-Canadian

I have heard and read that for Iranian nationals, they do extended
background checks before I485 gets approved and this might take an
extra year or two. Is this true? Does anyone have info on this?

I am Canadian but I was born in Iran. If the above is true, does it
also apply to me? If so, I am better off
staying on TN or H1 because if I get laid off during the lengthy
process, I'll no longer qualify for TN due to previous intention of
immigrating to the US.

Noorah101

Hi,

I don't know how it affects your type of visa, but my husband is Iranian. He came to the USA in 2004 on a fiance visa, and his security check took 4 months through NVC. I have seen Iranians who are fiances or spouses of USC's who have to undergo further security checks after the visa interview overseas, but the longest I know of was about 3 or 4 months.

It's possible that you could be subject to more lengthy security checks, having been born in Iran. Although that makes me question...are you a naturalized Canadian citizen (originally an Iranian citizen)? Or are you a Canadian citizen who just happened to be born in Iran, but were not an Iranian national?

If you are Iranian, I would expect a more lengthy security check. But I have not seen an Iranian stuck in security checks longer than several months. I have seen Pakistani's stuck for up to a year, though.

Best Wishes,
Rene

-Canadian

On Mar 5, 6:34 pm, Noorah101 <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > I have heard and read that forIraniannationals, they do extended
> > background checks before I485 gets approved and this might take an
> > extra year or two. Is this true? Does anyone have info on this?
>
> > I am Canadian but I was born in Iran. If the above is true, does it
> > also apply to me? If so, I am better off
> > staying on TN or H1 because if I get laid off during the lengthy
> > process, I'll no longer qualify for TN due to previous intention of
> > immigrating to the US.
>
> Hi,
>
> I don't know how it affects your type of visa, but my husband isIranian. He came to the USA in 2004 on a fiance visa, and his
> security check took 4 months through NVC. I have seen Iranians who
> are fiances or spouses of USC's who have to undergo further security
> checks after the visa interview overseas, but the longest I know of
> was about 3 or 4 months.
>
> It's possible that you could be subject to more lengthy security checks,
> having been born in Iran. Although that makes me question...are you a
> naturalized Canadian citizen (originally anIraniancitizen)? Or are
> you a Canadian citizen who just happened to be born in Iran, but were
> not anIraniannational?
>
> If you areIranian, I would expect a more lengthy security check. But I
> have not seen anIranianstuck in security checks longer than several
> months. I have seen Pakistani's stuck for up to a year, though.
>
> Best Wishes,
> Rene
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com

Thanks for sharing your info. I forgot to mention I wasn't talking
about consular processing (Dept of State). I was talking about USCIS
(DHS) where the 485 applications are processed. The security check may
be slightly different and from other people's experience on the
internet, I see it can take an extra year or two.

Well, quite frankly after living in both US and Canada, I have noticed
some cultural and mentality differences. We don't use the word
"naturalized citizen". You are either Canadian or not. It doesn't
really matter where you were born. We Canadians , as I'd call it, are
color-blind. We don't say: happend to be born in XYZ or happened to be
black/white etc! As far as country of birth is concerned, each country
has its own laws for people who were born there. If you were born in
the US, no matter where in the wide world you live, you are always
considered a US citizen by the US government. The last time I checked,
the same is true for the Iranian government. So I don't know how to
answer your question.

Noorah101

Well, I was just thinking of two scenarios:

1. If you are of Iranian heritage, your parents are Iranian, and you were born in Iran (and are now a "naturalized" Canadian citizen), you have a higher chance of having a lengthy security check, but;

2. If you are of Canadian heritage, your parents are Canadian (but happened to be working or living in Iran at the time you were born), and you were born in Iran, you would probably wouldn't have such a lengthy security check.

That's all I was trying to get at.
Rene

Noorah101

In our case, with my Iranian husband, we had no security check delays during his I-485 processing in the USA. From what I see on this forum, security check delays of up to 1 or 2 years can happen to anyone, from anywhere...it's not specific to one nationality. It seems that some people just get stuck in a glitch (most likely the security check is complete, but USCIS had trouble matching it up to that person's file, updating it, and sending it off for green card processing).

Best Wishes,
Rene

-Canadian

On Mar 6, 2:11 pm, Noorah101 <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > On Mar 5, 6:34 pm, Noorah101 <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> > > > I have heard and read that forIraniannationals, they do extended
> > > > background checks before I485 gets approved and this might take an
> > > > extra year or two. Is this true? Does anyone have info on this?
>
> > > > I am Canadian but I was born in Iran. If the above is true, does
> > > > it
> > > > also apply to me? If so, I am better off
> > > > staying on TN or H1 because if I get laid off during the lengthy
> > > > process, I'll no longer qualify for TN due to previous intention
> > > > of
> > > > immigrating to the US.
>
> > > Hi,
>
> > > I don't know how it affects your type of visa, but my husband
> > > isIranian. He came to the USA in 2004 on a fiance visa, and his
> > > security check took 4 months through NVC. I have seen Iranians who
> > > are fiances or spouses of USC's who have to undergo further security
> > > checks after the visa interview overseas, but the longest I know of
> > > was about 3 or 4 months.
>
> > > It's possible that you could be subject to more lengthy security
> > > checks,
> > > having been born in Iran. Although that makes me question...are you
> > > a
> > > naturalized Canadian citizen (originally anIraniancitizen)? Or are
> > > you a Canadian citizen who just happened to be born in Iran, but
> > > were
> > > not anIraniannational?
>
> > > If you areIranian, I would expect a more lengthy security check.
> > > But I
> > > have not seen anIranianstuck in security checks longer than several
> > > months. I have seen Pakistani's stuck for up to a year, though.
>
> > > Best Wishes,
> > > Rene
>
> > > --
> > > Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com
>
> > Thanks for sharing your info. I forgot to mention I wasn't talking
> > about consular processing (Dept of State). I was talking about USCIS
> > (DHS) where the 485 applications are processed. The security check may
> > be slightly different and from other people's experience on the
> > internet, I see it can take an extra year or two.
>
> > Well, quite frankly after living in both US and Canada, I have noticed
> > some cultural and mentality differences. We don't use the word
> > "naturalized citizen". You are either Canadian or not. It doesn't
> > really matter where you were born. We Canadians , as I'd call it, are
> > color-blind. We don't say: happend to be born in XYZ or happened to be
> > black/white etc! As far as country of birth is concerned, each country
> > has its own laws for people who were born there. If you were born in
> > the US, no matter where in the wide world you live, you are always
> > considered a US citizen by the US government. The last time I checked,
> > the same is true for theIraniangovernment. So I don't know how to
> > answer your question.
>
> In our case, with myIranianhusband, we had no security check delays
> during his I-485 processing in the USA. From what I see on this forum,
> security check delays of up to 1 or 2 years can happen to anyone, from
> anywhere...it's not specific to one nationality. It seems that some
> people just get stuck in a glitch (most likely the security check is
> complete, but USCIS had trouble matching it up to that person's file,
> updating it, and sending it off for green card processing).
>
> Best Wishes,
> Rene
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks for the info. My statistics was based on
http://www.trackitt.com/usa-immigrat...-i485-tracker/
and pretty much all Iranians got stuck in the name check, which is the
security check.

Noorah101

Well, we got lucky then, because we didn't get stuck there at all. Unless things are different now than they were in 2005 when he had his interview. Of course, he had his biometrics taken 16 months before the interview came up, so plenty of time to get the name check/security check done before the interview came along.

Rene