Case Was Received At My Local Office

[Tina and Johan 206]

5 hours ago, babe2012 said:

 

Thank you Tina and John. So the expiration of the extension letter is the expiration on our conditional green card right? Not the one on the notice? Did the immigration officer asked you a lot of questions when you came back?

There were no questions asked.  The customs officer understood how his job works.  But (see below) I guess it can be an issue for some.

 

4 hours ago, mindthegap said:

You forgot:

-Unable to use global entry that has been paid for (doesn't pertain to us)

-Having to pay to renew licenses frequently (five in four years here) (hasn't pertained to us)

-Licenses having 'Temp visitor' or similar on, like DACA people (this alone boils my p*ss ) (husband's license says nothing like that.)

-Having to visit secondary every single time you re-enter the country. (not once)

-Unable to check in online for certain airlines.  (not an issue so far, and we travel a lot)

-Having to mess about trying to secure an infopass appointment  (not yet, but fairly soon, as the letter expires in May)

-Some clueless staff (not just airlines) who don't know what the extension stamp/letter is (Prepared for this)

-Being unable to produce a valid permanent resident card and the extension letter/stamp look totally DIY, causing questions about your status (hasn't pertained to us)

-Employment authorization issues by clueless HR staff  (never been an issue)

-Not being eligible for certain jobs until your conditions are removed (USPS for example) (USPS actually only requires you have a drivers license from the USA for 2 years.  that's been my husband's experience anyway.)

-Filing AR-11s that don't actually update the address and you then miss mail (interview letters/RFEs that get sent to the old address) (doesn't pertain to us)

-Receiving a short notice interview notice when travelling/scheduled to travel (not so far)

-The possibility of receiving a denial out of the blue, even worse if it happens when you might be out of the country (Not expected to happen here)

-An RFE for more recent versions of documents you already sent (possibility, but checking USCIS and VJ doesn't change that at all)

-Marital issues (divorce/separation) not quite being as straightforward, as you have to take into account immigration consequences (happily married and staying that way)

-Travel issues (mexico are funny about the letter and insist on a stamp / russia & india are bigger bureaucratic nightmare than normal, to name a few) (Been to Mexico; we had zero problems)

-Sheer lack of communication - you get your extension, biometrics and then NOTHING for perhaps a year. Not online, not in the mail, NOTHING. (This one I will agree with.  It sucks.  but it doesn't keep you from making life decisions.)No communication whatsoever as to what you are supposed to do when the extension letter expires.-Vague validity of the extension letter (admittedly this has been clarified on the letter itself since June 2017 but wasn't prior to that) (We didn't have issues understanding its validity) 

-ssues with mortgages (doesn't pertain to us)

-Issues with apartment/house rental leases (never a problem.  Not at all)

-Issues with car leases  (Never a problem, and we've gotten THREE car loans since he moved here, 2 with the temp green card, and one after it expired)

-Being told completely contradictory and conflicting things by multiple USCIS staff (we don't bug them about our case.  We just wait so far and do what we're supposed to do)

-Being flat out lied to by USCIS staff (so far, not as far as I can tell.  although we haven't had near the drama that some others have had)

 

ALL of the above (and more) can be found by people on here, including myself. Overall just the total lack of any feeling of security that you have in your adopted country that you are a lawful permanent resident of, is not great, and added to that you are at the total mercy of frankly awful and rude USCIS staff who might possibly struggle to qualify for a job at the DMV or drive-thru.

It is a massive issue that can and does seep into many aspects of life for a lot of people.

I wouldn't say that there's a lack of a feeling of security on my husband's part.  This isn't his first rodeo though.  He's also an Irish citizen after moving to Europe from South Africa.  I guess we're just lucky.  Or patient, or ... following the rules, or IDK.  But complaining, continually calling, and talking about how horrible USCIS doesn't help either.  

4 hours ago, mindthegap said:

 

It should not be like this.  (Agree wholeheartedly with this)

The system is definitely flawed.  But what's the alternative?  You stay and deal or you go back to your home country and don't.  Some things you just endure if your end game is to stay in the USA (not trying to be a jerk, but seriously, what's your alternative?)

 

4 hours ago, Ketsuban said:

It's keeping me from moving because I want to receive my card. 

Ya, that sucks.  Not sure they're keeping you from that decision, but I can see how you find it to be a better choice than risking it.  I've lived in my house for 8 years, and have zero intention to move, but if I did intend to move, I don't think worrying about USCIS would keep me from doing it.  Plenty of people move without incident.  

 

It seems like I'm in the minority, but in the long run, checking VJ and USCIS does literally ZERO for us and our sanity.  It'll remedy when it remedies.  No amount of speculation will hurry it along.  And as far as the long list of gripes above, almost none of them pertain to us.  So I guess, as said above, we're pretty lucky.  I can only sympathize with those they *do* pertain to.   

