DV 2015 AOS Only

[Britsimon]

Question about interview scheduling,
I'm part of DV2015 and current in October, our next step in the process is the interview scheduling and the interview itself, our file arrived at the local FO a week ago and out of curiosity I called the USCIS line and spoke to a level 2 officer, (not a particular pleasant experience to be honest) and he informed me that the office won't be scheduling DV interviews for 7 months (due to current I-485 backlog) and wanted to know why I felt entitled to jump the queue because I was DV applicant. I politely explained that I'm not trying to jump the queue but simply trying to understand the next step in the process and establish dates so that I can schedule my work, I travel both domestic and international and generally plan 3-4 months out. My question is what has others seen with regards to interview scheduling, looking at the spreadsheet a month after bio-metrics seem to be the norm for an interview letter, and secondly does DV applications get prioritized outside of the requirement to be completed within the Fiscal Year.

The officer didn't know what he was talking about. Check the 2014 timeline in Moms spreadsheet. Generally speaking you get a bio appointment a week or two after the notice of acceptance and your interview should be scheduled about a month after that. One of the DV2014 AoS cases submitted in mid July for a September 1 current date. He was interviewed and approved on September 12.

Yes DV has a special process and timeline which your level 2 (???) officer was not aware of.

 

[Ifitis2be]

Question about interview scheduling,
I'm part of DV2015 and current in October, our next step in the process is the interview scheduling and the interview itself, our file arrived at the local FO a week ago and out of curiosity I called the USCIS line and spoke to a level 2 officer, (not a particular pleasant experience to be honest) and he informed me that the office won't be scheduling DV interviews for 7 months (due to current I-485 backlog) and wanted to know why I felt entitled to jump the queue because I was DV applicant. I politely explained that I'm not trying to jump the queue but simply trying to understand the next step in the process and establish dates so that I can schedule my work, I travel both domestic and international and generally plan 3-4 months out. My question is what has others seen with regards to interview scheduling, looking at the spreadsheet a month after bio-metrics seem to be the norm for an interview letter, and secondly does DV applications get prioritized outside of the requirement to be completed within the Fiscal Year.

Oh wow. Was that an officer from your FO or just the general USCIS line?

 

[Hammer67]

The officer didn't know what he was talking about. Check the 2014 timeline in Moms spreadsheet. Generally speaking you get a bio appointment a week or two after the notice of acceptance and your interview should be scheduled about a month after that. One of the DV2014 AoS cases submitted in mid July for a September 1 current date. He was interviewed and approved on September 12.

Yes DV has a special process and timeline which your level 2 (???) officer was not aware of.

Thanks Britsimon,
Officer Peters didn't seem to have much of an idea and certainly wasn't having a good day and felt empowered to use/abuse his authority, is that timeline published anywhere. I don't recall seeing it in any policy memo's.

 

[Hammer67]

Oh wow. Was that an officer from your FO or just the general USCIS line?

General USCIS line, Officer Peters

The local office were great when we did our bio-metrics, both the security guys and bio metrics techs couldn't have been nicer to our family. My youngest had his leg braced after a football injury and they went out of their way to accommodate him, even moving their finger print device and camera to make it easy for him. (5 star service)

 

[Britsimon]

Thanks Britsimon,
Officer Peters didn't seem to have much of an idea and certainly wasn't having a good day and felt empowered to use/abuse his authority, is that timeline published anywhere. I don't recall seeing it in any policy memo's.

The "general" timeline I mention is not "committed to" - some people have a much slower experience - it varies by FO.

 

[Hammer67]

The "general" timeline I mention is not "committed to" - some people have a much slower experience - it varies by FO.

OK Thanks, I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how a relatively quiet office like Manchester, NH could be run of its feet. The place has a good number of staff and NH is quite a low population. I guess I'll take a dose of patience pills and sit back and chill for a while

 

[Britsimon]

OK Thanks, I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how a relatively quiet office like Manchester, NH could be run of its feet. The place has a good number of staff and NH is quite a low population. I guess I'll take a dose of patience pills and sit back and chill for a while

The problem (IF you have a problem)will not be that they are too busy, but rather that they treat this as a normal AoS as Officer Peters described....

