Completely Confused: Misinformation Line

[Erin and Muraari 0]

I am entirely confused after talking to someone at the 1800 number. Hope someone can make heads or tails of this. I am in Baltimore and have received NOA's (August 29th) for my I-130 and I-485 petition. I mailed those on July 25th. So I called the 1800 to find out if my FBI namecheck has gone through (not sure if they can answer this), and why my I-130 cant be tracked even though I sent it in almost 90 days ago, while my I-485 can.

SOOOOO the person says "most people dont understand how these I-130's work". Until your I-130 is approved your I-485 will just sit there. And to find out when your I-130 will be approved it depends on visa availablity for your country of origin". I say "But im a US citizen's spouse. There is no quota, a visa number is immediately available" And she says "Well thats not how it works. You still need a visa to be approved even if you are already in the country"......

Anyway I assume this is complete bullshit right? Arent the I-130 and I-485 concurrently approved when I get an interview? So my question is, what decides when you get an interview? I havent gotten an RFE, I have completed biometrics etc. Somehow I expect the answer to thsi too is "no one knows"

Is it worth making an InfoPass appointment to find out what is holding up the interview? Are they ever useful for stuff like this? I dont have high hopes since this office is in Baltimore, the city with the highest concentration of unhelpful and rude people in the US, but who knows?

Anyway if anyone knows please help.

[John & Annie 1]

Well, you both are sorta right.

Because this is marriage based a visa number will be immediately available, that is what the I-130 is for. In order for an I-485 to be approved you must have:

Entered the county legally and been 'inspected'

Have a Visa number available to you

present a correctly filled out petition or application

so realistically, you need the i-130 to get the visa number first and then the I-485 can be approved.

I am sure people will correct me if I am wrong, but it is a weird circle the way these two relate to each other.

From what I understand, they will work on the I-485 while waiting for the visa number because they came in concurrently.

I know this has been a roundabout answer and restated some of the stuff you already said, but I need to reason it out myself.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I am entirely confused after talking to someone at the 1800 number. Hope someone can make heads or tails of this. I am in Baltimore and have received NOA's (August 29th) for my I-130 and I-485 petition. I mailed those on July 25th. So I called the 1800 to find out if my FBI namecheck has gone through (not sure if they can answer this), and why my I-130 cant be tracked even though I sent it in almost 90 days ago, while my I-485 can.

SOOOOO the person says "most people dont understand how these I-130's work". Until your I-130 is approved your I-485 will just sit there. And to find out when your I-130 will be approved it depends on visa availablity for your country of origin". I say "But im a US citizen's spouse. There is no quota, a visa number is immediately available" And she says "Well thats not how it works. You still need a visa to be approved even if you are already in the country"......

Anyway I assume this is complete bullshit right? Arent the I-130 and I-485 concurrently approved when I get an interview? So my question is, what decides when you get an interview? I havent gotten an RFE, I have completed biometrics etc. Somehow I expect the answer to thsi too is "no one knows"

Is it worth making an InfoPass appointment to find out what is holding up the interview? Are they ever useful for stuff like this? I dont have high hopes since this office is in Baltimore, the city with the highest concentration of unhelpful and rude people in the US, but who knows?

Anyway if anyone knows please help.

The I-130 and the I-485 are approved or denied at the AOS interview so the info you got from the misinfo line is wrong.... it is way to early in the process for you to be looking for an interview date.... let alone FBI namecheck completed.... your case will be passed to your local office when it is ready for interview.... you will then be given a date from your local office to attend.... how long that is depends on how busy your local office is...

If you make an infopass appointment they will tell you that you are within normal processing timeframe and to check back if the current date on the USCIS website is more than 30 days after you filled....

Kez

Edited October 19, 2007 by Niagaenola

[Erin and Muraari 0]

Thanks for the reply but this is the part that confuses me a little. I was looking at the July and August filers posting that is constantly updated by people and for people that files on the 25th of July like I did , almost everyone else has either been transferred to CSC (which cant happen to me i assume since I am on an H1-B not a fiance/spousal visa) or have had an interview scheduled even if it is 3-4 months in the future. So maybe it isnt "too early" to at least have the interview scheduled? Anyway, I'll be patient given the backlong and all. Would just be nice to able to track things.

