March 2018 filers: let's share our experience!!

[hopeanddream]

I can give you a personal answer to this topic: I'm with an H1B visa in America which means I can stay in America as long as I stay with the same employer who sponsored me.

1- even if so far my employer has been very happy with me, if tomorrow they fire me I have 24 hours to leave the country. No excuse, no grace time. By law they have to by me a one-way flight to my last residential address; (I own a house, i.e. 30 years mortgage and 2 cars, one finances one leased and my husband cannot afford even the financed car for $150 a month)
2- after 3 years with the same employer I would like to change but finding a new sponsor of H1B is becoming almost impossible and this takes me to 3
3- I want to work in the aerospace field which is the reason why I'm in America. NO ONE in America hires foreign nationals unless they have a green card.

So even though I can work and I can travel, I still would like to have the freedom to chose my future. This is just my personal experience of course!

Thanks for the answer. I get part of the answer, but still the GC EAD which we get in about say 5 or 6 months if not earlier, would not help you achieve all that? I would love to also have the freedom to choose, I have applied for my GC, but to be honest I am only excited for my EAD than anything else. Having said that I would also do anything in my hands to get the GC faster but if I can't then EAD is good enough for me till that time.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

So you mean that after you change address the case is not transferred to another processing center if you move but instead the national benefits center will continue to process it as if you hadn't move?

I am moving in one month to a different state and I'm wondering how it will affect my processing

No, this is what I meant. Your case stays at the NBC (National Benefits Center) pretty much until the day your interview notice is mailed out to you. They're mailed 4-5 weeks in advance of the interview appointment. Around that time, your file is mailed to your field office. If you move before then, your address is updated but your file stays right there.

[flyforever85]

Thanks for the answer. I get part of the answer, but still the GC EAD which we get in about say 5 or 6 months if not earlier, would not help you achieve all that?

It can make me stay in America and found a job. I can't apply for any aerospace job though, CG and citizenship are the only ways to get a job in the field. There are a lot of memes in ******** about this topic. Several foreign national students came here to study aerospace engineering and they won't be able to stay and find a job related to the field of study. It sucks but that's the rule and we respect it. Sorry for the off-topic!

[Afrolinda]

Field Office doubt

Guys, I have a doubt about my field office. We are in Toledo Ohio and by using USCIS website I found that Cleveland was supposed to be my field office. But the appointment letter is sending us to Detroit!!! So, Detroit is our field office then?
I am like hopeanddream, excited to get the EAD and start working again! And have some time to get ready to the interview.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

I see in the forums, every one is worried when they will have their green card interview, even after getting their EAD / Advanced Parole. So I was wondering why everyone is so eager to get the interview, when one can live / work / travel with EAD, and eventually when interview comes, they will also have the green card. Also in the process make more memories of their married life. just curios.

EAD/APs are a crutch they came up with once the system got way too congested. And now, we're processing so many of those that instead of helping clear the backlog, the whole thing has created its own backlog. They should just do away with EAD/AP altogether and go straight to GC interviews. Reallocate that human power into pre-adjudicating cases for field offices. Done.

EAD/AP does not give you any status. "I-485 pending" is not a status. That's why some states won't have the courtesy of allowing folks to get a driver's license with the I-797. As soon as you get your hands on your Green Card, your citizenship clock starts ticking. Those 2 years as conditional permanent resident count towards your US citizenship.

A lot of people are being told at job interviews, "we prefer candidates with Green Cards and not EAD/AP". While that's not supposed to happen, it actually happens quite often.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Guys, I have a doubt about my field office. We are in Toledo Ohio and by using USCIS website I found that Cleveland was supposed to be my field office. But the appointment letter is sending us to Detroit!!! So, Detroit is our field office then?
I am like hopeanddream, excited to get the EAD and start working again! And have some time to get ready to the interview.

Afronlinda,

congrats! That is insanely fast. That's probably the fastest I've seen around here. 31 days from priority date to interview notice. My unsolicited advice is to just roll with it. You are right in between the two states. Detroit field office must be empty and that's probably why they did it. Again, I would just roll with it. To try to get that rescheduled would mean a delay.

All the best.

[Afrolinda]

My mistake

Afronlinda,

congrats! That is insanely fast. That's probably the fastest I've seen around here. 31 days from priority date to interview notice. My unsolicited advice is to just roll with it. You are right in between the two states. Detroit field office must be empty and that's probably why they did it. Again, I would just roll with it. To try to get that rescheduled would mean a delay.