[Tina and Johan 206]

28 minutes ago, Tina and Johan said:

There were no questions asked.  The customs officer understood how his job works.  But (see below) I guess it can be an issue for some.

 

I wouldn't say that there's a lack of a feeling of security on my husband's part.  This isn't his first rodeo though.  He's also an Irish citizen after moving to Europe from South Africa.  I guess we're just lucky.  Or patient, or ... following the rules, or IDK.  But complaining, continually calling, and talking about how horrible USCIS doesn't help either.  

The system is definitely flawed.  But what's the alternative?  You stay and deal or you go back to your home country and don't.  Some things you just endure if your end game is to stay in the USA (not trying to be a jerk, but seriously, what's your alternative?)

 

Ya, that sucks.  Not sure they're keeping you from that decision, but I can see how you find it to be a better choice than risking it.  I've lived in my house for 8 years, and have zero intention to move, but if I did intend to move, I don't think worrying about USCIS would keep me from doing it.  Plenty of people move without incident.  

 

It seems like I'm in the minority, but in the long run, checking VJ and USCIS does literally ZERO for us and our sanity.  It'll remedy when it remedies.  No amount of speculation will hurry it along.  And as far as the long list of gripes above, almost none of them pertain to us.  So I guess, as said above, we're pretty lucky.  I can only sympathize with those they *do* pertain to.   

Wanted to update: I asked my husband if he feels insecure here.  I made the assumption that all was fine with him and how he felt.  And i was correct.  He actually said that he feels more a part of this country than he ever did in Ireland, since there, it's a 4-year wait AFTER you apply for citizenship.  So I guess we're all good here.  He also reminded me that he did have to go to secondary once, and that was while we were abroad and his initial green card was approved. We didn't have it, of course, and he was asked ONE question, then easily went through customs.

 

Edit to add: he says he feels like if he wasn't married to me he would feel like this process does keep him from making life decisions, which was a surprise to me.  So I apologize to anyone who was annoyed or offended by my American mindset that it's no big deal.  He wouldn't feel nearly as secure living here if he wasn't anchored to me.  

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by Tina and Johan

[Scazy 78]

5 September 2016 fillers got approval today, letters came from CSC. All of them got "local office transfer" status prior just like majority of us. It's proves that cases has never been transferred, and it's clearly a glitch. Yay!!!! Maybe it's time to unsubscribe from this thread and just sit tight. I'd still go to my infopass though since it's already scheduled, but that's about it! Woohoo 

[David and Sinthea 50]

 sorry if this is slightly off topic. I'm desperate to understand.  My husband's card expired May 26, 2017. Her has his extension letter for ROC,  dated May 24, 2017. Can he now apply for citizenship online while we wait?  Thanks!

[Dashinka 24,505]

4 hours ago, Sinthea said:

 sorry if this is slightly off topic. I'm desperate to understand.  My husband's card expired May 26, 2017. Her has his extension letter for ROC,  dated May 24, 2017. Can he now apply for citizenship online while we wait?  Thanks!

You should ask a moderator to move this to a separate thread for more responses.  Regardless, a couple of comments, the extension letter expires one year from the date the GC expired, not the date on the letter.  He can apply for citizenship three years less 90 days from the date on his GC, so count out three years from the date on the GC and subtract 90 days.  If he meets that criteria, then sure, he can file the N400.  Having a pending ROC does not keep anyone from filing the N400.

 

Good Luck!

[Jebee 26]

7 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

You should ask a moderator to move this to a separate thread for more responses.  Regardless, a couple of comments, the extension letter expires one year from the date the GC expired, not the date on the letter.  He can apply for citizenship three years less 90 days from the date on his GC, so count out three years from the date on the GC and subtract 90 days.  If he meets that criteria, then sure, he can file the N400.  Having a pending ROC does not keep anyone from filing the N400.

 

Good Luck!

Yes. As long as he met all the requirements. Also, I applied as soon I became Eligible  with a pending ROC ( 90days before my 3 year anniversary of my Green Card) I am now waiting my Oath which is next week. Good luck to you and to your husband.

Became a Permanent Resident on January  21, 2015

Filed ROC on Oct 2016

 

10/23/2017- sent to Phoenix, AZ lockbox via USPS
10/26/2017- NOA 1 with IOExxxx receipt number
10/28/2017- Biometric scheduled (online status)
11/16/2017- Biometric done at ASC
01/10/2018- online status updated - Interview has been scheduled
02/14/2018- Interview (passed) but decision cannot be made because of pending ROC. Officer has to review it first before he will approved my n400. 
02/20/2018- online status updated- We placed you in line for youth ceremony and will send you a notice. .......
03/02/2018- Oath letter mailed

03/20/2018- Oath Ceremony

Edited March 13, 2018 by Jebee

[Derwood 203]

Hi Guys,

 

Just a quick update on my N-400/I-751 visit to USCIS today.

