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DV 2015 AOS Only

Ivo Stoyanov said:
The appointment was in Elizabeth, NJ, for the record.
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I had my appointment there as well. I managed to walk in after requesting to talk to the ASC manager, but they initially wouldn't let me even enter the building due to my appointment being on a different date. The process took several hours for me as well - the center seems perpetually very busy!

On the bright side, the Newark FO appears to be very efficient so hopefully you get your interview soon - my interview is scheduled on the 31st of this month, less than 4 weeks from when I received my biometrics letter. A lot of the entries in the 2014 spreadsheet for Newark, NJ seems to have quite fast turnaround times too.

It might be worth mentioning that I got an additional notice with my interview letter from the Newark FO that was specifically addressed to DV winners. The notice outlined what to bring (passport, i-94 etc.), most of it very standard, but also mentioned they needed all my degrees/high school diploma to be evaluated for US equivalency if they were from overseas. I'm unsure if this is applicable to you however! I wanted to be safe rather than sorry and did it anyway, even though all my degrees are from the UK and already in English, since I felt it couldn't hurt.
 
Ivo Stoyanov said:
The appointment was in Elizabeth, NJ, for the record.
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Ohhhhh no wonder...Elizabeth turned us away too for a walk-in...but you can almost bet on getting your IL 2 weeks to the day of the bios with Newark NJ as FO if your bio clears ok. They are quick in that way. Best wishes
 
I received CPO notice this morning! Though it might be too early to state this before receiving the cards, I am so happy with this happy ending after going through many complicated problems and stomach-churning concerns on this process (two-body problem, baby's due date, etc.). I really appreciate all the advice, support, and encouragement from the very knowledgeable and supportive people in this forum including Mom. I would have screwed up this great opportunity without this forum. I'll write the process that I went through on the spreadsheet in detail.

Let me describe what happened after the interview. As mentioned in the previous posting, my case was ready to be approved and the only missing part was our case data that was supposed to be transferred from KCC to Newark FO. At first I contacted KCC by e-mail but it didn't work at all (They said "Please direct your inquiry to USCIS"). Then, as advised in this forum, I called KCC next day after the interview, and they said they had sent our case data in the afternoon of the same day (I guess our IO reminded KCC right after the interview). After the call, I mailed a letter to Newark FO saying that my case data had been sent to their office as I thought it would be a faster option to let them know than making an INFOPASS appointment. And finally we received CPO notice on My USCIS website this morning (Now that I think the letter I sent might have been unnecessary in our case).
 
samc_1988 said:
I had my appointment there as well. I managed to walk in after requesting to talk to the ASC manager, but they initially wouldn't let me even enter the building due to my appointment being on a different date. The process took several hours for me as well - the center seems perpetually very busy!

On the bright side, the Newark FO appears to be very efficient so hopefully you get your interview soon - my interview is scheduled on the 31st of this month, less than 4 weeks from when I received my biometrics letter. A lot of the entries in the 2014 spreadsheet for Newark, NJ seems to have quite fast turnaround times too.

It might be worth mentioning that I got an additional notice with my interview letter from the Newark FO that was specifically addressed to DV winners. The notice outlined what to bring (passport, i-94 etc.), most of it very standard, but also mentioned they needed all my degrees/high school diploma to be evaluated for US equivalency if they were from overseas. I'm unsure if this is applicable to you however! I wanted to be safe rather than sorry and did it anyway, even though all my degrees are from the UK and already in English, since I felt it couldn't hurt.
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Thanks for the info! My high school diploma is the only non-US degree I have. Given it is in English and has a stamp that the school is certified/accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, I hope that will be good enough.

It's encouraging to hear that the Newark FO is quick and diligent from multiple sources. It's only been a month since my package got to the lockbox and exactly two weeks since I got the biometrics letter, so everything has been very quick and prompt so far.
 
