August 2017 AOS Filers

[T_P 872]

20 hours ago, garebear397 said:

Hey all -- just wanted to give an update on how our Green Card interview went. 

 

Overall the interview went super well. We showed up at 12:00 for a 12:30 interview -- we were both called back right at 12:30. If anyone is wondering (I have seen a few forums asking about it) we wore nice but casual clothes. I wore nice jeans, button up, and sweater. Our interviewer was an immigrant himself, I don't know if that gives some extra empathy but it seemed so. He was very nice and was deliberate with his questions but didn't seem like he was trying to pin us down with a bad response or anything. 

 

Some of the questions he asked: 

- Seems usual questions from the I-485 app: confirm name, DOB, residence, not involved in terrorist or criminal activity, etc. 

- We did need to explain that my wife is staying with my parents until our religious wedding back in her home country in January, and we brought evidence. He seemed to believe us entirely and we had no problems there. 

- What documents we had for evidence of our relationship (we had joint bank account, insurance, car title, pictures, etc.) 

- How we met and decided to get married (explained trips, meeting parents, etc.) 

- What plans we have for the future in our marriage (explained my going back to grad-school, kids in the future, house etc.) 

 

So not too many questions -- more just a conversation that lasted about 15 mins. He then gave us a document saying that he recommends us for approval (then explained the 2 year green card and citizenship stuff). He also said since my wife wants to return to her country as soon as she can to finish planing the religious wedding in January -- that he will process the application as soon as possible so she has the green card in hand. 

 

Overall a really great experience. I know all the experiences can be different -- but I thought it would be good to share a positive one. I don't know if its all dependent on the IO, or maybe since Cincinnati office probably doesn't get a lot of cases so its more laid back, or something else. 

 

Good luck everyone! 

 

@Aviinashh for you especially since you are at the Cincinnati office too. 

 

 

This is great news....congratulations on your interview and let us know once you receive the GC.  

[JackUrban 32]

14 hours ago, JackUrban said:

When you receive your invitation for your interview it says bring your passport. 

 

You need to decide what’s more important. Your Green Card or the other visa. 😬 sorry!

 

what visa do you need to apply for? 

 

When is your interview?

I think you should take care of the visa you need right now. Depends on what type of visa you need, but usually visas don’t take longer then a few weeks. My invitation for my interview arrived 5 weeks before my interview so it should be plenty of time. 

[Texasfiler 385]

21 hours ago, Aviinashh said:

Thank you for sharing your experience with us and thanks a lot more for mentioning about me being from Cincinnati  I appreciate it a lot. I thought Cincinnati office was wayyyy behind the interviews times but looks like they are on right time ! I wish you and your wife a happy married life and all the best for your future and god bless you both  

@Aviinashh any word as yet regarding your expedite request? I really don't understand these people at USCIS that are doing the approvals. If you don't hear anything before the day ends call them and also call back your Congressman's Office. Enough is enough  and the worst part is that there is nothing much that we can do from the outside looking in. We are at their mercy.

[T_P 872]

17 minutes ago, Texasfiler said:

@Aviinashh any word as yet regarding your expedite request? I really don't understand these people at USCIS that are doing the approvals. If you don't hear anything before the day ends call them and also call back your Congressman's Office. Enough is enough  and the worst part is that there is nothing much that we can do from the outside looking in. We are at their mercy.

Agree with @Texasfiler this process is very tiring....are things moving @Aviinashh any help from congressman?

[christine12345 79]

I don’t know how they are dealing with the cases. But I feel like it is wiser and fairer if they finish all the filers in a month before moving on to the next. Like they should be done with the june filers first before going to july.

[T_P 872]

4 minutes ago, christine12345 said:

I don’t know how they are dealing with the cases. But I feel like it is wiser and fairer if they finish all the filers in a month before moving on to the next. Like they should be done with the june filers first before going to july.

Well it sounds easier but they obviously have been having issues processing cases. It would be great to have someone that works there around here to explain how that really works.....I would be very interested in that.

