wakeuplittlesuzy

Yep we are at 194 days here.. going to hit the 200 day mark this week

Misery loves company, I guess. We spent most of yesterday in angry tears. I would honestly rather have done another year of long distance if it meant I didn't have to see my loved one so hopeless. Hope we all get good news soon, hang in there ❤️ 

I know that's the hard part, just watching them literally be incapable of any type of "normal life" here, driving license, bank account, working, traveling. Like a prison, I always wonder if in his mind he's like, so this is what the US is really about? Why would anyone want to live here?

Just piping in - We are still waiting - from July. 
 
Your day will come, those who are waiting. This part of the process is even more frustrating than the K1 stuff. Breathe in, breathe out, and distract yourself. Remember when the hardest part was being apart. At least we're together now.

Well, I was hoping this wouldn't happen... We hit 200 days today, and still haven't heard a word from USCIS except that our case was received on November 14th. Ugh! We are also writing to a senator that a member of our family personally knows. I'm not sure if any good will come of it, but it feels better than sitting around doing nothing about it! Hopefully we'll hear something soon. 🤞 This wait time for a service that we paid a lot of money for is absurd! 😡

Well, I was hoping this wouldn't happen... We hit 200 days today, and still haven't heard a word from USCIS except that our case was received on November 14th. Ugh! We are also writing to a senator that a member of our family personally knows. I'm not sure if any good will come of it, but it feels better than sitting around doing nothing about it! Hopefully we'll hear something soon. 🤞 This wait time for a service that we paid a lot of money for is absurd! 😡

It is so so wrong. You put your trust -and hard earned money- in the system and then, the system fails you, BIG TIME.
I agree it is awful to just sit around doing nothing; I feel like going everywhere, knocking on every door, to get things moving. 
For the first time since we started this process I do regret going for the K1 instead of the CR1.
And weekends are the worst, aren't they? At least during weekdays, you can fantasize about them finally getting to your case. 

Well, I was hoping this wouldn't happen... We hit 200 days today, and still haven't heard a word from USCIS except that our case was received on November 14th. Ugh! We are also writing to a senator that a member of our family personally knows. I'm not sure if any good will come of it, but it feels better than sitting around doing nothing about it! Hopefully we'll hear something soon. 🤞 This wait time for a service that we paid a lot of money for is absurd! 😡

Well, I was hoping this wouldn't happen... We hit 200 days today, and still haven't heard a word from USCIS except that our case was received on November 14th. Ugh! We are also writing to a senator that a member of our family personally knows. I'm not sure if any good will come of it, but it feels better than sitting around doing nothing about it! Hopefully we'll hear something soon. 🤞 This wait time for a service that we paid a lot of money for is absurd! 😡

Of course! I really tried to put a focus on there being legal immigrants that have had to put their lives on hold possibly due to the government only caring about illegal immigration and what to do with them to either a) deport them or b) get them a legal status. I also pointed out to the senators and representative that they should be embassared by the processing times at the NBC due to representing Missouri, were its based out of, because that is the state they represent. Then I said I wanted to see some form of legislation introduced to gaurentee a decision (not necessarily an approval) to those who apply for EAD and AP within 90 days while their green card applications are being processed.

I also sent a letter to our congressman this week.  I emphasized similar ideas and that we would have more money to invest in economy (stocks, cds, and such) if we weren't spending hubby's inheritance on daily living.  Like the message is 'fall in love with a rich immigrant or go broke trying to build a life here!' 

We got a notification on our case tracker this morning that our EAD was approved!!! Apparently it was approved yesterday and we didn't even know!! 😁
 
Case Received: November 7, 2018
Approved: May 31, 2019
 
We were planning to expedite through the congressman next week but we thought it would be best to hold off since it appeared that they were finally getting to November. Hang in there everyone, your approval is on the way. It's good to know that they're finally approving November filers so your turn is next!!! 😄🙌 

Congratulations! 🎉 same thing happened to us. We were approved for EAD/AP on the 29th but didn’t find out until the 30th and finally received the email notification the 31st lol.
 
It’s such an exciting time! Now we only need to get the EAD/AP card in hand.
 
Congrats again!

Processing times tirade about to hit DC in a few days 😎
 

 
I'm pretty sure Senators and Representatives are required to respond. 10 years ago in my HS biology class I had a yearlong bioethics project and part of it was writing to a senator. I think it took 3-6 months to get a response, but I got a response.

Quick update:
We found the USCIS policy manual and it states that the file should be ordered prior the interview; they call this process "locating the petition". So, hopefully our case was just not ordered in time. There's still a ray of hope. 
The same manual also acknowledges the possibility of it actually being lost. 😕 
 
 

Oh guys, thanks so much for the support and advice. It is so much needed right now. 
 
Everything feels unreal. We thought we would be celebrating today but here we are, completely shattered and so lost. Feels like descending from one circle in hell to another. 
 
We try to understand how could this happen, give to it some logic. Why were we scheduled if the whole file wasn't there? Why they informed us until the interview was finished? How could they have the AOS file and not the K1?
The reasons as to why the file wasn't there made no sense. The possible timeframe to get the file was insane: "from two days to several months; then we will review it." 
 
We don't want to get our hopes high. I want to think that it will be quick and we're suffering for nothing, but I doubt that will be the case; this shouldn't have happened in the first place. 
 
I searched the forum and I just found four other cases throughout the years, one from two years ago, the rest, older. Just two have a timeline, but they weren't quick. The longest one -five months- required several infopass, inquiries and involvement from a congressman. The most awful one required the beneficiary to go through the medical again, and they faced even more trouble afterwards. My biggest fear is waiting for several months and getting another medical just to be denied.
 
