How long between interview notice letter and interview date?

[jxn 86]

My wife and I applied for her AoS and have a priority date from early January 2014. I'm really expecting to be scheduled any day now, as the processing dates webpage for Washington, DC (our local field office) actually shows our exact priority date. Considering the fact that the current data is from July 31st, by mid-September I would assume the field office's scheduling queue has had time to receive, review, and begin scheduling our case.

Now that it's been a month and a half since they reached our priority date, I'm expecting a formal letter in the mail and update to our portfolio on the USCIS website saying that we've been scheduled. My wife and I have some upcoming travel out of town, and I'm trying to strategically think about when to plan it. In your experience, when were you notified of your interview schedule, and when was it scheduled for? I've been told it's about thirty days, but what's the longest and shortest you've heard of? Have people gotten notified that they have an interview in two weeks? Six weeks? Two months?

Thanks for any help as I try to plan short upcoming trips so as to try to avoid any overlap with when our green card interview could be.

[GurkenSalat 48]

I'm confused... I didn't think there were "priority dates" for AOS. Do you mean you applied back in early January 2014?

Anyway, if your case status has not yet changed to "Testing&Interview", then you probably have a couple of weeks time. From when it changes to that status, it may take up to 30 days for them to actually schedule your interview and send you the notice (mine took about 2-3 weeks). And even then, your interview won't be scheduled "tomorrow", you will have a few weeks until scheduled date (for me, it was about a month).

Hope this helps

[fullglass 5]

My wife and I applied for her AoS and have a priority date from early January 2014. I'm really expecting to be scheduled any day now, as the processing dates webpage for Washington, DC (our local field office) actually shows our exact priority date. Considering the fact that the current data is from July 31st, by mid-September I would assume the field office's scheduling queue has had time to receive, review, and begin scheduling our case.

Now that it's been a month and a half since they reached our priority date, I'm expecting a formal letter in the mail and update to our portfolio on the USCIS website saying that we've been scheduled. My wife and I have some upcoming travel out of town, and I'm trying to strategically think about when to plan it. In your experience, when were you notified of your interview schedule, and when was it scheduled for? I've been told it's about thirty days, but what's the longest and shortest you've heard of? Have people gotten notified that they have an interview in two weeks? Six weeks? Two months?

Thanks for any help as I try to plan short upcoming trips so as to try to avoid any overlap with when our green card interview could be.

There are multiple factors as to when you will be scheduled. Also, the number of cases before yours plays a role.

If the website update states "Testing/Interview" but with no actual date, this means your case is ready to be scheduled but not actually scheduled. You will know when you are scheduled because the update will list the date/time of your interview and inform you that an actual letter has been mailed to the address they have on file for you.

[jxn 86]

There are multiple factors as to when you will be scheduled. Also, the number of cases before yours plays a role.

If the website update states "Testing/Interview" but with no actual date, this means your case is ready to be scheduled but not actually scheduled. You will know when you are scheduled because the update will list the date/time of your interview and inform you that an actual letter has been mailed to the address they have on file for you.

We have been in "Testing/Interview" since February.

When we changed our address, the system updated everything to "Initial Review," but our lawyers told us that it simply displays that step following an address change and "corrects" itself following the next status update after a change of address.

Regarding the number of cases before mine. My priority date is January 6th, 2014. For Washington, DC, the field office was working on cases from that exact day as of the latest source of data, which is July 31st. They don't jump the line and leave old cases stagnant, right? So in the six weeks since July 31st, they haven't scheduled cases from that day. I find that processing delay very strange.

[jxn 86]

I'm confused... I didn't think there were "priority dates" for AOS. Do you mean you applied back in early January 2014?

Anyway, if your case status has not yet changed to "Testing&Interview", then you probably have a couple of weeks time. From when it changes to that status, it may take up to 30 days for them to actually schedule your interview and send you the notice (mine took about 2-3 weeks). And even then, your interview won't be scheduled "tomorrow", you will have a few weeks until scheduled date (for me, it was about a month).

Hope this helps

I just touched on this in an earlier reply but I wanted to answer you directly as well.

My wife and I have been in "Testing & Interview" since February. I was told to expect up to a six-month wait in that stage, but we've just crossed that mark.

After six months, our lawyer requested more info and USCIS said they would deliver an answer within thirty days. When they didn't, our lawyers got back in touch and said they won't look at until our local field office's processing timeframe shows a date past our priority date. The issue is, the data is also shown from two calendar months before. So we are currently in September, so the processing data they show is from July 31st. They won't show the data from August 31st until early to mid-October. So although a six-month wait was supposed to produce a new stage, they won't even give us any more info or take a second look until about the nine-month mark when you factor in all these additional delays. Screenshot of the processing timeframe info is attached at the end of this post.

