Sam Walz

NBC here as well. My understanding is NBC does initial processing and directs it to whatever your local FO is. So everything up until the actual interview happens at NBC, everything after happens at the local FO.

Adding another January DP here from northern virginia (WashingtonDC/Fairfax FO). Have a pending I-751 since 1/15/25. 1/29 -- Application Filed Online (receipt date of 1/30; likely because it was filed at ~9pm eastern). 1/30 -- Receipt notice available at ~7am. 1/30 -- Biometrics appointment scheduled at ~8pm, code 5 for both N400 and I751. Appointment is on 2/18 in Alexandria, VA.

All right, after waiting for a year we've also filed N-400 yesterday (Fairfax, VA). 1/29/26 -- Filed N-400 online -- Receipt date of 10/30 (likely because I filed ~9PM Eastern). 1/30/26 -- Receipt notice available (~7am). 1/30/26 -- Biometrics Appointment Scheduled (~8pm) for Feb 18 in Alexandria (notice date is 1/31). Onwards!

I'm a little confused by your timeline. If your "Resident Since" date is April 30, 2023, the earliest you could have filed your I-751 would have been January 30, 2025 (assuming you filed jointly; and/are still married). Are you a VAWA applicant by any chance?

Getting ready to file N-400 this month (with a pending 751). Asking mostly for curiosity since in our case the difference this makes is ~2 weeks. Our family recently moved between states. PR anniversary is April 20, so technically eligible to file on Jan 20, however because of the move I won't meet the local residency requirement until Feb 3rd (assuming it applies). Except it looks like (per https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-6#:~:text=D. 90-Day Early Filing Provision (INA 334), for people precisely in my position (i.e. Early Filers filing under INA 334), the 3-month residency requirement need only be met by the date of N-400 interview. Has something like this been discussed here? If so, what's the consensus opinion? I guess it doesn't make much of a difference for me personally but I can see this may be relevant for those who move relatively close to their 90-day early filing date and then having to wait a while (vs those who are already past their 5/3-year mark being able to file and then moving).

You could get away with submitting a lot less, and bringing the rest to your interview. For example, you could probably just submit the tax returns and CBRA of your child with the application, those are the strongest pieces of evidence anyway (compared to something like airplane tickets or utility bills). Depending on the state you were granted a divorce in, you could also probably get a copy of the divorce "certificate" (e.g. Virginia provides one) from the state's vital records office and submit that instead of the full divorce decree. Certificates are one-page documents that prove a divorce occurred. Decrees are typically several pages that have a lot of unnecessary details. Shorter the application, the better it is for whoever reviews it.

Unsure if someone has mentioned this or not, but generally you cannot divorce somewhere where neither you nor your spouse is current resident. If you reside in Miami-Dade, and your spouse resides in Broward, then those are the only two counties where Florida court would assume jurisdiction to grant you a divorce. You should probably clear this up with a lawyer before proceeding forward. Given this is a domestic matter, USCIS will assume the divorce was properly granted if it was granted by a state court of record.

Yes you can. That said, legal name changes need to be documented (and she'll be ineligible for I-90 anyway). If you have a court order/certificate/decree of adoption, it typically would not have her *previous* name on it (only the new one), but it should have all the other relevant information like date and place of birth and that should be enough.

Yes burden of proof is on the petitioner in nearly all immigration matters, EXCEPT when USCIS denies a properly filed I-751 (other than through abandonment), then the burden of proof automatically shifts to DHS where they must prove that they properly denied it based on the evidence in the record. The standard there is preponderance of evidence, no judge will go along with the reasoning that USCIS denied an I-751 because their adjudicator wanted every little detail of a married couple’s life.

Dude, don’t do that. Beyond the USCIS processing logistics and it not mattering much, that’s just plain weird. USCIS is there to determine whether or not your marriage was bonafide. You’re under no obligation to provide them with (and they have no right to ask you for) every little intimate detail of your life.

Not normal/usual but probably okay and the letter remains valid/usable.

New Hampshire is like that too. It’s a bit strange though because MA issues full term REAL IDs to permanent residents. NC recently had an administrative order issued to reverse their policy of limited term licenses to LPRs, and they now explicitly have codified issuances of full-term licenses to LPRs. I think it depends on whether your state goes off of SAVE end-of-status date or the document expiration you present. Ik for a fact MA goes off of SAVE, and NH goes off of whatever document you present. SAVE always returns “indefinite” period of authorized stay for all LPRs, regardless of category of admission or expiration on the green card.

They just don’t care enough. They’re required to run everything via SAVE, and they’re explicitly told to run Green Cards through SAVE even if expired so I presume they take the printed version at face value and run the receipt number through SAVE.

This happened to me. The original 797 extension later showed up in the mail 3 days later after the biometric-reuse notice. You can use online version of your extension letter for everything EXCEPT travel. Airlines & CBP do not accept anything other than the original I-797 as a valid extension. But you can use the online version to, say, renew your driver license etc.

Guess this will be my final update for a while -- 1/15 - Delivered to Elgin 1/17 - Case added to account at around 10p (notified by email). <long weekend/presidential inauguration> 1/22 - Received text (G-1145) notification. 1/23 - Check cashed and NOA1 (TSC) + Biometrics reuse notices added to account (case status updated to "Active Review"). 1/27 - Biometric reuse (I-797A) notice received in the mail. 1/30 - NOA1 Extension letter received in the mail. All in all, took about 2 weeks including a long weekend.