April 2021 AOS filers

[Christopher B 33]

On 10/10/2021 at 12:30 PM, Hagrid said:

Reporting time! 😅😅

 

Can you share your experience! 

Here's the long awaited report. Hope it's helpful!

 

Our interview was scheduled for 1:30 PM on Wednesday October 6th at the Los Angeles downtown office. We parked at the Los Angeles Mall across the street - it's $17 for the day, probably not the cheapest parking in the area but worth it for the convenience.

 

Parking entrance: https://goo.gl/maps/1iQfp4TGbyUE6NHH7

 

From the mall there is a crosswalk to the Federal Building. There is a dedicated USCIS entrance about 100ft to the left of the main entrance. At 1:10 PM, neither entrance had any line. We went to the USCIS entrance and did not have anyone in front of us. The security guards will want to see your interview notice.

 

Once through security, you end up in the main building lobby. To the left there is an elevator bank with some prominent signs for USCIS. USCIS is on the 6th and 8th floors. Your interview notice will tell you the floor and room number. For us it was room 8024 on the 8th floor. There was a security guard in the elevator who pressed the button for us.

 

There's another guard on the 8th floor who will want to see the interview notice again. We made it into room 8024 at around 1:15 PM (15 minutes before the scheduled interview time).

 

There are about 5 check-in windows, but only two were staffed when we arrived. There was one person in line in front of us, but we got checked in pretty quickly. The check-in staff will need the interview notice, and will take a photo and both index fingerprints of the applicant. They don't need anything from the USC petitioner.

 

After checking in, it's just a waiting game until your officer comes out and calls you. There's no numerical queue like the DMV and the check-in staff can't give you an ETA. Some people were sent to a different waiting room (8007) after checking in. This might be for COVID social distancing reasons.

 

We waited for about an hour and a half after checking in. At least the chairs are comfortable. Most people in the room did not have to wait that long - many people who checked in after us were called before us. Finally an officer came out and called us (using my - the applicant's - full name) to Door 1.

 

One thing that surprised me was that all of the officers were in business casual dress - no uniforms. I had imagined they would wear uniforms similar to CBP at the border. I suppose this was my first in-person interaction with USCIS. Anyway, this made it seem a lot less intimidating than if they had been in uniform.

 

The officer sort of explained the delay - apparently the officer originally assigned to our case was not available so it got assigned to this new officer instead after we checked in. He had taken some time to look over our case, but didn't seem intimately familiar with it (especially the evidence of bona fides that we submitted).

 

The interview itself was straightforward and short. I can't remember the officer's name. I think he was Hispanic/Latino. He didn't have a strong accent but he spoke quickly and quietly and was a bit hard to understand at times. He was on the opposite side of a plexiglass partition (COVID measure) so that may have made him more difficult to hear.

 

He asked some basic demographic questions of my USC husband and me. He asked us what each other's birth dates were and when I last entered the US. After that he asked us to describe the history of our relationship. Key things he wanted to know:

 

• How we first met (a gay dating app in our case, he wasn't familiar with it LOL so asked us to spell it out and he wrote it down).
• When we first met in person (month and year) and how long it was after we met online.
• Where we went for our first date.
• When we became an "official" couple.
• When/how we met each other's parents.
• When we started discussing marriage and making wedding plans.

 

It was all a pretty casual conversation that flowed naturally. After the relationship questions, he went through all of the security questions on the I-485. My USC husband hadn't read these before (he is allergic to paperwork) and thought some of them were kind of silly ("are you a communist?" etc.).

 

The officer asked for any additional evidence we wanted to submit. We had already submitted a lot of evidence with the initial application so didn't have a lot more to add. We added joint bank and credit card statements for the past three months, and the bill of sale, title, and insurance for a vehicle we recently bought together. We also had a small photo album which the officer flipped through but didn't want any of the photos.

 

The officer said he was satisfied that we had a genuine marriage, but couldn't approve us on the spot because of a delay on my husband's background check. He had to clarify some info with us related to prior names (we made a small mistake on the I-130). So he handed us a "continuation" letter and sent us on our way, but mentioned that we would likely be approved later that day or the next day.

 

After the interview, we ate at "The Little Jewel of New Orleans", which I'd recommend if you want a big portion of greasy seafood to celebrate. The Po'Boys were great (I got the catfish & shrimp, husband got the seafood lover). The poutine gravy fries were all right - I liked them, but too salty for the husband.

