F2A 2018 AOS Filers

[NikkiRN 0]

On 1/2/2019 at 9:55 AM, VG31 said:

@NikkiRN

Happy New Year,

 

Well to be honest I still don't understand how local office works on a case, I've seen mixed responses in terms of scheduling an interview. Some people have got their interview scheduled even though their local office processing date is still not current and some who is like me or you are still awaiting for their interview date.

 

To answer your question, I've not had my interview scheduled yet, it still says 'we are ready to schedule your interview'.

 

My PD is 04-27-2017 for i-130 (still pending) and was filed initially at CSC, It got transferred to NBC on 10/17/2018 and since then no words from them yet.

I filed i-485 along with AP and EAD on 08/28/2018 and got my Bio-metrics done on 24th Sept 2018 and after that my I-130 was got transferred to NBC. 

 

I think the reason why they transferred i-130 to NBC so that they can have all my files together and then can start looking into my case but I also think they will send over my file including i-130 to my local office in Seattle and once the review is done that's when they will schedule the interview.

 

I am not anticipating my interview to be scheduled till my priority date in Chart A becomes current or maybe the processing time for Seattle becomes current which is still 24 months behind  .

 

Honestly I've no idea and not even my attorney understand this  .

 

All we can do is to wait because we cannot put a service request until our date is current.

 

Please keep us posted if anything changes for you in future.

 

Good luck to you.

 

Thanks,

V

Hi @VG31,

 

Thanks for your response. It will be a long wait then. I hope all will be well for all of us. I’ll keep you posted.

[txa30 3]

On 1/4/2019 at 3:10 PM, VG31 said:

@txa30Thank you for your response. Really appreciate that.

 

Your situation is exactly same like me and I am also on H1b and will completing 6 years cap this year  .

 

Keep us posted on your progress.

Have you received courtesy letter for I-693 or you submitted medical examination report with your submission. I haven't received it yet.

[ladybirdapple 7]

Hi guys, 

 

After the last post regarding the USCIS call, I did go back on this forum and found lot of useful information and experiences that you shared.

 

Just try to understand how the local filed office process the I-485 and arrange the interview schedules, so far, I saw @QAF2A, @BenSherry, @lilydenris, @thepanda got their interview scheduled, did you guys received any notification regarding 485 package or 130 form have been transfer to your local filed office before interview scheduled?

 

My I-130 form is in California Service Center and has been approved; I filed my AOS (I-485) to the NBC when I live in CA, now I move back to NYC area and my local field office will be NYC office, so I imagine that before NYC schedule my interview, is there a step that my I-130 and I-485 need to be transfer to the NYC field office?  Just wondering to those who already get their interview scheduled, did you receive any notification regarding the case transfer to your local office?

In additional, I see most of the ppl here have their I-485 status as Ready to schedule interview, and we have similar PD more or less between end of 2016 and first two quarter of 2017, what’s your next plan if visa bulletin Chart A become current in the next 2-3 months? How to contact your local office to notify them that we should be scheduled for the interview? I’m asking only because it seems impossible to schedule an infopass appointment in NYC area.

 

Thank you all for your feedback!

[VG31 23]

21 hours ago, txa30 said:

Have you received courtesy letter for I-693 or you submitted medical examination report with your submission. I haven't received it yet.

@txa30I received the courtesy letter for i-693 5-10 days after my bio-metric was completed. I did get my medical done after I received the letter. Per new policy the medical will be valid for 2 years instead of 1 year. I am not sure how this affect us or work. You don't need to submit the medical right now, you're required to take the sealed medical report along with you at the time of your interview. The doctor will give you a copy for your record and other one will be sealed that needs to be given to the officer at the time of interview.

 

Hope this helps.

[VG31 23]

20 hours ago, ladybirdapple said:

Hi guys, 

 

After the last post regarding the USCIS call, I did go back on this forum and found lot of useful information and experiences that you shared.

 

Just try to understand how the local filed office process the I-485 and arrange the interview schedules, so far, I saw @QAF2A, @BenSherry, @lilydenris, @thepanda got their interview scheduled, did you guys received any notification regarding 485 package or 130 form have been transfer to your local filed office before interview scheduled?

 

My I-130 form is in California Service Center and has been approved; I filed my AOS (I-485) to the NBC when I live in CA, now I move back to NYC area and my local field office will be NYC office, so I imagine that before NYC schedule my interview, is there a step that my I-130 and I-485 need to be transfer to the NYC field office?  Just wondering to those who already get their interview scheduled, did you receive any notification regarding the case transfer to your local office?

In additional, I see most of the ppl here have their I-485 status as Ready to schedule interview, and we have similar PD more or less between end of 2016 and first two quarter of 2017, what’s your next plan if visa bulletin Chart A become current in the next 2-3 months? How to contact your local office to notify them that we should be scheduled for the interview? I’m asking only because it seems impossible to schedule an infopass appointment in NYC area.

 

Thank you all for your feedback!

@ladybirdappleYou must update your new address online with USCIS so that they can have your updated record in their system. Please follow this link -- https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do  

 

Not sure if your new field office will have your new address updated or not. I guess you may want to give them a call and try to find out how the process works when there is a change in address and local field office also changes because of the relocation. 

