AussieSteve

Hi Group,

I received a letter today saying that my application for LPR has been
approved! This comes 23 months after originally filing and just one
day after our AOS interview! Read on if you're interested in how
things went, but before that, I'd like to say a big thank you to the
contributors of this newsgroup. It has been a huge source of valuable
information, and at times, comic relief. It has made the last two
years of being at the mercy of the CIS somewhat bearable. In
particular, a big thanks to Rete, Mr. F. and Rene, your responses to my
queries, and those of others, were invaluable. Also thanks to 'Retire
to Italy' for making me laugh whenever I read your posts :-P

OK, so we had our AOS interview on Friday the 15th. Our appointment
was for 8:15am at the Fairfax, VA district office. We got there at
7:40 and joined the line of 50 or so people waiting to get in. For a
while there, I thought we weren't going to make our 8:15 time slot, but
then a security guard plucked us and several others from the line and
let us in. We waited about 5 minutes before being called in to the
DAO's office.

The DAO was pollite, but very serious. After being sworn in, he asked
us about how we met, when we had our baby boy (who we took with us as
proof of a genuine relationship - hehehe) and then he asked to see some
of our joint-name documents.

He didn't want to see my passport, which is when I started to get
worried, the interview had only being going 15 minutes or so and it
sounded like he was winding it up. He then said that he couldn't
approve me at the interview because the FBI name check had not been
completed. We both let out a sigh and thought - oh well, at least
we're a step closer...

The DAO said that we would hopefully receive a letter in a few weeks,
saying that I was approved, since he could see nothing wrong with our
case, it was just waiting on the FBI name check, so assuming that this
came back clear, we would be OK.

Well, this afternoon (Saturday), I checked the mail and there was a
letter from the DHS. It was my approval notice, dated July 15! I'm
guessing that the name check results must have come in sometime on
Friday after our appointment, and they rushed the letter out that
afternoon. Now that's service!

Anyhow, now I have to make an INFOPASS appointment to go get my
passport stamped - bugger. The letter says that I will receive my
'alien registration' card in the mail sometime within the next 12
months!

Thanks again to everyone who makes this forum such a valuable tool...

Cheers,
Steve.

Peter Newton

Many, many congratulations! We are celebrating together tonight!

Cheers
Peter

meauxna

Congrats for you, too, Steve!

A banner day for the Long Waiters-- we'll be eager to hear about your Green Card photo as well

Noorah101

Congratulations, Steve!! We know exactly how you feel!

Hey Mo, I can't wait to post how Sadegh's photo looks. LOL

Rene

Peter Newton

From what I have read on the forum the card only takes a couple of weeks to come through...

Suess

Hi,

CONGRATULATIONS

Happy days.

Sue

Mr. Z19

Congratulations!!! We are in DC too and still waiting for the interview...
Could you post your timeline???
Thanks,

Kate2112

Congratulations Steve!!!

I am also living in DC, sent my AOS etc to USCIS lockbox Monday 11th July...so fingers crossed.

Can you post your timeline, I would appreciate having some idea of a real experience timeline than the guesstimates by USCIS. Thanks

AussieSteve

Hi Kate,

Sure, here it is:

20 Aug 2003: Filed AOS packet (I-485, I-130, I-765, I-864 and G-325A).
9 Sep 2003: Money orders cashed by CIS.
17 Oct 2003: Obtained EAD.
26 Mar 2004: AOS packet received at NBC.
7 Jul 2004: Received I-485 and I-130 NOAs from NBC.
6 Aug 2004: E-filed for EAD renewal.
7 Aug 2004: Had biometrics/fingerprinting for I-485.
25 Aug 2004: Had fingerprinting for EAD renewal.
11 Dec 2004: Received renewed EAD.
27 Jun 2005: Had AOS medical exam.
29 Jun 2005: Received AOS request to attend interview from NBC.
3 Jul 2005: Received second AOS request to attend interview from Washington DC office. Also received request for fingerprinting from Washington DC office.
6 Jul 2005: Had new fingerprints taken for I-485
15 Jul 2005: Attended AOS interview. Not approved due to FBI name check not yet received
16 Jul 2005: Received AOS approval letter in the mail.

As you can see from the timeline, I received two requests for AOS interview, the first to arrive was from the NBC with an interview date of August 9. The second to arrive was from the Washington DC office with an interview date of July 15. Don't know what's going on there, but I'm hoping to get my passport stamped on Wednesday, then I will just ignore the August appt. July 15 was also my birthday, so I guess getting the approval letter the following day was a ncie belated birthday present from the CIS!

Good luck with you case, I wish you all the best. Try not to get discouraged by the inevitable apparent lack of progress, and don't pay too much attention to the online case status info, once your case gets into the system. My online case status still says that my fingerprint review was received, dated August 2004!

Good luck!

Mr. Z19

It surprises me that both NBC and the DC office are sending 2 different interview letters for the same case...


So, if NBC and the DC office are are double scheduling interviews who knows how many slots they may have blocked double counting the same case.....

AussieSteve

Right, and when I went to the district office on Wednesday to get my passport stamped, I told them about my second interview notice. I expected them to take it from me and at least look into cancelling that appointment, but no, the guy wasn't even interested. So you're right, that slot will most likely sit there unused when it could be used for someone else. What's the bet I get a 'Case Denied' letter sometime in September because I didn't attend the interview?

Any news on your interview yet?

Cheers,
Steve.

Mr. Z19

Hi Steve,

No news about my interview yet...

I think you will probaly get a denial letter because you didn't show up to the second interview...