Chicabby

Hi everyone, I am a first time poster, long time peruser. My case timeline summary:

1) Oct'97 - Marriage to USC & AOS filed in Chicago
2) May'99 - AOS interview. INS officer asks for additional documents
3) Jul'99 - Requested documents submitted.
4) Sep'99 - Feb'02
- Multiple inquiries to INS (In-person & via-mail)
- Multiple fingerprintings & EADs
- Multiple submissions of the same documents requested by INS at interview
and again as reponses to my case inquiries.
- Congressman's Office takes up the case and after 18 months of relentless
follow-up is successful in getting me a 2nd interview.
5) Mar'02 - 2nd AOS interview. The INS officer (a supervisor, I think, he had another
officer assisting him), asks me to bring a new Affidavit of Support. He gives me
his direct phone # to call for "CASE CLOSE OUT" & come in get my passport stamped
with I-551 approval stamp. He tells me that he will predate the I-551 status to
May'99 (date of the 1st AOS interview) as the case should have been approved at
that time, i.e. a retroactive status approval.
6) Apr'02 - I go in to the INS office, and the officer, good to his word, stamps my
passport with I-551 stamp. He gives an Approval letter/ notice that states:
Approval date: APR/../2002 Adj. Class: IR6 "... you have been granted permanent
resident alien status as of 5/../99..." The kicker is that status date he put on
the letter is wrong by 10 days. He intended to put the 1st interview date, he
mistakenly wrote a date that is 10 days prior to it. In my elation, I did not
realize this clerical error at the time.

Now I not sure am where I stand. The Adj. Class is IR6 i.e an unconditional
G.C., but the retroactive PRA Status Date of May'99 is well short of "2-yr old
marriage" (Sep'97) for that. On the other hand the Approval Date is Apr'02. This
is a real catch-22.

Now here are my concerns/questions:

1) Has anyone heard of a predated/retroactive AOS case before. Mine seems to be a
rare a case indeed; in a week's scouring of newsgoups, I haven't come across a
single one.
2) Are AOS approvals subject to any further scrutiny before G.C.(I-551) is processed
& mailed? I am worried that I may never see this G.C. arrive in my mailbox and
will have to again start banging my head against INS walls. BTW, how long is the
processing time for the G.C. these days?
3) Instead of waiting in limbo, should I just go ahead and apply for naturalization
since I have met the time bar of 3 yrs as PRA (vis-a-vis the murky status date of
May'99) married to USC? What is the recent naturalization timeline breakdown for
Chicago-NSC (petition-fingerprints- interview-oath)?

I will especially appreciate getting input from the resident group gurus.

Thank you all,

Chicabby [email protected]

Rete

My husband and I had the AOS interview June '00; put on hold because of missing file; approved 8 '00; stamp 9'00 (after our second anniversary). The stamp is dated from Sept '00 to Sep. 02 (which clears placed him after the second anniversary) but the letter states approval of AOS for 8 '00 a month before the anniversary.

For yourself, he could not have granted your unconditional pr status unless the case was approved after the second anniversary. Am I missing something here? You stated the letter he gave you with the dates on it but what is the dates written in with the I-551 stamp?

I suppose you will have to wait until you receive the green card in the mail to determine which tack the service center took. People all over the US are reporting next to impossibly fast receipt of green cards after approval. Some within mere weeks.

As for the naturalization, it can go one of two ways: acceptance or rejection. Or you can wait until the green card is in your hands to apply.

I don't have a clue as to timeline for naturalization from your area of the country.

George Charpied

Rete,

Thanks, Chicabby and Rete, this was a good bit of exchange.

George and Miglena

Rete wrote:
    >
    > My husband and I had the AOS interview June '00; put on hold because of missing
    > file; approved 8 '00; stamp 9'00 (after our second anniversary). The stamp is dated
    > from Sept '00 to Sep. 02 (which clears placed him after the second anniversary) but
    > the letter states approval of AOS for 8 '00 a month before the anniversary.
    >
    > For yourself, he could not have granted your unconditional pr status unless the
    > case was approved after the second anniversary. Am I missing something here? You
    > stated the letter he gave you with the dates on it but what is the dates written in
    > with the I-551 stamp?
    >
    > I suppose you will have to wait until you receive the green card in the mail to
    > determine which tack the service center took. People all over the US are
    > reporting next to impossibly fast receipt of green cards after approval. Some
    > within mere weeks.
    >
    > As for the naturalization, it can go one of two ways: acceptance or rejection. Or
    > you can wait until the green card is in your hands to apply.
    >
    > I don't have a clue as to timeline for naturalization from your area of the
    > country.
    >
    > --
    >
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