I-751 November 2020 filers

[Locito 85]

On 11/10/2021 at 7:00 PM, picaso34 said:

Should i start looking to change my flight to go back to the US in around 10 more days or wait for the notice to get in the mail to see what will the interview date be? My case number starts with MSC and i checked at the USCIS field office locator with my zipcode and it says the corresponding ASC is Lawrence, MA. I'm half happy half worry now!!! I appreciate any thoughts. Thank you!!!

Is your status Ready to Be Scheduled for an Interview or Interview Scheduled? My experience is that the once the interview IS scheduled, your interview will take place 3-4 weeks after the letter goes out.

 

You can also call the USCIS Contact Center to find out the place and time of the interview once it has been scheduled, but before you receive the letter by mail. This is what I did. They can also send you an additional copy of the letter electronically (since you supposedly need it to enter the USCIS building), but mine never came through—probably because the contact center rep misspelled my e-mail address.

 

The field office locator is a nifty tool, indeed. You probably knew it, but ASC (Application Support Center) locations are not the same as the Field Office locations 😊

[Locito 85]

I guess we have now finished on my road to Removal of Conditions.

 

My wife took a day off work to join me for the RoC interview, and my I-751 was approved at the interview. (Typed a long text with my phone, but I accidentally deleted it, ugh.)

 

I was a bit stressed about getting to the interview on time after looking at some of the other field office reviews on VisaJourney. We parked next to my new(ish) job that happens to be a couple miles down the road from the field office, and took the bus up to the federal building. Once we got there, on this particular morning there were no lines (my scheduled interview time was 8:30 AM), although many people in the main lobby of the building had to sit on the floor because there were not enough benches.

 

At the main door a rude security guard inquired us about our business, and directed to another door maybe a couple of hundred feet to the left. There another rude security guard with major attitude (barely) let us in for scanning of our belongings airport style. The security guards were the worst part of the experience—like TSA, but apparently thinking even more of themselves. Contract awarded to Allied Universal, me thinks? Having previously worked in customer service with direct customer contact I am highly allergic to facing rude behaviour from people working in customer service positions.

 

Once we found the correct room on the correct floor in the huge building, a sign directed us to check in for a I-751 interview in another room on the opposite side of the floor. There they checked my letter, wrote the reviewing officer’s name on it, and sent us back to the room on the other end of the floor we came from. There I gave my letter to a clerk behind a glass window, and he asked us to sit down. After a few minutes, my name was called, and the clerk told us to go back to the room on the other end of the floor where we had checked-in. Once there, both us and the people working in that room were pretty confused. In the end, the interviewing officer came to fetch us and apologized for the mess. And so we headed back...you guessed it...toward the room on the opposite side of the floor my interview letter told us to go to... 😳😂

 

To begin the interview we swore an oath, the officer checked that signatures on the I-751 form were indeed ours, and confirmed that we were still married to each other. Apparently some come to the RoC interview of their ex-spouse 🤷🏼‍♂️ After that he went through the other questions on the I-751 form to check our answers, such as our marriage date.

 

Major parts of the interview consisted of the officer asking questions about how we met each other, when did we begin to live together (when I immigrated to the US), and how we handle our finances. We do have a joint checking account for rent and other bills, but otherwise deal with our finances in a pretty Scandinavian fashion: pay for our own expenses from our accounts.

 

To me the thought of paying everything from a joint account is foreign (suitable word for an immigrant? 🧐), and would cause unnecessary bickering between us since our spending habits are completely different. *cough* Signed, Mr. Big Spender Little Earner *cough*

 

He also wanted to know if we had any kids or if we plan to have any. We don’t.

 

There was some chit-chat during the interview, but it was a good combination of relaxed chatting, and getting the business done. And with various small comments it was interesting to see how the officer had familiarized himself with my file like when noting that "oh, you finally got your 2019 tax transcript. Yes, we made the mistake of filing the taxes for 2019 tax year on paper when Covid started. We added an explanation about this when filing for RoC. The transcript was finally made available without any pomp or circumstance in May 2021—for 2019 taxes...

