May 2017 Submission - Concurrent Application i-130, i-131, i-465, i-765 & i693 (ATL)

[ChicagoFiler]

CONGRATULATIONS.
Very happy for you.
6 more days for me.
Wish it will be as fast as yours with the result.
Good luck with everything.

You will be fine! Trust god. He will take care of it. Oh one tip from my attorney, prepare no less than 50 photos and put in the Album. When you do your interview, put your photo album on the top of everything. As my attorney said by doing so, the IO will usually be nicer to you. Good luck!

[NLGC69]

Pd 5/12

Happy for all of you who have EAD/AP, interviews, approvals or even GC! Anybody from May that has none of this? PD 5/12. While EAD/AP was approved Oct 4, the card is not even in production yet (according to IO I spoke with this morning). And only today online status moved to ‘case ready to be scheduled for interview’ but no invite yet. Detroit office, filing with help of lawyer, married to USC since 17 years. Not sure why I thought our case would be easy....

[Dreamerdancer42]

Thank you all the members here for sharing your opinion and experience. It really help me for the whole process. I filling from Chicago on 05/10/2017 and got my green card on 10/10/2017. It took me exactly 5 months. I am sharing my experience here and hope it will help you guys. You will have your card eventually. Just keep your faith. Good luck!!!

Here is my time line:

Day Count Total 153 days
05/02/2017 Hired Lawyer
0 05/09/2017 Mailed B: I-485, I-131, I-130A, I-765 (G-28, G-1145, I-325A, I-693) ; P: I-130, I-864, G-28
1 05/10/2017 Delivered to Chicago lockbox (PD)
7 05/16/2017 Receipt Notices Received on Phone/Email
8 05/17/2017 check cashed by USCIS. Online status update to received and accept the case.
15 05/24/2017 Receipt Notices Received by mail
17 05/26/2017 Finger print appointment NOA Notice date5/19 appointment date 06/08
21 05/30/2017 RFE mailed out showed on USCIS (It was for Birth Certificate)
28 06/06/2017 Lawyer Mailed the Response Doc for RFE
29 06/07/2017 Finger print Done. walk in early.
31 06/09/2017 Status change to response to RFE Received
84 08/01/2017 1st SR Lawyer did online
106 08/23/2017 2nd SR through Phone
107 08/24/2017 1st SR has been assigned to an Officer for response
113 08/30/2017 Both SR send response to me and complete
119 09/05/2017 Interview Notice mail received. Interview scheduled on Oct 3rd.
129 09/15/2017 EAD status update to "New card is being produced"
134 09/20/2017 EAD status update to : Card is mailed to me
135 09/22/2017 Attorney received EAD/AP approval notice mail.
141 09/27/2017 Attorney received EAD/AP Combo card
147 10/03/2017 Interview Day! Approval the afternoon.
153 10/9/2017 Approval Notice received
154 10/10/2017 Attorney Received GC in the mail (she told me 4 days later! 'facepalm')


About Attorney, yes hire one if you don't know where to start, you both work and don't have time for the preparation, or want professional help. Attorney will at least make sure no mistakes made on application, organize your package and get it delivered to right place, have all your documents collected, they will handle all the questions you have, and be with you during your interview if your case is complicate. Just remember, if you do hire attorney, hire a good one.


About SR, yes! Definitely do SR when you can. At least for me, it kind of help me get the interview notice sooner!


About initial REF, yes it will reset your clock to the day of the REF response received by the USCIS. Please include everything before mail out your applications.


About Interview:

Our interview was 10/03 scheduled at 11:45 am. We been called in together around 12:15 pm. There are a lot ppl in the waiting area. Our officer is a middle age lady. She is nice and have a good sense of humor.
She asked us few casual questions, request our passport, original marriage certificate, original birth certificate. She took a look and returned them.

Then she start with my husband (USC) question regard on the application. Question like what your name, birthday, parents name, current address, current company work for, have you married before, your wife name, etc. Then she asked how we met, when we start dating, when he move in to my place, when we move in to our new place, our new address, when and where we engaged, the relationship time line (she wrote it down as we talking).

