Leanne Wicks

I'm getting a little worried so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has a
similar experience.

The Cleveland office accepts AOS paperwork by mail only, so on October 20th,
we sent our paperwork by registered mail to them. We know that they received
it because they signed the receipt which we got back in the mail. Then, we
received a cashier's receipt from them dated November 13th showing that they
had cashed our cheques and taken our money. The cheques cleared our bank
account, so we know they have been paid, but it's now December 5th and we
haven't received an official receipt (ie. I-797) showing that they have our
paperwork and what our expected timelines can be. I'm just wondering if this
is unusual or if this is a reasonable amount of time to wait for that
receipt. I know that AOS and even my EAD and AP are ages away with that
office, based on timelines I've read, but in Ohio, in order to renew my
driver's license (or even be allowed to do my name change from getting
married), I need that piece of paper so I'm a little anxious for it to
arrive. Plus it seems unusual that they would take our money 3 weeks ago but
not get that letter out.

Is this unusual or are they just notoriously slow on this sort of thing as
well? If I should be concerned, how would I go about contacting someone to
find out what's going on. Can the national customer service folks help me
(all I'd be able to tell them is my A #, I don't have a receipt number,
obviously) or would I have to go to the Cleveland office? (They will talk to
you on a walk in basis but you of course have to take a number, wait your
turn, etc).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Leanne

jerryshaner

"Leanne Wicks" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<TL6Ab.3669$%[email protected]>...
    > I'm getting a little worried so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has a
    > similar experience.
    >
    > The Cleveland office accepts AOS paperwork by mail only, so on October 20th,
    > we sent our paperwork by registered mail to them. We know that they received
    > it because they signed the receipt which we got back in the mail. Then, we
    > received a cashier's receipt from them dated November 13th showing that they
    > had cashed our cheques and taken our money. The cheques cleared our bank
    > account, so we know they have been paid, but it's now December 5th and we
    > haven't received an official receipt (ie. I-797) showing that they have our
    > paperwork and what our expected timelines can be. I'm just wondering if this
    > is unusual or if this is a reasonable amount of time to wait for that
    > receipt. I know that AOS and even my EAD and AP are ages away with that
    > office, based on timelines I've read, but in Ohio, in order to renew my
    > driver's license (or even be allowed to do my name change from getting
    > married), I need that piece of paper so I'm a little anxious for it to
    > arrive. Plus it seems unusual that they would take our money 3 weeks ago but
    > not get that letter out.
    >
    > Is this unusual or are they just notoriously slow on this sort of thing as
    > well? If I should be concerned, how would I go about contacting someone to
    > find out what's going on. Can the national customer service folks help me
    > (all I'd be able to tell them is my A #, I don't have a receipt number,
    > obviously) or would I have to go to the Cleveland office? (They will talk to
    > you on a walk in basis but you of course have to take a number, wait your
    > turn, etc).
    >
    > Any ideas?
    >
    > Thanks!
    >
    > Leanne

Hi Leanne,

My daughter in law filed through the Cleveland Office. She arrived in
the U.S on April 16th of this year on a K1 visa, she married and
filed all her paperwork in June. I don't remember when she recieved
her appointment letter, but anyhow her appointment was scheduled for
September. We made the trip to Cleveland where she recieved her Ead,
so it took Laarni three months to get her appointment. We were like
you, we started to get worried also. Laarni called a couple times and
they kept telling her the the application wes still in the mail room
and hasn't reached there desk yet. I would call them, maybe it will
help. Now she's waiting for her interview hopefully that will come
around April. Where do you live in Ohio? we are about 170 miles from
Cleveland between Toledo and Dayton.

