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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Argentina
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just had our interview! it went well and the lady that interviewed us was very nice, but I had formed the impression that this would be super quick and it didn't feel like that so much... she took her time and went carefully through lots of stuff asking a lot of questions. it was OK. when she decided she'd recommend approval she really helped us by warning to be very careful with not missing the date limit for submitting the removal of conditions application (in about 2 years from now) and that we keep accumulating evidence for that time because things are getting tougher and tougher. also that once we do that it'll take an additional year and a half for that process to be completed. she seemed very sympathetic towards us immigrants and was sad about people who hired online attorney services that end up getting their application rejected and wasting a huge amount of time and money as apparently happened to a couple that came before us.

 

other interesting info: only one person in that office had ever seen / was familiar with the particular variation of the DS-3025 that they handed me over in Argentina and kind of implied if that hadn't been the case they would have made a fuss and maybe asked me to do a new medical. also, soon the rules will change and if for new cases the AOS application isn't filed WITHIN TWO MONTHS of the overseas medical, a new one will be required. she didn't seem happy about this sort of thing. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ does any of you know where else I should post about this on VJ? people who are at that stage might find that info useful! or someone might want to update the K1/AOS guide when that happens.

 

best part of the day: when, after everything was done we got back to the car and I see a voicemail in my phone: "hello, we're from USCIS, we regreto to inform you that your interview... [suspense] was cancelled due to problems with water in the area and the building will be closed (???????), do not show up, we'll send you a new appointment letter" (they did have problems with water, our officer was very annoyed - also the case tracker now says that the interview TOOK PLACE so we're not that worried that this supposed reschedule overwrites what happened today in the database LOL... you know it's not a paranoid thought knowing how everything works there!). we never ever ever had an interaction with USCIS that didn't involve some sort of mix up (usually more than one at the same time) and the feeling "they said things were OK but they're not giving me 100% reason to trust they're OK". go figure.

 

close second place 🥈: had to update our address for the 3rd time because neither the online address change form and the customer service phone call for that purpose had any effect on their database.

 

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Filed: Citizen (pnd) Country: Nigeria
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6 hours ago, Matiela said:

just had our interview! it went well and the lady that interviewed us was very nice, but I had formed the impression that this would be super quick and it didn't feel like that so much... she took her time and went carefully through lots of stuff asking a lot of questions. it was OK. when she decided she'd recommend approval she really helped us by warning to be very careful with not missing the date limit for submitting the removal of conditions application (in about 2 years from now) and that we keep accumulating evidence for that time because things are getting tougher and tougher. also that once we do that it'll take an additional year and a half for that process to be completed. she seemed very sympathetic towards us immigrants and was sad about people who hired online attorney services that end up getting their application rejected and wasting a huge amount of time and money as apparently happened to a couple that came before us.

 

other interesting info: only one person in that office had ever seen / was familiar with the particular variation of the DS-3025 that they handed me over in Argentina and kind of implied if that hadn't been the case they would have made a fuss and maybe asked me to do a new medical. also, soon the rules will change and if for new cases the AOS application isn't filed WITHIN TWO MONTHS of the overseas medical, a new one will be required. she didn't seem happy about this sort of thing. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ does any of you know where else I should post about this on VJ? people who are at that stage might find that info useful! or someone might want to update the K1/AOS guide when that happens.

 

best part of the day: when, after everything was done we got back to the car and I see a voicemail in my phone: "hello, we're from USCIS, we regreto to inform you that your interview... [suspense] was cancelled due to problems with water in the area and the building will be closed (???????), do not show up, we'll send you a new appointment letter" (they did have problems with water, our officer was very annoyed - also the case tracker now says that the interview TOOK PLACE so we're not that worried that this supposed reschedule overwrites what happened today in the database LOL... you know it's not a paranoid thought knowing how everything works there!). we never ever ever had an interaction with USCIS that didn't involve some sort of mix up (usually more than one at the same time) and the feeling "they said things were OK but they're not giving me 100% reason to trust they're OK". go figure.

 

close second place 🥈: had to update our address for the 3rd time because neither the online address change form and the customer service phone call for that purpose had any effect on their database.

