Physical Green card

[JA Tam 7]

Hello VJ Family,

So my husband has been here for 7 weeks and he still has not received his GC. What is the general time frame for the green card to be delivered? Is there any agency that I can contact to inquire about it? He has not received the Welcome letter and we are not entirely sure what is his A#. I have read that on the MRIV, it is the registration number. Is this true? We need his A# so that he can apply for Financial Aid for his degree programme, which starts in Spring.

Thanks for all your .

[ace3 0]

hi... at least 3 weeks, if he dont have the greencard yet its better to go to the immigration and ask what your concern....it happened to me....not for 7 weeks but for for 9 months...because i changed my address twice. i finally got it on nov.4,07....but before i got it , i had my biometrics again for the new gc. have a good day.

[Captain Oates 911]

I came in on my IR1 exactly 4 weeks ago yesterday...

People on VJ who know, say the social security card tick box on the IV application does not work so I went to S Security office yesterday

VERY unsavory characters in and around there - flushed faces with heroin etc

anyway I AM on the 'save' system so thats good

I dont expect the green card for 3 more weeks as 7 weeks seems normal

It is worth going to SS office for a SS card as they will tell you if you are on the 'save' system - that is that your brown paper envelope was not lost at POE

I still do not have my Florida car plates after 3.5 weeks or my Florida driver's license after 3 weeks-only temporary bits of paper...-oh and no car title either

EVERYTHING is slow or fails or is lost

and now my UK bank is locking the money since they know my new address in Florida - I still have ongoing utility bills etc on my house in the UK to pay so its a problem

good isn't it ? Never mind, things can only get worse...

These folk who cheer when they get approved have no idea what is up ahead - this thing is NEVER over

PS yes the 'registration number' is the 'A' number (alien)

at POE they wrote an 'A' in front of my registration number using a black pen

alan

Edited December 4, 2007 by saywhat

[Mononoke28 135]

Hey Tamieka,

I'm sorry to hear your husband still doesn't have his green card. You should call the USCIS 800# to find out. Tell them that he came in on XX date with a CR1 visa and haven't heard anything, the operator will then transfer you to a "specialized" agent, you tell them the same story again, they will ask you for his A# and then tell you what is going on with his green card. I did it 3 times since he got here until we finally got my husband's green card in the mail 6 weeks later. Your husband can call himself as well but if you do, make sure he's present at the time you call because otherwise they won't give you any info.

Diana

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Should be on its way -- took mine about the same time to come in, within a very non-descript envelope from Mesquite, TX that didn't even say "USCIS" or the like.

Good luck, L.

p.s. has he got the welcome letter yet?

Edited December 4, 2007 by Len_and_Bren

[Captain Oates 911]

Diana - it was hilarious - I thought I would take your lead and call the USCIS

They said they were unable to assist me until I had been in the country for 30 days and that would be tomorrow

So I have to call back then

Isn't it amazing how the bureaucratic mind works ?

Of course it wasnt her fault - its the person who made the rules and allowed NO flexibility and turned these nice people into rule slaves

alan

[JA Tam 7]

Thank you all for the replies. I am blushing, because as soon as I came in this afternoon, I saw that we had received the Welcome letter in the mail (snail mail indeed)! I anticipate that he will get the greencard within the week.

Diana - Thank you for pointing me (and others) in the right direction for inquiries on the green card. That certainly puts me at ease.

Alan - Thank you for answering my question and yes, the letter confirmed that the registration number is the A#. We had checked the section for the SSN to be issued on the DS-230 form and he received that within a week of POE. We had originally been told by the Immigration officer (bureaucracy is certainly rife with mis-information) at POE that we could go to the SSA office the next day to apply for his SSC and after sitting there for 4 hours, with pretty interesting characters, we were told that we should wait at least 3 weeks to see if it is sent in the mail. So it was a relief to get it the following week.

Ace3, that was a certainly long wait to receive the actual card.

Thank you all again

[Captain Oates 911]

that's good news

I just found a massive thread for people who's green card is wrong ! There are trillions of em - well a lot

Ladies with their middle names spelled wrongly and some guy's photo on their green card !

