MARCH 2019 - AOS Filers

[Jose&Jeff 126]

After receiving the EAD/AP card on Wednesday, the green card arrived today! My EAD/AP card was useful for two days, it seems such a waste of time for the people processing this things and a very inefficient process overall. EAD/AP card, as a temporary solution for people awaiting AOS should be available much sooner as it was in the past. 

[SusannZ 111]

So guess who literally chased down the mail man on his route today to get my ead card? 😂 I had requested the post office put my mail on hold. Which they didn't and word to the wise, they did NOT put my forwarding sticker on the letter. So I had the lady call the mail carrier and tell me where he was and I chased him down! I was 20 min late back from my break but I have it in my hand haha! 

[Shiran 1,134]

Got our EAD/AP card without any adventures in the mailbox. USPS tracking and USCIS updates worked flawlessly for a change.

In a separate shipment, GC left Kansas City, MO USPS distribution center and should be arriving Monday. 

I guess we get to keep EAD as a souvenir. 

[Prizm123 1,086]

11 minutes ago, Shiran said:

Got our EAD/AP card without any adventures in the mailbox. USPS tracking and USCIS updates worked flawlessly for a change.

In a separate shipment, GC left Kansas City, MO USPS distribution center and should be arriving Monday. 

I guess we get to keep EAD as a souvenir. 

i am starting to wonder what is the point of AP and EAD now if they are going to all arrive in a fairly similar timeframe, seems a waste of time and resources to have them separate and finished separately if it will all be approved at the same time anyway...

[Shiran 1,134]

6 minutes ago, Prizm123 said:

i am starting to wonder what is the point of AP and EAD now if they are going to all arrive in a fairly similar timeframe, seems a waste of time and resources to have them separate and finished separately if it will all be approved at the same time anyway...

Well, you can kinda see how system Originally meant to work which made sense:

K-1 enters US, K-1 authorized for work for 90 days, they get EAD stamp in passport at PoE, good for 90 days.

Couple gets married, files AoS/EAD/AP. 

EAD/AP gets approved a month down the road, good for a year.

I-94 expires as well as EAD passport stamp from PoE, but that is fine as EAD/AP card is still good

At some point later AOS interview happens and GC is issued, EAD/AP is collected and destroyed.

 

Clearly that is how the system was first conceived to work. But with delays, and eliminations of EAD stamps in the passport, it becomes unglued, confusing mess that doesn't make sense. Filing for EAD/AP is still good, because well.. it is free, relatively easy evidence that you will have regardless, no interview, and it is good to hedge your bet in case GC takes much longer than 6 months. It just weird how in our case we got both at almost exactly same time. 

[JoelThai 313]

54 minutes ago, Shiran said:

Clearly that is how the system was first conceived to work. But with delays, and eliminations of EAD stamps in the passport, it becomes unglued, confusing mess that doesn't make sense. Filing for EAD/AP is still good, because well.. it is free, relatively easy evidence that you will have regardless, no interview, and it is good to hedge your bet in case GC takes much longer than 6 months. It just weird how in our case we got both at almost exactly same time. 

*RANT ON*

Yes, it is a mess....    My thinking is that it is unfortunate that USCIS is not able to prioritize issuance of EAD/AP for those of us who are assigned to local offices with long processing waits, such as San Francisco (projected waits of 17.5 - 24 months for family based adjustment).   To see members receiving both EAD/AP and Greencard nearly simultaneously (no fault of the applicant) illustrates the misallocation and waste of USCIS resources.   My question is how difficult is it to recognize which offices are running short greencard processing times and do not need EAD/AP and prioritize the processing of EAD/AP for those with longer waits.

 

I am happy for my lucky fellow March AOS VJ members who already have Greencards in hand.   But why can't USCIS reallocate resources between the local offices to bring Greencard processing times in balance?   And, if it really needs to be this way, why can't USCIS prioritizes EAD/AP processing for those with the long local waits.  

 

And when filing an enquiry regarding a case outside of normal processing, why not flag the case and give it priority over issuing a useless EAD/AP cards to those who already have interviews scheduled for a greencard, instead of just ignoring the filing?

