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Hi Everyone,
This website has helped me through my AOS process and I just want to share my experience with you all and maybe I can help people who are going through what I went through to get my green card. I just received my green card today and couldn't be happier! Here is my story. I was brought to the U.S. as a child on a tourist visa that had expired 25 years ago. Been living here illegally and afraid to come out of the shadow ever since. Eight years ago I met my future wife, we started dating and we got married last year. The first 7 years our relationship, she didn't know about my illegal status as I was too embarrased to tell her. Well I finally worked up the courage to tell her about it and here is the timeline of our journey through the AOS process which was very quick and very painless:
10/12/2013: Got married in Vegas (my wife is a U.S. Citizen)
2/21/2014: Sent in my AOS packet to the Chicago lockbox, USPS certified mail (I-130, I-765, I-485)
**Tip: do not staple any of the paperwork, just use paperclips. It makes it easier for the folks at the USCIS to look through them. We got complimented on how neat and organized our packet was**
2/24/2014: Notification from the USPS that my package was delivered
3/2/2014: Received an e-mail notification from the USCIS that they have received our packet
3/8/2014: Received a letter for a biometric (fingerprints, picture) appointment for 3/26/2014
3/26/2014: Went in for my biometric at 8:00am, was out of there by 8:20am
4/11/2014: Received a notice for an interview for 5/13/2014
5/5/2014: Noticed of my I-765 (EAD) approval
5/9/2014: Received my EAD
5/13/2014: THE BIG DAY, our interview at 12:30pm (San Francisco office), was approved on the spot
5/17/2014: Received welcome letter. Status on the website changed to 'card production'
5/19/2014: Received a notice on the website that my green card has been sent out
5/20/2014: RECEIVED MY GREEN CARD!!!!!
It only took us 89 days from the packet being sent to receiving my green card which I find to be relatively fast and it was extremely painless. Everyone from the biometric place to the Immigration Officer who interviewed us were very professional, helpful, and friendly.
From my experience, as long as you have nothing to hide, your marriage is legit, and you have all your paperwork organized then you have nothing to worry about. We live in San Francisco, and in a city with so many immigrants I thought our case would take much longer but as you can see it took less than 3 months to complete the process.
I don't want to bore you with all the little details but please feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to help answer them and give you an insight of what we did, and how we did it. If you have questions about our interview experience please let me know and I'd be more than happy to answer them. Again, this site has helped me tremendously at the beginning and throughout my journey so I just want to pay it forward.
Good luck to you all
This website has helped me through my AOS process and I just want to share my experience with you all and maybe I can help people who are going through what I went through to get my green card. I just received my green card today and couldn't be happier! Here is my story. I was brought to the U.S. as a child on a tourist visa that had expired 25 years ago. Been living here illegally and afraid to come out of the shadow ever since. Eight years ago I met my future wife, we started dating and we got married last year. The first 7 years our relationship, she didn't know about my illegal status as I was too embarrased to tell her. Well I finally worked up the courage to tell her about it and here is the timeline of our journey through the AOS process which was very quick and very painless:
10/12/2013: Got married in Vegas (my wife is a U.S. Citizen)
2/21/2014: Sent in my AOS packet to the Chicago lockbox, USPS certified mail (I-130, I-765, I-485)
**Tip: do not staple any of the paperwork, just use paperclips. It makes it easier for the folks at the USCIS to look through them. We got complimented on how neat and organized our packet was**
2/24/2014: Notification from the USPS that my package was delivered
3/2/2014: Received an e-mail notification from the USCIS that they have received our packet
3/8/2014: Received a letter for a biometric (fingerprints, picture) appointment for 3/26/2014
3/26/2014: Went in for my biometric at 8:00am, was out of there by 8:20am
4/11/2014: Received a notice for an interview for 5/13/2014
5/5/2014: Noticed of my I-765 (EAD) approval
5/9/2014: Received my EAD
5/13/2014: THE BIG DAY, our interview at 12:30pm (San Francisco office), was approved on the spot
5/17/2014: Received welcome letter. Status on the website changed to 'card production'
5/19/2014: Received a notice on the website that my green card has been sent out
5/20/2014: RECEIVED MY GREEN CARD!!!!!
It only took us 89 days from the packet being sent to receiving my green card which I find to be relatively fast and it was extremely painless. Everyone from the biometric place to the Immigration Officer who interviewed us were very professional, helpful, and friendly.
From my experience, as long as you have nothing to hide, your marriage is legit, and you have all your paperwork organized then you have nothing to worry about. We live in San Francisco, and in a city with so many immigrants I thought our case would take much longer but as you can see it took less than 3 months to complete the process.
I don't want to bore you with all the little details but please feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to help answer them and give you an insight of what we did, and how we did it. If you have questions about our interview experience please let me know and I'd be more than happy to answer them. Again, this site has helped me tremendously at the beginning and throughout my journey so I just want to pay it forward.
Good luck to you all
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