I dislike any interviews strongly!
We sent the AOS bundle in February, got rejected for missing stuff, sent it again in March and to be honest I don't expect to hear from them for another few months...

Keeping fingers crossed the interview will be easier than I and your husband imagine!

[geowrian 22,337]

Not really a "chat", but here was our experience just over a month ago at the office. Note that our case was definitely on the better side of things...some may have it tougher than we did. We frontloaded various forms of marriage evidence with our AOS packet.

 

=====

We arrived 15 minutes early and went into the interview door. We passed through security first...no metal, no shoes, no watches, etc. allowed on you, but I told them about my opened orange juice in a bag and the officer was fine with it. Just no eating/drinking allowed inside. They also check the appointment notice letter before the metal detectors, so have that ready.

 

Then is the front desk, who verified our appointment and told us to go to the 2nd floor. 1st floors looks to be for InfoPass appointments.

 

Upstairs was just  large waiting room half full of people waiting to be called. There are 4 doors where they call your name...we had a "2" written on our paper by the front desk person, so we sat near door #2. We waited until about ~5-10 min after our appointment time before the IO opened a door and called my wife's name.

 

The IO we had was a very nice woman...maybe 35-45 years old? She said she reviewed out case already and invited us into her office (there's like 6 offices behind each of the 4 doors in the waiting room). She asked us to stand and then we did the oath to tell the truth. Then she asked my wife how we met, which we said online via the OK Cupid website. Then she went over the I-485 to verify her name, address (we moved, so she updated it), # of marriages, where she was born, and a few other items on it. Then she went page by page asking a few of the questions from the I485 (i.e. are you a spy? Have you ever murdered somebody? etc...all directly from the I-485).

 

Then she said that's all she had and asked us if we had any questions before she approves us. I asked about the address in the system to make sure she gets the green card at the new address, which she verified was already updated in her computer system. I also asked if her existing AP was valid to use for a trip next month, and she said that's fine to use even if the I-485 is approved before her return.

 

Overall, we were in and out in like 5 minutes and we were smiling with her and such the whole time. We had a mountain of papers to show (new home's title, trips we made, etc.) but she didn't ask for them and I wasn't going to volunteer them when she said we were approved already. I can take "yes" for an answer. haha My wife was happy but a little annoyed and disappointed since we had so much to show and it wasn't needed.

 

She said the green card should arrive in about 3 weeks. Not sure if that's true, but I wasn't going to say anything. haha

NOTE: It arrived about 2 weeks later.

 

Then we spent the rest of the day seeing Philadelphia (since we live ~2.5h-3h away).

Edited December 9, 2018 by geowrian

[tab0712 141]

3 hours ago, Martella&T said:

I am really curious how it will go and feel sympathy for your husband as I dislike any interviews strongly!
We sent the AOS bundle in February, got rejected for missing stuff, sent it again in March and to be honest I don't expect to hear from them for another few months...

Keeping fingers crossed the interview will be easier than I and your husband imagine!

I will update after the interview. It's looking like Philly is doing interviews 12-15 months from AOS Submission.