jerryshaner

"Leanne Wicks" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<TL6Ab.3669$%[email protected]>...
    > I'm getting a little worried so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has a
    > similar experience.
    >
    > The Cleveland office accepts AOS paperwork by mail only, so on October 20th,
    > we sent our paperwork by registered mail to them. We know that they received
    > it because they signed the receipt which we got back in the mail. Then, we
    > received a cashier's receipt from them dated November 13th showing that they
    > had cashed our cheques and taken our money. The cheques cleared our bank
    > account, so we know they have been paid, but it's now December 5th and we
    > haven't received an official receipt (ie. I-797) showing that they have our
    > paperwork and what our expected timelines can be. I'm just wondering if this
    > is unusual or if this is a reasonable amount of time to wait for that
    > receipt. I know that AOS and even my EAD and AP are ages away with that
    > office, based on timelines I've read, but in Ohio, in order to renew my
    > driver's license (or even be allowed to do my name change from getting
    > married), I need that piece of paper so I'm a little anxious for it to
    > arrive. Plus it seems unusual that they would take our money 3 weeks ago but
    > not get that letter out.
    >
    > Is this unusual or are they just notoriously slow on this sort of thing as
    > well? If I should be concerned, how would I go about contacting someone to
    > find out what's going on. Can the national customer service folks help me
    > (all I'd be able to tell them is my A #, I don't have a receipt number,
    > obviously) or would I have to go to the Cleveland office? (They will talk to
    > you on a walk in basis but you of course have to take a number, wait your
    > turn, etc).
    >
    > Any ideas?
    >
    > Thanks!
    >
    > Leanne


Leanne, if you want, email me and i can give you more informtion. I
believe my email will be on my post when it appwars on your thread.

Jerry

juliep

Leanne, My husband and I too filed at the Cleveland Office. We live in the Cedar Point area. We file his AOS packet in mid July 2002. We received our receipt, but not a I-797 from the Cleveland office dated on August 31, 2002. It took almost 6 weeks to receive the receipt. In mid September 2002, my husband received his EAD. They sent out notice of the appointment about 4 weeks prior to it. We attended, and he received his EAD that day. You could go to visit Cleveland, but as you stated, you would have to take a number and wait. Even with them moving their office, and adding 5 or so windows, they usually only have one open. I really do not like the Clevenad office. I think they are liars. You can ask a simple question to an "Imformation" Officer, and they will smile and flat out lie to you. Tha has been my experience. I have gotten a great amount of help from the International Institute of Toledo. The have a great wealth of knowledge. They have helped me to understand some of the laws as well as performed translations. Again it took us 6 weeks to receive our receipt. We were called for our I-130 interview this past May. Of course, I had to attend it alone, since the Cleveland Office is a bunch of Liars. I now even have a pending I-129F for a K-3, and that is screwed up since the receipt that the Cleveland Office sent out was not an I-797, but a copy of aq copy of a copy of a fill in the blank form where they just checked off what forms we had filed. Maybe you will have better luck with them than we have, and I hope that you do, but I do not trust any of them.

suiram

Cleveland is SLOW!
A few pointers:

You need your case number, that should be printed on your cancelled check. Then you can go to uscis.gov -> e-sevices -> case status and type that number in.

https://egov.immigration.gov/graphic...ectedOffice=22
has dates for some forms.


Good luck!

Leanne Wicks

"juliep" <member18487@british_expats.com> wrote

    > Leanne, My husband and I too filed at the Cleveland Office. We live in
    > the Cedar Point area.

I'm not sure where that is... I'm still learning my way around here. My
husband and I live in Akron. How far is that from you?

That's so frustrating to hear that it took you almost 6 weeks to get the
I-797. I sincerely hope that they have smartened up a bit now and will be a
little faster but at the rate it's going, I'm not counting on it. :/ I know
that they are slow for AOS, AP and EAD, but I was hoping that getting the
receipt out would be a little quicker. Then again, it took them almost a
month just to open their mail and cash our cheques. :/

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a frustrating time at the office. I've
been there once already because the border crossing folks at Toronto Pearson
airport screwed up and had me keep my brown envelope so I had to take it
there in person... They were very friendly and apologetic at the time and
quite helpful but I saw how they talked to some other people... I guess I
was lucky that I had a simple problem that day!

