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DV 2021 AOS Only

Dear @Sm1smom ,

1. I recently received an interview letter. Right after filing for AOS, I've moved from Queens to Manhattan but kept the old mailing address to avoid any confusion (it’s just 30 min away from where I live and I pick up my mail there). Should I call USCIS ahead of time or change the address here www.uscis.gov/addresschange OR do I just change the address directly at the interview to avoid any delays with rescheduling based on the new address? My interview was scheduled at Queen FO.
(Also, should I bring a copy of the I-485 form with the new address filled in for the officer's convenience?)

2. As an H1B, is there any specific paperwork I should bring besides what’s mentioned on the spreadsheet (which basically recommends bringing all of the originals and a proof of any change since filing)?

3. The interview invite says (among other unrelated stuff mostly for married couples) “bring 2x2 passport-style photos” - I’ve submitted 4 photos with my petition. Do I really need to bring those two or is it a generic recommendation I can disregard?

4. On the spreadsheet, one of the articles about interview prep says “you should preferably take your attorney with you to the interview” - how crucial would you say is it to hire someone? I’m here on H1B, no criminal records, have been filing taxes on time, have a health insurance etc.

5. Since I have an interview in a week, do you recommend that I file the 2020 taxes now to demonstrate that I don’t intent to become a public charge or is that not critical right now?

6. Will I be able to bring my laptop to the interview, as I have all of the document copies on there that I’ve amassed in years? Also can I bring a cellphone with me?

7. Lastly, there’s an officer’s name on the interview invite. Is it who’ll be interviewing me?

Many thanks for your help and for the enormously helpful spreadsheet!!
Maya
 
MayaA said:
Dear @Sm1smom ,

1. I recently received an interview letter. Right after filing for AOS, I've moved from Queens to Manhattan but kept the old mailing address to avoid any confusion (it’s just 30 min away from where I live and I pick up my mail there). Should I call USCIS ahead of time or change the address here uscis.gov/addresschange OR do I just change the address directly at the interview to avoid any delays with rescheduling based on the new address? My interview was scheduled at Queen FO.
...
Click to expand...
We tried to request the "Change of address" but it didn't work well (it was partially updated and most of the letters were still sent to the old address). Make sure to explicitly tell at the interview that your address was changed so the officer could update it (that's what we ended up doing eventually)
 
MayaA said:
Dear @Sm1smom ,

1. I recently received an interview letter. Right after filing for AOS, I've moved from Queens to Manhattan but kept the old mailing address to avoid any confusion (it’s just 30 min away from where I live and I pick up my mail there). Should I call USCIS ahead of time or change the address here www.uscis.gov/addresschange OR do I just change the address directly at the interview to avoid any delays with rescheduling based on the new address? My interview was scheduled at Queen FO.
(Also, should I bring a copy of the I-485 form with the new address filled in for the officer's convenience?)

2. As an H1B, is there any specific paperwork I should bring besides what’s mentioned on the spreadsheet (which basically recommends bringing all of the originals and a proof of any change since filing)?

3. The interview invite says (among other unrelated stuff mostly for married couples) “bring 2x2 passport-style photos” - I’ve submitted 4 photos with my petition. Do I really need to bring those two or is it a generic recommendation I can disregard?

4. On the spreadsheet, one of the articles about interview prep says “you should preferably take your attorney with you to the interview” - how crucial would you say is it to hire someone? I’m here on H1B, no criminal records, have been filing taxes on time, have a health insurance etc.

5. Since I have an interview in a week, do you recommend that I file the 2020 taxes now to demonstrate that I don’t intent to become a public charge or is that not critical right now?

6. Will I be able to bring my laptop to the interview, as I have all of the document copies on there that I’ve amassed in years? Also can I bring a cellphone with me?

7. Lastly, there’s an officer’s name on the interview invite. Is it who’ll be interviewing me?

Many thanks for your help and for the enormously helpful spreadsheet!!
Maya
Click to expand...

1. The first major issue that needs to be addressed is if your new address in Queens is under the same FO with jurisdiction over your previous address in Manhattan. If they both fall under the jurisdiction of the same FO, you have no problem. Simply inform the IO when you show up for the interview and request for your address to be updated. If they fall under different FOs, your IO will not proceed with the interview as soon as you disclose the new address, they will need to forward your case file to the FO with jurisdiction over the new address in Queens. So you need to check online to see if they’re both under the jurisdiction of the same FO.

2. Take along copies of anything and everything you can think of to show you’ve never gone out of status.

3. Err on the side of caution and take along the photos - the cost is not significant, right?

4. Remember the interview link you’re looking at is (1) old and (2) for family based AOS cases (which is assumably addressing people who file for AOS with the assistance of their lawyers to start with) - you filed for a DV based AOS application yourself, you have a clean history, so do you think you need a lawyer to attend the interview with you and for what purpose? You should be able to answer that question yourself.

5. Your call (people have different reasons for waiting to file their taxes or for filing early, I don’t know the reason as to why you waited up till now).

6. I guess you can, if your IL doesn’t say otherwise. You however wouldn’t be able to use your them during the interview, any document you need to support your case will need to be a physical one (paper format) as you can’t submit an electronic document during the interview.

