Atlanta Approval--kind of long
Hi Everyone,
It took me a few days to write this messge and get it posted, but maybe someone in the group will gain some knowlede from our experience. We had our AOS interview back in November, but had never received an approval notice. Around mid-January, I contacted one of our senators and had the case status checked. The security checks were all in at that time and we were told the case was ready to be approved at any time. When it got to be the first week in March and we still hadn't received the approval notice, I called the senator's office again. She was looking into our case, but was currently having some problems getting any response regarding any of the status updates she had requested from the Atlanta INS. Anyway, on a whim, I decided to try e-mailing the officer that interviewed us. He is back in the US now (he had been overseas in January and February) anyway, he called me regarding our case. The bad thing is, he is Vietnamese and I had a really hard time understanding him over the phone. He kept saying something about completing a status inquiry and my husband's passport. So I repeated back what I thought he said--that if we went to Atlanta and filled out a status inquiry, someone would pull the case and stamp my husnband's passport--and from what I could tell, he confirmed what I said was correct. So we made the 4 hour drive to the Atlanta INS office last Friday in the wee hours of the morning and waited in the non-appointment line to do a status inquiry. We got there around 4:00am and were the first people there. Around 5:00am more people started showing up and by the time they opened the doors, there was a huge group. We went through and got a number then went into the big triage room and waited to be called. Unfortunately, it seems that the Atlanta INS office DOES NOT pull the case the same day when you do a status inquiry, and the lady in the triage area initially wanted to send us home after we completed the status inquiry form. This is not what I had understood the officer to say at all when he phoned me on Thursday--in all honesty I thought he said we could get my husband's green card if we went to Atlanta since everything in our file was complete. So the lady in the triage area called the officer that interviewed us and asked him if he had told us our case would be pulled that day and he said no, he only told us to fill out a status inquiry. I was pretty upset by this. I mean, we could have mailed in a status inquiry, and the officer knows we live 4 hours away. It really didn't seem fair that we were told to drive 4 hours to fill out a piece of paper only to be sent home. Anyway, we asked the lady in the triage room if we could not see someone since we had driven all the way from Huntsville and after about 10 minutes she sent us up to the Adjustment of Status and citizenship room. After we waited over an hour, I asked one of the officers if we were sitting in the correct room and if anyone was going to be able to speak to us. I was assured they were trying to find someone to see us. We had to wait in that room about 6 hours before a supervisor was available to speak with us. At first, she said she really didn't think she could do anything to move our case along, but I think she thought we had come up to see her to complain about the officer. When I explained to her that we didn't want to try get anyone in trouble or complain and had only asked to speak with a supervisor to try to get the green card because we want to buy a house, she said she would try to find someone to adjudicate our case and she sent us back out to the lobby. At that point, my poor husband burst into tears. He wasn't feeling well at all and we had been up most of the night with the drive over and the wait on the sidewalk. The other immigrants in the waiting area came over and were trying to comfort him. I think some of them probably thought he was being deported. The supervisor then came out and asked for my husband's passport. She came back in about 5 minutes and the passport was stamped. It was a very stressful day for us, but at least we did manage to get the green card stamp put in his passport. I can't imagine what we would have felt like had we come home empty handed. For other couples in the Atlanta backlog, I am not sure that I recommend that anyone else waiting on their green card drive to Atlanta and ask in person, unless they have alreay received the approval letter or have an appointment to see a specific officer. Sad to say, but I think we were very, very lucky that someone did come out to see us and was willing to put in the effort to see our case finished. Incidentally, today I heard from the senator's office today that she received confirmation from the INS that my husband was approved for his green card last Friday and that he was in the batch files that updated the computer system and he should receive an approval notice within a few days. Well, that was our little adventure. |
Re: Atlanta Approval--kind of long
I was just curious which senator you contacted and how (mail, phone?). And,
can you let me know when you first applied? We applied nearly two years ago and have heard nothing. We also moved last year and that worries me (even though we submitted the change of address - I don't trust the INS to update their records). Any help would be greatly appreciated! -- Best regards, Tim Easterday in Buford, GA "Barbara" wrote in message news:[email protected]... > Hi Everyone, > It took me a few days to write this messge and get it posted, but maybe > someone in the group will gain some knowlede from our experience. We had > our AOS interview back in November, but had never received an approval > notice. Around mid-January, I contacted one of our senators and had the > case status checked. The security checks were all in at that time and we > were told the case was ready to be approved at any time. When it got to be > the first week in March and we still hadn't received the approval notice, I > called the senator's office again. She was looking into our case, but was > currently having some problems getting any response regarding any of the > status updates