 

Then at some point during the interview he proceeded to tell us that my petition for removing the conditions had been approved, and he printed the letter saying as much. He said I would use my expired Green Card and 18-month extension letter if I needed to travel before my 10-year card would arrive by mail. Having read horror stories about USPS losing green cards, I have now made sure to plaster our names with big letters on our mailbox 😅

 

Here's a list of additional documents we brought with us to the interview:

– Advance medical directive for both spouses, showing each other as healthcare agents

– Emergency contact information from work for both

– Salary warrant recipient designation form, in case I die and there's any outstanding salary still left to pay

– Employer's health benefit elections for 2022, showing each other as beneficiaries

 

– Tax return transcript for tax year 2019, MFJ, due to Covid-related delays we had not received the 2019 transcript when filing for RoC

– Tax return transcript for tax year 2020, MFJ, 2020 taxes obviously couldn't be filed before sending the RoC package in November 2020

– Copy of my state ID and my wife's driver's license, showing same residential address (had I not had this document, officer wanted to copy our IDs at the interview anyway)

– Rental increase notice issued by the management company, showing the names of both spouses in the same address

– Joint checking account transactions, covering the period after sending the RoC

– Copies of four-five rental checks, paid from our joint checking account after sending the RoC

– Renters’ insurance, showing both spouses as beneficiaries

– Both spouses mentioned as designated beneficiaries for each other's savings accounts

– Life insurance coverage through my job, not sent with the original RoC package

 

– Flight itineraries, trips we've taken and booked together after sending the I-751

(We didn't include any photos for this package.)

 

--

 

Wishing everyone else luck in their continued waiting—since USCIS seem to be so inconsistent. Our journey to RoC took pretty much a year, yet it's really sad to see how many on VJ are still not done after waiting 18 months, 24 months, or even longer.

 

Maybe we'll meet you again in one of the naturalization threads in the future 👋🏻 

[I751&waiting 26]

Received 24 month extension letter today.

 

Why can’t they just issue the GC if it’s been this long and you already had in person interview at initial GC issue.     

[dayotutu1 35]

On 11/27/2021 at 6:34 PM, I751&waiting said:

Received 24 month extension letter today.

 

Why can’t they just issue the GC if it’s been this long and you already had in person interview at initial GC issue.     

YSC November 2020 filer. I received 18 months extension letter late January 2021and in March 2021, I received a letter that my biometrics have been waived. Today, I received 24 months extension letter.

[ODATT 26]

Sent in the package on 11/19 received 11/21 and today received a 24 month extension. 

[Calidas 69]

Sent out package on 11/04/2020, received first extension on 12/17/2020, received 24 month extension on 11/15/2021.

[themaverick7 3]

EAC here. Approved today!

 

Filed Nov-24-2020. Office is EAC (Vermont). Original visa was F1.

Extension letter (24months) received Nov-2021.

Case approved Dec-14-2021.

It took more than a year but case was approved with no RFEs or additional interviews. Makes sense since we did an interview for the initial GC issue.

 

Was getting worried since all the other EAC Nov-2020 filers got theirs approved in September or October. But this journey is finally over.

[Ani924 28]

Some news here, original office was YSC but it was transferred to NBC last week to "speed up processing". I filed 400 back in NOvember. Any idea what this means?

 

If the notice had said they transferred 751 to NBC to schedule an interview it would be simple but I am confused if it means I'm approved for 751 or if I'll get a combo interview?

 

Any thoughts from this group?

[TastyCake 232]

On 11/27/2021 at 6:34 PM, I751&waiting said:

Received 24 month extension letter today.

 

Why can’t they just issue the GC if it’s been this long and you already had in person interview at initial GC issue.     

For single payer universal health care proponents out there, this is what life would be like with your health care with the government in charge... waiting in line for needed services while you waste away.

 

I absolutely agree with you.  The fact that they now give 24 month extension letters is very discouraging.  They should be identifying what the bottlenecks are, fixing those problems and speeding things up.  It really perplexes me how the processing times between the five service centers vary so much.  For example, why does Texas have such a good turnaround time?  Why are Lincoln and Potomac doing so poorly?

 

You shouldn't have to wait longer than 6 months for this process to be adjudicated.  And this should be the case across ALL service centers.

 

[franco_chisco18 24]

16 hours ago, Ani924 said:

Some news here, original office was YSC but it was transferred to NBC last week to "speed up processing". I filed 400 back in NOvember. Any idea what this means?

 

If the notice had said they transferred 751 to NBC to schedule an interview it would be simple but I am confused if it means I'm approved for 751 or if I'll get a combo interview?

 

Any thoughts from this group?

Hey, that means your case was transferred for 3  different reasons.

