April 2012 AOS Filers

[Camo 5]

Approved

Will write more when I get home.

Congratulations Hypnos!!! My wife and I are so happy for you and your family. Thanks for teaching me what patience means.

Take a deep breathe now fighter!!!

[chimcham 18]

April filers are complete...such a nice feeling! Congrats Hypnos!!!

[Shooli 2]

I can't believe it's been 11 months already...

[Hypnos 6,576]

Thanks for the good wishes guys and gals.

As promised, here is the (slightly) longer version.

My appointment was for 2:15pm, which I thought was perhaps a good thing in itself since I had read (here) that earlier appointments were considered by some to be an indication of a more difficult case, and later afternoon appointments of a simpler one. Anyway, my lawyer had asked me to arrive around 1:45pm so we could talk for a time before we were called in, but I didn't arrive until just after 1:50pm thanks to some heavy duty roadworks and traffic on the west side of the Irving office. It turns out she hit the same issue, and arrived about two minutes after I did. This was the first time I had met her in person but she was very professional and we talked for a time about my case (mostly how USCIS had screwed it up) before branching off into lighter topics.

We waited and waited, and she told me she saw some officers buzzing around (coming and going) that she would prefer not to have if at all possible, that she would have some indication of how it would go by who they had assigned to the case. At 3pm a man came up to us and said he was running a little behind, but would be with us in a few minutes. I asked my lawyer “good or bad” and she said “good”, which was another plus sign.

As he said, he came to collect us a few minutes later and we went into his office around 3:10pm. He didn't introduce himself so I don't know his name, but he was a tall caucasian gentleman in his early 40s with a very pleasant demeanour. He said did I have any questions before we started, and I replied no. He then said that my attorney could interject and explain anything I needed explaining as we proceeded, but that the simpler the case, the less they attorney would be involved. He was smiling when he said this and so I could see he didn't mean it in a negative way.

We then got into it. He confirmed my basic information (name, address, dob, country of citizenship) and he then moved onto the Yes / No questions. Obviously I replied “No” to all of them, and every 2 – 3 he would stop and say “I believe you” with a smile on his face. Clearly I do not have a terrorist vibe, which I guess will serve me well in the future.

After we were done with that, he said that he saw no issues with my eligibility, and moved on to the evidence I had submitted. He carefully examined it all, and said that it looked very thorough and complete. He commented that I was apparently in excellent health, after looking through my I-693 medical exam, which made me laugh.

He flipped through it all, before acting as if he was looking for something he couldn't find. My lawyer asked if needed something, and he replied he was trying to find the copy of my daughter's birth certificate we had submitted. I told him that I had an original copy with me and went to pull it out of my folder, but right at that second he found it in his folder. At that point he said something like “Ok, looks good” and then said he was going to approve my self-petition (the I-360) and also my application to legally immigrate (the I-485). He said to expect the green card in the mail in around 10 – 15 days.

I was fairly stunned at that point (this whole process has left me very jaded, even more so than I was before) and just kinda sat there, before managing to get out “ok, thank you” like he had just handed me a dinner roll. He then asked if I had any questions, to which I somehow managed to pull out a question about would my green card be valid for the full ten years, as I had read that green cards issued to widows and widowers are always valid for ten years regardless of the length of the marriage (no RoC required). He said “that's a good question, but I will have to pass that to your attorney”. I looked at Maria and she smiled and said “yes, that's correct”.

And that was about it. We stood up and he asked me about a fossil park in our (tiny) town, and that he was wanting to take his children there. We talked about that for a couple of minutes, before he walked us out and back into the lobby.

Overall it was extremely relaxed and straightforward. I probably was in his office for less than ten minutes start to finish. As we walked out Maria said to me “you can smile now”, as I guess my face was still an ashen expression of mild shock. She was very nice and even though she came in kinda at the end of my case I do not regret hiring her at all. Maybe if I had done that the first time I wouldn't have ended up in the position I did, but there you go.

In the lobby, Maria told me to not commit any crimes, that I shouldn't stay outside of the US for more than six months at a time, etc. She said if I had any questions to get in touch with her and she would be happy to help.

So, there we are.

The online status has not changed yet, but I'm sure it probably will sometime next week.

One more interesting thing. While we were waiting in the lobby, Maria told me that when I initially contacted her they did a name check through their records for my wife and I, which helps them identify any issues with conflicts of interest and so on. It turns out that my wife contacted her office in 2009 to talk to them. I didn't know this at all, and she couldn't give me any details since she said they don't keep them on free consultations, only for people who actually retain their services, but that she expected that my wife wanted general information about getting married and filing for adjustment of status. I thought it was a cool thing, and it made me smile. I guess she's still looking after me after all this time.

Anywho, that's about it. I'll post back when the case status changes, which as I say has not happened yet.

[DC85 113]

Congratulation Hypnos , I am really very happy for you.... btw, I think Maria is the same lawyer that my friend used when he had his AOS in Dallas.. he told me she knows most of the officers, and she is the one who emailed him and she told him that he got approved, even though the officer didn't tell him anything... Lawyers have their own connections .. but again congratulation

[Hypnos 6,576]

Maria McIntyre is her full name. Site is http://www.dfw-immigration.com I highly recommend her.

And yes, she certainly seemed to know many of the officers there and was extremely familiar with their procedures.

[seth2013 39]

Hypnos congratulations! It's about time

[X Factor 1,112]

Approved

Will write more when I get home.

ConGraTuLaTions

[asdfg 18]

Congratulations, Hypnos!

It's been almost a year....

[Hypnos 6,576]

Still no update for my cases at the online case status.

I'm wondering if perhaps they will just stay unchanged and the green card will just arrive in the mail, unannounced.

[asdfg 18]

Online status may or may not change.

Considering that your case went the unusual route, it may well be outside of the main conveyer where cases still get an online updates as they progress from one to another step. It is a mere speculation at this point.

Good luck !

[X Factor 1,112]

Online status may or may not change.

Considering that your case went the unusual route, it may well be outside of the main conveyer where cases still get an online updates as they progress from one to another step. It is a mere speculation at this point.

Good luck !

[Hypnos 6,576]

Still zip so far, nothing in the mail and no online update (hasn't changed since December).

The IO said to expect to receive my green card within 10 - 15 days, and Monday will be day 10, so I would imagine I will hear something next week.

My lawyer said she is going to the Dallas office on an unrelated matter next Thursday, so if we haven't heard anything by then she will enquire while she is there.

[asdfg 18]

Hypnos, as I mentioned earlier it is my understanding that the "out of pattern" processing does affect the case status reporting, particularly on latest stages where the file is at local office as opposed to centralized intake offices.

It is possible that you will get your approval without any changes to your online status.

Good luck!

[Xanax 349]

Congratulations Hypnos! Sorry I did not say congrats earlier, I was having a baby