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DV 2021 AOS Only

Hi Everyone,

Here is my interview experience.

We (family two adults + two kids) had an interview scheduled at San Jose, CA office at 7.45 am (didn't know they open so early.)
We arrived 25 min earlier, security won't allow us to enter the building until 7.30. After passing the security check, we spent ~10 min in the line for check-in and another 10 min in the waiting room.

The interview was fairly straightforward. Officer was nice and polite. He asked my wife first, standard yes/no questions, and said she can go with the kids outside if she wants. Then he asked me about the company I'm working on (generic questions like how big and where is the headquarter). Then he asked last 3 paystubs, the marriage certificate original, and DV payment receipt, I actually sent an original with the case and didn't have a copy (facepalm), but the officer managed to find it in the file.

At the end of the interview, he said, that he usually does not approve cases during the interview, but he is aware of the DV timelines (actually I've seen a few large red marks on my papers say it's a DV case, I believe they indeed aware of urgency). He said he will finish the review 'soon'.

About 1 hour after the interview my status changed to 'New Card Is Being Produced'!

Thanks, everyone for this forum. Particularly thanks to Mom for the 'Process Spreadsheet', it's a gem!
Congrats to people who finished the process and good luck to those finishing it!
 
maluk said:
Hi Everyone,

Here is my interview experience.

We (family two adults + two kids) had an interview scheduled at San Jose, CA office at 7.45 am (didn't know they open so early.)
We arrived 25 min earlier, security won't allow us to enter the building until 7.30. After passing the security check, we spent ~10 min in the line for check-in and another 10 min in the waiting room.

The interview was fairly straightforward. Officer was nice and polite. He asked my wife first, standard yes/no questions, and said she can go with the kids outside if she wants. Then he asked me about the company I'm working on (generic questions like how big and where is the headquarter). Then he asked last 3 paystubs, the marriage certificate original, and DV payment receipt, I actually sent an original with the case and didn't have a copy (facepalm), but the officer managed to find it in the file.

At the end of the interview, he said, that he usually does not approve cases during the interview, but he is aware of the DV timelines (actually I've seen a few large red marks on my papers say it's a DV case, I believe they indeed aware of urgency). He said he will finish the review 'soon'.

About 1 hour after the interview my status changed to 'New Card Is Being Produced'!

Thanks, everyone for this forum. Particularly thanks to Mom for the 'Process Spreadsheet', it's a gem!
Congrats to people who finished the process and good luck to those finishing it!
Click to expand...
That is great. Congratulations.
 
I guess i just don't have any luck. I called the congressman office today and congressman himself checked on my file and said they submitted the request on 7/27 and received feedback on 7/30 that they would forward it to FO. since then they have not heard anything else but he will follow up again. Now i submitted the request to congressman office on 7/7. Looks like they did not submit it until I called back around 7/27 which during this call they told me they were waiting on feedback from FO. No IL at this point and i am just disappointed and impatient at this point. Mom wondering if i can try senator's office.
 
Sm1smom said:
Great news. Congratulations.

I have no idea as to what you mean by "try to start up up the FTJ process" - precisely what/which steps are you planning on taking? More clarification needed.
Click to expand...
First of all apologies if I am stating anything incorrectly. Please correct me if I am wrong!

So mom, I know that I need to file form i-824 to initiate the follow to join process for my wife. @dhanu159 also stated that I should try to talk to the embassy (even when my i-824 is pending) in my home country to let them know and let them know that I have a follow to join case which is time sensitive.
I thought I should wait till I get the physical card and then send a i-824 to USCIS.
 
HEM_NEPAL said:
I talked to them in Phone and explain that DV based AOS is very time sensative and it should be completed by the end of September. I explained that, I won't be able to get DV benefit after Sep. And he started the expedite process and got accepted. Eventhough, DV based case are expedited alreay (I read here in this forum), it seems my request helped to make it faster. I got the bio date for August 24. I suggest to call and explain it. The person in phone will read this to you as well, I just did not choose any of these but told him my situation. It might depend on the person with whom you talked to.
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing! So you are saying that you didn't have to choose one of the categories that you believe should justify why USCIS needs to expedite your case. In that case, I'm assuming that the agent on the phone must have made the choice for you. I guess the agent's word has more weight since he/she requested for the expedite on your behalf. I'm curious which category the agent chose when he/she made the expedite request.

Do you know if you are the only one who was able to get the expedite request approved on this thread?

In my case, the live chat agents cannot offer help or make a choice of the category. Not even an advice lol.

1628718966574.png
 
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hap3158 said:
First of all apologies if I am stating anything incorrectly. Please correct me if I am wrong!

So mom, I know that I need to file form i-824 to initiate the follow to join process for my wife. @dhanu159 also stated that I should try to talk to the embassy (even when my i-824 is pending) in my home country to let them know and let them know that I have a follow to join case which is time sensitive.
I thought I should wait till I get the physical card and then send a i-824 to USCIS.
Click to expand...
And this is why I asked you to be precise with what you plan to do when you asked about starting the process. In order to file an I-824 at this point, you need a copy of your approval notice which you certainly do not yet have. On the other hand, yes you contact start talking to the embassy at this point.
 
Sm1smom said:
And this is why I asked you to be precise with what you plan to do when you asked about starting the process. In order to file an I-824 at this point, you need a copy of your approval notice which you certainly do not yet have. On the other hand, yes you contact start talking to the embassy at this point.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much mom.
 
