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Immigration
Adjustment of Status - I-485
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Marriage Based I-485 | My Experience
Im adding my experience to this forum in hopes that this will help anyone with a similar situation. I am not in any way an attorney or suitable to advise or console anyone, so please take my experience with stride. This will be a very long story, if you are only interested in reading my Marriage I-485 Timeline please look for the divider -----
Im a B-2 Visa Overstay. I entered the US at the age of 2 on Sept 1991 from Colombia. I have lived my whole life in the US. I don't know any other life other then the American life. I consider myself more American then Colombian and to have to return to my home country would've been devastating.
My mom had an ongoing employment based case with USCIS. After many set backs with USCIS and other disappointing factors, my mom was able to submit her I-140. My mom applied for I-140 at least 3 times. The first employer that petitioned for her backed out because he did not want Homeland security looking into his taxes. So that application fell through. Luckily the petition with the first employer helped us a lot. Since this meant that my mom filed a Labor Certificate before USCIS enforced a policy that said that immigrants couldn't submit an employment base petition if they had unlawful status or have engaged in unlawful employment. Well by that time we had been living in the US for at least 10 years with expired visas. My parents had to work some how to maintain us all, legal or not. Luckily her Labor Certificate was dated a year before that policy was put into place and therefore she would be grandfathered under the INA 245(i). Read more about that here: http://asianjournal.com/immigration/adjustment-and-grandfathering-under-ina-245i/
She petitioned again and that fell through too as well. Then around 2004 she bumped into an old friend of hers that was willing and financially able to petition my mom through employment. This case looked very positive and we were all very optimistic. The application was submitted in 2004 and in 2007 I would say USCIS finally got to us and accepted our petition and by then I was just under the cut off age. I was 17 and just about to turn 18 in a few months so it was fortunate that I would be able to be petition under my mom and her case, this also included my father.
USCIS accepted my mom’s petition. It was so long ago I don’t remember the timeline but by the date on my EAD card for that petition, I can tell I was already in my last 2 years in college, around 2012. The application took years to get to the point where we could be scheduled for biometrics. We went to the appointment and I would say a month later we received the EAD’s in the mail. Our Employment Authorization cards were valid for a year. Within the year I was able to apply for a social security and my NYS ID. I was happy just to have that. A few months after that USCIS was ready to make a decision on our case and they issued an RFE. They wanted a clear copy of the Labor Certificate. The copy we sent was blurry on the most important part which was the year it was issued. Showing that my mom was grandfathered under the INA 245(i). This was the first labor certificate she received from the petition with the man who didn’t want Homeland security sniffing through his business.
At that time New York State was cracking down on business leeching off of illegal immigrants, trying to provide legal counsel without having the legal bearings to do so. It was just very unfortunate that my moms supposed “lawyer” was no lawyer at all and the Attorney General shut her down and seized all the documents in the office, originals and all. My mom trusted her and unfortunately the “lawyer” had all the originals and my mom had only copies, blurry copies at that. I researched and searched EVERYWHERE for that Labor Certificate. I requested FIOS with USCIS and apparently after a certain year they destroyed documents and therefore IF there was anything to be found it had already been destroyed. I tried to communicate with the Office of the Attorney General in NYS with no success or any useful information. We just had to face it and let it go. We had at this point spent thousands of dollars. It was so depressing; my parents were constantly stressed and worried about being let go from their jobs. And I was finishing up college in a year with no possibly to work right after.
Within that year Obama put DACA in place and many DREAMERS were hopeful and I was one of them. Being as I’ve been in the US since 1991, have never left and have been in US education system since. I was a perfect candidate. DACA was enforced on August 15, 2012. I sent my application on October; they received it on October 16, 2012. I did not hire a lawyer; I had a clean record and checked all the requirements so I felt confident enough to go about it myself. If you’re reading this and live in the NYC area, CUNY has an immigration center and they help with immigration applications. And many of the colleges hold application support meetings on the weekends. My college was holding one and I went with my mom with a very heavy bag with all the proof I could get my hands on. I had everything organized and all the lawyers there were impressed and so my time there went smoothly. They even supplied the envelope, the certified mail thing and made a copy of the application for my records. I went to the post office a few days later and sent my good thoughts into the world along with my application.
October 24, 2012, I received two notices in the mail. One saying they received my payment for I-765 Application for Employment Authorization and the next step would be biometrics and the other notice was to let me know they were processing my DACA case. A few days later, October 31, 2012, I received the biometrics appointment in the mail. I went to my appointment on November 14. A few months later around the first week of Jan 2013 I got my EAD in the mail, valid for 2 years.
