DWolf

Is this becoming more common? USCIS needs to update their Case reporting system.

We had my wife's combo I-751/N400 Interview here at the Miami Field Office on May 8th. The officer told us everything on the I-751 looked great and that we will go directly to the N400. He didn't mention "waiver" or anything else. My wife passed the N400 interview and test, and we got the Approval Letter from him before departing.  He told us our Oath ceremony should be scheduled soon.

On May 10th, my wife received a case update that her I-751 Interview "Cancelled and Notice will be sent".  I don't get this, the officer said everything looked fine and didn't even do the I-751 Interview as we both sat there. I'm assuming this means he "waived" the interview for us on-the-spot but didn't give clear indication on what follows?  Our N400 case status is still on "Interview Scheduled" and hasn't been updated with the Approval and Oath Ceremony notices.  Still waiting on that.
 

Try the DHS Ombudsmen's Office.  Call them and they might even pick up!  We did this many years ago for my wife's Green card and I actually had a very nice convo with a lady there.  We then suggested it to a friend who was waiting on something and they actually moved forward.

The Ombudsman is an internal position to DHS that is supposed to put pressure on them for not following their regulations.  It's a force multiplier with a Congressman inquiry

https://www.dhs.gov/ombudsman-offices

I'm in Miami, FL at the dread Potomac Service Center.

Received date was 9/1/2022 (NOA: 9/6/2022).

Just put in an inquiry about our biometrics appointment.  Hopefully that gets them moving.

NOA received too. On Friday 9/16.  Looks like the Potomac area is just a bit behind the others but still glad we got it.  Now to wait on the Biometrics....

Mailed: Aug 31
Received (Chicago Lockbox): Sept 1
Text Message Received: Sept 6
Check Cashed: Sept 7
Priority Date: Sept 1
NOA: Sept 16
Biometrics Appt: ?
Interview: ?

Sept 2022 filer as well out of Florida.

I actually used to live in Virginia, so I know where the PSC is in an area of Alexandria called "Crystal City".  I guess they call it the PSC since it's close to the Potomac River and DC.

Not a large building by US Government standards.  It's medium sized, large enough to be noticeable though...but likely not enough to house the numbers needed to process all the filers.  I've been to three USCIS buildings in the Virginia area.

Hope they transfer some applications as it seems the Potomac officer is getting overwhelmed.

Also keep in mind the Federal workforce is *unfortunately* facing a mass exodus of employees.  They're hitting a huge wave of retirees and there are record resignations. I don't know how it's affecting DHS and USCIS but I'm sure they're hit with it.  The USG and parts of it were largely not ready for remote work.  Lots of Govn't agencies are behind on the technical curve.

Also ended up at the Potomac Service Center. We're in Florida.

Mailed: Aug 31
Received (Chicago Lockbox): Sept 1
Text Message Received: Sept 6
Check Cashed: Sept 7
Priority Date: Sept 1
NOA: Still waiting...

On 10/26/2020 at 12:55 PM, IlyaM said:

Hey guys, I just recieved my EAD card with my surname spelled wrong. I've put the e-request on USCIS website and I have to send the card back to the Benefits Center. Has anyone experienced the same thing? My biggest question is : Can I start applying for jobs while my card is there and the error is being fixed? I'm so sad it happened and I'd like to start applying for jobs as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for your help, guys 

Don't quote me on this but I would say YES, you can.  You also should have received a separate EAD Approval letter.  That should be sufficient with some employers to get the ball rolling on jobs.  Some employers may request to see a copy of your card so I'd recommend scanning or taking good photos of it before sending it back.  You can inform employers that USCIS got your name wrong and they should be correcting it.

When you actually get and accept a job, you may have to help your employer fill out an I-9 form.  You can look at the form on USCIS website.  That is when you might actually have to provide copies of your accurate EAD card.  But considering that it can take a little time to land a job, hopefully your EAD comes back in time.



 

5 hours ago, Bec Asmar said:

Hello everyone. I am applying for my EAD renewal and I was wondering for Part 2 Question 25. "Your Current Immigration Status of Category (for example B-2 visitor, F-1 Student, parolee, deferred action, or no status or category) what I should put. I originally came into America on an E-3 (which is the uniquely Australian version of a H1-B) and met my husband while I was working on that visa. I have already had my EAD approved and because stuff is taking SO LONG I need to apply for my renewal. Should I put "E-3" or Adjustment of Status" on my form?

 

Thanks!

If you have a I-485 Pending you can put in "I-485 Pending" in that section.  That should mean your change of status is spousal which is the (c)(9) category.

We put "I-485 Pending" in for my wife's application.

On 10/15/2020 at 7:51 AM, TreyH said:

@DWolf How did your SO come here? I assume it wasn't a K1? I wonder if that somehow changes the policy as all the posts I have seen about the two year rule seem to be K1 maybe just a coincidence.