 

[Hammer67]

The problem (IF you have a problem)will not be that they are too busy, but rather that they treat this as a normal AoS as Officer Peters described....

Would it make sense to give it another week or two and then book an info-pass at the local office to see if I can find a helpful soul there to get the file to the top of the pile? I don't necessarily want to go to the bottom of the pile and "gather dust" if it isn't necessary

 

[Ifitis2be]

Would it make sense to give it another week or two and then book an info-pass at the local office to see if I can find a helpful soul there to get the file to the top of the pile? I don't necessarily want to go to the bottom of the pile and "gather dust" if it isn't necessary

Why don't you just give it a bit of time…you just had your bios done 10 days ago, no? for all you know, your interview letter might be on its way and could show up in the coming days/weeks…there is no cause for alarm. I personally would not go to the office to avoid alienating them…but maybe your circumstances are particular and urgent...

 

[Hammer67]

Why don't you just give it a bit of time…you just had your bios done 10 days ago, no? for all you know, your interview letter might be on its way and could show up in the coming days/weeks…there is no cause for alarm. I personally would not go to the office to avoid alienating them…but maybe your circumstances are particular and urgent...

I definitely don't want to "alienate" them , which is why I think I'll chill for a couple of weeks. It does make me think of a great civil cause when I get my citizenship in 5 something years

 

[Britsimon]

I definitely don't want to "alienate" them , which is why I think I'll chill for a couple of weeks. It does make me think of a great civil cause when I get my citizenship in 5 something years

Yep - chilling is the right approach. DV2015 hasn't even officially started yet - so nothing bad happened and unless you have a desperate need to rush things you should just let things run their course at the moment. You won't miss out just by being processed a couple of weeks later....

 

[Sm1smom]

Yes DV cases are supposed to be prioritized. However all applicants need to realize that the prioritization has to be done in conjunction with whatever work load each applicable FO has to contend with people. It does not mean the FO will drop every other case anytime a DV based application comes in considering the fact that DV takes place on a yearly basis - if they do that, other AOS cases will never get adjudicated either. That is the message L-2 officers sometimes try to pass across to DV applicants every time they call and insist their cases need to be prioritized. This is done at each FO's discretion so you guys might want to remember that and exercise a little bit more patience with your cases.

Also there's no guarantee that once biometric has been done, an IL will go out 1 month after, it could take much longer than that and in some cases, IL could be sent even before the bio is done.

So patience, people, exercise some patience, especially since the FY has not even formally started!

 

[faith100]

I think you will hear back very shortly…it seems like they worked backwards…processing the latest they received and then moving on to the older ones…I say give it another week, I'd be surprised if you don't hear back by then. Best wishes

@lfitis2be. Thanks for your words of encouragement.

 

[faith100]

Ok good. So it is 27 days and there has been a holiday in that time period. All is not lost yet - I would suggest waiting a few more days. With mine, I sent in three applications. Two of mine were accepted, and one rejected. I got text for the two accepted but nothing for the rejection until I got the paperwork.

@Britsimon: what do you mean by sending in three applications? why 3?

 

[Britsimon]

@Britsimon: what do you mean by sending in three applications? why 3?

Myself, my wife and my child - three I485 packages (all in one envelope). Out of that two were accepted, my daughters was not. I had paid an adult fee for her - so that was enough for them to reject her case submission. Obviously this was easily resolved once I had the forms back - which I got at around 24 days after they received them.

 

[Sm1smom]

Does uscis process AOS according to selection number or date of reciept? I mailed my packet on Aug 20 and still no receipt.

What in the world is happening to my application??? Tomorrow will be 30 days and no receipt. I checked the spreadsheet (thanks to sm1smom) for previous AOS applications for guidance, and it looks like I am the outlier. This application is making me anxious and really testing my patience.