 

Congratulations! Goes to show not everyone buys into this bullcrap and fear these guys are peddling. A lot of folks are decent people still hanging in there, probably waiting to ride out this ugly storm. They keep changing the rules, making it harder all the time, but those at the front lines will continue to be empathetic in doing their jobs. Believe that. 

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UPDATE!

 

My case has changed to “interview scheduled”  (Detroit field office)

 

EAD/AP still on case recieved as of April 2nd! Haha if I wasn’t laughing, I’d be crying. 

 

Praying that this all gets sorted soon! There finally seems to be light at the end of my tunnel. 

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: New Zealand
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16 hours ago, Matiela said:

other interesting info: only one person in that office had ever seen / was familiar with the particular variation of the DS-3025 that they handed me over in Argentina and kind of implied if that hadn't been the case they would have made a fuss and maybe asked me to do a new medical. also, soon the rules will change and if for new cases the AOS application isn't filed WITHIN TWO MONTHS of the overseas medical, a new one will be required. she didn't seem happy about this sort of thing. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ does any of you know where else I should post about this on VJ? people who are at that stage might find that info useful! or someone might want to update the K1/AOS guide when that happens

 

Conversely, medicals will now be valid for a full 2 years instead of 1, which I think is an improvement.  My husband and I were well within the 2 month medical-to-AOS filing window so I'm hoping that if they try to make him get a new medical (I'm at a veeeeery slow field office), we can argue that it would still be valid under the new policy.  

Edited by mysticdolphin95
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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Cambodia
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On 10/21/2018 at 8:01 PM, antipasti7 said:

Quick question about Driver License

 

so I went to DMV on Oct 9 to renew my DL, but DMV had to send my information to USCIS for secondary verification (I used my EAD to prove legal presence).

 

Until now I still don’t have my DL. How long did it take you guys before you get your Drivers license?

 

My wife was able to get DL right away, they do it using any of the following:

 

-They can give you 60-90 day DL based on I-94 date

-They can give you 6-12 month DL based on NOA 1 for AOS

-They can give you DL based on EAD 

 

She did the second one, and we renewed under the 3rd one already. 

 

I made a thread about my misadventures with the NJ motor vehicle commission. Each NJ location gave me different answers, I found on with answers I like and got the DL. (One office said we need to wait for green card lol)

 

 


 


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3 hours ago, George & Roth said:

 

My wife was able to get DL right away, they do it using any of the following:

 

-They can give you 60-90 day DL based on I-94 date

-They can give you 6-12 month DL based on NOA 1 for AOS

-They can give you DL based on EAD 

 

She did the second one, and we renewed under the 3rd one already. 

 

I made a thread about my misadventures with the NJ motor vehicle commission. Each NJ location gave me different answers, I found on with answers I like and got the DL. (One office said we need to wait for green card lol)

Well when I renewed my DL, they gave me a temporary DL that is valid until Jan. I was just wondering when I could get the physical card.

 

How long did it take for your wife to get the actual DL?

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I got a REF and we went to info pass today to ask if our documents are ok. We also asked when is our interview will be. 

But the officer in info pass was so helpless and made me angry. Basically he didn’t tell us anything and said he didn’t know either. So bureaucratic! He said he was not an lawyer . Of course we know he was not an lawyer , he was an immigration officer and that was why we went to him. But it was totally waste of time. 

We also asked why our office was so slow and he said there were 4 million cases in the country and they didn’t compare with others. What does that even mean ??

i was hoping to get some help from them in the infopass but, his way just upset and frustrated me more. 

 

 

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On 10/22/2018 at 7:37 PM, Matiela said:

just had our interview! it went well and the lady that interviewed us was very nice, but I had formed the impression that this would be super quick and it didn't feel like that so much... she took her time and went carefully through lots of stuff asking a lot of questions. it was OK. when she decided she'd recommend approval she really helped us by warning to be very careful with not missing the date limit for submitting the removal of conditions application (in about 2 years from now) and that we keep accumulating evidence for that time because things are getting tougher and tougher. also that once we do that it'll take an additional year and a half for that process to be completed. she seemed very sympathetic towards us immigrants and was sad about people who hired online attorney services that end up getting their application rejected and wasting a huge amount of time and money as apparently happened to a couple that came before us.