 

Overall it was a straightforward and unintimidating experience. Both my husband and I were incredibly nervous and anxious leading up to it, but it wasn't that bad in the end. Still very relieved to get it over and done with. My I-485 case tracker updated to "card being produced" later that same day, and both the I-485 and the I-130 updated to "approved" the next day. We received approval letters for the I-130 and I-485 in the mail on Sat Oct 9. I haven't received the Green Card in the mail yet, but should hopefully get it this week.

 

[Hagrid 22]

16 minutes ago, Christopher B said:

Here's the long awaited report. Hope it's helpful!

 

Our interview was scheduled for 1:30 PM on Wednesday October 6th at the Los Angeles downtown office. We parked at the Los Angeles Mall across the street - it's $17 for the day, probably not the cheapest parking in the area but worth it for the convenience.

 

Parking entrance: https://goo.gl/maps/1iQfp4TGbyUE6NHH7

 

From the mall there is a crosswalk to the Federal Building. There is a dedicated USCIS entrance about 100ft to the left of the main entrance. At 1:10 PM, neither entrance had any line. We went to the USCIS entrance and did not have anyone in front of us. The security guards will want to see your interview notice.

 

Once through security, you end up in the main building lobby. To the left there is an elevator bank with some prominent signs for USCIS. USCIS is on the 6th and 8th floors. Your interview notice will tell you the floor and room number. For us it was room 8024 on the 8th floor. There was a security guard in the elevator who pressed the button for us.

 

There's another guard on the 8th floor who will want to see the interview notice again. We made it into room 8024 at around 1:15 PM (15 minutes before the scheduled interview time).

 

There are about 5 check-in windows, but only two were staffed when we arrived. There was one person in line in front of us, but we got checked in pretty quickly. The check-in staff will need the interview notice, and will take a photo and both index fingerprints of the applicant. They don't need anything from the USC petitioner.

 

After checking in, it's just a waiting game until your officer comes out and calls you. There's no numerical queue like the DMV and the check-in staff can't give you an ETA. Some people were sent to a different waiting room (8007) after checking in. This might be for COVID social distancing reasons.

 

We waited for about an hour and a half after checking in. At least the chairs are comfortable. Most people in the room did not have to wait that long - many people who checked in after us were called before us. Finally an officer came out and called us (using my - the applicant's - full name) to Door 1.

 

One thing that surprised me was that all of the officers were in business casual dress - no uniforms. I had imagined they would wear uniforms similar to CBP at the border. I suppose this was my first in-person interaction with USCIS. Anyway, this made it seem a lot less intimidating than if they had been in uniform.

 

The officer sort of explained the delay - apparently the officer originally assigned to our case was not available so it got assigned to this new officer instead after we checked in. He had taken some time to look over our case, but didn't seem intimately familiar with it (especially the evidence of bona fides that we submitted).

 

The interview itself was straightforward and short. I can't remember the officer's name. I think he was Hispanic/Latino. He didn't have a strong accent but he spoke quickly and quietly and was a bit hard to understand at times. He was on the opposite side of a plexiglass partition (COVID measure) so that may have made him more difficult to hear.

 

He asked some basic demographic questions of my USC husband and me. He asked us what each other's birth dates were and when I last entered the US. After that he asked us to describe the history of our relationship. Key things he wanted to know:

 

• How we first met (a gay dating app in our case, he wasn't familiar with it LOL so asked us to spell it out and he wrote it down).
• When we first met in person (month and year) and how long it was after we met online.
• Where we went for our first date.
• When we became an "official" couple.
• When/how we met each other's parents.
• When we started discussing marriage and making wedding plans.

 

It was all a pretty casual conversation that flowed naturally. After the relationship questions, he went through all of the security questions on the I-485. My USC husband hadn't read these before (he is allergic to paperwork) and thought some of them were kind of silly ("are you a communist?" etc.).

 

The officer asked for any additional evidence we wanted to submit. We had already submitted a lot of evidence with the initial application so didn't have a lot more to add. We added joint bank and credit card statements for the past three months, and the bill of sale, title, and insurance for a vehicle we recently bought together. We also had a small photo album which the officer flipped through but didn't want any of the photos.

 

The officer said he was satisfied that we had a genuine marriage, but couldn't approve us on the spot because of a delay on my husband's background check. He had to clarify some info with us related to prior names (we made a small mistake on the I-130). So he handed us a "continuation" letter and sent us on our way, but mentioned that we would likely be approved later that day or the next day.

 

After the interview, we ate at "The Little Jewel of New Orleans", which I'd recommend if you want a big portion of greasy seafood to celebrate. The Po'Boys were great (I got the catfish & shrimp, husband got the seafood lover). The poutine gravy fries were all right - I liked them, but too salty for the husband.