A_D_123 said:
Hi again everyone,

Update on our case:
The online case status was updated to say 'Response to RFE was received' on the same day our medical report was received by the field office (July 16th).
We initiated a congressional inquiry through the senator's office on the 2nd of August. And requested a Tier 2 call on the 6th through EMMA (72 hour wait time) but we never got the call
The senator's office received a reply on the 9th stating that our case was in the queue for an interview and that the field office is trying to adjudicate DV cases timely.

Yesterday our online status changed to "New card is being produced"!!!!!! (Not entirely sure if this means what we think it means........)

However, we received an email today from USCIS referring to our Tier 2 call "service request dated August 06, 2021" and it seemed to be a generic email addressing 'receiving NOA late after sending documents to Chicago lockbox' which was very confusing. Do we ignore this?

Again this is all built on the assumption that "New card being produced" means what we're thinking it means :D
(does this mean the case is adjudicated? ie: does the deadline not matter anymore?)

It goes without saying of course that if it wasn't for mom's spreadsheet, there was no way on earth for us to be able to frontload our applications enough for this to happen on our own. @Sm1smom @SusieQQQ @Blade_ @Chuchuaaa @ritallight you guys are just champs! Without you guys and this community, my anxiety would have literally eaten me from the inside out!

Good people exist, you all are living proof and for that, I thank each and every one of you
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Congratulations!!
 
Hi mom ,

i did my interview today in Atlanta even though i paid 330 kcc fee and they cashed it. Officer could not see it in the system. He said he will reach the kcc and as soon as they send it to uscis he will approve it. How can i speed up the process ?
ps: i did not have the receipt i showed him a photocopy of money order and usps screenshot of 330 being cashed.
 
Interview experience

First of all, many thanks to @Sm1smom, @SusieQQQ and all the helpful people that have been guiding and helping people. Your help is very much appreciated. The journey was long and ended up with good results.

Me and my wife had got two different interview letters. My interview was scheduled at 10:15 AM and my wife’s interview was scheduled for 10:45 AM. We went there around 9 AM and went through the security check at 9:15 AM then we went to the check-in desk where they took our index finger’s fingerprint and also took our photo and told us to go to the respective floor. We waited there for about Half an hour. Then the IO officer called our name and took us to his office room for the interview.



He first asked for each of our’s drivers license and passports, and also my EAD card.

He first went through my documents and asked about my status and when my OPT is expiring. Asked about my work and salary. I was afraid if he would ask about the Employment Verification Letter since I had only taken offer letter and recent paystubs. He didn’t ask those. He asked how many time I filled DV- told couple of times.

Went through i485 yes/no questions. He asked each of our’s birthdate like 10 times during the whole conversation.

Then he started asking my wife. Asked her how we met, about our marriage, how many people at wedding, when did she come to US, how long have we been together in US, what she is doing now, and all that. Asked the marriage date couple of times to both of us. Asked what her plan was. He also asked for our marriage photos. Luckily, I had taken the wedding album. He asked us to take out 10 photos with 2 of us together and the whole family. He attached the photos in the file.



He was also interested in my home country’s king. I told him the story



Finally, he said I’m approving your case. You guys have everything that is needed. All the best.



The case status now shows NEW CARD IS BEING PRODUCED.

All the best for you guys who have been waiting for your interview.
 
Appalachian said:
Interview experience

First of all, many thanks to @Sm1smom, @SusieQQQ and all the helpful people that have been guiding and helping people. Your help is very much appreciated. The journey was long and ended up with good results.

Me and my wife had got two different interview letters. My interview was scheduled at 10:15 AM and my wife’s interview was scheduled for 10:45 AM. We went there around 9 AM and went through the security check at 9:15 AM then we went to the check-in desk where they took our index finger’s fingerprint and also took our photo and told us to go to the respective floor. We waited there for about Half an hour. Then the IO officer called our name and took us to his office room for the interview.



He first asked for each of our’s drivers license and passports, and also my EAD card.

He first went through my documents and asked about my status and when my OPT is expiring. Asked about my work and salary. I was afraid if he would ask about the Employment Verification Letter since I had only taken offer letter and recent paystubs. He didn’t ask those. He asked how many time I filled DV- told couple of times.

Went through i485 yes/no questions. He asked each of our’s birthdate like 10 times during the whole conversation.

Then he started asking my wife. Asked her how we met, about our marriage, how many people at wedding, when did she come to US, how long have we been together in US, what she is doing now, and all that. Asked the marriage date couple of times to both of us. Asked what her plan was. He also asked for our marriage photos. Luckily, I had taken the wedding album. He asked us to take out 10 photos with 2 of us together and the whole family. He attached the photos in the file.



He was also interested in my home country’s king. I told him the story



Finally, he said I’m approving your case. You guys have everything that is needed. All the best.



The case status now shows NEW CARD IS BEING PRODUCED.

All the best for you guys who have been waiting for your interview.
Click to expand...
Congratulations for both!
 
Ogafanela said:
Hi mom ,

i did my interview today in Atlanta even though i paid 330 kcc fee and they cashed it. Officer could not see it in the system. He said he will reach the kcc and as soon as they send it to uscis he will approve it. How can i speed up the process ?
ps: i did not have the receipt i showed him a photocopy of money order and usps screenshot of 330 being cashed.
Click to expand...
He said he will approve, Congratulations!
 
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