 

other interesting info: only one person in that office had ever seen / was familiar with the particular variation of the DS-3025 that they handed me over in Argentina and kind of implied if that hadn't been the case they would have made a fuss and maybe asked me to do a new medical. also, soon the rules will change and if for new cases the AOS application isn't filed WITHIN TWO MONTHS of the overseas medical, a new one will be required. she didn't seem happy about this sort of thing. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ does any of you know where else I should post about this on VJ? people who are at that stage might find that info useful! or someone might want to update the K1/AOS guide when that happens.

 

best part of the day: when, after everything was done we got back to the car and I see a voicemail in my phone: "hello, we're from USCIS, we regreto to inform you that your interview... [suspense] was cancelled due to problems with water in the area and the building will be closed (???????), do not show up, we'll send you a new appointment letter" (they did have problems with water, our officer was very annoyed - also the case tracker now says that the interview TOOK PLACE so we're not that worried that this supposed reschedule overwrites what happened today in the database LOL... you know it's not a paranoid thought knowing how everything works there!). we never ever ever had an interaction with USCIS that didn't involve some sort of mix up (usually more than one at the same time) and the feeling "they said things were OK but they're not giving me 100% reason to trust they're OK". go figure.

 

close second place 🥈: had to update our address for the 3rd time because neither the online address change form and the customer service phone call for that purpose had any effect on their database.

 

Uh oh....should we prepare to possibly have to pay for a new medical??

 

And congratulations on a sucessful interview!

Edited by Sarah&Facundo
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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Argentina
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31 minutes ago, Sarah&Facundo said:

Uh oh....should we prepare to possibly have to pay for a new medical??

 

And congratulations on a sucessful interview!

thank you!!! glad this is sort of over, for now.

 

hopefully not, I've never read about anything like that happening to other people. it probably was just "almost bad luck" - also sometimes we felt she was testing me by questioning the value of the documents we submitted just to see how I'd react. my wife's theory mostly, but it's possible. I handed her the "original copy" (LOL) that I brought from arg and she was satisfied (she didn't keep any originals). if you didn't get an RFE asking for that and the medical is less than a year old you should be OK.

 

she also was like "I regret to inform you that you don't have enough money as per your affidavit" and my wife replied "that's why my mom is the joint sponsor!" and she said "joint sponsor? I don't see any extra affidavit here..." but she found it after some searching. they really have a thousand variables, rules and specific factors for each case that they have to keep in mind while pressured to work fast, so it's not really that surprising. we took everything original AND copied just in case and most of it wasn't even needed, but you never know what they're going to expect from you once you're there.

 

good luck!

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Argentina
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also I just want to add that finally seeing the famous "file" where supposedly everything related to my case is held together is quite a weird feeling. this bulky and boring light-brown folder that looked like it was taken straight out of a bureaucratic hell movie like Brazil (which is awesome BTW especially for people like us to have a laugh at our own situation) concentrated such power over our lives in the past couple years but we'd never seen it before. it's like an ominous thing. like (and I know I'm exaggerating here, but I want to put it into words somehow) listening to a judge that's deciding your future while the executioner stands right beside sharpening his axe in case it's needed. things went well! it just wasn't enjoyable at all lol.

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: United Kingdom
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On 10/21/2018 at 5:01 PM, antipasti7 said:

Quick question about Driver License

 

so I went to DMV on Oct 9 to renew my DL, but DMV had to send my information to USCIS for secondary verification (I used my EAD to prove legal presence).

 

Until now I still don’t have my DL. How long did it take you guys before you get your Drivers license?

 

I'm having the same issue. I read on Facebook some people say theirs took up to 2 months 🙄

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On 10/23/2018 at 1:37 AM, Matiela said:

just had our interview! it went well and the lady that interviewed us was very nice, but I had formed the impression that this would be super quick and it didn't feel like that so much... she took her time and went carefully through lots of stuff asking a lot of questions. it was OK. when she decided she'd recommend approval she really helped us by warning to be very careful with not missing the date limit for submitting the removal of conditions application (in about 2 years from now) and that we keep accumulating evidence for that time because things are getting tougher and tougher. also that once we do that it'll take an additional year and a half for that process to be completed. she seemed very sympathetic towards us immigrants and was sad about people who hired online attorney services that end up getting their application rejected and wasting a huge amount of time and money as apparently happened to a couple that came before us.

