September 2018 filers

[huyhoangvn]

Hi huyhoangvn, just saw your timeline: do you mind sharing what your RFE was about? Always curious to see some RFE coming 2 weeks after PD and others, 4 months...!

It was actually an RFIE. It didn’t happen until I made a request for expedition on 11/07. Not sure how long I had to wait should I didn’t put in the request. Right after I made the call, the status of the I485 switched to “we sent you an RFIE”.
Turned out it was the RFIE for the form I864. My spouse didn’t make more than 125% income requirement, so I had to use my income as well. I’ve been working on campus under F1 visa for almost 3 years. They wanted to make sure my income was legally obtained.
This made me so mad because it wasn’t mentioned in the instruction for filing the form. Even worse, in the pink slip provided, it asked for proof of some specific visas that allows non-immigrant to work (like J, H, O...) but left out F1. As an F1 student, on-campus is granted without a fomal EAD. This ate up one month because I need to ask for a whole bunch of document from school’s HR and the International student office.
After submitting the repsonse, I made another request for expedition and still waiting...
Sigh

[nycfiler3]

Only speculation. It's due to the lack of transparency on the USCIS side.

Hi huyhoangvn, just saw your timeline: do you mind sharing what your RFE was about? Always curious to see some RFE coming 2 weeks after PD and others, 4 months...!

[huyhoangvn]

Is your statement about the background check and the combo card accurate? When I called USCIS and said I wanted to know about the background check because I knew EAD wouldn't be approved without it the person I was speaking with said that was not true. So I wasn't sure where you sourced that info or if they just don't know what they are talking about lol

Only speculation. It's due to the lack of transparency on the USCIS side.

[Misspaige]

An adjudicator at the NBC will review your case and determine if any initial required evidence is missing and if missing, then they would issue a RFE.
If you did not submit the I-693, you would receive a courtesy letter letting you know that no initial required is missing AND asking you to bring it to the interview. If you submitted it and nothing is missing, then you will go straight to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview".

It is important to note that the background checks will ONLY prevent/delay approval of the combo card. In other words, if you are in a slow jurisdiction, you may get the combo card even if you are not at the "Ready for interview" stage. At the same token, in fast jurisdictions, USCIS may schedule the interview quickly and you may never get the combo card.

Is your statement about the background check and the combo card accurate? When I called USCIS and said I wanted to know about the background check because I knew EAD wouldn't be approved without it the person I was speaking with said that was not true. So I wasn't sure where you sourced that info or if they just don't know what they are talking about lol

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah there is really no consistency in those updates. My case stayed on fingerprint fee received, until one day it changed to ready for interview and interview scheduled (both after 5 months and on the same day). There were no updates in between except a few weeks prior I did received EAD and AP notifications and combo cards a few weeks prior to the interview notice. But as said all cases stayed without update for 4.5 months in my case.

That's good to know. Looks like on the website they are approving EAD for PD in July. Looks to be on track then!

[BluePanther]

An adjudicator at the NBC will review your case and determine if any initial required evidence is missing and if missing, then they would issue a RFE.
If you did not submit the I-693, you would receive a courtesy letter letting you know that no initial required is missing AND asking you to bring it to the interview. If you submitted it and nothing is missing, then you will go straight to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview".

It is important to note that the background checks will ONLY prevent/delay approval of the combo card. In other words, if you are in a slow jurisdiction, you may get the combo card even if you are not at the "Ready for interview" stage. At the same token, in fast jurisdictions, USCIS may schedule the interview quickly and you may never get the combo card.

Yeah there is really no consistency in those updates. My case stayed on fingerprint fee received, until one day it changed to ready for interview and interview scheduled (both after 5 months and on the same day). There were no updates in between except a few weeks prior I did received EAD and AP notifications and combo cards a few weeks prior to the interview notice. But as said all cases stayed without update for 4.5 months in my case.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Right. As long as it goes smoothly I’m fine even if it’s long. If everything goes well my next update should be “ready to be scheduled for interview” or is there another step before?

Also: how can I find out if my background check is do done? I assume this isn’t something that is tracked online? I don’t want to call just for that, I’m just curious and the timeline seems SO different from one person to the next.

An adjudicator at the NBC will review your case and determine if any initial required evidence is missing and if missing, then they would issue a RFE.
If you did not submit the I-693, you would receive a courtesy letter letting you know that no initial required is missing AND asking you to bring it to the interview. If you submitted it and nothing is missing, then you will go straight to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview".