*RANT OFF*

 

Thank you for listening.   But my wife is still waiting after 6 months for an EAD/AP card and expects to wait at least another 12 to 18 months for a greencard.   I hope you understand my position.  I feel a little bit better after getting that off my chest. 🙂

 

 

[Shiran 1,134]

6 minutes ago, JoelThai said:

Thank you for listening.   But my wife is still waiting after 6 months for an EAD/AP card and expects to wait at least another 12 to 18 months for a greencard.   I hope you understand my position.  I feel a little bit better after getting that off my chest. 🙂

 

Yeah, I don't blame you. And I looked at your timeline, and seeing how you had no RFE, I am not sure why your EAD/AP not approved yet, you filed 2 full weeks before us, and as far as I could tell they go mostly in chronological order for EAD approvals. I was using CaseTracker to scan batches of 500 apps, and we were approved at about time I expected when other people who filed at/around same date were getting approved. Obviously GC is a different story. SF has over 12000 cases backlog last I checked. 

[JoelThai 313]

31 minutes ago, Shiran said:

Yeah, I don't blame you. And I looked at your timeline, and seeing how you had no RFE, I am not sure why your EAD/AP not approved yet, you filed 2 full weeks before us, and as far as I could tell they go mostly in chronological order for EAD approvals. I was using CaseTracker to scan batches of 500 apps, and we were approved at about time I expected when other people who filed at/around same date were getting approved. Obviously GC is a different story. SF has over 12000 cases backlog last I checked. 

 

Thanks for your insight.   It aligns mostly with what I see when I scan 500 cases around mine.    But, I do see many other I-131 cases also in a "Case Was Received" state within my scan, but I just am not sure if this may be because they have already received greencards, or they are in the same boat as me.   But yes, no RFEs.   

 

A possible clue is our I-485 was updated to "Case is Ready to be Scheduled for an Interview" during the first week of August, about the same time I would have expected the EAD/AP to be issued.  I wonder if it is the national office that sets the status to "Ready to be Scheduled", or the local office.   I ask because I am thinking that the I-485 status should have normally updated earlier than August, but maybe delays due to the backlog in San Francisco.   My best hope is that the EAD/AP is somehow slightly delay due to the delay in the I-485 being ready for scheduling.  But I just have no idea.

 

If anyone has any insight into the "normal" timeline of EAD/AP processing and the I-485 changing status to "ready to be scheduled", I would be interested in what your experience was.

[dr01d3k4 21]

59 minutes ago, JoelThai said:

*RANT ON*

Yes, it is a mess....    My thinking is that it is unfortunate that USCIS is not able to prioritize issuance of EAD/AP for those of us who are assigned to local offices with long processing waits, such as San Francisco (projected waits of 17.5 - 24 months for family based adjustment).   To see members receiving both EAD/AP and Greencard nearly simultaneously (no fault of the applicant) illustrates the misallocation and waste of USCIS resources.   My question is how difficult is it to recognize which offices are running short greencard processing times and do not need EAD/AP and prioritize the processing of EAD/AP for those with longer waits.

 

I am happy for my lucky fellow March AOS VJ members who already have Greencards in hand.   But why can't USCIS reallocate resources between the local offices to bring Greencard processing times in balance?   And, if it really needs to be this way, why can't USCIS prioritizes EAD/AP processing for those with the long local waits.  

 

And when filing an enquiry regarding a case outside of normal processing, why not flag the case and give it priority over issuing a useless EAD/AP cards to those who already have interviews scheduled for a greencard, instead of just ignoring the filing?

*RANT OFF*

 

Thank you for listening.   But my wife is still waiting after 6 months for an EAD/AP card and expects to wait at least another 12 to 18 months for a greencard.   I hope you understand my position.  I feel a little bit better after getting that off my chest. 🙂

 

 

I agree. My local office is also San Francisco, and I'm still waiting for my EAD/AP after 11 months! Wife and I filed October 18th 2018, had 2 RFEs, went ready to schedule for interview on July 24th 2019, but no update on EAD/AP at all. Sent 3 service requests to USCIS, contacted a senator with no response, and also submitted a case assistance request to the ombudsman earlier today.

[JoelThai 313]

14 minutes ago, dr01d3k4 said:

I agree. My local office is also San Francisco, and I'm still waiting for my EAD/AP after 11 months! Wife and I filed October 18th 2018, had 2 RFEs, went ready to schedule for interview on July 24th 2019, but no update on EAD/AP at all. Sent 3 service requests to USCIS, contacted a senator with no response, and also submitted a case assistance request to the ombudsman earlier today.

