How would you best plan a trip during the AOS process?

[stuckonyou 75]

My husband and I are considering traveling to California around October. We want some time off together and he has vacation left, so we started talking about it. We might not go either way and just stay around Chicago instead, but this just got me thinking...

 

How do you best plan a trip when you're in the middle of this process? How far in advance do you usually get the appointment for the interview (especially in Chicago in case it's different depending on where you live!)? And how about biometrics (also specifically for Chicago in case this can be different as well!)?

 

My guess is that biometrics would be way before October (but then again who knows with Covid...) and that the interview will be way after October. But I just want to make sure that they don't send you an appointment and then you have to be there only one or two weeks after and there's a risk of missing the appointment letter in the mail in case you're on vacation. If that's the case it's just not worth the risk. But if you tend to get information about your appointments ahead of time it wouldn't be an issue... ☺️

[.yana 597]

Can you ask someone to check your mail periodically? Your landlord or if you own your home - your neighbors or friends? 

I think leaving for 2 weeks is safe, and from my experience with 5 different USCIS offices (NYC, Denver, SF, Newark, St. Albans) - they always give you at least 1 month notice for any type of appointment (this is just my experience of course - others might have different responses). 

 

But it sounds like you're planning a longer vacation in which case I wouldn't go without making sure I can get access to my mail if needed.

 

CORRECTION: Looking at my own timeline - I see that NYC gave me 11 day notice for my biometrics appointment which was back in 2016 when things were moving a little bit faster on average... 🥴

Edited June 28, 2021 by .yana

[stuckonyou 75]

1 hour ago, .yana said:

Can you ask someone to check your mail periodically? Your landlord or if you own your home - your neighbors or friends? 

I think leaving for 2 weeks is safe, and from my experience with 5 different USCIS offices (NYC, Denver, SF, Newark, St. Albans) - they always give you at least 1 month notice for any type of appointment (this is just my experience of course - others might have different responses). 

 

But it sounds like you're planning a longer vacation in which case I wouldn't go without making sure I can get access to my mail if needed.

 

CORRECTION: Looking at my own timeline - I see that NYC gave me 11 day notice for my biometrics appointment which was back in 2016 when things were moving a little bit faster on average... 🥴

We would probably only be gone for about a week, but I'm also thinking abut getting plane tickets and stuff like that, too. Like how far ahead could we "safely" book that and so forth... 👀

[.yana 597]

15 hours ago, stuckonyou said:

We would probably only be gone for about a week, but I'm also thinking abut getting plane tickets and stuff like that, too. Like how far ahead could we "safely" book that and so forth... 👀

Ah, got it!

 

I think you will be able to reschedule the biometrics appointment if needed:

https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/rescheduling-biometric-services-appointments-by-phone

 

I'm pretty sure you can reschedule your interview as well but if I were you - I would postpone my trip if you get it for the same week as your scheduled vacation

 

Considering you just filed for your AOS - I would say it's highly unlikely that you will be interviewed so quickly as processing times are nowhere where they used to be even 5 years ago... But crazier things have happened & people got approved after only few months since filing.

 

Personally - I think you'll be fine to take a vacation in October.