7. May be. I don’t know.
 
iamnotarobot said:
We tried to request the "Change of address" but it didn't work well (it was partially updated and most of the letters were still sent to the old address). Make sure to explicitly tell at the interview that your address was changed so the officer could update it (that's what we ended up doing eventually)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for sharing! Did the officer react to it well (having to change the address themselves on the spot)?
 
Thank you very much for your answers!

1. I've actually moved from Queens to Manhattan, and just checked the FO like you mentioned - it's the same building, just a different floor. I tried to call USCIS to clarify that (and questions about bringing photos and laptop) but obviously couldn't get through to a person. Would you recommend changing address online at www.uscis.gov/addresschange or notifying the officer during the interview to avoid rescheduling?

5. I've just received my W2 in mail last week, so couldn't file taxes earlier.

Again, many thanks for your help!
Maya
 
MayaA said:
Thank you very much for your answers!

1. I've actually moved from Queens to Manhattan, and just checked the FO like you mentioned - it's the same building, just a different floor. I tried to call USCIS to clarify that (and questions about bringing photos and laptop) but obviously couldn't get through to a person. Would you recommend changing address online at www.uscis.gov/addresschange or notifying the officer during the interview to avoid rescheduling?

5. I've just received my W2 in mail last week, so couldn't file taxes earlier.

Again, many thanks for your help!
Maya
Click to expand...


1. That's good, there's no problem in that case. Simply inform the IO about the new address when you go in for the interview, your IO will note the change on your case file, subsequent notifications will be sent to the new address. You will not get any useful clarification from calling the customer service line, that much I can assure you - the frontline agents who answer the call are contract workers with limited knowledge on how USCIS works - they read from prepared scripts. But keep calling them if you prefer to do so.

2. Then you should go ahead and file in that case, I don't see any reason to not do so before your interview date.
 
Just realized I didn't ask this question in the appropriate AOS thread: During his live Q&A on YouTube today, Britsimon mentioned that there are certain things AOSers in the US can do to speed up their cases. Does anyone know what they are? He said something about going to FO or talking to your congressman? I was a bit confused.
 
raphael1899 said:
Just realized I didn't ask this question in the appropriate AOS thread: During his live Q&A on YouTube today, Britsimon mentioned that there are certain things AOSers in the US can do to speed up their cases. Does anyone know what they are? He said something about going to FO or talking to your congressman? I was a bit confused.
Click to expand...
He just mentioned it right now on his current live and on his blog because someone else asked, it was the same person on both places that asked: he said to come here to ask mom but that it could be visiting the FO office, talking to the congress people, things like that. Let me try and see if I can find the comment on his blog.
 
raphael1899 said:
Just realized I didn't ask this question in the appropriate AOS thread: During his live Q&A on YouTube today, Britsimon mentioned that there are certain things AOSers in the US can do to speed up their cases. Does anyone know what they are? He said something about going to FO or talking to your congressman? I was a bit confused.
Click to expand...
Okay so let me copy here his answer because I am useless and I cannot link the comment itself (although it is on the second to last page of comments on the "ask questions here" page of his blog, towards the lower half of the comments).

BritSimon
February 19, 2021 at 4:05 am
Reply

Sm1smom can help with that. Basically there are ways to get an appointment at your FO, you can get help from the congress person and so on.
https://forums.immigration.com/threads/dv-2021-all-selectees.342985
 
DV21M said:
He just mentioned it right now on his current live and on his blog because someone else asked, it was the same person on both places that asked: he said to come here to ask mom but that it could be visiting the FO office, talking to the congress people, things like that. Let me try and see if I can find the comment on his blog.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was watching that, which is why I realized my question was in the wrong thread. I thought FOs were only open for scheduled appointments.
 
One of the advantages of AOS over CP is the opportunity for case follow up with USCIS after AOS filing - which includes being able to visit the FO in person following an INFOPASS appointment, online case inquiries, calling the USCIS 1800 customer service and being able to speak with a Tier 2 personnel who may be willing to send in an inquiry to the FO on an applicant’s behalf or even schedule an INFOPASS appointment, making a congressional inquiry (reaching out to one’s house of rep or congress person to assist with case follow up with USCIS, or seeking USCIS Ombudsman assistance (as a last resort).

Self initiated INFOPASS appointment is no longer available due to abuse - some applicants were clogging up the system, visiting their FOs almost on a weekly basis to follow up on the same case rather than exercise the required patience and allow the process to work. An INFOPASS appointment can be scheduled by a customer rep or a tier 2 personnel IF they are convinced there’s a legitimate reason for an applicant to visit the FO.

Initiating a congressional inquiry needs to be used with care (seeing what has happened to INFOPASS). My recommendation to initiating a congressional inquiry for case follow up is to only do so if your case has been experiencing an unusual delay compared to others. Don’t jump into a congressional inquiry on the basis of waiting for over a month to receive your NOA after AOS package delivery - that wait is the new normal. Use this if there’s no update of any kind after waiting at least 2 to 3 months following NOA receipt. Consider a congressional inquiry as a one shot opportunity, don’t misuse it only to find out you can’t deploy it later on when you truly need this.

