Club Colombia AOS!

[HAL 9000 96]

Thank you for the well wishes. HAL sounds like you got a lightning quick response to your AOS. Good luck!!

Oh we actually had to wait up to the 6-month line for me to ask them over the phone what the deal was. Then mysteriously we got our interview-less approval the following week. We'll apply for removal later this year I think. Got to make sure.

[Bill y Bella 0]

FINALLY!!!! We have our AOS interview on April 20th!!!

Congratulations Andrea! (But what took so long? )

I just came back to VJ today after a long absence and I see things have not changed much with USCIS. Still lots of delays and misinformation.

[paisita411 0]

FINALLY!!!! We have our AOS interview on April 20th!!!

Congratulations Andrea! (But what took so long? )

I just came back to VJ today after a long absence and I see things have not changed much with USCIS. Still lots of delays and misinformation.

Not sure what took so long. But I'm sure the OBUDSMAN lit the fire under them to give us an interview. This is the same thing that happened to TONYS. I guess its just luck of the draw, some folks get the interview right away and we were on the other end of the stick.

[TonyS 0]

FINALLY!!!! We have our AOS interview on April 20th!!!

Congratulations Andrea! (But what took so long? )

I just came back to VJ today after a long absence and I see things have not changed much with USCIS. Still lots of delays and misinformation.

Not sure what took so long. But I'm sure the OBUDSMAN lit the fire under them to give us an interview. This is the same thing that happened to TONYS. I guess its just luck of the draw, some folks get the interview right away and we were on the other end of the stick.

Yeah the process is not very good. Thanks to Visajourney we have two couples who are dear friends. We all live in Connecticut and both wives are from Colombia. Both couples were approved in about 2-3 months without a interview. I thought my wife and I would have the same fortune. I was fooled because everything before worked like clockwork. We were by the VSC in 27 days. I took great pride in putting together complete packages using the information I gleamed from Visajourney and immigration books. In the end it took over a year to get a interview. I don't understand the process. I must say after so much anticipation, the interview was anticlimactic. We waited about 1 hour for the interview and it last about 20 minutes. We were asked 3 or 4 questions. The agent actually thank us for having a complete and well assembled package.

Edited March 18, 2009 by TonyS

[Juan Carlos 0]

Dear friends,

I have some great news to report Today we had our AOS interview, and everything went great!! The officer was friendly, and questions were relatively simple. He didn't ask for any additional evidence, although he did ask for all the originals that we sent with our I-485 petition.

The only moment of tension was when he simply couldn't find in our file our Medical exam form.... because we never submitted one. If your medical exam in Bogota took place a less than a year before your interview, you don't need the form. After checking and re-checking, we came to the conclussion we didn't need one.

After that little hiccup, he then proceeded to explain to my wife the process on how to become a US citizen in three years, about how she could change her last name if she wanted, etc etc.

But I do have a question for you: he didn't stamp her passport. Said if an emergency happended and she needed to travel abroad, we could request an Infopass to get the stamp. Does this sound normal to you?

After such a long process, after all the adrenaline... I am sure you all understand what I mean, I feel kind of strange, leaving the interview without a stamp, a paper, a physical something to actually show the world that my wife is now a resident. Guess I'll have to wait, once more, now for her green card.

On another subject, Andrea, congratulations on your interview !! Well deserved!! My best wishes to you and your spouse! You've been an inspiration throughout all this process.

Juan Carlos.

[Bill y Bella 0]

I just finished reading the entire thread and now I feel ready to start preparing the paperwork. Thanks to everyone that has posted here. VJ really is a great place filled with fantastic people.

I came across some old famliar names while reading and it was good to see that everyone seems to have made great progress despite the usual USCIS confusion and roadblocks. However, the absence of one previously prolific VJ poster for almost a year worried me a little. Does anyone know what happened to Byron as in Byron-Leidy (or something similar)? He seems to have disappeared just as he was beginning the AOS process.

[HAL 9000 96]

I just finished reading the entire thread and now I feel ready to start preparing the paperwork. Thanks to everyone that has posted here. VJ really is a great place filled with fantastic people.

I came across some old famliar names while reading and it was good to see that everyone seems to have made great progress despite the usual USCIS confusion and roadblocks. However, the absence of one previously prolific VJ poster for almost a year worried me a little. Does anyone know what happened to Byron as in Byron-Leidy (or something similar)? He seems to have disappeared just as he was beginning the AOS process.

Good question. I think they were having some sort of health issues last I read about them... hope they are a-ok!

Good to see you on this side.

[Mononoke28 135]

Yeah, Byron didn't come back to VJ after his girlfriend, now wife I assume arrived in New York. Hope all is well with them.

Diana

[Bill y Bella 0]

I need to make sure Bella gets her AP by July so that she can visit her family to see new babies, attend weddings etc. It is not really an emergency except for the fact that I will probably wind up in the emergency room at the hospital if she cannot go.