1. YSC has a high number of pending cases and needs to transfer cases to NBC for faster processing.( this has nothing to do with your N-400)

2. YSC They consider that you do not have the necessary evidence to adjudicate your case and require another interview.  NBC is the only office that can process cases for interviews.  In some cases, the officer at NBC looks at your case again and considers that the interview is not necessary, you only need more evidence or they simply approve it.  in the worst case they schedule the interview. (Again this has nothing to do with you N-400)

3. NBC received your N-400 and you sent a copy of your I-751 receipt, the officer who is reviewing your application realizes that your case is still pending but since you added new evidence that you are still married to the citizen, the officer requested your packet to YSC to then process both applications.  here 2 things can happen. 
(1) The officer receives your I-751 along with the notes of  last officer who reviewed your case, based on those notes and the new evidence you sent in your N-400, the officer can approve your I-751 and continue to process your N-400 . OR 

(2) If the officer agrees with the notes, 2 things can happen.

(2.1) schedule an interview for your I-751 only.

(2.2) schedule an interview for you N-400 and I-751. 
In both cases your spouse will have to go with you to the interview Unless your I-751 is approved You will only have to take the citizenship test. 
all cases are different and unique.  For example, I applied on Nov 2 2020 I-751 the office that processed my case was SRC and they did not approve my until Oct 25 2021 almost a year later, No RFE, no interview. 
During a whole year I saw how other people were being processed and approved by the same office.
Why did my case take longer?  who knows.

Now with my N-400 it's the same again, I'm seeing people receive their appointment for their citizenship test at 3 or 4 weeks after applying and I'm here waiting lol 😂
my advice is continue with your life do not stress that soon you will have a positive response to your case. 

 

[vantango 12]

On 12/15/2021 at 10:50 AM, themaverick7 said:

EAC here. Approved today!

 

Filed Nov-24-2020. Office is EAC (Vermont). Original visa was F1.

Extension letter (24months) received Nov-2021.

Case approved Dec-14-2021.

It took more than a year but case was approved with no RFEs or additional interviews. Makes sense since we did an interview for the initial GC issue.

 

Was getting worried since all the other EAC Nov-2020 filers got theirs approved in September or October. But this journey is finally over.

Congrats! I filed Jan 2021, this is good news if EAC fillers are getting approved after 11 months.

[nickymicky 58]

got 24 months extension letter today.

 

applied N400-12/07/2021

[Jorald02 116]

YSC filer here. 
 

Filed our Removal of Condition -11/6/2020

Fingerprints was taken - 4/2/2021

24 months extension receive -11/2021 

 
But yesterday I received a mail from USCIS for a Biometric Appointment to New Orleans next year January 10, 2022.

 

I got surprised coz I thought they already got my fingerprints since thats what my case status says.I called the USCIS and the lady told me that there might have some confusion on this but her best advice was for me to go to my appointment. So I will.

 

Happy New Year to all. 

 

 

[dayotutu1 35]

2 hours ago, Jorald02 said:

YSC filer here. 
 

Filed our Removal of Condition -11/6/2020

Fingerprints was taken - 4/2/2021

24 months extension receive -11/2021 

 
But yesterday I received a mail from USCIS for a Biometric Appointment to New Orleans next year January 10, 2022.

 

I got surprised coz I thought they already got my fingerprints since thats what my case status says.I called the USCIS and the lady told me that there might have some confusion on this but her best advice was for me to go to my appointment. So I will.

 

Happy New Year to all. 

 

 

Yes I will advise you to go for your appointment.

YSC here. It has been a slow stuff with YSC.

 

My timeline:

11/04/2020 - Application Received at Lockbox

03/12/2021 - Biometric waived

12/09/2020 - 18 months extension received

11/16/2021-  24 months extension received 

12/22/2021 - Filed N-400 (Marriage to US Citizen spouse over 4 years),. Expired GC + Extension letter will clock 3 years on 1/9/2022.

12/28/2021 - $725.00 charged to my credit card.

 

[CuriousPetitioner 23]

We just received our interview date through the MSC for Feb 10th 2022. Has anyone ever had to reschedule? We are currently out of the country and with the new Covid protocol you need to be back within 10 days of the interview which we will not be. We would rather not cut our trip short but we also don't want to disrupt this process. The letter does state you will not be penalized for rescheduling but we have waited for so long and don't know what to do. Thank you for any advice.