I had an N-400 Biometrics appointment scheduled at noon and an I-751 Mis-Infopass scheduled at 1pm. When booking the Infopass, I thought I ought to give myself an hour just incase they were slammed.

 

I arrived at the Biometrics Office 11:30am and was greeted by a lovely woman. There was only one other person in the room and they had just finished their biometrics. The woman asked me to complete the standard sheet/questionnaire. I was 'Code 5' on my biometrics letter so I just had to do a photo, signature and place my four right-hand fingers on the scanning pad simultaneously and that was it! I was out of the door by 11:35am! Five minutes later my N-400 application status changed to 'My case is being actively reviewed by USCIS'.  My expected completion date also jumped back from January 2019 to November 2018.

 

I headed up to the main USCIS office hoping they might see me regarding my outstanding I-751 early. When I got to the office it was dead, with just a few people coming and going, including bored looking members of staff. Naturally. I still had to wait until 12:50pm to be seen. I handed the woman on the desk my passport, I-751 extension letter and expired green card. About 20 minutes later, I was called in by a friendly immigration officer. He asked to take two fingerprints and another photo. He then handed me back my passport with a 12 month I-551 stamp and returned my expired green card,

 

I then mentioned that I'd received a case transfer notice the day before stating that my I-751 case was being transferred to the NBC. He said he couldn't see much on the computer, but said my case was probably being transferred to their office for a combo interview with my N-400. The officer said that it should be a combo interview, but sometimes they still do the I-751 & N-400 separately.

 

I then asked the officer if they were seeing a sudden and recent surge in I-751 cases at the office. He said no, and that they only process the few that need an interview, and that the service centers process the majority of the cases. I didn't ask him if he knew about thousands of cases being transferred to local offices, but I didn't get the impression that he did.

 

Anyway, back to waiting for me. I'm hoping to see a status update of 'We reviewed your biometrics' by tomorrow.

 

Good luck all!

[asdfzc 6]

52 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Hi Guys,

 

Just a quick update on my N-400/I-751 visit to USCIS today.

I had an N-400 Biometrics appointment scheduled at noon and an I-751 Mis-Infopass scheduled at 1pm. When booking the Infopass, I thought I ought to give myself an hour just incase they were slammed.

 

I arrived at the Biometrics Office 11:30am and was greeted by a lovely woman. There was only one other person in the room and they had just finished their biometrics. The woman asked me to complete the standard sheet/questionnaire. I was 'Code 5' on my biometrics letter so I just had to do a photo, signature and place my four right-hand fingers on the scanning pad simultaneously and that was it! I was out of the door by 11:35am! Five minutes later my N-400 application status changed to 'My case is being actively reviewed by USCIS'.  My expected completion date also jumped back from January 2019 to November 2018.

 

I headed up to the main USCIS office hoping they might see me regarding my outstanding I-751 early. When I got to the office it was dead, with just a few people coming and going, including bored looking members of staff. Naturally. I still had to wait until 12:50pm to be seen. I handed the woman on the desk my passport, I-751 extension letter and expired green card. About 20 minutes later, I was called in by a friendly immigration officer. He asked to take two fingerprints and another photo. He then handed me back my passport with a 12 month I-551 stamp and returned my expired green card,

 

I then mentioned that I'd received a case transfer notice the day before stating that my I-751 case was being transferred to the NBC. He said he couldn't see much on the computer, but said my case was probably being transferred to their office for a combo interview with my N-400. The officer said that it should be a combo interview, but sometimes they still do the I-751 & N-400 separately.

 

I then asked the officer if they were seeing a sudden and recent surge in I-751 cases at the office. He said no, and that they only process the few that need an interview, and that the service centers process the majority of the cases. I didn't ask him if he knew about thousands of cases being transferred to local offices, but I didn't get the impression that he did.

 

Anyway, back to waiting for me. I'm hoping to see a status update of 'We reviewed your biometrics' by tomorrow.

 

Good luck all!

Hi, Thank you for the info. I was wondering the does your spouse needs to be present for the combo interview since it includes the I751? will they more focus on the N-400 application or half/half? 

[booski 1]

My personal case was allegedly received in my local office on February 26th. I didn't know about that at the time and had an InfoPass appointment a day later. The immigration officer checked my case that day and said that there's nothing happening with it at all, so it seems the transfer notice was not in her system. This is just supporting the glitch theory but I would assume that a few weeks later they'd know about it and had a response to any related inquiries.