she had requested from the Atlanta INS. > Anyway, on a whim, I decided to try e-mailing the officer that interviewed > us. He is back in the US now (he had been overseas in January and February) > anyway, he called me regarding our case. The bad thing is, he is Vietnamese > and I had a really hard time understanding him over the phone. He kept > saying something about completing a status inquiry and my husband's > passport. So I repeated back what I thought he said--that if we went to > Atlanta and filled out a status inquiry, someone would pull the case and > stamp my husnband's passport--and from what I could tell, he confirmed what > I said was correct. > So we made the 4 hour drive to the Atlanta INS office last Friday in the wee > hours of the morning and waited in the non-appointment line to do a status > inquiry. We got there around 4:00am and were the first people there. > Around 5:00am more people started showing up and by the time they opened the > doors, there was a huge group. We went through and got a number then went > into the big triage room and waited to be called. Unfortunately, it seems > that the Atlanta INS office DOES NOT pull the case the same day when you do > a status inquiry, and the lady in the triage area initially wanted to send > us home after we completed the status inquiry form. This is not what I had > understood the officer to say at all when he phoned me on Thursday--in all > honesty I thought he said we could get my husband's green card if we went to > Atlanta since everything in our file was complete. So the lady in the > triage area called the officer that interviewed us and asked him if he had > told us our case would be pulled that day and he said no, he only told us to > fill out a status inquiry. I was pretty upset by this. I mean, we could > have mailed in a status inquiry, and the officer knows we live 4 hours away. > It really didn't seem fair that we were told to drive 4 hours to fill out a > piece of paper only to be sent home. Anyway, we asked the lady in the > triage room if we could not see someone since we had driven all the way from > Huntsville and after about 10 minutes she sent us up to the Adjustment of > Status and citizenship room. > After we waited over an hour, I asked one of the officers if we were sitting > in the correct room and if anyone was going to be able to speak to us. I > was assured they were trying to find someone to see us. We had to wait in > that room about 6 hours before a supervisor was available to speak with us. > At first, she said she really didn't think she could do anything to move our > case along, but I think she thought we had come up to see her to complain > about the officer. When I explained to her that we didn't want to try get > anyone in trouble or complain and had only asked to speak with a supervisor > to try to get the green card because we want to buy a house, she said she > would try to find someone to adjudicate our case and she sent us back out to > the lobby. > At that point, my poor husband burst into tears. He wasn't feeling well at > all and we had been up most of the night with the drive over and the wait on > the sidewalk. The other immigrants in the waiting area came over and were > trying to comfort him. I think some of them probably thought he was being > deported. The supervisor then came out and asked for my husband's passport. > She came back in about 5 minutes and the passport was stamped. > It was a very stressful day for us, but at least we did manage to get the > green card stamp put in his passport. I can't imagine what we would have > felt like had we come home empty handed. For other couples in the Atlanta > backlog, I am not sure that I recommend that anyone else waiting on their > green card drive to Atlanta and ask in person, unless they have alreay > received the approval letter or have an appointment to see a specific > officer. Sad to say, but I think we were very, very lucky that someone did > come out to see us and was willing to put in the effort to see our case > finished. Incidentally, today I heard from the senator's office today that > she received confirmation from the INS that my husband was approved for his > green card last Friday and that he was in the batch files that updated the > computer system and he should receive an approval notice within a few days. > Well, that was our little adventure. |
Re: Atlanta Approval--kind of long
Hi Tim,
We are here in Alabama, so I contacted Senator Richard Shelby's office. I looked online and found your a list of all your Georgia representatives here http://www.guca.com/legislation/contact_georgia.htm, I assume this is a current list. If you do a google search on the name of your senators, you will probably find a website with their local contact information for their offices in Georgia. I think most senators have several different offices throughout their state, and you just call the office closest to where you live for help. I called Senator Shelby's office first and explained my problem. The lady there then had me fill out a form giving the Senator's office permission to get information about our case. I faxed my permission form to her, but you can mail it as well. I really recommend calling one or both of your senators right away because two years sounds like a long time to wait, even for the Atlanta office. We were married on November 2, 2001 and our application for AOS was received by Atlanta on November 7, 2001. Our adjustment of status interview was November 21, 2002 (almost exactly a year later!) Green card received last Friday, April 4, 2003. Good luck, Barbara "Tim" wrote in message news:[email protected]... > I was just curious which senator you contacted and how (mail, phone?). And, > can you let me know when you first applied? We applied nearly two years ago > and have heard nothing. We also moved last year and that worries me (even > though we submitted the change of address - I don't trust the INS to update > their records). Any help would be greatly appreciated! > -- > Best regards, > Tim Easterday in Buford, GA |
Re: Atlanta Approval--kind of long
Thanks for your help! I will call my senators tomorrow.