Then she start to interview me. She took my finger print and photo. Then she asked me the basic question regard on the application, checking if information is right, at the end she asked me the I-485 Yes/No questions. After that she went through our photo album and ask who is in the picture and the locations in our pictures. As looking at photos, she asked where we did out pre-wedding photos etc. Nothing hard questions at all, just like casual chatting with your friends and telling your love story.

At the end she asked if I have any other evidence that want to give her. So I hand over the documents that I collect such as wedding ******** event page, few emails conversation from our joint gmail accounts, renter policy with both our name on it, Joint account check (void), some travel booking record (hotel, car rental, flight tickets), utility bill with both names on it, joint bank account all statements.
She explained that process and timeline of removing condition on the green card. Then she said she will review my case in the afternoon. She also mentioned wait 6~8 weeks after the interview to get response. She didn't say anything about approve or not. Overall in my opinion the interview went well.



About after interview:

It turns out the IO approved my case the day of interview. However the online status never update, even tho now it still saying "case received or REF response received". So don't be panic if you didn't see any update online. Just be patience and wait for the mail. Some posts saying that if the officer end up telling the info about removing the condition of the GC, the IO is approving your case. I got the approve notice and GC within a week of interview. I don't know when the card been order, been produced, or been mailed out. Because the online status never update!


My best wishes to you all. This will be my final post of the process. Thanks!

This is all great but im sceptical about lawyers and here is exactly an example why. How could you get REF if a lawyer was supposed to check&prepare ypur application so no REFs are ever requested ?!! I thought the purpose of having a lawyer is to ensure things go as smoothly as possible without a hitch!! REF shouldnt happen because hes paid to make sure, you have everything right!! Confused... id be upset with such a lawyer. I used none and had no REFs....I suppose reading this case, he sped things up?5 months is great!

[ChicagoFiler]

This is all great but im sceptical about lawyers and here is exactly an example why. How could you get REF if a lawyer was supposed to check&prepare ypur application so no REFs are ever requested ?!! I thought the purpose of having a lawyer is to ensure things go as smoothly as possible without a hitch!! REF shouldnt happen because hes paid to make sure, you have everything right!! Confused... id be upset with such a lawyer. I used none and had no REFs....I suppose reading this case, he sped things up?5 months is great!

Oh sorry for the confusion here. Lawyer told us we would got an REF when I sending my application because my birth cert was not ready yet then. But we decide to send the application first anyway and then response to the REF later without knowing the REF will rest the clock. My lawyer didn't mention ref will reset the clock or she just don't know. So we learned from our experience. If ever get a lawyer, get a good one.

Like I said, me and my husband both work and didn't have enough time for this because we were planning our wedding ceremony at the same time. We don't want any mistake in the application due to rush or no time. So hiring a lawyer was the best option for us. 5 months is already a fast process time according to what I've read from this Forum. I am not sure if hire a lawyer would speed thing up or not but I know lawyer helped me a lot in my case.

Hope this would clear your confusion.

[Walbrzyszanka21]

Oh sorry for the confusion here. Lawyer told us we would got an REF when I sending my application because my birth cert was not ready yet then. But we decide to send the application first anyway and then response to the REF later without knowing the REF will rest the clock. My lawyer didn't mention ref will reset the clock or she just don't know. So we learned from our experience. If ever get a lawyer, get a good one.

Like I said, me and my husband both work and didn't have enough time for this because we were planning our wedding ceremony at the same time. We don't want any mistake in the application due to rush or no time. So hiring a lawyer was the best option for us. 5 months is already a fast process time according to what I've read from this Forum. I am not sure if hire a lawyer would speed thing up or not but I know lawyer helped me a lot in my case.

Hope this would clear your confusion.

PD date 6/5 and 10/10 got my interview notice, 10/16 got my EAD combo card approval letter and the next day I received the card. No lawyer hired but we did a free consultation and she even said that I do not need a lawyer.

[Grigonic]

Interview

So yesterday I had my interview.
Me and my wife walked in around 10:50 am (the actual interview was supposed to start at 11:15 am).
We got called in around 12:25 pm by a middle age officer (around 55 i would say).
Just when we walked in his office he said he looked at our case and there is only a few things he needs to check, cause our case is pretty up forward.
We swore in and then he asked basic question.
We both were asked:
1. How many times have you been married.
2. How many kids we have.

