Sm1smom
Super Moderator
I don’t know. I’m assuming you found out about your selection back in May 2018, how come you didn’t make an effort to get the b/c since then?
DV 2019 AOS Only
- Thread starter Sm1smom
- Start date
I don’t know. I’m assuming you found out about your selection back in May 2018, how come you didn’t make an effort to get the b/c since then?
Grug
Member
The lack of DV program deadline information shown by some customer service officers on the phone is quite something...they make it sound like you’re mistaken about the implications of the FY deadline, and they can mislead you until it’s too late...
Didn't even know I only had a short-form birth certificate, to be honest. Once I realized, I would never have been able to get one in time.
Mom,
So I was thinking to call congressperson to expedite, I did biomet 21st June, I called KCC like two weeks they told me they didn’t have a request from FO for my files, I called KCC today they told me my files were sent last week to FO(looks like they requested them then). There is not timeline for my FO on the spreadsheet so I can’t have an idea about it at all.
Qn: Should I go on with the congressperson or the files being sent to FO last week means something so I should be patient?
So I was thinking to call congressperson to expedite, I did biomet 21st June, I called KCC like two weeks they told me they didn’t have a request from FO for my files, I called KCC today they told me my files were sent last week to FO(looks like they requested them then). There is not timeline for my FO on the spreadsheet so I can’t have an idea about it at all.
Qn: Should I go on with the congressperson or the files being sent to FO last week means something so I should be patient?
SusieQQQ
Well-Known Member
Hmm... this is a risk imo. The long-form requirement is common to all immigrant visa/AOS applications and not just DV, so it's not one of those things that an IO not well versed in DV might overlook. Have you checked the reciprocity table for your country to see what it says about whether secondary evidence is acceptable, wrt your affidavit? (I'm curious too as what country it is that takes over a year?)
It's South Africa. Official government website says it takes 6 months, but I went to the consulate and they said current processing times are over 1 year.
SusieQQQ
Well-Known Member
If I were you I'd spend a few dollars and use one of the "document agents" who know people at Home Affairs and always manage to get things in a week. They will courier directly to you from SA, or they can give it to a friend/family member of yours to courier over.
Thank you for the advice. I may have to go down that route.
I wonder if they have any kind of accountability system, or can they give it massively incorrect information without being affected in the slightest?
Xarthisius
Well-Known Member
It's worth remembering that DV AOS cases are roughly 0.2% of adjudications per year.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Which is your FO? The fact that your FO already requested your KCC file means the IO assigned to your case is familiar with DV based AOS petitions and your case is on track.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Majority of the IOs at the FOs can not provide accurate information/response to DV based AOS questions, talk less of frontline customer service reps, who mostly are contractors, who basically answer questions over the phone from the prepared scripts they’ve been provided with. DV based AOS petition constitutes a rather insignificant number compared to all the other types of petitions USCIS deals with on a daily basis, so it makes sense for a large number of their employees to not have accurate information about the process.
Dear Mom,
We had our interview yesterday. It was all good. The IO was good enough. He simply asked for our ID and we provided him our driver license. He then asks us from our I-485 questions. He didn't ask for any documents. When I ask if he needs some documents, he says that our application is complete and incase if he finds something is missing, then he will send RFE. He didn't make any decision. He was asking for the original DV entry form which we didn't have because we didn't printed that we filled up. We don't know how long it will take to get the case status update. We haven't seen the update in the case status since then.
1. How long does the IO typically take to make decision?
2. Should we see his decision in the mail or in online in case status update?
Thanks Mom.
We had our interview yesterday. It was all good. The IO was good enough. He simply asked for our ID and we provided him our driver license. He then asks us from our I-485 questions. He didn't ask for any documents. When I ask if he needs some documents, he says that our application is complete and incase if he finds something is missing, then he will send RFE. He didn't make any decision. He was asking for the original DV entry form which we didn't have because we didn't printed that we filled up. We don't know how long it will take to get the case status update. We haven't seen the update in the case status since then.