[Hamilton 511]

15 hours ago, GoodVibesOnly said:

I think we have at least one month of time after the "interview scheduled" notification is scheduled, right? Could it take less than a month (the visa application)??

 

also, is it there any chance to have 2 passports? I have 2 right now, one is my older and expired one but it's the one I came here with and it has all my entry stamps from every trip. The second one is an updated version of it and not expired. So I can use both depending on the situation. Maybe try contacting to see if you can have another second current and unexpired copy? 

 

Mmm I'll try to think of another possible options. Although if you're completely sure you can get the visa thing done in less than a week, like, from now on, you'd be okay and I'd apply immediately then. Even if you get an interview date, I think you'd have the chance to move it (not sure) but I don't know how bad that can be for the greencard process. I don't think many people move their dates after receiving an interview date. 

 

Keep us updated! 

 

 

Thanks for thinking about this. I don't think the passport solution will work because my most recent passport has stamps in it. 

 

Unfortunately, the visa process is really unpredictable -- people online say it can be as fast as 2 weeks and as slow as 4 months :S But it will be really damaging to my career to not be able to travel.... so frustrated.

[PR&PR 325]

4 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

Thanks for thinking about this. I don't think the passport solution will work because my most recent passport has stamps in it. 

 

Unfortunately, the visa process is really unpredictable -- people online say it can be as fast as 2 weeks and as slow as 4 months :S But it will be really damaging to my career to not be able to travel.... so frustrated.

If you get a GC here, will you really need a visa to travel in that country?

 

Maybe you can request expedite...I know sometimes it is possible for those type of visa, fairly easier than USCIS, just gotta pay...

Edited December 12, 2017 by PR&PR

[GoodVibesOnly 206]

12 minutes ago, T_P said:

Well it sounds easier but they obviously have been having issues processing cases. It would be great to have someone that works there around here to explain how that really works.....I would be very interested in that.

Yeah! This doesn't help but it is interesting (taken from the uscis website: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us-0)

 

On an average day:

• We adjudicate more than 26,000 requests for various immigration benefits.
• We process 3,700 applications to sponsor relatives and future spouses.
• We process 200 refugee applications around the world and grant asylum to 45 individuals already in the United States.
• We screen 146 people for protection based on a credible fear of persecution if they return home.
• We answer 50,000 phone calls to our toll-free customer service line and serve 2,200 customers at informational appointments in our 86 domestic field offices.
• We ensure the employment eligibility of more than 80,000 new hires in the United States.
• We fingerprint and photograph 13,000 people at 137 Application Support Centers.
• We approve applications and petitions to help unite 25 foreign-born orphans with the Americans who want to adopt them.
• We grant lawful permanent residence to approximately 2,100 people and issue approximately 7,000 Green Cards.
• We receive 335,000 visitor sessions to our website.
• We welcome nearly 2,000 new citizens at naturalization ceremonies. Typically, 36 of these new citizens are members of the U.S. armed forces

 

I guess many of those 50,000 calls they receive per day are ours.   that's a lot of calls anyways and keep in mind there are so many types of visas issues. 

 

There is more interesting information here about processing times, although I guess things can change anytime: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/uscis-data-application-and-petition-processing-times

And about how some positions work: https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-994/0-0-0-1002.html

 

also, a little sad these reviews from uscis employees (immigration services officer I & II) which means it has to be stressful and lots of workload, no wonder why it takes so long  I feel bad for them but also for us in this waiting lol. I guess the problem is that mostly they tell you the number of days in which you should/will receive news but this is not fulfilled nor reached, so it just leaves you wonder... and no one can answer your questions even if they wanted to. I don't think anyone would have an issue with waiting for X number of days for everything but only if this will be a certain waiting time. 

 

But yeah it'd be nice to know it real time and know what's happening now. 

 

 

[T_P 872]

@GoodVibesOnly I will not quote your last post otherwise it will just duplicate stuff....but thank you very much for sharing. It is nice to see some of the feedback from people that work there. What app is that BTW?

[GoodVibesOnly 206]

1 hour ago, Hamilton said:

Thanks for thinking about this. I don't think the passport solution will work because my most recent passport has stamps in it. 

