Over 200+ days waiting for EAD

[indokayak 2]

My wife has been waiting for over 200+ days to get her travel and work document.  We married on a K-1 in June 2017.  We filed an out-of-normal-processing-time request twice, and filed a congressional inquiry at the beginning of the month.  The Congresswoman said she contacted USCIS, but still nothing has happened and everything is still pending.  My wife is starting to have a difficult time actually, she is feeling idle and simply misses her family.  Her sister wanted to visit and the consulate told her that they have suspended interviews after she applied for a visa, which is a result of US-Russia tensions.  She cannot work, she cannot visit her family, and they cannot visit her.  Has anyone else had such issues, and are there any recommendations?  Can she at least apply for jobs, or would this be seen as an attempt to work illegally by immigration officials?  Are there any risks on her volunteering for something?   Any insight or thoughts would be appreciated. 

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

A lot of people apply for jobs before getting their EAD, then request expedite if offered a job.

 

Some employer's obviously are hesitant if you tell them "I can't legally work right now" but still you technically can apply and interview, shouldn't cause any issues.

 

Volunteering is always a great thing, and as long as she doesn't except any form of payment, that's fine.

[car0593 42]

my parents have been waiting for there EAD's for 203 days now..... unfortunately the back logs are insane

[Hamilton 511]

202 days for me! Perhaps we should have some kind of party?

[indokayak 2]

44 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

202 days for me! Perhaps we should have some kind of party?

Haha, yes the 200 and over club party

[Londonergirl 133]

I applied in August and haven't heard a thing.  How come that some people who applied after us already got their EAD?

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

You can expedite with  job offer based on financial hardship after 75 days. If accepted it still takes 4 weeks or so to get approved.

[indokayak 2]

55 minutes ago, Londonergirl said:

I applied in August and haven't heard a thing.  How come that some people who applied after us already got their EAD?

That is a good question.  I do not know, maybe some people get moved through the security/background checks faster.

[Marieke H 2,507]

10 hours ago, indokayak said:

My wife has been waiting for over 200+ days to get her travel and work document.  We married on a K-1 in June 2017.  We filed an out-of-normal-processing-time request twice, and filed a congressional inquiry at the beginning of the month.  The Congresswoman said she contacted USCIS, but still nothing has happened and everything is still pending.  My wife is starting to have a difficult time actually, she is feeling idle and simply misses her family.  Her sister wanted to visit and the consulate told her that they have suspended interviews after she applied for a visa, which is a result of US-Russia tensions.  She cannot work, she cannot visit her family, and they cannot visit her.  Has anyone else had such issues, and are there any recommendations?  Can she at least apply for jobs, or would this be seen as an attempt to work illegally by immigration officials?  Are there any risks on her volunteering for something?   Any insight or thoughts would be appreciated. 

She can definitely apply for jobs. I searched for jobs while I was waiting for my EAD to keep myself busy (I completely understand how your wife feels!). I applied for one job, thinking it would be good to practice the application and possibly an interview. Then I was offered the job, which came as a big surprise. My employer was even patient enough to wait 6 weeks, that was how long it took to expedite my EAD.

Encourage her to research jobs, figure out what she would like to do, send some applications. It will keep her busy and focused on the future instead of the long, boring days she may be experiencing now. She might have her EAD by the time she is offered a job, she might find an employer who is willing to wait for an expedite, and if not, she will have perfected her resume and application skills by the time her EAD arrives. 

Good luck!

[LorRie 37]

I believe she can volunteer at the local food bank(s), as I've done that before (although I was on a student visa at that time). You are basically just there for manual labor for 2-3 hours. They don't ask to see any IDs and you are not getting paid. You simply just sign up (usually online), walk in on the day of the volunteer job, sign in, and they put you right to work with everyone else who is volunteering. At the end of the "shift", you just leave. What you might get is some free water/cookies   ...and you leave feeling wonderful that you've just done some good things. Usually at these volunteer things I also get to interact with people, have small talk with people (human interaction definitely helps to make one feel less lonely). They might just be simple conversations and nothing too deep, but it does help. If you are not in the mood for small talk/interaction, you can just be silent and focus on the task at hand. 

This is just my advice as I am also here in the US by myself (as in, parents/siblings/cousins/friends are not here) and I've found these things helps the loneliness/boredom feeling a little.  

I'm not sure if you were referring to other volunteering like at some sort of office type setting, but this is also something she could consider (and perhaps some good karma points ). 

[car0593 42]

guys good news!!! My moms EAD renewal finally got approved JUST now after 204 days. PD was 08/07/17... no word yet on my fathers even though we sent them at the same time (it could be because we did get a RFE this past Friday for his I 485..so maybe that's why)

 

good things will start happening to all of yall as well!

guys, another good news... at 8 PM eastern I got another email about my FATHERS EAD... JUST GOT APPROVED AS WELL  I am so happy!! I thought that since a RFE was mailed out for his AOS on 2/23/18, that it would put his EAD on hold..but NOPE.. RFE evidently do NOT affect EAD's!!

[ocjmakaveli 16]

It was 186 days for my ead approval at msc center. Good luck got approved few days ago.

 

We get what we pay for hurray republicans.

[Isabella_NZ 54]

On 27/02/2018 at 8:50 PM, car0593 said:

guys, another good news... at 8 PM eastern I got another email about my FATHERS EAD... JUST GOT APPROVED AS WELL  I am so happy!! I thought that since a RFE was mailed out for his AOS on 2/23/18, that it would put his EAD on hold..but NOPE.. RFE evidently do NOT affect EAD's!!

Just FYI the RFE's on AOS's can affect the EAD. It put my EAD on hold for almost a month.

[Sirisaysyes 7]

259 days no answers from no one  At least this gives me some hope maybe...