Hi all,
If anyone needs to get tax transcripts for their aos package ( i assume everyone has sent already though), or needs a copy for their interview, the online get transcript service is down. So you will have to order by mail and since mail takes time, you might want to order as early as possible.
 
Ivo Stoyanov said:
Thanks for the info! My high school diploma is the only non-US degree I have. Given it is in English and has a stamp that the school is certified/accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, I hope that will be good enough.

It's encouraging to hear that the Newark FO is quick and diligent from multiple sources. It's only been a month since my package got to the lockbox and exactly two weeks since I got the biometrics letter, so everything has been very quick and prompt so far.
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Considering the fact that the Newark, NJ FO sends out DV specific IL that asks applicants with foreign issued Diplomas/Certificates to attend their interview with educational documents certified by a U.S. third party organization, and that the DV FY is gradually coming to an end, you're willing to take the risk of presenting your certificate on the basis of hoping the stamp on it makes it good enough? Not saying you will run into trouble for certain, however, that's not a risk I would take if I was in your shoes.
 
ktman said:
I received CPO notice this morning! Though it might be too early to state this before receiving the cards, I am so happy with this happy ending after going through many complicated problems and stomach-churning concerns on this process (two-body problem, baby's due date, etc.). I really appreciate all the advice, support, and encouragement from the very knowledgeable and supportive people in this forum including Mom. I would have screwed up this great opportunity without this forum. I'll write the process that I went through on the spreadsheet in detail.

Let me describe what happened after the interview. As mentioned in the previous posting, my case was ready to be approved and the only missing part was our case data that was supposed to be transferred from KCC to Newark FO. At first I contacted KCC by e-mail but it didn't work at all (They said "Please direct your inquiry to USCIS"). Then, as advised in this forum, I called KCC next day after the interview, and they said they had sent our case data in the afternoon of the same day (I guess our IO reminded KCC right after the interview). After the call, I mailed a letter to Newark FO saying that my case data had been sent to their office as I thought it would be a faster option to let them know than making an INFOPASS appointment. And finally we received CPO notice on My USCIS website this morning (Now that I think the letter I sent might have been unnecessary in our case).
Click to expand...

Awesome. Congratulations!!
 
Asia174 said:
Hi all,
If anyone needs to get tax transcripts for their aos package ( i assume everyone has sent already though), or needs a copy for their interview, the online get transcript service is down. So you will have to order by mail and since mail takes time, you might want to order as early as possible.
Click to expand...

Starting to get the feeling the online transcript service might never come back up... it seems like its been down since it got hacked in May. I definitely agree that if you think you might need your tax transcripts and don't already have it to put in a request asap - I tried all through June to get my transcripts online, and ended up just ordering them via mail, which took 2+ weeks to arrive.
 
Sm1smom said:
Considering the fact that the Newark, NJ FO sends out DV specific IL that asks applicants with foreign issued Diplomas/Certificates to attend their interview with educational documents certified by a U.S. third party organization, and that the DV FY is gradually coming to an end, you're willing to take the risk of presenting your certificate on the basis of hoping the stamp on it makes it good enough? Not saying you will run into trouble for certain, however, that's not a risk I would take if I was in your shoes.
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That was the plan until reading this post. :) Seems strange/silly that paying ~$150 to a random third-party org to, presumably, look at a scanned copy of my diploma, google the present-on-the-diploma accreditation organization, and make sure that my high school is indeed accredited by them, would be somehow better than the FO doing the same thing in 30 seconds (in addition to seeing the original diploma in addition to original US university bachelor and master's degrees in person), but you're definitely right that it's not a risk worth taking. Thanks as always.
 