I strongly suspect the reason you haven't received an acceptance confirmation is because your package wasn't accepted and is likely to be returned for some reason. Do you have copies of all the forms you submitted? If you do, take a look at them to confirm if you signed all the required sections. Did you include a personal check? Have you been checking your account to confirm if the check has been cashed or not? Looking at the 2015 DV Timeline (which by the way doesn't have your information) we can see a number of people who submitted their forms after you already have the NOA.

But on the other hand, your package may just be experiencing an unusual delay in processing. In any case, all you can do for now is to wait about 2 more weeks or so, following which you may want to give calling USCIS a shot.

 

[NEP2015AOS]

Regarding delayed processing: My package reached on 8/30, got txt/email notification on 9/17. (though people who sent package on 1st week of September got reply early than people who sent package on last week of august.) But when I check case status for my wife's I-765 application, it says "On September 2, 2014, we received this I765 APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION".
Might be that they received @faith100 's application, but not done COMPLETELY yet.

 

[tinsku]

Hi everyone!

Thank you to all of you who put the amazing package together! It's really made my life so much easier.
I still have a few lingering questions that I hope someone can answer for me!

I am an F1 student currently doing my senior year of undergrad at a college in MA. My number is 93xx, so it's coming up in November.
This is what I have currently done:
- Filled my I-485 and G-325.
- Printed my I-94.
- Photocopied my birth certificate (does this have to be notarized?).
- Photocopied my high school diploma (does this have to be notarized?)
- Photocopied all my I-20s (does this have to be notarized?)
- Requested for a letter of enrollment or something similar from my college
- Sent my DV fee and waiting for receipt
- 2x passport photos
- Photocopied my passport ID page and visa page

I have the following questions:
- We don't send our actual passport in do we? Just a photocopy of the ID page and our visa page?
- Should I include my college transcript?
- What do I do for my evidence of financial support if I am a student? Do I provide a bank statement of my own account?
- If I just applied for an social security number, do I leave that field blank or wait until I get my number? I haven't worked at all during my stay in the US until very recently because I have been hired by my college to tutor.
- I have no idea what to do for the medical exam. Do I just call the listed number directly? And how much does it usually cost?

 

[Sm1smom]

Hi everyone!

Thank you to all of you who put the amazing package together! It's really made my life so much easier.
I still have a few lingering questions that I hope someone can answer for me!

I am an F1 student currently doing my senior year of undergrad at a college in MA. My number is 93xx, so it's coming up in November.
This is what I have currently done:
- Filled my I-485 and G-325.
- Printed my I-94.
- Photocopied my birth certificate (does this have to be notarized?).
- Photocopied my high school diploma (does this have to be notarized?)
- Photocopied all my I-20s (does this have to be notarized?)
- Requested for a letter of enrollment or something similar from my college
- Sent my DV fee and waiting for receipt
- 2x passport photos
- Photocopied my passport ID page and visa page

I have the following questions:
- We don't send our actual passport in do we? Just a photocopy of the ID page and our visa page?
- Should I include my college transcript?
- What do I do for my evidence of financial support if I am a student? Do I provide a bank statement of my own account?
- If I just applied for an social security number, do I leave that field blank or wait until I get my number? I haven't worked at all during my stay in the US until very recently because I have been hired by my college to tutor.
- I have no idea what to do for the medical exam. Do I just call the listed number directly? And how much does it usually cost?

You need to take a look at the first post on page one of this thread. It has a link to a google spreadsheet which has a step by step of the AOS process. You will find the answers to all the questions you asked above if you settle down and carefully go over the spreadsheet.

 

[tinsku]

You need to take a look at the first post on page one of this thread. It has a link to a google spreadsheet which has a step by step of the AOS process. You will find the answers to all the questions you asked above if you settle down and carefully go over the spreadsheet.

Hi!

Thanks for your reply.
I did go through the spreadsheet carefully but two of my questions could not be answered by it:
- What do I do for my evidence of financial support if I am a student? Do I provide a bank statement of my own account even if I don't have proper means of income right now in the US?
- If I just applied for an social security number, do I leave that field blank or wait until I get my number and then send out my package?