Lee2002

Hi All,

My I-485 receipt date is Feb 2004. I called and made inquiry about my case and below is the reply:

"The processing of your case has been delayed. A check of our records
establishes that your case is not yet ready for decision, as the
required investigation into your background remains open."

I called the FBI fingerprint status check (304 number), they told me that the fingerprint result was returned within 24 hours. They told me that they only do fingerprint check. What about name check and background check?

I am trying to understand the situation a little bit more. What is the difference between fingerprint check, name check and background check. Do they all go to one place, FBI? I saw on the net that people can email FBI to inquire, is it for name check or backgrounding check or fingerprint check?

I have tried USCIS 800 number, FBI 304 number. I am writing an email to FBI today. What else can I do? Infopass appointment doesn't help right?

thanks,
Ngee

ian-mstm

The background check which, by the way, includes the fingerprint and name check, looks for hits in about a dozen different databases both inside and outside the US. The fingerprint and name checks are subsets of the background check.

The FBI check is usually finished quickly but the results can often take a very long time to be reunited with your original case file.

Ian

Rete

There are a number of security checks: FBI (name and fingerprint); CIA (name); IBIS (name). If there is a hit on any of them, then there is a delay until it is determined if you are the person in question or if it is someone else with the same name.

In addition, you don't say which District Office you are using and how far behind you are in processing time from what they say is the timeline for that office.

grouchy

That's useful info to me Rete as I have been wondering if after our interview in 6 weeks we will get the background check delay--as you know we've been waiting for almost 3 years already. But my husband has a very unusual name so it sounds like it probably won't be a problem.

Hypertweeky

I had my interview Feb 27, I am waiting on my backgroud check too.
I will let you know if I hear anything!

sobol1978

i had my interview in NYC on January 18th, fingerptints done on jan
24th - and still waiting. thinking about infopass apt. but i might be
just waist of time- not sure

Hypertweeky

I was told by my AOS officer the local office wouldn't know more than you do.
Good Luck!

Hoohay

Here is my story:

Applied for AOS in August 2004, my husband is an American Citizen.

We had the interview in October 2004 in New York, where we live. They did not have my fingerprints at that time, since the first appointment I could get was for a week after the interview. During the interview, they told us that everything was ok but that they couln't stamp my passport till they had my fingerprints. They told me that I could expect to receive my green card in the mail approx. a month later.

They received my fingerprints in November 2004, cleared.

A month passed and I didn't receive my green card.

Three months later, I went to ask with an infopass, they told me that they were doing background checks and that it could take from 6 months to a year.

The green card did not come in the mail in the following six months or a year.

I went to ask again, same answer: pending background check. I left a request asking for a written answer, and they never answered.

15 months later, in January 2006, I received an email saying that my application had been transferred to California. Shortly after, I received an appointment for fingerprints. The reason being that the first ones they took had expired in the meantime, since they expire after 15 months.

I went again to the New York offices of INS with an Infopass, and they gave me the following explanation: my application was pending for a year and a half, because of the background check. At the NY office, they don't have the means to perform the background checks for all the applications they have. That is why after a year and a half without any further processing of my application, they sent it to California. They congratulated me because I have been very lucky that my case has been transfered to California, where they have many more resources and more capacity to process our case.

Last week we received a request from the California office, requesting a long list of documents, ranging from wedding pictures, tax receipts, a picture of us holding a recent newspaper, a written statement from the person through whom we met.......looooong list of documents. It is like having the interview again, now with that office in California, a year and a half after the first one.

That is the story for now. We are gathering all those documents to send them and we shall see.

Good luck to everybody,

Hoohay

Lee2002

Thanks for the info. so, location of district office makes a difference? I applied I-485 thru nebraska service center.

Rete

That is not a district office.