 

other interesting info: only one person in that office had ever seen / was familiar with the particular variation of the DS-3025 that they handed me over in Argentina and kind of implied if that hadn't been the case they would have made a fuss and maybe asked me to do a new medical. also, soon the rules will change and if for new cases the AOS application isn't filed WITHIN TWO MONTHS of the overseas medical, a new one will be required. she didn't seem happy about this sort of thing. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ does any of you know where else I should post about this on VJ? people who are at that stage might find that info useful! or someone might want to update the K1/AOS guide when that happens.

 

best part of the day: when, after everything was done we got back to the car and I see a voicemail in my phone: "hello, we're from USCIS, we regreto to inform you that your interview... [suspense] was cancelled due to problems with water in the area and the building will be closed (???????), do not show up, we'll send you a new appointment letter" (they did have problems with water, our officer was very annoyed - also the case tracker now says that the interview TOOK PLACE so we're not that worried that this supposed reschedule overwrites what happened today in the database LOL... you know it's not a paranoid thought knowing how everything works there!). we never ever ever had an interaction with USCIS that didn't involve some sort of mix up (usually more than one at the same time) and the feeling "they said things were OK but they're not giving me 100% reason to trust they're OK". go figure.

 

close second place 🥈: had to update our address for the 3rd time because neither the online address change form and the customer service phone call for that purpose had any effect on their database.

 

Congratulations!!! I am always curious about questions... can you give examples or were there any that surprised you?

ROC:  Received Jan 25 2021    NOA 1: February 25 2021 (LIN/Nebraska).    BIOMETRICS: April 30  2021
APPROVED: June 23 2021     CARD DELIVERED:   June 30 2021

AOS:          Received Date:  April 2      NOA 1:  April 5 2018
Biometrics:  April 27  Fingerprint Review Was Completed:  April 30
Case Ready to be scheduled: May 3
( that update only showed up in August! after being notified about EAD&AP )
EAD&AP  We approved your case:  August 8   /  In the mailbox:  August 16 2018
Interview   -    March 14 2019    (
Notice Date:  February 1)  -   Approved!

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Argentina
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1 hour ago, Martella&T said:

Congratulations!!! I am always curious about questions... can you give examples or were there any that surprised you?

thanks! nothing that posed a problem really, the only surprising thing was the amount/length I guess...

 

let's see what I remember... she began with a tiny bit of small talk and right after asked my wife (the USC) my birth date. then she said "so, you met in Argentina..." to which I corrected her, and that was followed by more questions about our history of meeting/separating until we were finally together in the US. maybe I had to correct her a couple more times. maybe she "assumed" wrong places/dates from our story to see if we'd agree or not? it's also possible that she skimmed the whole thing super quickly 30 seconds before the interview started.

 

a funny thing is that the interviewer said "ah, that's when you started to plan on getting married" or something like that,  I was ready to start rambling how we wanted to be together and knew the process would be long and difficult etc etc. I would have forgotten to mention the one important detail which is that she proposed to me online a couple months before flying over to move in with me and that would have looked bad LOL. just as I opened my mouth my wife felt like talking because it would cause a better impression and (asking permission first, because 95% of questions were addressed to me) told that story, in the process saving me from looking like I didn't know something. smart woman ❤️

 

you know, you're there all nervous and worried about saying something in a way that could be misunderstood (or that they'll ask something about your documents that you didn't even think about) with your mind racing and that doesn't help. anyway, our story got to our wedding when she wanted to know if my family could attend, etc etc. saw my wife's grampa on a picture and asked who he was, I also pointed out my parents.

