Mr & Mrs O

Not yet - guessing it will come towards the end of this week or beginning of next. Definitely watching the USPS Informed Delivery 

Not yet - guessing it will come towards the end of this week or beginning of next. Definitely watching the USPS Informed Delivery 

Sent our packet via USPS to Phoenix on 10/28. Got text notification today 11/3. Tracked the case # and says USCIS received in on 11/1 - Receipt number begins with MSC 
 
Now we wait 🥰

Hello 
 
We sent our ROC package off Monday of this week. Just awaiting notification that USCIS received it. Glad to have that monster package sent off. Now the waiting begins (again) Lol!

Welcome all October filers! We are getting our packet prepared- plan to file towards the end of the month! Wishing us all speedy approvals without RFE’s or interviews ❤️

Welcome to the thread!

Okay...
I'll be watching and waiting,  I really pray and hope it changes soon.
The wait been too long! 
Thanks very much!!! 

In order of most to least competent when it comes to not losing critical documents  there  are 4 agencies involved:
 
Passport office. 
USCIS
USPS
SSA
 
The passport office is used to handling old passports, green cards, naturalization certs, citizenship certs, CRBAs, etc and thus has processes for reducing the chance that these documents will be lost.  
 
USCIS normally doesn’t deal with original documents by mail but in my experience they tend to not lose these documents when they receive them. For example I know a couple that sent an original foreign birth certificate with an AOS and when they told me, I face palmed.  Fortunately they messed up their I-864 and so the original birth certificate was returned.  
 
However USCIS is inept at processing changes of addresses.  Hence green cards, combo cards, and other USCIS mailings like interview notices get sent to the wrong address all the time.  
 
Possibly because of their role (contract which equals critical revenue) USPS tends to not lose mail sent to or sent from the passport office.  But documents involving USCIS are routinely lost or mis delivered.  Documents from SSA do get reliably delivered.  There is evidence that there are USPS workers that deliberately lose or mis deliver USCIS documents and there is evidence that post masters are unable to fire incompetent or malicious carriers except for those caught red handed by federal law enforcers.     
 
Now we get to SSA.  
 
SSA is optimized for two things: in person interactions to apply for new SS cards for children and making sure retirees get their checks.  Everything else it is inept at.  
 
With COVID, unlike other agencies, SSA has been unwilling to re-open.  This is understandable.  Most of the people who would walk into a local SS office are older and thus at higher risk to COVID.  SSA and the chain of command above SSA do not want SSA offices to become worse than retirement and nursing  homes as vectors for killing older residents of the USA.  
 
So now SSA is faced with verifying immigration statuses and it needs or thinks it needs original, hard to replace documents to do that.  And unlike the passport office, it isn’t set up to do that.  So we can imagine haphazard stacks of SS-5 applications and the critical documents all other the place with no room.  
 
SSA’s stupid info tech systems compound this problem.  For example; Enter the US on a k-1, wait two days, print your I-94, and before COVID go to SSA office to apply for an SS card.  And about half the time SS will say that their records don’t show lawful presence.  Despite the fact that CBP’s website says there is lawful presence.  So when an SS-5 is mailed in, if the SS worker cannot verify lawful presence, the case gets set aside, which provides an opportunity for critical documents to be lost.  And the SSA and its workers don’t care. Because COVID.  
 
And these people at SSA actually demand an LPR send a green card to get a SS card. Think about that for a minute: it is against federal criminal  law for LPR’s to not carry a green card on their person.  So SSA is demanding LPRs break the law.  
 
SSA is also no good at issuing SS cards automatically to new immigrants and EAD holders.  
 

Mine still says ready for interview, but I do see last update was 28th of December. Bit confused by it, but so far it was pretty smooth so I will just wait and see.

I had my interview on December 2nd and my medical December 8th. It took about 2 week before I received notice I could send in my passport. I sent it through secure mail to them, and now awaiting the return including the visa. 