[PalmTrees 34]

Hi Everyone. I haven't used VisaJourney in such a long time! I started browsing again today and decided to look up my case numbers to see if there was any change. On the USCIS website where you track the case with the one-time entry box, it showed the message about being transferred to the local office on March 5th. I then registered for the other website that is linked earlier in the thread, and had the same "we received your case" message on Feb 25th and Feb 26th that a lot of people have been receiving, but no mention of the March 5th message.

 

At this point I'm trying not to get my hopes up that everything has been approved, but it makes for a nice change to actually have something going on with my case, even if it ends up being a glitch! I filed last Feb, got the extension stamp in the passport about 4 weeks ago and had resigned myself to waiting until around July to hear anything new based on the CSC backlog.

 

Will be interesting to see what develops in the next few weeks, but I hope it results in some good news for us all.

[Jack88 15]

4 hours ago, Jebee said:

Yes. As long as he met all the requirements. Also, I applied as soon I became Eligible  with a pending ROC ( 90days before my 3 year anniversary of my Green Card) I am now waiting my Oath which is next week. Good luck to you and to your husband.

Became a Permanent Resident on January  21, 2015

Filed ROC on Oct 2016

 

10/23/2017- sent to Phoenix, AZ lockbox via USPS
10/26/2017- NOA 1 with IOExxxx receipt number
10/28/2017- Biometric scheduled (online status)
11/16/2017- Biometric done at ASC
01/10/2018- online status updated - Interview has been scheduled
02/14/2018- Interview (passed) but decision cannot be made because of pending ROC. Officer has to review it first before he will approved my n400. 
02/20/2018- online status updated- We placed you in line for youth ceremony and will send you a notice. .......
03/02/2018- Oath letter mailed

03/20/2018- Oath Ceremony

Wow you either go lucky or the Denver office has gotten a heck of a lot slower in the last 3 months. I mean you had been waiting for your I-751 to be adjudicated for about a year, and when you filed for the N-400 it only took 3 months from filing to interview. (Which is great) On the other hand, I was counting on the N-400 which I can file starting in July to take at least 10 months to be processed. You see, if everything goes according to plan by August I'd start my training with the Marines they're going to let me in with a passport stamp as long as it still has 6 months of validity in it, they don't require the actual card. So my ROC will still be pending during my training (If the current 18 months processing time for CSC stands that is), so I was thinking about filing for the N-400 to "delay" the process until I am done at least with initial training which would occur around October, and then if any interview or whatever requires my presence I'd be able to attend it. (God forbid even an ROC interview which as you know is A MUST ATTEND type of arrangement) The thing is that during my initial training I am basically a recluse, I cannot leave training and I am stuck in it for 2 months no matter what. But if they are adjudicating these N-400's as fast as they did yours that puts me in a complicated situation. What a mess! All thanks to CSC efficiency.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Jack88

[Scazy 78]

Guys I just got back from I info pass that I made specifically to figure out where my case at since I'm just like all of us got "case transferred to the local office" updates. 

After looking at my statuses and checking in his system IO told me straight up "this update makes no sence. Must be something wrong with computer system. You case is definetely still at CSC. Don't pay attention to online updates because it's clearly wrong. The only real update you should pay attention to is going to come at the mailbox: RFE, interview or approval. Your case has been at CSC since the date you filed and it's stays there as it showing at our system." 

Then I said there is thousands cases with the same exactl status and he told me well, as I said, it's something wrong with computer system. No mass transfers to local offices ever happened.

 

So, now I finally can sit back and relax knowing my strong guess about the glitch is confirmed and just patiently wait my turn at Cali.

 

 

 

[cyclone27 710]

Maybe glitch maybe not? Others have been told different at info pass appointments. Just shows there is no consistency what so ever.

[gc@gc 184]

3 minutes ago, Scazy said:

Guys I just got back from I info pass that I made specifically to figure out where my case at since I'm just like all of us got "case transferred to the local office" updates. 

After looking at my statuses and checking in his system IO told me straight up "this update makes no sence. Must be something wrong with computer system. You case is definetely still at CSC. Don't pay attention to online updates because it's clearly wrong. The only real update you should pay attention to is going to come at the mailbox: RFE, interview or approval. Your case has been at CSC since the date you filed and it's stays there as it showing at our system." 

Then I said there is thousands cases with the same exactl status and he told me well, as I said, it's something wrong with computer system. No mass transfers to local offices ever happened.

 

So, now I finally can sit back and relax knowing my strong guess about the glitch is confirmed and just patiently wait my turn at Cali.

 

 

 

 

USCIS just finished redesigning its website, and is going to release it soon, but i dont believe that will cause something or anything

 

[Scazy 78]

8 minutes ago, gc@gc said:

 

USCIS just finished redesigning its website, and is going to release it soon, but i dont believe that will cause something or anything

 

Not sure how it's related to my post, but IO checking location of the case not by using a case status on web site, but through inner system. 

I bet local offices would know if they got thousands on 751 transferred to them.