Ivo Stoyanov said:
That was the plan until reading this post. :) Seems strange/silly that paying ~$150 to a random third-party org to, presumably, look at a scanned copy of my diploma, google the present-on-the-diploma accreditation organization, and make sure that my high school is indeed accredited by them, would be somehow better than the FO doing the same thing in 30 seconds (in addition to seeing the original diploma in addition to original US university bachelor and master's degrees in person), but you're definitely right that it's not a risk worth taking. Thanks as always.
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Well, perhaps part of it is that there are so many official sounding but nonsense "accreditation" boards out there that the diploma mills use, maybe the FO feels it is better to get someone specialized in that to check that it is a genuine accreditation rather than leave it up to their interviewing officers who are not actually qualified to evaluate these things. The phony boards spend a lot of time gaming Google so that they look legit to anyone who spends only 30 seconds googling them...
 
Ivo Stoyanov said:
That was the plan until reading this post. :) Seems strange/silly that paying ~$150 to a random third-party org to, presumably, look at a scanned copy of my diploma, google the present-on-the-diploma accreditation organization, and make sure that my high school is indeed accredited by them, would be somehow better than the FO doing the same thing in 30 seconds (in addition to seeing the original diploma in addition to original US university bachelor and master's degrees in person), but you're definitely right that it's not a risk worth taking. Thanks as always.
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I submitted an evaluation report for my degree issued by American Translation Service (http://www.americantranslationservice.com/e_evaluation.html). To my knowledge, this is the cheapest credentialing agency ($80 for 7 days service plus $11 for priority mail option. You can't choose PDF option though they show that on their website). Though this company looks a little shady, I used the same copy for my job application (academic position) and I had no trouble. This might be a good option for you if you can wait for 7-10 days and don't care service quality/grade.
 
Ivo Stoyanov said:
That was the plan until reading this post. :) Seems strange/silly that paying ~$150 to a random third-party org to, presumably, look at a scanned copy of my diploma, google the present-on-the-diploma accreditation organization, and make sure that my high school is indeed accredited by them, would be somehow better than the FO doing the same thing in 30 seconds (in addition to seeing the original diploma in addition to original US university bachelor and master's degrees in person), but you're definitely right that it's not a risk worth taking. Thanks as always.
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The IO will equally consider it strange/silly that a petitioner who is trying to prove they qualify for what they're seeking an approval of expects them to spend an additional 30 seconds googling the authenticity of every foreign issued certificate presented as evidence of that qualification. The IO has no personal interest vested in the process, they can't be expected to do anything extra. Not much different from some U.S. colleges who require students with foreign issued degrees/diplomas to provide accreditation from third party organizations if they wish to get credit for the course work already done.

Plus it's not like they accept accreditation from every random third party organizations, so one would be wise enough to ensure such accreditation is only done by those organizations recognized by USCIS.
 
Sm1smom said:
The IO will equally consider it strange/silly that a petitioner who is trying to prove they qualify for what they're seeking an approval of expects them to spend an additional 30 seconds googling the authenticity of every foreign issued certificate presented as evidence of that qualification. The IO has no personal interest vested in the process, they can't be expected to do anything extra. Not much different from some U.S. colleges who require students with foreign issued degrees/diplomas to provide accreditation from third party organizations if they wish to get credit for the course work already done.

Plus it's not like they accept accreditation from every random third party organizations, so one would be wise enough to ensure such accreditation is only done by those organizations recognized by USCIS.
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I see the point, and like I said, I'll get my HS degree certified to avoid any possible issues. Thanks to everyone who's helped shed light on this and to you specifically.

Not trying to be difficult here, just sharing my thoughts about the bits and pieces of the process that I find strange. Having to certify a diploma originally issued in English by a US-accredited HS does seem a touch strange is all. Especially when I am also providing two US-university degrees (reading back, that may not have been clear in my posts).

Come to think of it, it's not more strange than listing bare minimum requirements on the official USCIS website and expecting way more than that at the interview. :) Once again, I'll definitely go with the tried and tested route as suggested by posters in this forum.
 
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Finally!!!!

On July 22, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number xxx. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by September 20, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later.
 
adinutzyc21 said:
Finally!!!!

On July 22, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number xxx. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by September 20, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later.
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Question: I told them I needed a new SSN on the DS-260 form. When will they send that, anyone know?
 
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