I hope you got things sorted out and got our I-797?

Leanne

juliep

Leanne

We are on the lake half way between Cleveland and Toledo. It is propbably 11/2 hours away. I hope things do work out for you. I am glad to hear that your experience with them so far has not been a bad one. Just remember that since they cashed your checks, that is a good thing. Your paperwork is correct then. If they did not cash the checks, they would have sent the apps. back to correct them. Keep up the hope. At least your are able to be with your husband, while mine is 6000 miles away. Also, I have never been able to get any help from the National Customer Service Center with anything pending at the Cleveland Office. They have your whole file under your A# and they do not give your a 13 digit receipt number, at least that is the way it worked with us. You would need to call the Cleveland Office directly to find anything out. The best day to call is on Wednesday, as that is their adjudication day. They are not open to the public, and they are just reviewing files, not conducting interviews.

Marjeta

I'm going through Cleveland as well. You will *NOT* get an official looking receip from them. The only thing you have is the little piece of sh*t cashier's receipt that has *Official Document* printed on it.

You will definitelly need your EAD in order to get your drivers license, or anything else sorted out here in Ohio. That is really the only 'status proving' document you will have until your AOS is approved.
I got my EAD in a little over a month, but that was 10 months ago. All you can really do is wait at this point.

P.S. We filed for AOS in January 2003, and we're still waiting for our interview.................. GRRRR

Jp

We filed in January 2003 as well and just got a letter on Jan 7, 2004
to come in for fingerprinting....anyone know what's next? How long
before the interview?

    >
    > P.S. We filed for AOS in January 2003, and we're still waiting for our
    > interview.................. GRRRR

juliep

You can cehck the USCIS web-site to see what date the Cleveland Office is processing, but that is about it. Since Cleveland has your case by your A# you can not check on your case specifically. The National Customer Service Center can not give you any information either, unless things have changed since we filed and the Cleveland Office has stepped up and started giving out real receipt numbers......but I highly doubt that.

Marjeta

Hi,
when exactly in January did you file? I hope that means we are getting something soon as well.
Unfortunately I know nothing about their procedures and how their interviewing works.

juliep

On the USCIS web-site they are showing that the Cleveland District Office is processing I-485 applications with a date of August 28, 2002. When we had our I-130 Interview, they sent us a notice about three weeks before the interview. I arrived about 15 minutes before my interview time, and I was called in for the interview about 5 minutes after the time for my interview. Suprisingly, the Cleveland Office was prompt on this.

Marjeta

I don't know if this info is up to date, because it has been still the same date since the beginning of November. Before that it said they were processing applications dating January, 2003. So why a jump 5 months back all of a sudden?
I wouldn't trust the posted timelines very much, but their automated phoneline was saying that it is taking them 12 to 15 months to process an I-485. This info is now no longer available by phone as of about a month ago.

see

On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:29:34 +0000, Marjeta
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >I wouldn't trust the posted timelines very much, but their automated
    >phoneline was saying that it is taking them 12 to 15 months to process
    >an I-485. This info is now no longer available by phone as of about a
    >month ago.

I had my AOS interview in Cleveland in Nov. 2003. That was after
a 15 month wait, so the phoneline info is probably pretty close to
the truth.

Bill
name = wsinkins
domain = apk dot net

dhabud

Hi All,

I will be joining the list of ppl waiting for AOS asi am applying for AOS , EAD this week. Also since my F-1 work permit as well as Liscence is expring in March 2004.

Could you post your AOS, EAD timelines. Also could you all, please post your I-797 NOA dates as well as your mailing dates.
eg.
1.) Date your mailed your application packet
2.) Date they replied back with NOA I-797


One more question, will Akron, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehilcle renew liscence based on I-797 NOA.

Please reply. I appreciate your reponses

Sincerely
Dhabud