 

after that she moved on to more of my stuff, in the form section where you're asked about organizations you were a member of I put a charity I volunteered in a couple times (distributing food and blankets in winter to the homeless), a couple meditation courses I took (one of which I participated in as a volunteer helper) and that I signed up to the Argentine association of Esperanto speakers (that's an artifical language, you just get together with others and speak it for fun, it's a very nerdy thing... it's as if we were all startrek fans and got together to speak klingon or something). she asked me to explain all 3 in detail with what I felt like was a little suspicion. In the case of esperanto I explained what the language was and she said she was familiar with it but wanted to know exactly what sort of activity happened in this association and if I was still a member (I said I guess not because I stopped paying the monthly fee lol, she laughed). I told her once my wife was with me in Argentina we went to one of the homeless food & blankets thing together (we asked each other "was this in July?" "no no I think it was in August") and then just never did it again. when asked about the meditation thing I explained they simply are free 10-day intensive courses or retreats in which they teach a meditation technique, and that I really liked it and went twice (again, once with my wife) and then decided to go again to help in the kitchen during another one. she wanted to be absolutely sure I didn't belong to any other organization than the ones on the form.

 

I don't know what else... more misc stuff like wether we speak spanish or english in the household (we said 90% spanish) or how my wife knew spanish so well, things like that. a few questions about the documents too (I mentioned about the joint sponsor affidavit and and the overseas medical in a previous post), she also asked two or three times if I didn't have any other names or nicknames I went by. I said the only thing that may or may not be important is that my name appears (it's not clear LOL) to be written with an accent mark on my birth certificate but not anywhere else, she looked at it closely and said "that's just a dot" haha.

 

she noted down A LOT OF STUFF while I answered things, especially when we were narrating how we met and our periods of being together and long-distance between then and the wedding. she was very thorough, which is a little surprising given what some people reported and the fact that she seemed to be sympathetic to immigrants as I pointed out previously too (another thing we noted: she had a little sticker that said "WOMEN AT WORK" or something like that on a wall - we imagine seeing Trump's framed photo on the USCIS office's hallway every day isn't making her days working there any easier... these photos are mandatory for every federal office right? we saw it in the SSA too).

 

I can't think of anything else, just that we waited maybe 2 hours (not kidding - but also the building had problems that day) and then the interview took a looong time. she did mention in the beginning that our file seemed to be in order and asked if it was a 100% DIY thing, which I very proudly confirmed (I said "I did most of the research on how to do it" - but didn't mention that my wife doesn't know a lot of the specifics of the forms and process, she would have probably seen that as a red flag?). I'm just happy my wife didn't have to bear as much burden as me in figuring out how to fill every form perfectly and gather all the correct documents, y'all here know very well how painful it is.

 

after everything was said and done, she gave plenty of specific advice on what to do in 2 years from now for the ROC... I didn't mention that I'm on a forum called VJ where I got all the useful info (NOT THE USCIS WEBSITE OMG!!!) and that I'd probably find easily what she was telling us as well, but I really appreciate the gesture and thanked her profusely. that sort of attitude is greatly in need and I hope she felt encouraged. she said her decision was "recommend for approval" or something like that and then someone else would review everything and if nothing new and really weird came up we would surely receive the green card 30-60 days from now.

 

I did try to make a little small talk (as much as my nerves allowed) and give a little completely innocuous extra info to a couple of questions so she wouldn't think we were being careful or defensive, but we were. if I had for example told her about VJ she would probably have said "oh, that's so nice that you people help each other with this confusing process" but there's a (small-ish?) chance that that would have made her suspicious and opened a new line of questioning. which would have been fine in the end (hopefully), because we're lucky that we REALLY didn't have anything to hide, but you know... save yourself the pain and reduce the risk of miscommunication if you can help it! :) 

 

hope some of this wall of text is helpful at least by putting your mind at ease, good luck with everything! :)

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Hi guys. So my PD is Apr 2018 but I filed for AP this month, Oct 2018.

 

Will I have another biometrics appointment for my AP application? It’s been 2 weeks and still no biometrics appointment in the mail.

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Filed: Lift. Cond. (pnd) Country: Japan
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20 minutes ago, antipasti7 said:

Hi guys. So my PD is Apr 2018 but I filed for AP this month, Oct 2018.

 

Will I have another biometrics appointment for my AP application? It’s been 2 weeks and still no biometrics appointment in the mail.

AP doesn’t need biometrics

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