I would like to submit my package ASAP but it may take a while for me to get everything ready and we are running out of time on the AP. If I submit an incomplete package and they issue RFE's, does the processing of the AP get held up until I submit the missing information or does the AP application proceed on its own despite the RFE's?

Other than the ability to travel we are not in a rush to complete the AOS so I thought maybe I could submit an incomplete package to get the AP ball rolling and take my time in responding to the RFE's.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[TonyS 0]

Dear friends,

I have some great news to report Today we had our AOS interview, and everything went great!! The officer was friendly, and questions were relatively simple. He didn't ask for any additional evidence, although he did ask for all the originals that we sent with our I-485 petition.

The only moment of tension was when he simply couldn't find in our file our Medical exam form.... because we never submitted one. If your medical exam in Bogota took place a less than a year before your interview, you don't need the form. After checking and re-checking, we came to the conclussion we didn't need one.

After that little hiccup, he then proceeded to explain to my wife the process on how to become a US citizen in three years, about how she could change her last name if she wanted, etc etc.

But I do have a question for you: he didn't stamp her passport. Said if an emergency happended and she needed to travel abroad, we could request an Infopass to get the stamp. Does this sound normal to you?

After such a long process, after all the adrenaline... I am sure you all understand what I mean, I feel kind of strange, leaving the interview without a stamp, a paper, a physical something to actually show the world that my wife is now a resident. Guess I'll have to wait, once more, now for her green card.

On another subject, Andrea, congratulations on your interview !! Well deserved!! My best wishes to you and your spouse! You've been an inspiration throughout all this process.

Juan Carlos.

Seems weird that you didn't get a stamp but you should receive the green card in 2 weeks or less so it doesn't matter. Congratulations!

[TonyS 0]

Bill I believe the AP is processed separately. You may want to get the AOS package in as soon as possible because AP processing across the board is averaging about 2 months. I submitted our package under the old system before July 2007. I didn't apply for AP because I foolishly believed the AOS process would not take long. Later I needed them quickly for my wife and stepdaughter. The processing of AP can be expedited if you need it for a emergency. I included a letter stating that my wife's grandfather was very sick. I got them in less than 2 weeks. I have read that you can go to some local offices and get them in 2-3 days. My office here did not have that option. So there are other options if the time is getting close.

[Juan Carlos 0]

Thanks, Tony!! I keep my fingers crossed!

Juan Carlos

[HAL 9000 96]

I need to make sure Bella gets her AP by July so that she can visit her family to see new babies, attend weddings etc. It is not really an emergency except for the fact that I will probably wind up in the emergency room at the hospital if she cannot go.

I would like to submit my package ASAP but it may take a while for me to get everything ready and we are running out of time on the AP. If I submit an incomplete package and they issue RFE's, does the processing of the AP get held up until I submit the missing information or does the AP application proceed on its own despite the RFE's?

Other than the ability to travel we are not in a rush to complete the AOS so I thought maybe I could submit an incomplete package to get the AP ball rolling and take my time in responding to the RFE's.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Ah Bill... welcome to the wonderful world of having married a colombiana.

Keep her happy as much as possible!!

Well... I think you should submit all of the paperwork complete so that you avoid any potential mix ups with USCIS and its RFEs.

Bill I believe the AP is processed separately. You may want to get the AOS package in as soon as possible because AP processing across the board is averaging about 2 months. I submitted our package under the old system before July 2007. I didn't apply for AP because I foolishly believed the AOS process would not take long. Later I needed them quickly for my wife and stepdaughter. The processing of AP can be expedited if you need it for a emergency. I included a letter stating that my wife's grandfather was very sick. I got them in less than 2 weeks. I have read that you can go to some local offices and get them in 2-3 days. My office here did not have that option. So there are other options if the time is getting close.

We used that same reason and got AP very quickly as well.

[paisita411 0]

On another subject, Andrea, congratulations on your interview !! Well deserved!! My best wishes to you and your spouse! You've been an inspiration throughout all this process.

Juan Carlos.

Juan Carlos,

Congratulations on the interview. I guess now you can sit tight and wait for the actual card. How exciting. Thank you for your compliment. I can't say this hasn't been a bit frustrating, but having my husband here makes a huge difference in the patience factor. After August last year we stopped checking the mail box and decided to wait it out. I had TONY S as a benchmark and I figured I would make it through eventually. For the interview, we're going OVERPREPARED. Tons of pictures, letters from friends, bills, bank and credit card statements, insurance forms....THE WORKS. I don't have as much fear of the interview as I thought, really it registers low on my worries right now, but I do want to take plenty of physical evidence. I hope to have good news for everyone on the 20th.

Andrea

[Bill y Bella 0]

The kids had their immigration physicals today for the I-693's. They were necessary because it has been more than a year since their visa physicals in Colombia. $150 each but at least they threw in the vaccinations for free. On top of the cost the bad part is that we were there for 4 hours. Bella goes tomorrow for hers. Hopefully it won't take another 4 hours.