Within the two years I met my now husband. We met October 2012; during the time I was submitting my DACA application. And some how he found out about my status and I was so embarrassed! But being the wonderful man he is, he just related to me and let me know that he had gone through some stuff too in getting his own permanent residence. We dated for about year, during that time he was making 5 years with his permanent residence and was getting ready to apply to Citizenship. Which he did and around June 2013 he received his citizenship.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I married my US Citizen husband on January 2014. Of course being the cheapskate that I am or perhaps I like a good challenge; I applied for Adjustment of Status on my own. I went to a couple of lawyers for price quotes and they also said my case would be easy and straightforward. I was working at that time and had saved enough to pay for my application, I-495 & I-130 ($1,490 in total). My mom said she would pay for the lawyer but my husband convinced me to do it myself. I filled I-485 concurrently with I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. I did not file the I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) after going with some bad advice someone gave me even when I knew to go with my own intuition, My EAD expired on Jan 2015 and couldn’t continue working. I need to receive a green card to continue working. I also didn’t apply for Advanced Parole, but that’s because 1. I knew I wasn’t or didn’t need to fly out of the states 2. I’ve read that even if you have Advance Parole granted, it doesn’t mean the US has to let you back in and frankly that wasn’t a chance I was willing to take.
I sent my Packet on June 16, 2014; they received it on June 20 and got 2 Notices from USCIS on June 23, 2014. One for I-130 saying they received the petition and the second notice was for the I-485 saying the same thing. My Priority Date was June 20, 2014.
June 26 2014, I received the biometrics appointment for August 24.
August 24, I went to biometrics appointment.
In October my online status changed and it said my case was ready to be scheduled for an interview and to contact them if I hadn’t received a notice on a certain date which they gave me but I don’t remember anymore. That date passed and I was freaking out thinking it was lost in the mail. I called and requested they look into the mater. They didn’t get back to me. A month passed and in November 12-14, I would say, they updated the case again. It read the same way but with a different date. I was getting so frustrated. I called USCIS and after many tries a very helpful man picked up, he asked me for my zip code and said that my application was in their Long Island Offices and that they were still working on April 2014 applications and so they still hadn’t gotten to mine. So that sent my mind at ease a little.
On January 14, 2015, my online status changed and it read: We are ready to schedule your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, for an interview. It also said they sent a let with the interview date for Feb 18 (Finally!).
A few days later I got the notice in the mail, with a list of everything I needed to bring to the interview, Interview date: Feb 18 2015.
Interview
My appointment was at 10 am at the Holtsville location in Long Island, we got there at 9:30pm. We went through security. By the way they make you take off your shoes. The floor was dirty since it has been snowing in NYC almost every other day (nasty).
We checked in at the desk, its located at the far left when you pass security, in case you might be going there
We waited for a little over an hour. We got called in around 11:30am. I was extremely nervous and I just tried to distract my mind. The place got pretty full around 10:30 am. The officers call you from the 4 doors on the side, labeled A,B,C & D. It was pretty difficult to hear your name being called under all the noise coming from everyone in the waiting room. So I would suggest you sit closest to the doors.
Finally, this serious looking lady calls us in. We later learned she was from the Caribbean. She walked us to her office and proceeded to swear us in. After we swore to say the truth the whole truth and nothing but, we sat. She asked us all the basic questions. How long did we know each other? My husband answered, I was still in shock and couldn’t think! She asked when did we meet? Where? What was the place called? She asked us for our id’s – I gave her both our NYS ID’s, which by the way we don’t have the same addresses on them. He has the address where we live now and I had the old one. She asked us our phone numbers, my husband gave his and started to give mine but couldn’t finish it so I stepped in and finished, she didn’t seem to mind. Once we started talking and she was communicating back in friendly matter, we relaxed. She asked us when was our marriage and my husband answered with the correct day but wrong year! I turned to him and was like BABY! 2014 not 2013! She smiled and it didn’t seem like an issue. She asked me for our birthdays, if we lived in the address we provided, who we lived with, she wanted to confirm that I had applied for DACA, if I had ever been arrested. She asked me if I had any proof of the marriage, I continued to bring out all of our copies of bank statements, credit cards, debit cards, utilities, lease, his tax printouts (we recently filed this year together and the tax printout appeared online the day before the interview, I offered a copy of the refund but she didn’t want it, printout was enough), medical cards, photos( she asked for 2, I gave her photo copies of like 15 pics, didn’t care to see photo album) letter from insurance copy saying I was his dependent, car insurance with me as insured driver. while I was bringing out all the paperwork, she asked my husband how much he makes, where he works and what he does, his title at work. She seemed very interested and they continue talking about his job and his benefits and she was saying that her benefits sucked haha. As I brought everything out she didn’t even look at any of the proof I brought out except for the tax printout. As I handed everything she would attach it to the very thick manila folder. So once I was done with handing her paper, she said ok well Im going to recommend you for approval, she handed me a paper with a box checked that read: Your case is being held for review. At this time, USCIS does not require any further information or documents from you. Should further information or documents be required, you will receive a notice in the mail. We may also schedule you for another interview, you will receive a notice in the mail. Otherwise, a final decision will be mailed once your case is complete.
