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DV 2021 AOS Only

kdkdkdkd said:
Hi all,

Today I had my AOS I-485 interview in Brooklyn Field Office (26 Federal Plaza) at 11:35am. Sharing my experience here in case it helps other Brooklyn folks.

I wasn't familiar with the area so I arrived early and waited outside for some time. I went inside the building 20 minutes before the scheduled time using the entrance to the building on Lafayette street. I went through security similar to airport security, which took me about 5-10min to pass. Once I entered, I took the elevator to 8th floor as my interview notice had the room number 800. My understanding is that you can only enter this room 15 minutes before the scheduled time. I would advise enter the building a bit earlier to pass through security.

I entered the room and checked in by the counter by providing my notice. They took the first page of my notice and returned the rest along with a ticket with a number in line. There were about 4-5 groups before me. I waited for about 1hour 15minutes in the waiting room before the IO called me in. Luckily, my interviewing officer is the training officer on diversity cases so she was fully aware that I only had until 9/30 to complete the process. We started with taking the oath and taking fingerprints of the index fingers. I was told this is not part of the biometrics but simply a USCIS process to register my visits to FO.

She was interested in how I maintained my current status. She wanted to establish a timeline of how I maintained my status since college and wrote down notes in the case file for future reference. I have been on F1 student visa and have been working on OPT and CPT so I provided all my I-20s, EAD cards, transcripts, diplomas, employer verification letter, paystubs. As I already provided the birth certificate copy, KCC letters, proof of payment as part of my AOS package - she did not ask to see these originals again. She also asked how many times I entered the green card lottery, whats the name of my graduate program, my nationality, did I get vaccinated, etc.

She then proceeded to ask the long list of questions on the I-485 form. Once done, I asked to make 4 changes on the I-485 form and she helped me make the adjustments, then asked me to confirm that those were the only changes and asked me to sign at the end of a I-485 form. After this was done, she asked me if I had any questions and I asked about next steps. She said she will need to review all the documents and she will try to make a decision by end of day. If she see any issues with it, she said she will need to request for evidence. Since it's time sensitive, she asked me for my phone number so that she can call me directly in case they needed more evidence. She said it usually takes a couple of days for the system to update the online case status so keep an eye on that. Overall the interview experience was quite smooth, only the waiting period was longer than expected. On my way home, I checked my online case status and it's changed to "New Card Is Being Produced".

Thanks all for your help and I wish all the best to everyone who is still in the process.
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Congratulations! :)
 
TB2021 said:
1. Yes, she is F1 and my dependent on the pending asylum
2. Yes, our F1 & F2 statuses were still valid and they still are
3. Yes, we maintained the F1 & F2 statuses, and we still are under them
4. I am still waiting for the asylum interview
5. She asked if we have had or know when the interview is scheduled, and I said no. As I said in my previous post, she said she will have to see my asylum file before she could make a final decision. But regarding my asylum specifics, she did not ask.
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Did u use EAD from ur pending asylum, if u had one?
 
Filo222 said:
Hello,
First of all I wanna thanks mom and every staff behind this forum, without your help I could not make.
I had my interview today, it was fast only 10 mn(basic question on i-485) since I did not get my bio notice I could get schedule the same day. I hope everyone can make it, it was stressful journey.
FO: Salt lake
Mai 28 2021, sent my package
June 16 2021, got my NOA
July 23 2021, got my interview notice
No bio notice
August 10, got my interview and bio
And 7 hours later = New card is being produced so fast ❤
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Congratulations and thanks for the update. Can you add your info to the Timeline spreadsheet? Will be super useful there.
 
Hi mom,

I was wondering if you have any suggestions regarding follow-up timeline after the interview. It's been 2 weeks since I finished bio and interview (well I'm aware that BG check might be an issue at this point)
Would you recommend following up with Tier 2 (for sending an inquiry to the FO) after 3 weeks; and then initiating congressional after 4 weeks?

Thank you very much in advance,
 
Hi guys!
I completed a walk in bio last Thursday so now I am just waiting again. In the meantime, I was wondering:
1. Am I supposed to see any updates to my case status online after the bio? Because it still shows that my fingerprint fee was received on June 3rd and I was not sure.
2. Do I need to do anything in regards of the real appointment I was assigned since I did a walk in?


Thank you all!
 
DV21M said:
Hi guys!
I completed a walk in bio last Thursday so now I am just waiting again. In the meantime, I was wondering:
1. Am I supposed to see any updates to my case status online after the bio? Because it still shows that my fingerprint fee was received on June 3rd and I was not sure.
2. Do I need to do anything in regards of the real appointment I was assigned since I did a walk in?


Thank you all!
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1. This has been asked and answered hundreds of times. Sometimes you see an update that says that your fingerprints have been taken, sometimes you won't see any update. It does not make any difference.
2. No. They will see that you did a walk-in.
 