It took 12 business days for my wife to get her immigrant visa. We’ll be flying back to the states this weekend if anyone is curious about the processing time.

It is a good sign they keep the passport, no one can tell you when it is received and reviewed at this pandemic time. Yes AP is until it is issued. Live your lives, don’t check ceac every minute.

Hi. We had this same exact issue. We ended up having to call the contact number and speak to an agent. The agent was able to resolve the issue. 
 

 

Hi. When we completed our I-130 all this immigration stuff was new to us. We also sent our I-864 with our original I-130 petition at USCIS .
 
Once our petition was approved (no RFE’s) and we were at the NVC stage, we still had to complete and pay for a new I-864 affidavit of support form.
 
I have no idea if they reviewed the one we sent at the USCIS stage or not (it may have just been reviewed as more proof of our relationship). 
 

That’s exactly what I said. The waiver that may be considered at the time of interview by the CO is not the same as Visa Waiver Program. 
 
The waiver at the time of interview  is completely separate and is not the same as any other waiver “program”. 
 
It’s the CO discretion to grant a waiver at the time of the interview because of the ban issues via the proclamation. 
 
It is known  that several visas have already been granted because the CO issued a waiver - per their discretion - in the interview and thus approved several applicants - this was prior to COVID

That’s exactly what I said. The waiver that may be considered at the time of interview by the CO is not the same as Visa Waiver Program. 
 
The waiver at the time of interview  is completely separate and is not the same as any other waiver “program”. 
 
It’s the CO discretion to grant a waiver at the time of the interview because of the ban issues via the proclamation. 
 
It is known  that several visas have already been granted because the CO issued a waiver - per their discretion - in the interview and thus approved several applicants - this was prior to COVID

That’s exactly what I said. The waiver that may be considered at the time of interview by the CO is not the same as Visa Waiver Program. 
 
The waiver at the time of interview  is completely separate and is not the same as any other waiver “program”. 
 
It’s the CO discretion to grant a waiver at the time of the interview because of the ban issues via the proclamation. 
 
It is known  that several visas have already been granted because the CO issued a waiver - per their discretion - in the interview and thus approved several applicants - this was prior to COVID

There is a waiver available and the CO automatically considers the applicant. Not part of the “visa waiver program” and there is no additional fee for the waiver. It occurs automatically at the time of interview 
 
Per https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/presidential-proclamation-archive/presidential-proclamation9645.html?wcmmode=disabled
 
 
Waivers of PP 9645 and PP 9983 
 
An applicant who is subject to either P.P. 9645 or P.P. 9983 and otherwise eligible for a visa, but who does not qualify for an exception, will be refused but is automatically considered for a waiver by the consular officer during the visa interview.  Each applicant’s eligibility for a waiver is evaluated on a case-by-case basis; waivers may not be granted categorically.  A waiver may be available if: 
 
d. the foreign national seeks to enter the United States to visit or reside with a close family member (e.g., a spouse, child, or parent) who is a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien lawfully admitted on a valid nonimmigrant visa, and the denial of entry would cause the foreign national undue hardship;

There is a waiver available and the CO automatically considers the applicant. Not part of the “visa waiver program” and there is no additional fee for the waiver. It occurs automatically at the time of interview 
 
Per https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/presidential-proclamation-archive/presidential-proclamation9645.html?wcmmode=disabled
 
 
Waivers of PP 9645 and PP 9983 
 
An applicant who is subject to either P.P. 9645 or P.P. 9983 and otherwise eligible for a visa, but who does not qualify for an exception, will be refused but is automatically considered for a waiver by the consular officer during the visa interview.  Each applicant’s eligibility for a waiver is evaluated on a case-by-case basis; waivers may not be granted categorically.  A waiver may be available if: 
 
d. the foreign national seeks to enter the United States to visit or reside with a close family member (e.g., a spouse, child, or parent) who is a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien lawfully admitted on a valid nonimmigrant visa, and the denial of entry would cause the foreign national undue hardship;