She asked if we knew about the conditional green card and proceeded to explain it. She said the card should arrive in the mail in 2 weeks. Our interview took about 10-15 mins at most. We weren’t there for long. She walked us out and that was it! About 5 mins later we were in the car and I just wanted to check my case status online, I didn’t think there would be an update but luckily enough there was. It read: Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production
On February 18, 2015, we ordered your new card for Receipt Number MSC YYYY ZZZ, and will mail it to the address you gave us. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
This step applies to applications that result in an applicant receiving a card (such as a "green card") or other document (such as a naturalization certificate, employment authorization document, travel document, or advance parole). Applications will be in this step from the time the order to produce the card/document is given until the card/document is produced and mailed to the applicant. You can expect to receive your card/document within 30 days of the approval of your application. If you do not receive your document, please contact our National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.
• Log-in to your myUSCIS account to view your case history and understand what you can expect to happen next on your case.
• Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at under Check Processing Times.
I got the email a few seconds later, which read the same thing. Then later that night around 8:30pm my status changed and got an email that read:
Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS
Your Case Status: Decision
On February 18, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number MSCxxxxxxx. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by April 19, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
During this step the formal decision (approved/denied) is written and the decision notice is mailed and/or emailed to the applicant/petitioner. You can use our current processing time to gauge when you can expect to receive a final decision.
Now I’m just waiting for the official letter in the mail. I read the card follows Welcome notice a few weeks later. Lets hope there are no hiccups until then. My family are ecstatic, our friends bought us a cake and sang Happy Green Card to you birthday song haha. Total surprise!
I think the fact that Ive been in the US since 1991 and never left and had applied to DACA and approved played a huge positive towards our case. I don’t think she once suspected our marriage to be false.
Im a B-2 Visa Overstay. I entered the US at the age of 2 on Sept 1991 from Colombia. I have lived my whole life in the US. I don't know any other life other then the American life. I consider myself more American then Colombian and to have to return to my home country would've been devastating.
My mom had an ongoing employment based case with USCIS. After many set backs with USCIS and other disappointing factors, my mom was able to submit her I-140. My mom applied for I-140 at least 3 times. The first employer that petitioned for her backed out because he did not want Homeland security looking into his taxes. So that application fell through. Luckily the petition with the first employer helped us a lot. Since this meant that my mom filed a Labor Certificate before USCIS enforced a policy that said that immigrants couldn't submit an employment base petition if they had unlawful status or have engaged in unlawful employment. Well by that time we had been living in the US for at least 10 years with expired visas. My parents had to work some how to maintain us all, legal or not. Luckily her Labor Certificate was dated a year before that policy was put into place and therefore she would be grandfathered under the INA 245(i). Read more about that here: http://asianjournal.com/immigration/adjustment-and-grandfathering-under-ina-245i/
She petitioned again and that fell through too as well. Then around 2004 she bumped into an old friend of hers that was willing and financially able to petition my mom through employment. This case looked very positive and we were all very optimistic. The application was submitted in 2004 and in 2007 I would say USCIS finally got to us and accepted our petition and by then I was just under the cut off age. I was 17 and just about to turn 18 in a few months so it was fortunate that I would be able to be petition under my mom and her case, this also included my father.
USCIS accepted my mom’s petition. It was so long ago I don’t remember the timeline but by the date on my EAD card for that petition, I can tell I was already in my last 2 years in college, around 2012. The application took years to get to the point where we could be scheduled for biometrics. We went to the appointment and I would say a month later we received the EAD’s in the mail. Our Employment Authorization cards were valid for a year. Within the year I was able to apply for a social security and my NYS ID. I was happy just to have that. A few months after that USCIS was ready to make a decision on our case and they issued an RFE. They wanted a clear copy of the Labor Certificate. The copy we sent was blurry on the most important part which was the year it was issued. Showing that my mom was grandfathered under the INA 245(i). This was the first labor certificate she received from the petition with the man who didn’t want Homeland security sniffing through his business.