Milz said:
Hi mom,

I was wondering if you have any suggestions regarding follow-up timeline after the interview. It's been 2 weeks since I finished bio and interview (well I'm aware that BG check might be an issue at this point)
Would you recommend following up with Tier 2 (for sending an inquiry to the FO) after 3 weeks; and then initiating congressional after 4 weeks?

Thank you very much in advance,
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It's your call at this point as regarding when to initiate case follow-up, knowing what you now know.

Getting stuck on background check or waiting for the case approval following interview completion is one of the major reasons we've always cautioned people against initiating a congressional inquiry as a case follow up option too soon. Unfortunately, a lot of the DV2021 applicants refused to exercise the required patience by giving the process the required opportunity to work, and jumped straight into initiating congressional inquiries. I can't recall if you also previously initiated a congressional inquiry or not, so I'm sorry I offer any recommendation on when you should.
 
Milz said:
Hi mom,

I was wondering if you have any suggestions regarding follow-up timeline after the interview. It's been 2 weeks since I finished bio and interview (well I'm aware that BG check might be an issue at this point)
Would you recommend following up with Tier 2 (for sending an inquiry to the FO) after 3 weeks; and then initiating congressional after 4 weeks?

Thank you very much in advance,
Click to expand...

I completed the interview + Bio 21 days ago. and still waiting...
I did only one action after 14 day to expedite my travel document I131 because I have urgent travel.
and still waiting for both
 
Sm1smom said:
It's your call at this point as regarding when to initiate case follow-up, knowing what you now know.

Getting stuck on background check or waiting for the case approval following interview completion is one of the major reasons we've always cautioned people against initiating a congressional inquiry as a case follow up option too soon. Unfortunately, a lot of the DV2021 applicants refused to exercise the required patience by giving the process the required opportunity to work, and jumped straight into initiating congressional inquiries. I can't recall if you also previously initiated a congressional inquiry or not, so I'm sorry I offer any recommendation on when you should.
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Thank you very much for your feedback. I have never used any Congressional inquiry till now
 
CYNBLJ said:
So happy for you! I have my interview there next week so really appreciate the detailed summary of your own experience.
Out of curiosity how formally did you / other ppl dress for interviews there? Smart casual or leaning more towards business attire?
Also did your original application include any financial data eg bank statements / tax returns?
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I just wore a shirt and khakis, business casual attire. In the room, I observed that most people were leaning towards more business attire.

In my AOS package, I did not include any financial documents. I have printed and brought my tax returns for last 3 years and bank statements for last 4 months. The interviewing officer was not interested in seeing these documents in my case. She only wanted the employer verification letter, the last 3 paystubs, and I just remembered that I provided copies of W-2 forms from my work as well. She basically said "can you give me evidence of your work or education?" and didn't ask for specific paperwork. hope this helps!
 
Hi,
Just wanted to update the NYC people looking to do a walk-in.
We tried Monday morning (8 am) last week in LIC and Friday at 3 pm in Manhattan, got rejected twice (was told at both locations that they do not accept walk-in). We went back today at the Manhattan one around 10:45 am, the security person told us to wait on the side while the 11 am appointments were all processed. Then told us to pass security and go up to the 10th floor and the person over there told us they can accept us today. At 11:35 am we were out with our bio done.
To pass the security guard and ASC screening we mentioned that we're DV lottery cases, thus time-sensitive, and that our interview is on Tuesday the day following our scheduled Bio. Everyone was friendly and helpful, just need to be patient and explain clearly the reason for your walk-in and you might be successful too.
Wishing good luck to everyone here and thanks again for all the tips and tricks to @Sm1smom, @SusieQQQ, and the other chat members.
 
kdkdkdkd said:
I just wore a shirt and khakis, business casual attire. In the room, I observed that most people were leaning towards more business attire.

In my AOS package, I did not include any financial documents. I have printed and brought my tax returns for last 3 years and bank statements for last 4 months. The interviewing officer was not interested in seeing these documents in my case. She only wanted the employer verification letter, the last 3 paystubs, and I just remembered that I provided copies of W-2 forms from my work as well. She basically said "can you give me evidence of your work or education?" and didn't ask for specific paperwork. hope this helps!
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Congratulations.

i just have a quick question regarding the employment letter. Is just offer letter enough or do we need employment verification letter? I do have most recent paystubs printed as well.
can someone answer this question? @Sm1smom
 
Appalachian said:
Congratulations.

i just have a quick question regarding the employment letter. Is just offer letter enough or do we need employment verification letter? I do have most recent paystubs printed as well.
can someone answer this question? @Sm1smom
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I would keep to what they specifically asked. I would provide an employment verification letter containing hours, rate as suggested on the IL. It differs from an offer letter.
 
elisap said:
I would keep to what they specifically asked. I would provide an employment verification letter containing hours, rate as suggested on the IL. It differs from an offer letter.
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Thanks for your response. My concern is what if the company doesn’t have policy to provide such employment verification letters.
 
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