September 2018 filers

[huyhoangvn]

Thank you for bringing that up. I just now called USCIS to make sure about the I-130 and it did in fact merge with the other petitions. But we got some crappy news.... the background is not complete and no one has even started to work on the case.

The background check can take quite a long time to finish depending on the field office I guess. My PD is 08/01 but still no update about the background check.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Thank you for bringing that up. I just now called USCIS to make sure about the I-130 and it did in fact merge with the other petitions. But we got some crappy news.... the background is not complete and no one has even started to work on the case.

Just call periodically to make sure the I-130 joins your I-485.
By the way, approval of your combo card depends entirely on your background checks. The interview, on the other hand, does not. USCIS may schedule your interview even if your background checks are not finished.

[Chrissy1234]

By the way, approval of your combo card depends entirely on your background checks. The interview, on the other hand, does not. USCIS may schedule your interview even if your background checks are not finished.

This is what I thought, but... then what's the time between the combo card approval/receipt and the 'ready to schedule for an interview'?
Is the file just laying on a pile on someone's desk to by luck to be picked up at some point to signal to the local office that it's ready for an interview?

[Dianis]

Cool, I see that you added your timeline to your signature. Does your receipt for the I-130 start with MSC? That is the national benefits center. You sent your I-130 first and then, a month later, your I-485. And that is fine. You may want to call and ask a Level 2 officer, or even make an Infopass appointment to speak to an Immigration Officer; to make sure that your I-130 file joins your I-485. Sometimes people get to the interview, and the I-485 is at the field office, but the I-130 is still at the Service Center. It is just good practice to track them down and make sure the two files are put together as concurrently filed.

Let me know if that made sense.

Best,

USCFFS

PS: Your case should start moving forward soon. Make sure that you sign up for an account on these two sites:
https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do (this one links to the case tracker app)
https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/

Thanks for this info, I just activated notifications and waiting for tomorrow to call and track my case 🛃

[huyhoangvn]

Just call periodically to make sure the I-130 joins your I-485.
By the way, approval of your combo card depends entirely on your background checks. The interview, on the other hand, does not. USCIS may schedule your interview even if your background checks are not finished.

I'm wondering if this is the reason why they no longer issue interim EAD.

[nycfiler3]

Thank you for bringing that up. I just now called USCIS to make sure about the I-130 and it did in fact merge with the other petitions. But we got some crappy news.... the background is not complete and no one has even started to work on the case.

Aww sorry that sucks! Although you never know, things can just start moving quickly.
Just curious regarding your background check: do you have a “common” name or lived in many places?

[Misspaige]

Aww sorry that sucks! Although you never know, things can just start moving quickly.
Just curious regarding your background check: do you have a “common” name or lived in many places?

It's my husband's application but his name is not so common. He has lived in many places though lol young and always moving around for school, work etc so maybe that will add to the background check processing time!

[mikeynyc]

Actually just checked my USCIS account and the no activity notifications have been turned on but I have never received any emails or texts. Weird?

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

[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?

[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]

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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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?