I understand that it's a waiting game, but our experience really skews to the longest wait time compared to everyone on VisaJourney for what is a very straightforward case with zero errors in our application and zero RFEs. I'm happy to continue being patient, I just want some peace of mind in having an idea so that I can properly plan our near future. I've already had to reschedule flights and for half a year have been limiting planned trips to avoid potential interview dates.

"Priority date" is the date of receipt/filing for one's AoS case with USCIS. Per their definition:

In family immigration, the priority date is the date when the petition was filed at a DHS office or submitted to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad.

Edited September 11, 2014 by jxn

[CdnRN 40]

I'm confused... I didn't think there were "priority dates" for AOS. Do you mean you applied back in early January 2014?

Anyway, if your case status has not yet changed to "Testing&Interview", then you probably have a couple of weeks time. From when it changes to that status, it may take up to 30 days for them to actually schedule your interview and send you the notice (mine took about 2-3 weeks). And even then, your interview won't be scheduled "tomorrow", you will have a few weeks until scheduled date (for me, it was about a month).

Hope this helps

It can take longer than 30 days too, and USCIS says it's normal. I think you were one of the lucky ones.

[jxn 86]

It can take longer than 30 days too, and USCIS says it's normal. I think you were one of the lucky ones.

The wording on the Testing & Interview stage is really confusing. When people enter that stage, they think it should take a maximum of thirty days to be scheduled, but the USCIS wording is referring to thirty-day period within which you should expect to receive a letter with interview date and time after the interview has been scheduled. Generally I've seen it take up to six months for most cases. Currently my wife and I have been in Testing & Interview for seven months and nothing's been scheduled so far but USCIS doesn't yet want to look into it.

[CdnRN 40]

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. But the PP was only in testing and interview for a couple of weeks (lucky!) so I didn't want OP to get their hopes up.

[GurkenSalat 48]

It can take longer than 30 days too, and USCIS says it's normal. I think you were one of the lucky ones.

Yes, I believe I was. Weird too, I thought they'd be busier over here, but I'll gladly accept my blessings

Mine was a best-case scenario. You will still have a fe weeks from when they schedule the interview to the actual interview date. For going out of town purposes, I mean.

OP, thanks for clarifying "priority dates for AoS"! Best of luck in your process!

[jxn 86]

You will still have a few weeks from when they schedule the interview to the actual interview date. For going out of town purposes, I mean.

Exactly, that's why I'm trying to figure out the shortest and longest wait period between receiving the interview letter and the dates of the interviews themselves for VJ forum posters. For example, if the shortest wait someone has had here is three weeks, I would feel fairly comfortable making plans taking me out of town for two and a half weeks from today, if that makes sense.

[NikeS 49]

Most people have an interval of 1 month between receiving the letter and the interview itself. However a few (very few) VJ posters had only 14 days to attend the interview. Someone in the May 2014 AOS got his interview letter today for Sept 30th - 19 days.

[jxn 86]

Most people have an interval of 1 month between receiving the letter and the interview itself. However a few (very few) VJ posters had only 14 days to attend the interview. Someone in the May 2014 AOS got his interview letter today for Sept 30th - 19 days.

Thanks! Out of curiosity, what's the longest you've seen? I believe I read on VJ recently that a couple received a letter indicating an interview about six weeks out. Has anyone heard of longer?

[NikeS 49]

About 5 weeks.

[Rose&Jorge 8]

Your status changed to testing and interview in feb 2014 and still no interview ??? . That is crazy I applied for my aos on May 12th and just had my interview and got approved today.

You really need to call the uscis customer service number and ask them are there any issues with your case.

From what I have seen interviews are normally one month after the status changes to testing & interview.

so to wait this long is madness

[jxn 86]

Your status changed to testing and interview in feb 2014 and still no interview ??? . That is crazy I applied for my aos on May 12th and just had my interview and got approved today.

You really need to call the uscis customer service number and ask them are there any issues with your case.

Agreed, it's very unusual. We got married last year. Our priority date is in early January, we switched to "Testing & Interview" in February, and my wife's EAD production was in March. Since then the only thing that's happened is in August we updated our address on file following a move.

Our lawyer contacted USCIS and was told it's within the processing timeframe. Doesn't make a lot of sense but I'm not sure what else is possible at this point.