Renew EAD or hope my Green Card comes?

[chestnutt 10]

Hi Everyone!

My EAD expires on 9 June this year, so the 90 day period to reapply is coming up soon. My AOS paperwork was submitted April 1st 2014. I received a letter in the mail saying I was a potential interview waiver case, the 6 months came and went so I called the USCIS to put a service request in. They got back to me via email and said

"

According to our records, the National Benefits Center completed its initial review of your application on 02/11/2015. At that time, your application was identified as an interview waiver case and was transferred to the San Antonio Field Office for final processing. We regret that we are not able to give you a timeframe for when we will complete the review of your petition/application.

"

I wanted to know if anyone has received this sort of response before, and if it means I may be getting my Green Card soon, or is it still stuck in months of processing? Am I beyond the point where I would receive a request for evidence?

The renewal fee for the EAD is $380 so I was hoping to avoid having to pay that again. My case status on the USCIS site still only says my fingerprint fee was accepted, which is the same thing it has been saying for months and months.

Thanks for any help

[Merrytooth 5,748]

EAD renewal is FREE!

So just renew EAD. Don't wait for the Green Card approval.

Note***

See here: http://www.uscis.gov.../i-765instr.pdf top of page 8 (this is in the filing fee section) it says for "renewal EAD" if you're filing under category C9 (which is what a pending AOS is) then there's no fee.

In order to be eligible for this though you would send the NOA1 from your AOS with the application.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Merrytooth

[California Life 16]

If you have work/intend to work/currently working i would recommend to apply for the renewal and hope for the GC to arrive and yes renewal of EAD is FREE!!!

[ChicagoSarah 127]

i was going to say the same thing. Since your AOS is pending, the EAD/AP renewal would be free. Better safe than sorry!

[Hypnos 6,576]

If your case has been sent to the San Antonio field office then you're probably getting an interview.

As stated above though, your initial EAD and any renewal of it is free. USCIS recommends you file for renewal documents 120 days before your current documents will expire.

In short, you should file for a renewal AP and EAD immediately.

[chestnutt 10]

Thanks very much for all the information everyone, so glad EAD/AP renewal is free, that makes it a lot easier

Hopefully I won't get an interview because they told me it was identified as an interview waiver case, but if I do so be it!

Thanks again

[Hypnos 6,576]

If it stayed at the NBC then you would likely not be getting an interview. Since it's been transferred to San Antonio then that is only done when an interview is in line for scheduling.

[Pinkrlion 2,718]

When AOS is sent to local office does not mean an interview. Local offices are processing AOS

[Hypnos 6,576]

Since when? Do you have a source?

Local offices only routinely process AoS for non-K-1 adjustments. When an AoS from a K visa is transferred from the NBC to a local office, that has pretty much always meant that an interview is happening.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Hypnos

[Derwood 203]

Since when? Do you have a source?

Local offices only routinely process AoS for non-K-1 adjustments. When an AoS from a K visa is transferred from the NBC to a local office, that has pretty much always meant that an interview is happening.

Hypnos, the National Benefits Center stopped processing I-485 interview waiver cases quite some time ago stating they do not have the resources to do it. The NBC is now just a holding facility for IW cases. All such cases are drip-fed to local offices for adjudication, so getting your case to a local office is a good sign of progress. The cases are not sent to the office which has jurisdiction for your area but to an office which has capacity to process them.

The OP may want to refer to the main 'Notice of Potential Interview Waiver Case' thread where this has been discussed in detail.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Derwood

[shell20 746]

Since when? Do you have a source?

Local offices only routinely process AoS for non-K-1 adjustments. When an AoS from a K visa is transferred from the NBC to a local office, that has pretty much always meant that an interview is happening.

Seems that might have changed since there is a back log of cases.

[nlherman 36]

Since when? Do you have a source?

Local offices only routinely process AoS for non-K-1 adjustments. When an AoS from a K visa is transferred from the NBC to a local office, that has pretty much always meant that an interview is happening.

Not sure what your source is, but Derwood is correct. In addition, they would never send a case to San Antonio (love to be back there now, even with a little ice) for someone living in PA if it required an interview. Long road trip. It is great news that they have action. It's there because the backlog there is shorter than at their local office. Again, I-485's are adjudicated at local offices. We have also been informed by Tier 2 that this requires sign off by a judge; that may explain why it takes so long even when your case is at a local field office...Ours has been in the NYC field office since 2/4/15 (confirmed)...

[shell20 746]

Not sure what your source is, but Derwood is correct. In addition, they would never send a case to San Antonio (love to be back there now, even with a little ice) for someone living in PA if it required an interview. Long road trip. It is great news that they have action. It's there because the backlog there is shorter than at their local office. Again, I-485's are adjudicated at local offices. We have also been informed by Tier 2 that this requires sign off by a judge; that may explain why it takes so long even when your case is at a local field office...Ours has been in the NYC field office since 2/4/15 (confirmed)...

Wow, a sign off by a judge, I must have missed that post. No wonder the drip, drip, drip, continues!

[shell20 746]

You can apply 120 days before and it's free. Come join our thread.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/452854-notice-of-potential-interview-waiver-case/page-140#entry7495019

Hi Everyone!

My EAD expires on 9 June this year, so the 90 day period to reapply is coming up soon. My AOS paperwork was submitted April 1st 2014. I received a letter in the mail saying I was a potential interview waiver case, the 6 months came and went so I called the USCIS to put a service request in. They got back to me via email and said

"

According to our records, the National Benefits Center completed its initial review of your application on 02/11/2015. At that time, your application was identified as an interview waiver case and was transferred to the San Antonio Field Office for final processing. We regret that we are not able to give you a timeframe for when we will complete the review of your petition/application.

"

I wanted to know if anyone has received this sort of response before, and if it means I may be getting my Green Card soon, or is it still stuck in months of processing? Am I beyond the point where I would receive a request for evidence?

The renewal fee for the EAD is $380 so I was hoping to avoid having to pay that again. My case status on the USCIS site still only says my fingerprint fee was accepted, which is the same thing it has been saying for months and months.

Thanks for any help

[Hypnos 6,576]

Very interesting. Thanks for that.

I was not aware there had been a policy change.