All the best.

Oh no! My mistake! I meant to say biometrics appointment letter! My husband always says that my English will put me in jail! 😂

[kaylip]

LOL, heart failure. Everyone take a deep breath!
I see that Immihelp blocked the link I posted on the background checks. To answer your question, it all depends on a zillion variables. If what you are saying is - someone who is brand new to the US and has never lived anywhere but their country of origin and have a passport with blank pages because they've never visited anywhere? Yeah, probably.
My spouse's biometrics were cleared basically by the time we drove back home - I swear. It was fast. What I was trying to explain on my previous entry is that, up until the "Case is ready to be scheduled for interview" stage, most cases that were properly filed and have no issues, will move at the same relative speed. Right at that point, it's all about the Field office.
Ohio is just fast. There are 3 field offices and each one gets around the same number of applications and it's not even that many applications.
This whole "I filed before you did, why did you get an interview already and I haven't?" thing that's going around is not productive. It's about quality of the cases and about the volume that a field office is handling. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/...y2017_qtr4.pdf

There are people who got lucky and for x y or z were classified as employment based even though they filed for marriage based AOS. Well, that's that. They got lucky. And if they continue to call USCIS asking why, eventually USCIS will rescind those appointments. I would not be surprised. As Paul Brown said "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less."

Now Ohio, seems to be processing applications fast and it makes sense to do so. If the Green Card is conditional, then Jesus, just hand it out already, and let us live our lives for 2 years. We have to file for removal of conditions anyway. Per some USCIS study, 67% of I-751 applications are denied. So if the majority of people are going to get denied or given Notice of Intent to Deny, well, then just let us have the conditional right away. That's my humble 2 cents.

(The columns are #1 Received #2 Approved #3 Denied #4 Pending.

Can u send a screenshot of the app's icon so I can download it please? I have an app but I don't think it's the same as yours

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Oh no! My mistake! I meant to say biometrics appointment letter! My husband always says that my English will put me in jail! 😂

LOL, my spouse and I are on the floor laughing. You are TOO FUNNY. LOL
We were already looking up attorneys in Detroit, MI to try to get a faster interview. LOL

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Can u send a screenshot of the app's icon so I can download it please? I have an app but I don't think it's the same as yours

Of course! Right here. Probably the best feature is to be able to add other cases with the same priority date as yours. Then you can track their speed, as well. You can go all the way back to receipts from December and figure out if those people are already interviewing, etc.

[b3b3g1]

Of course! Right here. Probably the best feature is to be able to add other cases with the same priority date as yours. Then you can track their speed, as well. You can go all the way back to receipts from December and figure out if those people are already interviewing, etc.

Is this a 3rd party app? I am just being cautious to download these apps..

Update:

Biometrics done. It was a really fast one, no wait, no questions in and out in 15 mins..

[kaylip]

Of course! Right here. Probably the best feature is to be able to add other cases with the same priority date as yours. Then you can track their speed, as well. You can go all the way back to receipts from December and figure out if those people are already interviewing, etc.

Thanks!

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Is this a 3rd party app? I am just being cautious to download these apps..

Update:

Biometrics done. It was a really fast one, no wait, no questions in and out in 15 mins..

It is. And to keep it free of charge, there are ads that pop up. I do not click on any of them. I downloaded it from the Apple store. Have not had any issues. The app accesses your USCIS account. So it had to be vetted by USCIS. I'm comfortable with it.

[flyforever85]

It is. And to keep it free of charge, there are ads that pop up. I do not click on any of them. I downloaded it from the Apple store. Have not had any issues. The app accesses your USCIS account. So it had to be vetted by USCIS. I'm comfortable with it.

ditto

[Afrolinda]

LOL, my spouse and I are on the floor laughing. You are TOO FUNNY. LOL
We were already looking up attorneys in Detroit, MI to try to get a faster interview. LOL

Nah, save your money! 😂😅sorry!

- - - Updated - - -

Of course! Right here. Probably the best feature is to be able to add other cases with the same priority date as yours. Then you can track their speed, as well. You can go all the way back to receipts from December and figure out if those people are already interviewing, etc.

I?m using it too! Really nice! Just saw a couple of requests for evidence popped up today ( i was looking for the 100 cases before mine...)
Everything is helping me and my anxiety