 

I don't think we can file a request before the processing date is current at local field office. Not sure about if we can contact them once the Chart A date becomes current. Have not seen any recent examples on this forum who is in the same situation. Sorry for not being able to help.

 

Please let us know whatever you find about this.

 

Thanks,

[VG31 23]

11 minutes ago, VG31 said:

@txa30I received the courtesy letter for i-693 5-10 days after my bio-metric was completed. I did get my medical done after I received the letter. Per new policy the medical will be valid for 2 years instead of 1 year. I am not sure how this affect us or work. You don't need to submit the medical right now, you're required to take the sealed medical report along with you at the time of your interview. The doctor will give you a copy for your record and other one will be sealed that needs to be given to the officer at the time of interview.

 

Hope this helps.

Here is the link to new policy update for Medical Report -- https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/Updates/20181016-I-693Validity.pdf 

[issea 43]

Hi VJ F2A AOS folks, I finally join this group and filed my AOS application in late Dec 2018, which is really really delayed given my PD of I-130 on Feb 1, 2017. Another big change is my spouse recently passed the citizenship interview and civics test and the oath ceremony is in about 3 weeks. 

 

So here comes my questions: 

I filed I-485 under F2A, so should I contact USCIS promptly for the change of filing category after my spouse takes the oath? I searched around and only find topics regarding upgrading I-130 petition from F2A to IR1 rather than I-485 alone case. And the online suggestions are to make an Infopass appointment to update the related information. However, my field CIS office is not accepting any infopass appointments or walk-in inquires. Do you have suggestions for what I should do? Thanks a lot. 

 

P.S.: I also wonder if I could make such change when I attend for the biometrics appointment, since for now I just got my 1st notice that they received my application and accepted the fingerprint fees, and I am likely to do my biometrics some time in February. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by issea

[VG31 23]

1 hour ago, issea said:

Hi VJ F2A AOS folks, I finally join this group and filed my AOS application in late Dec 2018, which is really really delayed given my PD of I-130 on Feb 1, 2017. Another big change is my spouse recently passed the citizenship interview and civics test and the oath ceremony is in about 3 weeks. 

 

So here comes my questions: 

I filed I-485 under F2A, so should I contact USCIS promptly for the change of filing category after my spouse takes the oath? I searched around and only find topics regarding upgrading I-130 petition from F2A to IR1 rather than I-485 alone case. And the online suggestions are to make an Infopass appointment to update the related information. However, my field CIS office is not accepting any infopass appointments or walk-in inquires. Do you have suggestions for what I should do? Thanks a lot. 

 

P.S.: I also wonder if I could make such change when I attend for the biometrics appointment, since for now I just got my 1st notice that they received my application and accepted the fingerprint fees, and I am likely to do my biometrics some time in February. 

Hi there,

 

I did some research and this is what I found, your petitioner need to send a formal letter to NVC explaining about the situation. Please find the link from one of the forum -

 

https://www.***removed***/greencard/***removed***/petition-upgrade.html

 

https://citizenpath.com/upgrade-an-i-130-petition-after-naturalization/ 

 

Sample Letter - https://www.***removed***/greencard/***removed***/sample-immediate-relative-upgrade-letter.html

 

Also, here is the official info I found from travel.state.gov site (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html ) -

 

When I filed a petition for my relative I was a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder). I recently became a U.S. citizen. How does this affect my family members?

 

If you filed a petition for your spouse and/or children when you were a lawful permanent resident (LPR) and you are now a U.S. citizen, the type of immigrant visa that your family members can receive will change. When you become a U.S. citizen, you must submit proof of citizenship to the National Visa Center (NVC) so they can update your family member’s visa category. Scan and save one of the below items as a PDF or JPG file. Then send it as an e-mail attachment to AskNVC@state.gov. Write your case number in the subject line of your e-mail and attach either:

• A copy of the biodata page of your U.S. passport; or
• A copy of your certificate of naturalization.

Effect on spouses and minor children: If you filed a petition for your spouse or minor children (under age 21 and unmarried) while you were an LPR, the visa category was family second preference (F2A). When you become a U.S. citizen, NVC will upgrade the petition to an immediate relative (IR) visa category. This benefits your immigrating family member(s) because there are no limits on the number of visas that can be issued each year in the IR categories.

• Important: If the family second preference (F2A) petition that you filed for your spouse included your minor children, now that you are a U.S. citizen you must file new and separate petitions for each child. This is because children cannot be included as “derivative applicants” on a parent’s immediate relative (IR) visa or petition. (This is different from the family second preference petition, which allows minor children to be included in their parent's petition.)
   
• Children born abroad after you became a U.S. citizen may qualify for U.S. citizenship. They should apply for U.S. passports. The consular officer will determine whether your child is a U.S. citizen and can have a passport. If the consular officer determines your child is not a U.S. citizen, the child must apply for an immigrant visa if he/she wants to live in the United States.