I've checked the status so many times already, expecting something to change, like if this was just a bad joke. It is still on "Interview was scheduled".
 
Our plan is scheduling an info pass -being the earliest in two weeks-. Hopefully we'll have some news by then. If not, we'll try to get as much information as we can from them and as @BrazilianInTexas suggested, get the Ombudsman involved. I honestly hate the idea of dealing with lawyers, but I don't mind contacting as many senators and congressmen as possible. 
 
I wish we could do something now, like actually going out and search for the file; I don't mind. Whatever needed to have it where it should be. 
 
It is waiting again, but now the time passes even slower than before, with more uncertainty.
 
Thanks once again for your messages. 💚
 
 

I'm so saddened to hear this. I can't even imagine what you two must be feeling right now. This process is just incredibly unfair, and it really doesn't help that they just leave us all in the dark -- especially when things like this happen. 
 
My husband and I were just talking the other day about how it seems like they incentivize people who break the rules while the rest of us do everything the legal way. It all just seems so unorganized and chaotic. While I can't imagine dealing with the numbers of applications they do, it just seems like there should be a better, more efficient way to get things done.
 
Sending you and your partner hugs. I wish there was something I could do to help, and I hope this will be sorted out for you SOON. 

I just called USCIS and the representative said they are processing October 31 right now. The also said I should not try yo speed it up at this point because my received date (Nov 16, 2018) is really close and trying to expedite it now might even slow it down.
 
I also checked the case tracker for the 500 case ids in front of ours and there are 12 EAD cases from the last 3 days(including today) which now have the status "New Card is being produced". All this cases are from around Nov. 8. So I'm getting hopeful it will finally happen in the next 2 weeks. 🙂

We thought once the interview was scheduled, things would depend on us, but turns out they don't. 
After a nice smooth interview we were informed that our K1 visa packet is missing. Retreiving it from wherever it is now -because they have no clue about its whereabouts-, can take days or months. Once they get it -if they do-, they will proceed to review our case.
 
Needless to say, we're beyond angry, frustrated, discouraged, disappointed, deeply saddened, weak, clueless and all the negative emotions you can think of. 
It doesn't help that while waiting, there was a couple near us, where the beneficiary entered in February this year with a tourist visa and they were today there for their interview. 
Ten months waiting for the K1, six months waiting to be scheduled and now, who knows how long we will wait...and who knows what the outcome will be. 
 
It seems that they incentivize those who break the rules while they punish us who follow them.
 
P.S.: We have no EAD/AP and as things are now, I'm certain we will never get one. 

I AM CRYING SOOOOOOO HARD RIGHT NOW!!! MY EAD HAS BEEN APPROVED!!! 222 DAYS OF WAITING!! 😭😭😭😭 THANK YOU UNIVERSE!!!!! I CAN FINALLY GET A JOB!!!! Thank you so much everyone for all your positive energy!!! It means the world to me!!! Let the job search begin!!!! Who knows when my Green Card will come, 22 days since my interview but I don’t even care right now. I am FREE!!! 😭♥️😭♥️

Congratulations! How exciting! 🎉
 
Hoping for lots and lots of November approvals this week! 

Hi!
 
It’s always the darkest before the dawn
That was the darkest weekend and Memorial Day for us because of the processing times update. And we were preparing a letter to our Senator and Congressman and a lawyer. But today at 11:20am we got a “new card is being produced” email 🙀😭🙀🤩🙀🤪🙀😭🙀 couldn’t believe my eyes. Just minutes prior to it was sure it would never happen without me trying to push it. But it did.
 
we filed around October 22, 2018
case received - November 2, 2019
AOS interview - May 6, 2019
Card being produced - May 28, 2019
they took 3 weeks to review the case after the interview at Baltimore FO
 
No changes for our EAD or AP.
 
Sending you all hugs and wishing you all be strong and have patience to get through this survival show in real life. It’s not the end of the journey though - more battles ahead but wish you all done with this one ASAP ✌️🤞✌️🤞✌️ As it means you may start to live again and get your identity back, start a new career, remember what it’s like to earn money (and use it to buy presents for your beloved ones instead of feeling guilty taking it from their paycheck), get your driver’s license and start driving (that will be me 🙌 soon), or may be study to get a local degree, and travel wherever you want, and have your weddings in your hometowns with your families. And finally become a part of local communities ✌️✊✌️ 
🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
 
i guess i said too much 😊
 
 
PS
Does the green card arrive with SSN or we have to file for it on our own? 

Congratulations! How exciting! 🎉
 
Hoping for lots and lots of November approvals this week! 

"NEW CARD IS IN PRODUCTION!!!!"

I'm sorry it's getting so close to your cutoff date for buying tickets for your flight. I can definitely relate to your frustration as we just missed a trip back to England in early May because we still haven't heard a word on our case. As I had mentioned in this forum before, my husband was supposed to be the best man in our friend's wedding in Devon, and we were supposed to play music during the ceremony... that didn't end up happening, of course, so we decided to take a road trip down to Austin to visit my parents, and then we drove all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico to spend some time at the beach. We were pretty upset to miss such an important wedding, but I think it definitely did us some good to get away for a bit. (It also helps that I work remotely for my job, so I didn't miss out too much on making money in the meantime!). I would definitely recommend taking some road trips in the meantime to try and take your mind off things a bit! 😊
 
I love that you took the time to write all those letters as well. (We may need to do that too at this point!) They don't give us much of a say in any of this, so being proactive and writing letters to congressmen is a great way to hopefully speed things along and to feel a bit more empowered in the meantime. Also, I full-heartedly support you being the new USCIS director! They should just hire all of us, and we'd get things moving along in no time! 😂