 

Overall it was a straightforward and unintimidating experience. Both my husband and I were incredibly nervous and anxious leading up to it, but it wasn't that bad in the end. Still very relieved to get it over and done with. My I-485 case tracker updated to "card being produced" later that same day, and both the I-485 and the I-130 updated to "approved" the next day. We received approval letters for the I-130 and I-485 in the mail on Sat Oct 9. I haven't received the Green Card in the mail yet, but should hopefully get it this week.

 

Thank you so much for sharing! So happy for you that you got approved and you are now a permanent resident! 

 

No more USCIS for you for at least two years.

 

Let us know when you get your GC in hand!

 

I'm the USC, hopefully the petition goes through soon and my relative gets their green card as well. 

[Christopher B 33]

I received my two-year green card in the mail today. My case status showed that it shipped on Tue Oct 12, and updated again on Wed Oct 13 with the tracking number. It was shipped by USPS Priority Mail from Corbin, Kentucky. The "Resident Since" date on the card is Oct 6, the same day as the interview.

 

I'm really pleased (and surprised) with how fast this went. The current processing time for family-based applications at the Los Angeles office is reported as 9.5mo to 23mo, so I was expecting a really long wait. But it was just over 6 months from sending in the application to having the card in hand.

[Adventine 3,196]

@Christopher B congratulations! I guess see you in the Removal of Conditions threads in about 2 years!

[beaubeast 38]

Good morning, 
My brother (US CITIZEN already) is requesting my mother (from Peru but came on tourist visa because the embassy there was still shut down due to cov ) so he sent her I-485 when she was here and it got received On APRIL 5th.   SEE BELOW for details on Date.  

I've seen on the Status now:

 Any idea of what are the timelines for this????

 

Thank you!!🥰

 

 

[Beto75 5]

On 10/29/2021 at 9:20 AM, beaubeast said:

Good morning, 
My brother (US CITIZEN already) is requesting my mother (from Peru but came on tourist visa because the embassy there was still shut down due to cov ) so he sent her I-485 when she was here and it got received On APRIL 5th.   SEE BELOW for details on Date.  

I've seen on the Status now:

 Any idea of what are the timelines for this????

 

Thank you!!🥰

 

 

It would be adjudicated at the field office. Some are fast some are slow. Few months to over a year.

 

Which FO is she assigned to? Sometimes parents are approved without interview. That may or may not speed things up. 

[bklyn24601 17]

New card is being produced!!! 
 

 

Looks like they’re approving april 5-6 today

[Rdr 21]

4 minutes ago, bklyn24601 said:

New card is being produced!!! 
 

 

Looks like they’re approving april 5-6 today

Congrats!! We’re out of Brooklyn as well so this gives us hope 😂

[Adventine 3,196]

@bklyn24601 congratulations!

[bklyn24601 17]

22 minutes ago, Rdr said:

Congrats!! We’re out of Brooklyn as well so this gives us hope 😂

Thank you!!! 🤩

also, work permits are processed at National Benefits Center regardless of our field offices

21 minutes ago, Adventine said:

@bklyn24601 congratulations!

Thank you 🥳

[Rdr 21]

25 minutes ago, bklyn24601 said:

Thank you!!! 🤩

also, work permits are processed at National Benefits Center regardless of our field offices

Thank you 🥳

Yes, you are right! I guess what I meant to say was it’s nice to see another Brooklyn person moving along, even though it’s from NBC 🙌🏽

[bklyn24601 17]

1 minute ago, Rdr said:

Yes, you are right! I guess what I meant to say was it’s nice to see another Brooklyn person moving along, even though it’s from NBC 🙌🏽

Yes!!! That’s true. I cant wait until Brooklyn office will start scheduling interviews!

good luck to you! 

[Rdr 21]

1 hour ago, bklyn24601 said:

Yes!!! That’s true. I cant wait until Brooklyn office will start scheduling interviews!

good luck to you! 

Likewise! 

[Is118 1]

My interview was conducted on November 4th and at the end of the interview the officer said he is approving my case and I should get my Green card in 2 weeks. However, the letter he gave us indicates that case is under review. 
 

the same day the status changed to “interview conducted, my case must be reviewed”

 

I am so confused as to why the officer was indicating approval and I got this status…

[Rdr 21]

Received notice that my husbands EAD was approved today 🙌🏽🙏🏼 Our RD is April 19th out of NBC.  The heavy weight has been finally lifted 😂