At that time New York State was cracking down on business leeching off of illegal immigrants, trying to provide legal counsel without having the legal bearings to do so. It was just very unfortunate that my moms supposed “lawyer” was no lawyer at all and the Attorney General shut her down and seized all the documents in the office, originals and all. My mom trusted her and unfortunately the “lawyer” had all the originals and my mom had only copies, blurry copies at that. I researched and searched EVERYWHERE for that Labor Certificate. I requested FIOS with USCIS and apparently after a certain year they destroyed documents and therefore IF there was anything to be found it had already been destroyed. I tried to communicate with the Office of the Attorney General in NYS with no success or any useful information. We just had to face it and let it go. We had at this point spent thousands of dollars. It was so depressing; my parents were constantly stressed and worried about being let go from their jobs. And I was finishing up college in a year with no possibly to work right after.
Within that year Obama put DACA in place and many DREAMERS were hopeful and I was one of them. Being as I’ve been in the US since 1991, have never left and have been in US education system since. I was a perfect candidate. DACA was enforced on August 15, 2012. I sent my application on October; they received it on October 16, 2012. I did not hire a lawyer; I had a clean record and checked all the requirements so I felt confident enough to go about it myself. If you’re reading this and live in the NYC area, CUNY has an immigration center and they help with immigration applications. And many of the colleges hold application support meetings on the weekends. My college was holding one and I went with my mom with a very heavy bag with all the proof I could get my hands on. I had everything organized and all the lawyers there were impressed and so my time there went smoothly. They even supplied the envelope, the certified mail thing and made a copy of the application for my records. I went to the post office a few days later and sent my good thoughts into the world along with my application.
October 24, 2012, I received two notices in the mail. One saying they received my payment for I-765 Application for Employment Authorization and the next step would be biometrics and the other notice was to let me know they were processing my DACA case. A few days later, October 31, 2012, I received the biometrics appointment in the mail. I went to my appointment on November 14. A few months later around the first week of Jan 2013 I got my EAD in the mail, valid for 2 years.
Within the two years I met my now husband. We met October 2012; during the time I was submitting my DACA application. And some how he found out about my status and I was so embarrassed! But being the wonderful man he is, he just related to me and let me know that he had gone through some stuff too in getting his own permanent residence. We dated for about year, during that time he was making 5 years with his permanent residence and was getting ready to apply to Citizenship. Which he did and around June 2013 he received his citizenship.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I married my US Citizen husband on January 2014. Of course being the cheapskate that I am or perhaps I like a good challenge; I applied for Adjustment of Status on my own. I went to a couple of lawyers for price quotes and they also said my case would be easy and straightforward. I was working at that time and had saved enough to pay for my application, I-495 & I-130 ($1,490 in total). My mom said she would pay for the lawyer but my husband convinced me to do it myself. I filled I-485 concurrently with I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. I did not file the I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) after going with some bad advice someone gave me even when I knew to go with my own intuition, My EAD expired on Jan 2015 and couldn’t continue working. I need to receive a green card to continue working. I also didn’t apply for Advanced Parole, but that’s because 1. I knew I wasn’t or didn’t need to fly out of the states 2. I’ve read that even if you have Advance Parole granted, it doesn’t mean the US has to let you back in and frankly that wasn’t a chance I was willing to take.
I sent my Packet on June 16, 2014; they received it on June 20 and got 2 Notices from USCIS on June 23, 2014. One for I-130 saying they received the petition and the second notice was for the I-485 saying the same thing. My Priority Date was June 20, 2014.
June 26 2014, I received the biometrics appointment for August 24.
August 24, I went to biometrics appointment.
In October my online status changed and it said my case was ready to be scheduled for an interview and to contact them if I hadn’t received a notice on a certain date which they gave me but I don’t remember anymore. That date passed and I was freaking out thinking it was lost in the mail. I called and requested they look into the mater. They didn’t get back to me. A month passed and in November 12-14, I would say, they updated the case again. It read the same way but with a different date. I was getting so frustrated. I called USCIS and after many tries a very helpful man picked up, he asked me for my zip code and said that my application was in their Long Island Offices and that they were still working on April 2014 applications and so they still hadn’t gotten to mine. So that sent my mind at ease a little.
On January 14, 2015, my online status changed and it read: We are ready to schedule your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, for an interview. It also said they sent a let with the interview date for Feb 18 (Finally!).