Effect on adult children: If you filed a petition for your unmarried adult children (age 21 or older) when you were an LPR, NVC will change the visa category from family second preference (F2B) to family first preference (F1). However, under a federal law called the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), visa applicants can “opt out” of conversion to the F1 visa category and remain an F2B visa applicant. This may be beneficial because sometimes the waiting time for an F2B visa is shorter than the waiting time for an F1 visa. When you naturalize and become a U.S. citizen, you should check the Visa Bulletin to see if it would be helpful for your adult unmarried child to remain in the F2B category. (Applicants keep the priority date of their F2B petition when it converts to the F1 visa category.) Applicants who want to opt-out of the F1 category must submit a request using these guidelines:

• Applicants whose case is at NVC should submit requests using NVC’s online inquiry form. NVC will forward the request to USCIS and change the visa category back to F2B upon receipt of USCIS’s approval.
   
• Applicants whose case is at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate overseas should ask the embassy to submit a request on their behalf. The consular officer will forward the request and adjudicate the visa application in the F2B category only upon receipt of USCIS’s approval.

Please note that the process to apply for a visa does not differ between the F2B and F1 categories. Visa applicants still need to pay the required fees, complete a visa application, and submit the required civil and financial documents. The only difference is in when their priority date becomes “current,” which is what allows a consular officer to adjudicate and issue an immigrant visa.

 

 

 

Hope this may help.

 

Thanks,

V

Edited January 9, 2019 by VG31

[issea 43]

5 hours ago, VG31 said:

Hi there,

 

I did some research and this is what I found, your petitioner need to send a formal letter to NVC explaining about the situation. 

My understanding is when I applied for AOS with USCIS, NVC will be left behind, and I don't expect NVC would talk to CIS for the case upgrade. Nevertheless, my case now is at NVC and I wrote to NVC explaining I am physically in the US and doing AOS and will not go through consular processing any longer. It may require extra time for them to transfer my case back to USCIS. 

[ladybirdapple 7]

On 1/9/2019 at 12:02 PM, VG31 said:

@ladybirdappleYou must update your new address online with USCIS so that they can have your updated record in their system. Please follow this link -- https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do  

 

Not sure if your new field office will have your new address updated or not. I guess you may want to give them a call and try to find out how the process works when there is a change in address and local field office also changes because of the relocation. 

 

I don't think we can file a request before the processing date is current at local field office. Not sure about if we can contact them once the Chart A date becomes current. Have not seen any recent examples on this forum who is in the same situation. Sorry for not being able to help.

 

Please let us know whatever you find about this.

 

Thanks,

Hi VG,

Thank you for your information and reply!

 

I already updated my address with USCIS when I move last year. And when I traveled back to Sates during last thanksgiving, I went to the second inspection when I use my EAD/AP card to get into the boarder; the only question officer asked is my current address which is my current NY address. So I’m sure USCIS have my current address updated. I got a data tracking sheet for people’s timeline from PD, schedule interview and get the GC, I saw mainly from NYC area, people usually go to interview and get their card right away. It seems there is no case that go to interview before chart A is current, so I’ll just wait. Hopefully they will schedule the interview soon. But I’ve also seen cases waiting for interview for 2-3 years…and when I call the USCIS, I cannot find out which office/service center have my case to be honest, and of course the they will not tell you such info on the phone….

[VG31 23]

@AhsanTX@thepanda @QAF2A @Tenreyro@Bfree3  

 

How are you doing? Any new updates at your end?

 

Hope things are fine with you guys.

 

Thnx,

V

[Poohmini 1]

Hi guys, 

 

i am glad I found this forum. I am so hesitant to let it go maintanance of my status. I filed AOS in oct 2018 and my PD is March 2017. My i130 is approved and waiting for my EAD. We have a tight budget and I am a F-1 student. Do I still need to maintain my status? My lawyer said highly recommend but it is wasting my time and money. Thank you. 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Poohmini

[thepanda 87]

3 hours ago, Poohmini said:

Hi guys, 

 

i am glad I found this forum. I am so hesitant to let it go maintanance of my status. I filed AOS in oct 2018 and my PD is March 2017. My i130 is approved and waiting for my EAD. We have a tight budget and I am a F-1 student. Do I still need to maintain my status? My lawyer said highly recommend but it is wasting my time and money. Thank you. 

Definitely recommend but not needed. I filed AOS in May 2018 and lost my status July 1st. I am still waiting for my GC though even though I have been approved at my interview. 

[thepanda 87]

On 1/16/2019 at 2:30 PM, VG31 said:

@AhsanTX@thepanda @QAF2A @Tenreyro@Bfree3  

 

How are you doing? Any new updates at your end?

 

Hope things are fine with you guys.

 

Thnx,

V

No approval of i-130 yet and also no GC yet. Kinda expected that. I am gonna get worried when the Final Action Chart A will become current and I don't get my GC by then. But for now I am quite busy with work. 

[Poohmini 1]

2 hours ago, thepanda said:

Definitely recommend but not needed. I filed AOS in May 2018 and lost my status July 1st. I am still waiting for my GC though even though I have been approved at my interview. 

Thank you for the reply thepanda. Maybe I might get interview next month as well hopefully. Entire process is so stressful. Congratulations for approval on ur GC.