 

Unfortunately, the visa process is really unpredictable -- people online say it can be as fast as 2 weeks and as slow as 4 months :S But it will be really damaging to my career to not be able to travel.... so frustrated.

 

1 hour ago, PR&PR said:

If you get a GC here, will you really need a visa to travel in that country?

 

Maybe you can request expedite...I know sometimes it is possible for those type of visa, fairly easier than USCIS, just gotta pay...

Oh yeah @Hamilton, that's right, I have read in the forums that you can expedite by paying around Us$ 500. Although I believe your problem is the visa for that country, right? Not the expedite itself? Correct me if I'm wrong, I might just be confused :/ 

I read somewhere that you can only go to Canada and Mexico with only the greencard under the "good neighbor policy" (if you need a visa for those countries anyways) but not sure about other countries, i think you'd still need a visa and your country of origin passport. 

 

My guess is that Hamilton already knows a visa is needed for that country and the problem is the uncertainty of how long will the passport be in the consulate's hands. Not sure. I would try calling the consulate and ask what you can do. Maybe they could accept a birth certificate or something else. Maybe they can take official in-person pictures of your passport. Not sure when you need to travel nor where to but hopefully calling them can help to clear things up. And yeah maybe they accept expedites by paying more $$ (unfortunately that's how things work).

 

all the best! 

 

[PR&PR 325]

1 minute ago, GoodVibesOnly said:

 

Oh yeah @Hamilton, that's right, I have read in the forums that you can expedite by paying around Us$ 500. Although I believe your problem is the visa for that country, right? Not the expedite itself? Correct me if I'm wrong, I might just be confused :/ 

I read somewhere that you can only go to Canada and Mexico with only the greencard under the "good neighbor policy" (if you need a visa for those countries anyways) but not sure about other countries, i think you'd still need a visa and your country of origin passport. 

 

My guess is that Hamilton already knows a visa is needed for that country and the problem is the uncertainty of how long will the passport be in the consulate's hands. Not sure. I would try calling the consulate and ask what you can do. Maybe they could accept a birth certificate or something else. Maybe they can take official in-person pictures of your passport. Not sure when you need to travel nor where to but hopefully calling them can help to clear things up. And yeah maybe they accept expedites by paying more $$ (unfortunately that's how things work).

 

all the best! 

 

Are you telling me we could expedite the GC or EAD/AP process? 

I knew the K1 couldn't be expedited by paying, so I didn't even think about doing this for this part...Now I am within where I am supposed to receive something so it feels stupid to pay extra, when in fact I am almost passed normal processing time (not as bad as some of you though, but I am still going to pull that string).

[GoodVibesOnly 206]

1 hour ago, T_P said:

@GoodVibesOnly I will not quote your last post otherwise it will just duplicate stuff....but thank you very much for sharing. It is nice to see some of the feedback from people that work there. What app is that BTW?

Oh it is taken from Indeed lol they possibly have Glassdoor too.

 

Yup, just checked: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/US-Citizenship-and-Immigration-Services-Reviews-E41353.htm

 

Interesting that there is a lot of feedback on the supervisors. Maybe they just can't get all the information and can't completely help us. And possibly the way to finally reach the supervisor for answers is by involving the congressman etc and that's how sometimes people get more information in their cases. 

[GoodVibesOnly 206]

4 minutes ago, PR&PR said:

Are you telling me we could expedite the GC or EAD/AP process? 

I knew the K1 couldn't be expedited by paying, so I didn't even think about doing this for this part...Now I am within where I am supposed to receive something so it feels stupid to pay extra, when in fact I am almost passed normal processing time (not as bad as some of you though, but I am still going to pull that string).

Oh no, about the GC i have no idea, i don't think so? I was talking about emergency travel when you don't have the Ap yet. But I am really not certain of such information - haven't search about this in the official websites, just read them somewhere in the forum. Do not take my word for it! But I'll try to do some research on my own since it's interesting.

[Jesusboy 217]

I hear a sound!