No.  She was an Au Pair and had a J1. Came here in 2017.

Anyways - some new news.  The immigration officer CALLED my wife on Friday 10/16 and said he just approved our Case. YAY!

However - We have seen NO Case Status change since then, it's still "Interview is Complete but my Case is Under Review" (which was what he switched it to while we sent in the new Medical Exam results).

When we had our interview on 9/27, our I-130 Online status was updated that afternoon and moved to "Approved".

Anyone experience this before?  Any advice if it doesn't update any time soon?

17 hours ago, beefmaster2 said:

So weird, even the USCIS policy manual implies that the medical is valid for 2 years: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-8-part-b-chapter-4

 

Yup - so I quoted this policy to the officer and even had called USCIS who said the 2 year mark during the middle of the summer. 

Our officer was insistent that the 1 year is a "flat policy".  I didn't want to fuss much but feel I should've pushed back more or asked to see the "flat policy" that he is deriving his guidance from.

*sigh*

So we had our make-up interview on Sept 27th (first one cancelled due to COVID).  I was a little concerned about my wife's Medical Exam because we did it in August 2019 and there is conflicting data on whether it is valid for 1-year or 2-years.  We didn't have time to submit it with the initial paperwork in May 2019.

So the first thing our officer points out was the medical exam is no longer valid because it has to be within a year.  I tell him that I talked to customer service and they said it was still valid and their online info says it's valid for two years.  He insists it's a "flat policy" and was pretty apologetic about it.  Nice guy.  I asked if we could talk to a supervisor about an exemption or something (I'm a fellow Fed too so I know there are always alternatives) but he said no.  Anyways, we did complete the Interview and he said he'd approve the I-130, which he did later that afternoon and we got the slip already.  He gave us a RFE on the spot to deliver the new exam straight to the Washington DC office.

We re-did the exam with the same doctor and everything and mailed it in Express about two weeks ago.  They received it on 10/1.  From what I recall, the officer said that he should wrap everything up ASAP and that if we didn't see a change within 30 days, to call customer service and try to talk to Tier 2 officer.

Anyone has experience with sending stuff direct to the office?  How quick was their turn-around?

This stupid Medical Exam nonsense....USCIS needs to be more clear and actually train their customer service reps.

Looks like DC is finally moving with rescheduling!

-Original Interview Date: April 3, 2020
-E-mail Reschedule Notice Received: August 24, 2020

-Rescheduled Interview: ????? (Guessing late September)

We also sent in the EAD/AP Renewals for my wife in July as her docs expired in October.  We wanted to get them in and get the notice on account of the USCIS furlough coming and we had no idea when they would reschedule her.

I guess the looming USCIS furloughs are not affecting interviews?  Anyone got more background info on this?

Hi all,
Stuck in the COVID-19 delays, wife and I are still waiting for our rescheduled interview for her pending I-485.

To be on the safe side with delays and a potential USCIS furlough, we are applying for a renewal for her EAD and AP.  She has a combo card that expires in late October.

My question is this: Our filing address for I-765 AND I-131 is the SAME Chicago Address Lockbox.  Only difference is that the I-765 filing requests you put "ATTN: FBAS" as well.  Is there any issue with putting her I-765 AND I-131 in the SAME envelope (all forms and evidence separated and organized accordingly of course) and mailing that to the SAME address?  Or should I mail them in their own separate envelopes? 

I know USCIS has been finicky lately so I don't want to do anything that will get their simple minds confused.  Thank you!

On 6/17/2020 at 9:38 AM, bedi1919 said:

Hi Guys,

 

Wondering if anyone moved after the interview ready to be scheduled. I am a bit nervous and calming my fears with the hope that Northern Va and DC share the same office. We moved from DC to Alexandria and are wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. 

We moved in late April but it was within Virginia (Arlington to Falls Church).  We submitted all the paper-work and got the receipts.

Our Interview status has been in "Waiting to be scheduled" since they cancelled our initial date of April 3rd.  It's just a HUGE slowdown right now and as has been noted, USCIS isn't focusing too much on Green Card interviews.  The looming furlough will also probably slow things up as well.

Still waiting for our new interview to be scheduled.  Doesn't look good with the pending USCIS Furlough...they might not be doing much.  Our original interview was for April 3rd before the COVID closure.  My understanding is that USCIS is *mostly* been focused on naturalization processes (interviews, ceremonies, etc.) and Green Card interviews are taking a backseat.

We'll also be re-applying for the EAD/AP. 

IOE appears to mean "e-Filing"/ELIS...which I would speculate means that it is the new location receipt number for their teleworking option.  Meaning it isn't at a specific USCIS location (like their receipts MSC, NBC, EAC, CSC mean) but is likely in their network.