Just shoot me if that happens as it is another nightmare to sort out and takes a loooooong time.....

If mine is right I will parcel tape it to my chest and never bathe again

If its someone else's photo and they are better looking than me I might just keep it

alan

[JA Tam 7]

that's good news

I just found a massive thread for people who's green card is wrong ! There are trillions of em - well a lot

Ladies with their middle names spelled wrongly and some guy's photo on their green card !

Just shoot me if that happens as it is another nightmare to sort out and takes a loooooong time.....

If mine is right I will parcel tape it to my chest and never bathe again

If its someone else's photo and they are better looking than me I might just keep it

alan

That would certainly suck. One of my co-workers had issues with her greencard and how her name should be listed on her greencard. She sent it back and it took a few months for her to get the corrected card.

All these issues certainly are scary!

[Captain Oates 911]

Yes, it sounds like I am trying scare everyone including myself, but I reckon it's best to be mentally prepared in case the next stage does go wrong. I find the most distressing experiences in the whole process is when something goes really wrong and it wasn't expected.

Then it's a mixture of disappointment, frustration, uncertainty and not least, shock.

At least the people on the IR1/CR1 forum will have an endorsed passport which is supposed to act like a 12 month greencard, unlike the adjustment of status people.

My mother is 93 and lives in the UK so I worry about being left high and dry without a green card. You hear about people taking 18 months to get a replacement card when their's is issued with a photo of someone looking like a member of ZZ TOP

Having suffered from the wrong name thing when I entered on a K1, I know that it can take months even to get a social security card when that happens

ok well fingers crossed - when/if the GC arrives I will careful check the name, sex, photo, date of birth and expiry date and then check em again and then check em again. If it is correct then all I have to decide is risk not carrying it with me and getting a fine and conviction, or carry it and lose the card. All decisions.

I was wondering about which forums this stuff should be on but the GC forum is really for AOS which is very different to us CR1/IR1 people so i reckon its best here and lets the people coming along after see what's up ahead and not get so cocky when they get their 'case complete'

The thing about this visa journey is that at each successful stage we breath a sigh of relief and think we have 'made it', only to realise a month further on, that it's far from over and there is another challenge to meet

I know that at naturalization stage there is a lot of worry as they take your GC from you and then you - yes you guessed it- you wait !

I reckon that only a U.S. passport will really take the lingering uncertainty away. My friend has been here 12 years and has not applied for citizenship , but he is running a risk because he loves a bit of 'moral turpitude' of a Saturday night.

alan

[RandyandRina 2]

Does it really take that long? I am concerned...

[Captain Oates 911]

Does it really take that long? I am concerned...

about 7 weeks seems to be the norm at the moment..i am 4.5 weeks and certainly dont expect anything yet..

I would advise people to go get a social security card 14 days after immigrating if yours has not arrived. At least you will confirm that your details are on the system

what is scaring me is the percentage of people with incorrect cards who go into the agony of several months wait to have it corrected. I wonder what that percentage is ?

Both my 'classmates' from NVC stage have hit some problems and I had a wrong name at K1 and a neighbour in Wisconsin had her file lost and ended up flying to Australia and doing DCF !

I know of so many people who are having their paperwork lost or wrongly completed that I wonder if the percentage is ---40 or 50% or something ?

The fact that SS has regulations to allow people a card who 'only have one letter of their name spelled wrongly' or USCIS having a special form and department for GC's that are sent out wrongly, and that department is months behind, makes me think the percentage is high..

I have called the USCIS many times over the last 3 years and although they have charming people who say things like 'I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you to America', they do sound like they are on some sort of affirmative action program for people with learning or language difficulties and the chances of them getting all the pieces of information correct are slim.

[Mononoke28 135]

Does it really take that long? I am concerned...

Unfortunately, yes. As Alan said it's taking about 6-8 weeks on average when it used to take 4. The USCIS told me it's because they've had a large amount of paperwork to process.

Diana

[Jigi 0]

hi

takes 30 working days.... = 7 weeks becos of high load.

Jigi

[SupportOAFJF 0]

Tam my hubbys GC came about 7wks or so