We received our green cards in the mail today, myself and my 2 non citizen children. But my husband is still waiting for his since one of the 3 background checks did not clear yet. It's been exactly one month since we attended the interview and no progress has been made on my husband's end. The officer assured us that he will fix it, whatever is holding the check, and does not expect to be a big deal. Should we be worried? We are from Eastern Europe, good clean background. Thank you!
DV 2017 AOS Only
- Thread starter Sm1smom
- Start date
Hi, congrats with being officially green!
My husband's background check is not cleared yet also, did your husband serve in the army? Mine served and I assume that it is the reason of such delay.
No, he did not serve in the army. It's good to know that he's not the only on in this situation. Thank you. I hope your situation is cleared as well! Best wishes to you. If you don't mind telling me from what country are you from? We are from Romania.
Did you receive your green card?
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Congratulations on the receipt of your GC.
Regarding your husband's pending background check, AFAIK, the IO cannot "fix it, whatever is holding the check". All the IO can do is reach out to the FBI to try and request for them to hasten the check background if possible.
Anyway, I suggest your husband schedule another INFOPASS and follow up on his case.
Those were exact words of the officer. Anyways, he called before approving my case and my children's to explain why he can't approve yet my husband's as well. He wanted to make sure that we will not be worried about this. I will schedule an Infopass for him. Thank you very much for your assistance!
Do you mind providing more details on this matter? My online status hasn't changed from "Fingerprint Fee Received". Also, how long does it normally take for the online case status to change? Is this still a test of patience?
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Well maybe if you shed more light on how your interview went - provide more information on was discussed, what the IO said, what you asked the IO - we may get a better understanding of what is going on.
Sure!
Case details : I am on F1 visa and my wife is on F2 visa. We got married after I won the lottery and my wife joined me afterwards.
Interview details : The interviewer was very clear in the beginning: he said he just needs my proof of education and proof of our marriage. Later, he asked a lot---literally a lot---of questions regarding our marriage, such as where we first met, how many times we met before marriage, how we came to know each other, how many people attended our marriage, how many times and where we went for vacations and details regarding where we stayed during those vacations, etc., and wrote all things down Finally, he said he will recommended our case for approval, gave us 2 individual letters that state the same (recommended for approval) and said that we should expect the final notice via mail.
I did not ask any questions after the interview but I know that the FO has our KCC files from about one month back (called KCC to verify) and that our background checks have been completed (we were told this during INFOPASS a month ago).
My questions:
1. Have you heard similar stories in the past where case status is not updated almost after 12+ hours after the interview? More importantly, has there been similar cases which ended up not being approved. If so, please outline the reasons.
2. How long should we expect this wait time to be?
3. How long should we wait before taking any action, e.g., getting an INFOPASS appointment?
Forgive me if I sound extremely impatient but I just wanted to know the details and prepare myself for worst-case condition, if there's any.
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Sm1smom
Super Moderator
I think you should have asked about the background check regardless of what you were previously told at the INFOPASS, anyways...
1. Yes that is quite normal. There will be no updates until the case is either approved or denied. It's not unusual for a case to remain pending for days, weeks, or months before a final approval is given.
2. See 1 above.
3. At least one month.
Hi MOM,
Our interview was about a month and half ago, the officer told that he would approve our case as soon as our name check results were ready, he also told us that it would not probably take more than a week to have the results, but it took more, so I got an infopass a month ago (2 weeks after the interview) and the front desk officer told us that the name check results was not ready by that time and I needed to wait 4 more weeks. After this 4 more weeks we got an infopass again and went there today but I faced a weird response.
What happened was that when we asked the front desk officer to update us, he said that our assigned officer was there and then he went and asked him about our case progress and then he came back and said that everything had been returned (I asked him even the name check and he replied everything), he added that although they were ready to approve our case they could not yet do that because they had requested the DOS to send them our original documents but DOS had not yet respond and that they need to stamp these documents and append them to our file to be able to approve our case.
I first thought that it is the KCC file that the FO is waiting for, so I called KCC today after the infopass but KCC told that they had sent the file to them electronically about 3 months ago and that "KCC does not basically mail a paper version of the file". However, the FO officer was talking about some original documents that they need to put their stamp on, do you have any idea that what is these "original documents". BTW, do you suggest me to talk about these stuff with some immigration lawyer and are you aware of any experienced immigration lawyer?
Our interview was about a month and half ago, the officer told that he would approve our case as soon as our name check results were ready, he also told us that it would not probably take more than a week to have the results, but it took more, so I got an infopass a month ago (2 weeks after the interview) and the front desk officer told us that the name check results was not ready by that time and I needed to wait 4 more weeks. After this 4 more weeks we got an infopass again and went there today but I faced a weird response.
What happened was that when we asked the front desk officer to update us, he said that our assigned officer was there and then he went and asked him about our case progress and then he came back and said that everything had been returned (I asked him even the name check and he replied everything), he added that although they were ready to approve our case they could not yet do that because they had requested the DOS to send them our original documents but DOS had not yet respond and that they need to stamp these documents and append them to our file to be able to approve our case.
I first thought that it is the KCC file that the FO is waiting for, so I called KCC today after the infopass but KCC told that they had sent the file to them electronically about 3 months ago and that "KCC does not basically mail a paper version of the file". However, the FO officer was talking about some original documents that they need to put their stamp on, do you have any idea that what is these "original documents". BTW, do you suggest me to talk about these stuff with some immigration lawyer and are you aware of any experienced immigration lawyer?
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
I will start by answering your last set of questions first. Forget about hiring an immigration attorney - there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING any immigration attorney, experienced or not, can do about the case at this point in time. Not unless you have some other issues in general which you haven't shared here.
I don't know what DOS document the IO you met was talking about. Do you have any other petition in the system with USCIS? Did you apply for any other form of immigration benefit from USCIS in the past? Also, did you include an I-131 or I-765 with your AOS package?
Britsimon
Super Moderator
I suspect that FOs sometimes answer with BS that they think will sound like they are working hard in the background on the case to overcome some barrier. However, magically, these immense "barriers" are often lifted a few days after the infopass...
Thanks for answering my questions. I will share how things progress.
SoCal90401
Member
Hi everyone, I've got a question regarding the background check. Probably like others here, we are starting to get anxious with the September deadline fast approaching.
Will reaching out to my member of Congress in any way accelerate this process?
I’ve got my second Infopass appointment this Friday where I will again ask the IO nicely if they can reach out to the FBI to try and speed up the background check.
For reference, the Los Angeles FO received our documents on the 3rd of May and stated that they have all of the information required except for the background check. Biometrics were done on June 1.
Will reaching out to my member of Congress in any way accelerate this process?
I’ve got my second Infopass appointment this Friday where I will again ask the IO nicely if they can reach out to the FBI to try and speed up the background check.
For reference, the Los Angeles FO received our documents on the 3rd of May and stated that they have all of the information required except for the background check. Biometrics were done on June 1.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
If the delay you're experiencing is due to a pending background check, there's nothing your congress person can do about it. When did you send in your AOS package and when did your CN become current?
SoCal90401
Member
Thanks Sm1smon. Current in April. Delivered to the Chicago lockbox on 04.13.2017.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Your processing is on track - it's still within the 3 - 4 months average processing time.