Our interview date was April 3rd, we're still waiting for our rescheduled interview date.  I assume we might be until October-ish if other folks are getting September.  What happened to all of summer? USCIS not doing anything? 😂 I noticed they have now pushed back their open date to JUNE 4th according to their website.

We might have the renew my wife's EAD/AP too...geez, I'm a fed too and I'm frustrated with how USCIS is such a mess with some of this stuff. I know USCIS has been trying to push more forms online but they need to do it better.  I think you're going to see a HUGE push for massive teleworking where possible...it was rolling out slowly before but now I think it will really get pushed.

Anyways, just some additional interesting info, my federal agency has instructed us that we are to "wait" for Virginia to declare its COVID peak, wait two weeks (probably to see if there's a drop in cases) and then we will start a "phased" return with reduced staff.  I don't know if USCIS will be doing something similar, but we'll see.  I actually don't anticipate returning to the office until June...similar to USCIS.

Wow...September 27th is far away.  We were scheduled for April 3rd and are still waiting for our Interview to be Rescheduled.

The White House gave guidance that Federal Agencies should follow the guidance of the states they reside in...so if USCIS chooses to follow Virginia, that means there won't be any openings until June 10th.

I'm also a Federal employee and I can tell you there is A LOT of confusions among the federal agencies here in DC...many of which have elderly workers AND offices with hundreds/thousands of people.  Opening prematurely puts your co-workers at risk.  In my opinion, they should implement testing for everyone walking in the buildings and they should do a "phased" opening.

Oh, FYI, the White House Executive Order DOES NOT impact US Citizen Foreign Spouses.
 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-immigrants-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-economic-recovery-following-covid-19-outbreak/

If you are currently in the US you should be fine:

Here's the official details:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-immigrants-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-economic-recovery-following-covid-19-outbreak/

I'm out of DC.  In our Washington DC Field Office thread...someone who had submitted the whole package also had their interview waived and then got their status changed to "Card in production" or whatever.

It appears that USCIS is indeed waiving some interviews and making decisions...this is great because the interview line is only going to get longer.

In our case, we were just waiting to submit our Medical Exam at the interview, we remain hopeful that the Field Office might reach out and request it.  However given that many doctor's offices might be "closed" for the exam, this might be something they're not going to contact people about.

My brother has had his "pending" in his bank account since Saturday with a 'release date' of April 15th.  Obviously what you see depends on your bank.  A lot (approx. 8 million and those that did direct deposit) are supposed to be deposited tomorrow the 15th.

1 minute ago, mgh84 said:

I called them today and asked if we can send our medical and they said no unless you receive a request for it! So I guess they might send us a request if they want to waive the interview but apparently for now they’re only waiving interviews for those who already sent their medicals

Yup, they might eventually have to do this to "help" the backlog.  We sent A LOT of info to them so our case should be easy to vet even without an interview.

6 hours ago, melus said:

Lucky for you! I have been hearing the same. Mine is still showing as "Interview Cancelled And Notice Ordered" - nothing else has changed. Unfortunately I'm EB3 which isn't current so I'm somehow unlikely to skip straight to green card

It should go back to "Waiting to be scheduled for an Interview".  Our interview was April 3rd.  They cancelled and sent the same two notices, one said "Decision" and then the other said "Testing and Interview".  Then our status soon went back to "Waiting to be scheduled for an Interview"...it went back to that on March 26.

As I commented before, the only thing USCIS doesn't have is my wife's medical exam results...which we've held onto after hearing all the horror stories of USPS or USCIS losing them.  Felt it was better to give at the interview.

So we've been back in the "Waiting for Interview to be Scheduled" phase.

That's awesome news that they waived the interview!  Unfortunately we didn't submit our medical but we have it...I wonder if it's worth getting in touch with USCIS and seeing if we can send it in directly to the field site.  The problem is the Field Offices seem to RARELY, if EVER, get in touch with folks.

EDIT: Just saw mgh84 comments..yeah, better to wait....but I wonder if they'll waive or "increase" the medical exam timelines.  My wife's exam will reach a year old in JUNE 2020 so it would have to be updated for an interview.

They might actually have to waive some interviews to work on the backlog...this is going to dramatically increase ALL the timelines.

Your best asking USCIS directly about this.

However, if you can stay longer in your home country, I suggest "buffing" with a few extra days to cover your "travel days".

Our status has changed back to "Ready to be scheduled for Interview" after the Cancellation.

If I was USCIS, I would keep most people in this status until they actually determine when they're going to start re-opening.  A lot of re-opening declarations are pretty pre-mature right now.

If anyone engages them about a medical exam, please report that here for the rest of us.  They're obviously going to have to make some exceptions for that.