A few days later I got the notice in the mail, with a list of everything I needed to bring to the interview, Interview date: Feb 18 2015.
Interview
My appointment was at 10 am at the Holtsville location in Long Island, we got there at 9:30pm. We went through security. By the way they make you take off your shoes. The floor was dirty since it has been snowing in NYC almost every other day (nasty).
We checked in at the desk, its located at the far left when you pass security, in case you might be going there
We waited for a little over an hour. We got called in around 11:30am. I was extremely nervous and I just tried to distract my mind. The place got pretty full around 10:30 am. The officers call you from the 4 doors on the side, labeled A,B,C & D. It was pretty difficult to hear your name being called under all the noise coming from everyone in the waiting room. So I would suggest you sit closest to the doors.
Finally, this serious looking lady calls us in. We later learned she was from the Caribbean. She walked us to her office and proceeded to swear us in. After we swore to say the truth the whole truth and nothing but, we sat. She asked us all the basic questions. How long did we know each other? My husband answered, I was still in shock and couldn’t think! She asked when did we meet? Where? What was the place called? She asked us for our id’s – I gave her both our NYS ID’s, which by the way we don’t have the same addresses on them. He has the address where we live now and I had the old one. She asked us our phone numbers, my husband gave his and started to give mine but couldn’t finish it so I stepped in and finished, she didn’t seem to mind. Once we started talking and she was communicating back in friendly matter, we relaxed. She asked us when was our marriage and my husband answered with the correct day but wrong year! I turned to him and was like BABY! 2014 not 2013! She smiled and it didn’t seem like an issue. She asked me for our birthdays, if we lived in the address we provided, who we lived with, she wanted to confirm that I had applied for DACA, if I had ever been arrested. She asked me if I had any proof of the marriage, I continued to bring out all of our copies of bank statements, credit cards, debit cards, utilities, lease, his tax printouts (we recently filed this year together and the tax printout appeared online the day before the interview, I offered a copy of the refund but she didn’t want it, printout was enough), medical cards, photos( she asked for 2, I gave her photo copies of like 15 pics, didn’t care to see photo album) letter from insurance copy saying I was his dependent, car insurance with me as insured driver. while I was bringing out all the paperwork, she asked my husband how much he makes, where he works and what he does, his title at work. She seemed very interested and they continue talking about his job and his benefits and she was saying that her benefits sucked haha. As I brought everything out she didn’t even look at any of the proof I brought out except for the tax printout. As I handed everything she would attach it to the very thick manila folder. So once I was done with handing her paper, she said ok well Im going to recommend you for approval, she handed me a paper with a box checked that read: Your case is being held for review. At this time, USCIS does not require any further information or documents from you. Should further information or documents be required, you will receive a notice in the mail. We may also schedule you for another interview, you will receive a notice in the mail. Otherwise, a final decision will be mailed once your case is complete.
She asked if we knew about the conditional green card and proceeded to explain it. She said the card should arrive in the mail in 2 weeks. Our interview took about 10-15 mins at most. We weren’t there for long. She walked us out and that was it! About 5 mins later we were in the car and I just wanted to check my case status online, I didn’t think there would be an update but luckily enough there was. It read: Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production
On February 18, 2015, we ordered your new card for Receipt Number MSC YYYY ZZZ, and will mail it to the address you gave us. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
This step applies to applications that result in an applicant receiving a card (such as a "green card") or other document (such as a naturalization certificate, employment authorization document, travel document, or advance parole). Applications will be in this step from the time the order to produce the card/document is given until the card/document is produced and mailed to the applicant. You can expect to receive your card/document within 30 days of the approval of your application. If you do not receive your document, please contact our National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.
• Log-in to your myUSCIS account to view your case history and understand what you can expect to happen next on your case.
• Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at under Check Processing Times.
I got the email a few seconds later, which read the same thing. Then later that night around 8:30pm my status changed and got an email that read:
Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS
Your Case Status: Decision
On February 18, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number MSCxxxxxxx. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by April 19, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
During this step the formal decision (approved/denied) is written and the decision notice is mailed and/or emailed to the applicant/petitioner. You can use our current processing time to gauge when you can expect to receive a final decision.
Now I’m just waiting for the official letter in the mail. I read the card follows Welcome notice a few weeks later. Lets hope there are no hiccups until then. My family are ecstatic, our friends bought us a cake and sang Happy Green Card to you birthday song haha. Total surprise!
I think the fact that Ive been in the US since 1991 and never left and had applied to DACA and approved played a huge positive towards our case. I don’t think she once suspected our marriage to be false.
All Replies (7)
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