1. How long does the IO typically take to make decision?
2. Should we see his decision in the mail or in online in case status update?
Thanks Mom.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
1. No timeframe - decision can take as much time as the IO needs to review the case.
2. If he updates the case online, you’ll see a status update online. If he doesn’t do a status update, then you’ll find out by mail.
It would have been nice though if you bothered to shed more light on how the interview went, from when you arrived at your FO, considering we were discussing about the interview cancellation notice you reported a couple of days ago.
Following up on our conversation, I tried to call yesterday at noon but it was already too late to reach a Tier 2 officer.
I called again this morning and managed to reach one.
I got my biometrics date from her but she was not able to send me the letter as it needs to be less than 5 days before the scheduled date (which is August 2nd).
She also told me that the new letter was sent on the 12th (when I called the first time), which did raise some red flags on my side (as it seems like a very long time to receive a letter) but the she was completely unfazed by it..
I kinda regret not asking about the NOA, which I forgot to mention as I got stressed about the letter probably being missing again :/
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Fingers crossed, it shows up this time around. Waiting this long, since July 12th when it got sent is quite unusual.
Dear Mom,
On July 3rd, we ( I and my spouse) receive the IL in the mail and it was scheduled for July 22nd. But on July 9, my uscis online account shows that our interview was cancelled and we came to know this only on July 16th. However, egov.uscis.gov shows that case is ready to schedule for the interview.
I was so anxious to see that interview was cancelled and then I talked to Tier 2 lady officer of July 16th and this lady officer was just trying to ensure me that interview was really cancelled and there is no point of attending the interview of July 22nd. But the encouraging suggestions from Mom always provided me the determination that I should attend the interview on the scheduled date. So on July 17th, I talked to another Tier 2 male officer and he told me that my interview is not cancelled. This cancellation of interview appears in the online portal so as to prevent scheduling of IL for the second time which is useless.
Finally, last morning, we went to our field office and arrived an hour early with our kids. There was long queue of people standing at the door of field office. We manage to move at the door around 35 min earlier than our appointment time i.e 8:40 AM. We checked in and sat in the lobby for around 20 minutes. After that office called our name and took us to the room for the interview. He was pretty young, well dressed and polite. He introduced himself as officer Puraiz ( I am not sure if it is his real name). We took the oath and sat down in the chair. He then asked for our ID and we presented our DL for that.
After that, he started asking basic profile questions to my spouse first and the questions are like name, past address, place of birth, when we applied for DV lottery, spouse birthday, name, parents name, how many kids, kids name and so on. Once my spouse is done with the answers, officers asked me the same sets of questions. Once we are done with these basic questions, he asked us the yes/No questions from I 485 and told us to answer at the same time. We answered those questions too. At the end, he asked if we have the copy of the original entry and we said no. I said I have the DV winning letter and will provide him. Eventually he replied saying that he had that in my application and said that he didn't need any other docs as our application is complete. He asked us if we filled DV paper or online . And we said online. He concluded that if there is anything missing, then he will do RFE in mail. Finally, he shook our hands and we thanked him. That's the end of interview.
We hope he approves our case. We are still waiting for his decision.
Very anxious.
Thanks Mom for your precious time, encouragement, support throughout the whole journey.
On July 3rd, we ( I and my spouse) receive the IL in the mail and it was scheduled for July 22nd. But on July 9, my uscis online account shows that our interview was cancelled and we came to know this only on July 16th. However, egov.uscis.gov shows that case is ready to schedule for the interview.
I was so anxious to see that interview was cancelled and then I talked to Tier 2 lady officer of July 16th and this lady officer was just trying to ensure me that interview was really cancelled and there is no point of attending the interview of July 22nd. But the encouraging suggestions from Mom always provided me the determination that I should attend the interview on the scheduled date. So on July 17th, I talked to another Tier 2 male officer and he told me that my interview is not cancelled. This cancellation of interview appears in the online portal so as to prevent scheduling of IL for the second time which is useless.