It is important to note that the background checks will ONLY prevent/delay approval of the combo card. In other words, if you are in a slow jurisdiction, you may get the combo card even if you are not at the "Ready for interview" stage. At the same token, in fast jurisdictions, USCIS may schedule the interview quickly and you may never get the combo card.

[nycfiler3]

I do not really know. But that sounds about right. However, you will not get an update every month; especially in NYC. You will continue to get updates until your case reaches the "Case is Ready To be Scheduled for an Interview" stage. Beyond that point, it will get rather quiet for those in NYC.

The data from the case tracker app is not granular enough to draw solid conclusions. It does not provide jurisdiction or category. And why would it? That would bring accountability to USCIS.

Right. As long as it goes smoothly I’m fine even if it’s long. If everything goes well my next update should be “ready to be scheduled for interview” or is there another step before?

Also: how can I find out if my background check is do done? I assume this isn’t something that is tracked online? I don’t want to call just for that, I’m just curious and the timeline seems SO different from one person to the next.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Well thanks for that USCFFS because I was wondering. Indeed, when I run a search on the app, I notice that all statuses are updates on like 3!different dates out of 250 cases (not counting the RFEs). Isn’t it weird? So basically, we can hope for an accurate update about twice a month?

I do not really know. But that sounds about right. However, you will not get an update every month; especially in NYC. You will continue to get updates until your case reaches the "Case is Ready To be Scheduled for an Interview" stage. Beyond that point, it will get rather quiet for those in NYC.

The data from the case tracker app is not granular enough to draw solid conclusions. It does not provide jurisdiction or category. And why would it? That would bring accountability to USCIS.

[nycfiler3]

I have observed that updates tend to occur around the Tools Outage that takes place twice a month. Typically, these tools outage happen on or around the 5th and 20th of every month.

It is also helpful to have the "No activity" notifications turned on. You will get a bi-weekly email letting you know that "We are still reviewing your case and there are no updates at this time. We last took action on your case on MM/DD/YY". While these emails may seem pointless at first, they are actually quite helpful. You will not get one when they are working on your case. So let's say that on the second Thursday of the month, you do not get the email. Then, after the next 2 week cycle, you will eventually get one letting you know that there are no updates at this time BUT the "We last took action on your case" date will be different. Those are "soft" updates. You can actually call USCIS and ask what is the most recent action they took.

Best,

USCFFS

Well thanks for that USCFFS because I was wondering. Indeed, when I run a search on the app, I notice that all statuses are updates on like 3!different dates out of 250 cases (not counting the RFEs). Isn’t it weird? So basically, we can hope for an accurate update about twice a month?

[nycfiler3]

Those notifications will start once your case hits the "Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" status update. I would not expect to see those before then.

Ooh OK! Thanks for the details. Some day maybe haha! My case is still on "Fingerprints reviews was completed". Hoping to see it changed sometime soon! Not on the DHS website though...My updates so far only happened on the egov.

[huyhoangvn]

Only the DHS account has that option. https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/ The "No activity" notifications are turned on by default. I would just leave them on. That way you will get a bi-weekly email letting you know there has been no activity AND the date of the most recent action taken. If this date changes, then you will know they are working on your case, and that there might be a Soft Last UpDate (or SLUD).

All the best,

USCFFS

I don't see the notification option on dhs. The case history shown on that website does not show many things like the website https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do
Not sure what I miss.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Thank you! Oh well of course mine was on as well but I never got a notification in the 2+ months I created my account

Those notifications will start once your case hits the "Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" status update. I would not expect to see those before then.

[nycfiler3]

Only the DHS account has that option. https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/ The "No activity" notifications are turned on by default. I would just leave them on. That way you will get a bi-weekly email letting you know there has been no activity AND the date of the most recent action taken. If this date changes, then you will know they are working on your case, and that there might be a Soft Last UpDate (or SLUD).

All the best,

USCFFS

Thank you! Oh well of course mine was on as well but I never got a notification in the 2+ months I created my account

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Where can I find this option?

Only the DHS account has that option. https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/ The "No activity" notifications are turned on by default. I would just leave them on. That way you will get a bi-weekly email letting you know there has been no activity AND the date of the most recent action taken. If this date changes, then you will know they are working on your case, and that there might be a Soft Last UpDate (or SLUD).

All the best,

USCFFS

[nycfiler3]

this is the exact same situation with me... no "no activity" notifications even though i have that turned on

Where can I find this option?