Best regards, Tim Easterday "Barbara" wrote in message news:[email protected]... > Hi Tim, > We are here in Alabama, so I contacted Senator Richard Shelby's office. I > looked online and found your a list of all your Georgia representatives here > http://www.guca.com/legislation/contact_georgia.htm, I assume this is a > current list. If you do a google search on the name of your senators, you > will probably find a website with their local contact information for their > offices in Georgia. I think most senators have several different offices > throughout their state, and you just call the office closest to where you > live for help. > I called Senator Shelby's office first and explained my problem. The lady > there then had me fill out a form giving the Senator's office permission to > get information about our case. I faxed my permission form to her, but you > can mail it as well. I really recommend calling one or both of your > senators right away because two years sounds like a long time to wait, even > for the Atlanta office. > We were married on November 2, 2001 and our application for AOS was received > by Atlanta on November 7, 2001. > Our adjustment of status interview was November 21, 2002 (almost exactly a > year later!) > Green card received last Friday, April 4, 2003. > Good luck, > Barbara > "Tim" wrote in message > news:[email protected]... > > I was just curious which senator you contacted and how (mail, phone?). > And, > > can you let me know when you first applied? We applied nearly two years > ago > > and have heard nothing. We also moved last year and that worries me (even > > though we submitted the change of address - I don't trust the INS to > update > > their records). Any help would be greatly appreciated! > > > > -- > > Best regards, > > > > Tim Easterday in Buford, GA > > |
Re: Atlanta Approval--kind of long
Barbara...
Billie and I are also in Huntsville. We still have yet to receive a notice for a green card interview, and we filed our I-485 in Atlanta in August of 2001! Anyway, just noticed that you said that you were waiting on your husband's green card so you could buy a house. My wife and I just bought a house in January and they had no problem with her not having the green card yet... --Alexander "Barbara" wrote in message news:[email protected]... > Hi Everyone, > It took me a few days to write this messge and get it posted, but maybe > someone in the group will gain some knowlede from our experience. We had > our AOS interview back in November, but had never received an approval > notice. Around mid-January, I contacted one of our senators and had the > case status checked. The security checks were all in at that time and we > were told the case was ready to be approved at any time. When it got to be > the first week in March and we still hadn't received the approval notice, I > called the senator's office again. She was looking into our case, but was > currently having some problems getting any response regarding any of the > status updates she had requested from the Atlanta INS. |
Re: Atlanta Approval--kind of long/changing address
Just to add my 2 cents worth to the Altanta situation. I also moved
during the process and filed all proper change of address forms (including giving one to the officer during the interview). I recieved a letter stating that I had been approved in Febuary (sent to the old address) saying that my file had been sent to texas and that I should recieve my green card in 9 to 12 months. At that point I again filed a change of address to both Altanta and Texas. A few weeks later, i recieved 2 official notices of approval from Texas (both sent to the old address), saying that my card would be mailed out in approx 3 weeks and that if any information was incorrect to notify them in late febuary, sent to the old address. So, I called and changed my address. I was told that my card had already been sent out but that if I got it, not to send it back for a new one with the correct address. A few days later, my green card came in the mail, forwarded from my old address. Since then, I have recieved 10 additional official notices of approval from Texas... 3 to the correct new address... 2 forwarded from teh old address.. and then 5 in a big envelope that had all been sent to the old address, returned to Texas, and then forwarded on to the new address! I guess when they decide to actually approve someone, they go all out. Bottom line, i don't know what to tell you about changing your address mid-process. It seems like they do what they want. Congratuations Barbara...I know you were anxious for that card. Jennifer time line married Nov 00 filed Jan 01 fingerprints (nov 02)--got two separate app'ts for that too! interview Dec 02 approval Feb 03-card recieved March 03 "Vermyndax" wrote in message news:... > Barbara... > > Billie and I are also in Huntsville. We still have yet to receive a notice > for a green card interview, and we filed our I-485 in Atlanta in August of > 2001! > > Anyway, just noticed that you said that you were waiting on your husband's > green card so you could buy a house. My wife and I just bought a house in > January and they had no problem with her not having the green card yet... > > --Alexander > > "Barbara" wrote in message > news:[email protected]... > > Hi Everyone, > > > > It took me a few days to write this messge and get it posted, but maybe > > someone in the group will gain some knowlede from our experience. We had > > our AOS interview back in November, but had never received an approval > > notice. Around mid-January, I contacted one of our senators and had the > > case status checked. The security checks were all in at that time and we > > were told the case was ready to be approved at any time. When it got to > be > > the first week in March and we still hadn't received the approval notice, > I > > called the senator's office again. She was looking into our case, but was > > currently having some problems getting any response regarding any of the > > status updates she had requested from the Atlanta INS. |
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