Then I was asked the basic questions from the I-485, those questions at the end of the application.
He asked me what am I doing for the company I work for.
My date of birth.
Checked my parents names.
Also asked me about my visas (I had 4 - J1's, then I switched to F1 then the last one what expired September I had H1B).

My wife was asked how we meet.
Where we meet.
When did we decide to get married.
How many people attended our wedding.
Where was the reception.

Basic stuff.
He made copies of my EAD and our passports.
Took a look at my birth certificate, my wife's birth certificate, our marriage license and certificate.
Asked for joint bank accounts and we gave him couple statements, a void check, last electric bill with both names on it.
Asked for couple more pictures of us with family and friends (even though I sent about 50 with the package). He took 4 more.
Then we chatted a little bit about the wedding. How we found the location and were was the ceremony.
He was very interested about that and he kept saying how impressed he was.

At the end he said " I will have to review your case one more time and then give it to one of my supervisor for a double check and you should receive a response from us in the mail.

No dates not an YES nor a NO.

Me and my wife both think it went great. We've known each other for 7 years. Have been living together for about 4 years.
Now I guess will just have to wait and see.

If I will go by #CHICAGOFILER timing, we would receive the answer next week, hopefully.

Good luck to you all and when I will have the answer, I will make sure to post it.

[NLGC69]

PD 5/12 and getting closer....

PD 5/12, AOS from L1A based on marriage to USC (since 17 years). Detroit office since living in MI but filed from Chicago with help of lawyer. MSC picked up the case.

Fingerprinting done June 1 based on walk in after getting invite for June 6.

Got request for info late June due to missing taxes. Sent some stuff late June but not 2016 since tax people my company hires to do our taxes are bunch of clowns. We‘ll bring to interview.

Will spare all the service request (lawyer, infopass, congressman, even IO opened one at some stage as they could no longer explain/understand themselves!).....
I was told today that EAD/AP is finally printed & on way to lawyer since yesterday (approved Oct 4!!!!). Apparently notice for interview also went out yesterday for Nov 29th!
I am doing summersaults & happy dances. Think I am going to bake a cake but then again do not want to jinx it. Maybe use my time to set up medical instead. Have faith and loads of patience!

[Tokz1985]

No interview notice yet

Anyone here with the same situation, EAD on hand since October but no interview notice yet until now. PD is May 19. Is this normal? Thank you!

[srsjacobs]

Case Was Approved

Hello May Filers!

I’d like to share with you that I have been approved for conditional green card. My PD is May 19 and it took us 160 days from PD to interview date which was Oct 25 (we were approved on the spot). I don’t have the actual card yet, however, my case status for both I-485 and I-130 say “case was approved.”

I only relied on this website because I filed everything myself and I’d like to thank everyone who shared their experiences because I have learned from those experiences.

This is my timeline:
- [x] May 19 Priority Date
- [x] May 27 NOA received by mail
- [x] June 3 biometrics appointment received by mail. Scheduled on June 12 at 10am
- [x] June 12 Biometrics done
- [x] July 20 case update to request for initial evidence sent
- [x] July 24 RFE received by mail
- [x] July 29 RFE response sent to USCIS
- [x] August 2 RFE response was received by USCIS
- [x] August 17 case update to request for initial evidence sent
- [x] August 21 RFE received by mail
- [x] August 23 RFE response sent to USCIS
- [x] August 25 response delivered to USCIS
- [x] Sept 15 I 765 status changed to new card being produced
- [x] Sept 18 I 485 status changed to ready to be scheduled for an interview
- [x] Sept 20 I 765 status changed to card mailed to me
- [x] Sept 23 received EAD by mail
- [x] Sept 25 received interview notice in the mail scheduled on Oct 25 @ 130pm
- [x] Oct 25 interview done - approved on the spot
- [x] Oct 26 i485 and i130 case status changed to case was approved

[howiej1]

Marriage-Based AOS-May Filer

Marriage-Based AOS
Initial Field Office: Oakland Park, FL
Current Field Office: Tampa, FL