Yikes!   This is not encouraging.   Which Senator did you contact?   That was going to be my next step after my current enquiry "expires" on the 28th.   I know one of them is busy trying to become President.....  🙄    I am going to follow you to see what happens with the ombudsman.  I hope it is good news soon.

 

 Clearly something is wrong....   Now I wonder if the SF office is the common denominator....

[Shiran 1,134]

1 hour ago, JoelThai said:

If anyone has any insight into the "normal" timeline of EAD/AP processing and the I-485 changing status to "ready to be scheduled", I would be interested in what your experience was.

I kept Google spreadsheet of each and every permutation and status change.

Here is the detailed timeline:

2019-03-25	I-485/I-131/I-765 Package sent via USPS
2019-03-27	AoS Package delivered to Chicago Lockbox
2019-03-29	CA DMV ID card applied
2019-03-29	SSN Issued
2019-04-05	CA DMV Permit Received
2019-04-05	SSN Received
2019-04-06	I-485 NOA1 recieved in the mail
2019-04-06	I-131 NOA1 recieved in the mail
2019-04-06	I-765 NOA1 recieved in the mail
2019-04-08	CA State ID received in the mail
2019-04-12	I-797C Biometrics Appointment Notice Received
2019-04-15	Biometrics Completed
2019-05-08	I-485 Ready to be scheduled for interview (old site)
2019-07-29	I-485 Interview was scheduled
2019-08-03	I-797C Interview Notice received
2019-09-05	I-765 Card is being produced
2019-09-06	I-131 AP Case Approved
2019-09-09	i-485 Interview Date
2019-09-10	I-765 Card was mailed
2019-09-10	I-485 Case Approved / Card Is being produced
2019-09-11	I-765 Card picked up by USPS
2019-09-13	I-765/I-131 Combo EAD/AP Card received
2019-09-13	I-485 Card picked up by USPS

Notice for biometrics we did a "walk in" We went to ASC basically right away after getting the notice, and not on a scheduled date that was a month out. I don't know if it played any role in speeding up the process. Case changed to "Ready to be scheduled" for I-485 on 8 of May. So that is quite a bit earlier than the date you mentioned.

[JoelThai 313]

54 minutes ago, Shiran said:

Notice for biometrics we did a "walk in" We went to ASC basically right away after getting the notice, and not on a scheduled date that was a month out. I don't know if it played any role in speeding up the process. Case changed to "Ready to be scheduled" for I-485 on 8 of May. So that is quite a bit earlier than the date you mentioned.

 

Thanks for sharing your data.   I guess you were quick to get the California ID card before your I-94 had less than 30 days left.   We just missed that mark, so, another reason why we need the EAD, to get a California ID card.   

 

We did a walk in for the BIO appt as well to the assigned San Francisco office, but I guess it did not help.  It seems that there is no rhyme or reason to predicting how USCUS does things.   Why it took so long for our I-485 to update to "ready" is also a mystery.   

 

Tonight I reviewed several VJ profiles indicating K1 AOS for the San Francisco office, and it seems that it is not too unusual to see processing of the EAD/AP taking 180 - 210 days, so that gives some hope.   If not, at about the 210 day point I will have the option to contact the ombudsman, but hopefully that will not be necessary.

Edited September 14, 2019 by JoelThai

[HSsweethearts4E 117]

2 hours ago, JoelThai said:

But, I do see many other I-131 cases also in a "Case Was Received" state within my scan, but I just am not sure if this may be because they have already received greencards, or they are in the same boat as me.   But yes, no RFEs. 

When you receive the green card the I-131 status changes to "case closed" so Im guessing they must be in the same boat as you

[JDP91 118]

Damn. Hubby and I were really hoping this would be the week for EAD. Even tho I believe we’re out of normal processing times (“case received” 4/1), he called yesterday and the rep didn’t even mention the option of making an inquiry. They just said it will probably be approved by the end of the month. 

[rye_212 126]

13 hours ago, dr01d3k4 said:

I agree. My local office is also San Francisco, and I'm still waiting for my EAD/AP after 11 months! Wife and I filed October 18th 2018, had 2 RFEs, went ready to schedule for interview on July 24th 2019, but no update on EAD/AP at all. Sent 3 service requests to USCIS, contacted a senator with no response, and also submitted a case assistance request to the ombudsman earlier today.

Wow. That is worrying evidence for my case and others with RFEs.