Ombudsman inquiry is a last shot attempt, typically reserved for when all the other options have been exhausted. This comes in handy most especially when a case is stuck in AP (both bio and interview appointments would have been completed at this stage).
 
Sm1smom said:
One of the advantages of AOS over CP is the opportunity for case follow up with USCIS after AOS filing - which includes being able to visit the FO in person following an INFOPASS appointment, online case inquiries, calling the USCIS 1800 customer service and being able to speak with a Tier 2 personnel who may be willing to send in an inquiry to the FO on an applicant’s behalf or even schedule an INFOPASS appointment, making a congressional inquiry (reaching out to one’s house of rep or congress person to assist with case follow up with USCIS, or seeking USCIS Ombudsman assistance (as a last resort).

Self initiated INFOPASS appointment is no longer available due to abuse - some applicants were clogging up the system, visiting their FOs almost on a weekly basis to follow up on the same case rather than exercise the required patience and allow the process to work. An INFOPASS appointment can be scheduled by a customer rep or a tier 2 personnel IF they are convinced there’s a legitimate reason for an applicant to visit the FO.

Initiating a congressional inquiry needs to be used with care (seeing what has happened to INFOPASS). My recommendation to initiating a congressional inquiry for case follow up is to only do so if your case has been experiencing an unusual delay compared to others. Don’t jump into a congressional inquiry on the basis of waiting for over a month to receive your NOA after AOS package delivery - that wait is the new normal. Use this if there’s no update of any kind after waiting at least 2 to 3 months following NOA receipt. Consider a congressional inquiry as a one shot opportunity, don’t misuse it only to find out you can’t deploy it later on when you truly need this.

Ombudsman inquiry is a last shot attempt, typically reserved for when all the other options have been exhausted. This comes in handy most especially when a case is stuck in AP (both bio and interview appointments would have been completed at this stage).
Click to expand...


Thank you for this thorough explanation, Mom. I appreciate your time. It's important to be aware of these options but, as you said, one should use them with care.
 
Hi Mom, I submitted my DS-260 months ago, but no other documents (I-485 etc). Can I travel overseas on my F-1 OPT with a submitted DS-260? If so, can I then submit my I-485 package upon returning to the US?
 
Alisher2 said:
Here is my experience regarding talking with USCIS support. Today I've called to USCIS one more time and asked a rep to talk with tier 2 officer since I have not received a biometric appointment for more then 90 days from the application filling. The lady said that she can't transfer the call to tier 2 officer and I shouldn't worry about the delay since all offices have a huge backlog for biometrics and I just need to wait (it seems they always say that default text). I replied I'm aware about the backlog, but my case has a very strictly timerange for processing as all other DV cases. The lady said that she sees my case as a family-based adjustment application in the system and that the normal processing time is from 13 to 27 months for those type of cases :eek: I don't know if an USCIS representative can really see the type of the case in the system, but it was my chanse so I pointed out an error in the case type and the lady agreed to submit request and said that tier 2 officer will call me during 7 days.

I'm not sure that this will work for everyone, but ask UCSIC rep to check the type of your case in the system if you have not received an update for a long time.

Sorry for the long message, just wanted to share more details. Hope for the better for everyone!
Click to expand...

Hi Alisher2,

It looks like our situation is similar to yours: we also got interview scheduled on Feb 23, while have not received the biometrics appointment.

I was wondering if tier 2 officer called you within 7 days and, if they did, what did they say about "family-based adjustment" typo in the system? Thank you very much! I hope for the best for everybody! :)
 
ausdoughnuts said:
Hi Mom, I submitted my DS-260 months ago, but no other documents (I-485 etc). Can I travel overseas on my F-1 OPT with a submitted DS-260? If so, can I then submit my I-485 package upon returning to the US?
Click to expand...

Yes you can. Be prepared to admit to a declared immigrant intent if asked at the POE on your return.
 
ausdoughnuts said:
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly @Sm1smom ! Will I still be allowed re-entry into the US if I admit to declaring immigrant intent? Or is this a pretty common occurrence?
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Truth is admission or re-admission into the US (regardless or a declared immigrant intent or none) is only guaranteed to a USC. Having said that, I have to say I haven’t heard of any situation when someone was denied re-admission into the US following a DS260 submission.
 
Sm1smom said:
The form is indeed badly put together. The "Yes" or "No" boxes under "Does this individual live with you" and "Is this individual filing an application benefit with you ..." are not grayed out when one selects "Self" (which by the way is the only option available under Section 1A) when electronically filling out the form. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised in the first place.
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Thank you for this. I was indeed using the instruction guide when looking at this, hence the original question. I was wondering - I have been filling these out by hand previously - do you recommend filing these out electronically and then printing or by hand?
 
88lucky21 said:
Thank you for this. I was indeed using the instruction guide when looking at this, hence the original question. I was wondering - I have been filling these out by hand previously - do you recommend filing these out electronically and then printing or by hand?
Click to expand...

Makes no difference as long as the form is legible if filling it by hand.
 
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