Finally, last morning, we went to our field office and arrived an hour early with our kids. There was long queue of people standing at the door of field office. We manage to move at the door around 35 min earlier than our appointment time i.e 8:40 AM. We checked in and sat in the lobby for around 20 minutes. After that office called our name and took us to the room for the interview. He was pretty young, well dressed and polite. He introduced himself as officer Puraiz ( I am not sure if it is his real name). We took the oath and sat down in the chair. He then asked for our ID and we presented our DL for that.
After that, he started asking basic profile questions to my spouse first and the questions are like name, past address, place of birth, when we applied for DV lottery, spouse birthday, name, parents name, how many kids, kids name and so on. Once my spouse is done with the answers, officers asked me the same sets of questions. Once we are done with these basic questions, he asked us the yes/No questions from I 485 and told us to answer at the same time. We answered those questions too. At the end, he asked if we have the copy of the original entry and we said no. I said I have the DV winning letter and will provide him. Eventually he replied saying that he had that in my application and said that he didn't need any other docs as our application is complete. He asked us if we filled DV paper or online . And we said online. He concluded that if there is anything missing, then he will do RFE in mail. Finally, he shook our hands and we thanked him. That's the end of interview.
We hope he approves our case. We are still waiting for his decision.
Very anxious.
Thanks Mom for your precious time, encouragement, support throughout the whole journey.
mechanici23
Member
Dear Mom and all,
I need to consult with you about bringing a lawyer with me to the interview. I am still undecided because I am not sure if presence of a lawyer would raise red flags or not. Most attorneys usually advice that I better go with a lawyer and this will not affect the case negatively according to law but some of them say that officer is a human being after all and he may be thinking if I am hiding something and so bringing a lawyer when I have not committed any crimes is useless, redundant and could just hurt the case .
Anyway, My question is:
1) What exactly a lawyer could do if I brought one? Could S/he make any serious difference? (Aside from making the IO stay polite! I really don't care about his/her behavior). Could a lawyer make a difference in final decision? What serious difference he/she could make?
2) They claim that they can make transcripts and can use it for filing an official complain in case of a denial. OK suppose that they are right, but If I did not take a lawyer there, could I still hire one afterwards so and S/he asks for the record of the interview and maybe filing for reconsideration ( I know we have only two months and none of these may work but I just wanted to make sure about what a lawyer can exactly do)
Thank you so much for your patience
I need to consult with you about bringing a lawyer with me to the interview. I am still undecided because I am not sure if presence of a lawyer would raise red flags or not. Most attorneys usually advice that I better go with a lawyer and this will not affect the case negatively according to law but some of them say that officer is a human being after all and he may be thinking if I am hiding something and so bringing a lawyer when I have not committed any crimes is useless, redundant and could just hurt the case .
Anyway, My question is:
1) What exactly a lawyer could do if I brought one? Could S/he make any serious difference? (Aside from making the IO stay polite! I really don't care about his/her behavior). Could a lawyer make a difference in final decision? What serious difference he/she could make?
2) They claim that they can make transcripts and can use it for filing an official complain in case of a denial. OK suppose that they are right, but If I did not take a lawyer there, could I still hire one afterwards so and S/he asks for the record of the interview and maybe filing for reconsideration ( I know we have only two months and none of these may work but I just wanted to make sure about what a lawyer can exactly do)
Thank you so much for your patience
Damn!
My status changed to
Notice Was Returned To USCIS Because The Post Office Could Not Deliver It
once again....
I will call them back tomorrow as there is no point in waiting for the letter anymore.
I really do not understand why it keeps getting returned. I added my name to my mailbox so I really can not figure it out..
My status changed to
Notice Was Returned To USCIS Because The Post Office Could Not Deliver It
once again....
I will call them back tomorrow as there is no point in waiting for the letter anymore.
I really do not understand why it keeps getting returned. I added my name to my mailbox so I really can not figure it out..