Anyway thanks again

I am entirely confused after talking to someone at the 1800 number. Hope someone can make heads or tails of this. I am in Baltimore and have received NOA's (August 29th) for my I-130 and I-485 petition. I mailed those on July 25th. So I called the 1800 to find out if my FBI namecheck has gone through (not sure if they can answer this), and why my I-130 cant be tracked even though I sent it in almost 90 days ago, while my I-485 can.

SOOOOO the person says "most people dont understand how these I-130's work". Until your I-130 is approved your I-485 will just sit there. And to find out when your I-130 will be approved it depends on visa availablity for your country of origin". I say "But im a US citizen's spouse. There is no quota, a visa number is immediately available" And she says "Well thats not how it works. You still need a visa to be approved even if you are already in the country"......

Anyway I assume this is complete bullshit right? Arent the I-130 and I-485 concurrently approved when I get an interview? So my question is, what decides when you get an interview? I havent gotten an RFE, I have completed biometrics etc. Somehow I expect the answer to thsi too is "no one knows"

Is it worth making an InfoPass appointment to find out what is holding up the interview? Are they ever useful for stuff like this? I dont have high hopes since this office is in Baltimore, the city with the highest concentration of unhelpful and rude people in the US, but who knows?

Anyway if anyone knows please help.

The I-130 and the I-485 are approved or denied at the AOS interview so the info you got from the misinfo line is wrong.... it is way to early in the process for you to be looking for an interview date.... let alone FBI namecheck completed.... your case will be passed to your local office when it is ready for interview.... you will then be given a date from your local office to attend.... how long that is depends on how busy your local office is...

If you make an infopass appointment they will tell you that you are within normal processing timeframe and to check back if the current date on the USCIS website is more than 30 days after you filled....

Kez

[LaL 418]

The I-130 and the I-485 are approved or denied at the AOS interview...

I can think of 3 members recently who remain pending after the AOS interview due to pending 1-130's. I will readily admit I do not know enough about this process to *get it* fully, but it seems this is just not an absolute.

Might be something interesting to watch.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

The I-130 and the I-485 are approved or denied at the AOS interview...

I can think of 3 members recently who remain pending after the AOS interview due to pending 1-130's. I will readily admit I do not know enough about this process to *get it* fully, but it seems this is just not an absolute.

Might be something interesting to watch.

My understanding as explained to me by our interviewing officer is that The I-130 can only be approved if the namecheck is complete... so if that has not cleared then I guess they cant approve the I-130 even if they are going to approve the AOS... as one cant be done without the other then they both have to wait.... unless thing have changed in the last few months..

Kez

[sahara 0]

We have a similar timeline and same local office. I actually made an infopass last friday, not for my AOS though but bec my EAD is way outside the 90 day mark. I did observe several (NOT ALL) looking irritated and speaking rudely to the people they were servicing. Thank God I was serviced by a nice lady!!! and that my day wasn't ruined.... just wish that infopass did something good because there is still no sign of life with my EAD. I didnt ask about my AOS. I guess I was just in a hurry to get out of there! lol

Edited October 19, 2007 by sahara

[kiwigirl224 0]

My local office is also Baltimore and I filed on July 11. I've received my EAD and AP but still can't access 130/485 online and haven't received a interview date. My lawyer said that Baltimore is ssssllllloooowwww so I guess we just have to be patient. I know how frustrating it is to see that a lot of July filers already have their interview dates (and some even approved!).

[Erin and Muraari 0]

Kiwigirl,

Interesting.... another H1B from baltimore. Also interesting is that I lived in New Zealand for a while, in Auckland and then New Plymouth.

Well not at all surprising thwt Baltimore is SLOW given that everything else here is filled with incompetent lazy people (verizon, Comcast, BGE, and dont even get me started about MVA in Maryland)......... But what i find odd is that it is slower than places like Atlanta where I would have expected similar attitudes. Oh well, we'll just be patient I guess

Thanks for the reply

Muraari

My local office is also Baltimore and I filed on July 11. I've received my EAD and AP but still can't access 130/485 online and haven't received a interview date. My lawyer said that Baltimore is ssssllllloooowwww so I guess we just have to be patient. I know how frustrating it is to see that a lot of July filers already have their interview dates (and some even approved!).

[Tom_Jim 40]

Baltimore is ssssllllloooowwww

Not as slow as DC.