Priority Date: 05/19/17
Notice Date: 06/08/17
AOS Packet via FEDEX: 05/17/17
Delivered to Chicago Lockbox: 05/19/17
Email/Text Notifications: 06/09/17
Mailed Receipts received:06/12/17
Biometrics Notice: 06/16/17
Biometrics Date: 06/27/17
Change of Address: 08/27/2017
SR raised for EAD: 08/28/17
RFE: 09/12/17
RFE Response Sent: 09/16/17
RFE Response Received by USCIS: 09/21/17
EAD Approval Notice: 10/12/17
EAD Card Mailed: 10/18/2017
EAD Received: 10/20/2017
AOS Interview Notice Date:10/23/2017
AOS Interview Date: 11/30/2017

[Perkins92]

I had my interview on Monday we were approved but the system was down. She just gave us a letter saying that the case was held for review but she circled the i485 saying that we were approved.
Today my status change my i130 was approved but my i485 change to interview complete and under review.
Anyone has had this happen? How long do you think I have to wait?

[aUCFknight]

Congratulations on getting your interview request. I can't wait until I receive mine. My PD is May 30.

Best of Luck!

Marriage-Based AOS
Initial Field Office: Oakland Park, FL
Current Field Office: Tampa, FL


Priority Date: 05/19/17
Notice Date: 06/08/17
AOS Packet via FEDEX: 05/17/17
Delivered to Chicago Lockbox: 05/19/17
Email/Text Notifications: 06/09/17
Mailed Receipts received:06/12/17
Biometrics Notice: 06/16/17
Biometrics Date: 06/27/17
Change of Address: 08/27/2017
SR raised for EAD: 08/28/17
RFE: 09/12/17
RFE Response Sent: 09/16/17
RFE Response Received by USCIS: 09/21/17
EAD Approval Notice: 10/12/17
EAD Card Mailed: 10/18/2017
EAD Received: 10/20/2017
AOS Interview Notice Date:10/23/2017
AOS Interview Date: 11/30/2017

- - - Updated - - -

My PD is May 30th. I am filing in Miami. I still did not receive the interview notice either. I received my EAD back in September. No updates since then. The status remains "Fingerprint Fee Was Received"... Please keep us posted if and when you get updates since I am in the same boat.

Anyone here with the same situation, EAD on hand since October but no interview notice yet until now. PD is May 19. Is this normal? Thank you!

[Monalyza2]

We are done!

We had our interview this morning and was approved right away. I am so happy that we are done. 6 months timeline. We did everything ourselves. Now we just have to set the reminder to remove the conditional terms in 21 months.

Good luck to all!

Timeline from San Diego -
Married 4/15/17
Package mailed via USPS: 4/29/17
Priority Date: 5/2/17
Notice Date: 5/8/17
Biometrics Notice Date: 5/17/17
Biometrics Date: 6/1/17
Raised SR for EAD: 8/18/17
EAD Production Notice: 8/31/17
EAD Mailed: 9/6/17
Interview Notice: 9/29/17
I-693 Comepleted: 10/19/17
Interview Date: 11/6/17

[Grigonic]

Received my Green Card

May 18, 2017 - Package Sent
May 19, 2017 - Priority Date ( Day 1 )
May 25, 2017 - SMS and Email confirmation
May 26, 2017 - Checks were cashed
May 31, 2017 - Mail Receipts
June 04, 2017 - Biometrics Notice by Mail
June 13, 2017 - Biometrics Appointment Date
June 08, 2017 - Biometrics done ( Day 21 ) Went Tuesday and they didn't accept me cause they were busy. Tried yesterday, on Thursday and there was literally no one there so I got it done
August 14, 2017 - First SR (Day 88) online
September 05, 2017 - Second SR ( Day 110 ) by phone
September 15, 2017 - EAD in production
September 22, 2017 - Received my EAD in the mail, also the answer for the SR made August 14th
October 23, 2017 - Interview Date
October 27, 2017 - SMS and Email telling me that the I-485 and I-130 were accepted
October 30, 2017 - Received the NOA that the card is being produced
November 1, 2017 - Received the Conditional Green Card.

Good luck to all of you.

[palestine7]

What was your RFIE

07/19 - SR
08/10 - SR responsed said because of RFIE, time count starting back from 06/13
08/21 - SR again lol
08/24 - New card is being produced

I just wonder what was your RFIE coz I have similar to your case