isfahan

This was my first visit to the new Homeland Security building in Tukwila AND my first infopass. I received the I-751 approval a few weeks after I made an appointment to inquire about the status of my application submitted a year ago. No sooner had the week of the appointment come than I received approval.

I made a new infopass and went right in (no line) although Line 4 (OTHER) was very long. I waited less than 10 minutes before my number came up and had the fingerprints, photos, form signing done in a few minutes and was out of there before I knew it - like 30 minutes from parking.

For anyone who lined up at the old building pre-infopass you will know how insane it all was. They even had a seating area especially for children with a TV on cartoons. My 4 year old didn't want to leave. Of course, I dragged him out of there.

The card should be with my by 6 months but I have the stamp in my passport till then. Phew. I feel DONE. Am I done? Except for citizenship....

Shannon

Rete

Congratulations. Now tell us you have already filed for naturalization if that is your goal. You should be eligible for it PR timeline wise. Not sure about the other criteria for you though. Only you know that ;-)

isfahan

Hi Rete
Its not my goal exactly although since Australia now allows dual citizenship I am going to go that route. However, I believe I have to wait three years from the granting of PR based on my I-130. There were lots of disasters (the district office sent my file to Nebraska by mistake and then lost it) early on so it was only approved (conditional PR) in August 2002 although we filed in early 2001.

Shannon

Rete

You are in the 90 day window at this very moment. It is from the date you become a resident - conditional or unconditional - that is the starting time.

CPR granted Aug 2002 = eligibility for naturalization starts May 2005.

isfahan

Cool. Thanks. I wondered why the women who handled the 751 stamp said I could apply anytime. I thought she meant kind of "anytime after August".

Hrmmm... I might take a month off paperwork.

Shannon

Greg Johnson

Congratulations!

Can I ask you what your timeline is? My wife and I just sent out I-751
to the Nebraska DisService Center (to be frozen for the next year or so
accoriding to their processing times :( ).

--- Greg

isfahan wrote:
    > This was my first visit to the new Homeland Security building in Tukwila
    > AND my first infopass. I received the I-751 approval a few weeks after
    > I made an appointment to inquire about the status of my application
    > submitted a year ago. No sooner had the week of the appointment come
    > than I received approval.
    >
    > I made a new infopass and went right in (no line) although Line 4
    > (OTHER) was very long. I waited less than 10 minutes before my
    > number came up and had the fingerprints, photos, form signing done in
    > a few minutes and was out of there before I knew it - like 30 minutes
    > from parking.
    >
    > For anyone who lined up at the old building pre-infopass you will know
    > how insane it all was. They even had a seating area especially for
    > children with a TV on cartoons. My 4 year old didn't want to leave. Of
    > course, I dragged him out of there.
    >
    > The card should be with my by 6 months but I have the stamp in my
    > passport till then. Phew. I feel DONE. Am I done? Except for
    > citizenship....
    >
    > Shannon
    >

wildxena

Me too, i would love to find out the timeline.
I live in Seattle and I filed my I-751 in Jan2005. i am so anxious as I will be travelling to Japan and CHina in Sept...something is telling me that simplay carrying the approval letter on GC is not enough as their custom might not understand the US immigration policy..any thoughts on that?

maximus76

Shannon,
congratulations!!!

meauxna

wild,
Nebraska is currently processing I-751s filed before August 27, 2004. You can find the chart, updated 2x/month here: https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/js...enter=Nebraska
We filed in 11/04 and do not expect to hear from them for awhile.

Many, many, many people have travelled and reported their success here, using only the expired Green Card + copy of the NOA.

An expired Green Card on its own is a valid boarding document for your return, according to posts here from people I trust.

wildxena

Thanks for your response...I guess I will stop drooling all over the mailbox everyday and hoping for surprises. =P

Do you just need a copy of NOA or the real thing?

meauxna

My UKC husband is not allowed to take the original out of my office

He carries a reduced-size photocopy with his Green Card.

wildxena

WOW I got mine!!!!!!!!!!!! I received my letter a week ago and I wil be going in tomorrow (Seattle, the new Tukwila office).

What do you need to bring?

Photos
NOA
Approval letter
passport
ID
green card

Anything else?

I am so happy and congrats to you toO!!!!!!! =)

meauxna

WooHoo!
Keep a copy of all you take in.

The letter said 3 photos, we got 4 by default, the officer only took 2. Good luck with that

Overly detailed description of our InfoPass experience here:http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320675

isfahan

By the way, I received my 10 year green card exactly a month after the appointment! I won't even need to travel with the stamp.

Shannon