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DV2008--AOS only

MikeM said:
Fjelltronen, sorry to hear that :(

By the way - how you contact congressman and senator office initially - by mail, e-mail or appointment?
Could you give me example of request if it was done by email?
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Mike, I just sent you a PM with my request. It's specific to my problem, but I guess it can be used as a guide. Hope it helps.
 
FBI Name chk

So..this FBI thing is nagging some ppl every year it seems.

I read somewhere that its a good idea one request your own FBI background chk as soon as a DV NL is rcvd. So that it generates a record for you with FBI and later when USCIS request for it again, its a smooth sail!

The instructions for how to file your own request is found at
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm

I think as explained at FBI site local police depts. do the required fingerprinting for you.My city dept chg a $10 fee. (i haven't done it yet though, so dont know the finer details)

Has anyone know/heard of this option and the pros and cons of it?
 
fjelltronen said:
Since my last post, no progress has been made for my application.

I had an infopass appointment since then (~ May 16th). I ran into somebody that didn't want to verify any of the info that other agents told me (she said she's not gonna take responsibility about what other agents said ... that I will have to talk to them directly). She said that the decision for the request that the previous agent made (a week before) to see if they can request the expedition of my name check can take up to 45 days to be made ... so all I can do is to wait some more.

That very weekend I put together some letters for the congressman and senator offices. The congressman office contacted USCIS 3 weeks ago and they didn't receive any response from them until now. I talked to them this morning and she said that they used to get a response in 2-3 days ... but now there are some new people there and it just seems that it takes longer for them to respond to her inquiry. She'll send a second one today. The senator office contacted them 1 week ago and there's no answer yet.

Tomorrow I have another infopass. I don't even know anymore why i'm going there. I'm not gonna get a strait answer from them, they're gonna tell me to wait some more time and they're gonna give me bogus information ... unless, a miracle happened and my name check is clear and they actually plan to continue processing my case.

until next time ... GOOD LUCK to everybody and CONGRATULATIONS to those who received their green cards !!!
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This is really sad. keep making some infopass appointments and hopefully something good will come out of it in the next few weeks. Have u had ur interview yet?
I guess some of us whose background check cleared in 24 hrs should be grateful for that.
wish ya all the best man. hang in there
 
fjelltronen said:
both of them had online contact forms (on their websites) and that's what i used, but for them to actually do something, i had to file a privacy information release form. So, I ended up faxing them the information (their privacy forms and my letter). The congressman office asked me to also send them all other communications that i had with uscis. I used the two customer info receipts that i had from uscis (that had contradicting information in them: one stating that my name check was pending in february and the other stating that my name check was submitted in april).

I have the letter at home (i used the same letter for both). As soon as I reach this evening, I can send you my template. I didn't have any advice to follow, so .. they're just something that i thought might be good to write and make sense for them to receive.
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I was told by the lady who fingerprinted me at USCIS office that immediately after i got fingerprinted, my information will automaticall be send to FBI for the background check. its weird to hear that your name check was submitted months after ur fingerprint.
 
sorry to hear about your namecheck saga...I know this might not be totally relevant to your question...but if you haven't done so yet, check the audit report link that was posted here a few posts ago to get some idea of the whole background check process...

Also, if it is of any consolation... I recently learned (on an infopass visit in May) that my name check is also pending submitted around Feb 08 for a DV2008 case...I had another 485 pending based on my employment filed July 07...and the name check from that filing is still pending...I had taken copies of USCIS memos showing possibility of expediated backround checks for DV cases and also the 180 day rule...but even before seeing those, the infopass officer told me that the office is aware of this and sometimes might interview/approve without waiting for the results and/or request an expediated namecheck. The officer wouldn't say for sure what would happen. My closest infopass center happened to be a satellite office and the officer gave me a number to call my district office for further information/status check. When I called my district office a couple of weeks later, I learned that they have scheduled an interview for me and my wife. I don't know if the name check came back or not but atleast have got an interview....

...for you, I would certainly try going for another infopass, try to explain the different answers you got so far and see if the officer is any helpful...the one thing I noticed in my 4 or 5 trips to the infopass office so far, is that every time I get a different officer and every time they respond differently...
another option is to try talking to an attorney and see if they can be of any help...

anyways..hope you get it resolved soon...good luck!


fjelltronen said:
Please take a look at http://www.immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1918354&postcount=1

Does anybody have any idea about how to go about it ?

Thanks
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Johnkent said:
This is really sad. keep making some infopass appointments and hopefully something good will come out of it in the next few weeks. Have u had ur interview yet?
I guess some of us whose background check cleared in 24 hrs should be grateful for that.
wish ya all the best man. hang in there
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Thanks, John !

Hopefully, even more infopasses will help. I didn't have my interview. They say they're not continuing to process my application before the name check is complete.

Yeah, receiving a fast response for your name check is really important.
 
Johnkent said:
I was told by the lady who fingerprinted me at USCIS office that immediately after i got fingerprinted, my information will automaticall be send to FBI for the background check. its weird to hear that your name check was submitted months after ur fingerprint.
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That's what i also thought, but nor sure if that's the case always. I can see how that is true for the FBI fingerprint check. But, I'm not sure that the same is true for the name check.
 
tp2007 said:
sorry to hear about your namecheck saga...I know this might not be totally relevant to your question...but if you haven't done so yet, check the audit report link that was posted here a few posts ago to get some idea of the whole background check process...

Also, if it is of any consolation... I recently learned (on an infopass visit in May) that my name check is also pending submitted around Feb 08 for a DV2008 case...I had another 485 pending based on my employment filed July 07...and the name check from that filing is still pending...I had taken copies of USCIS memos showing possibility of expediated backround checks for DV cases and also the 180 day rule...but even before seeing those, the infopass officer told me that the office is aware of this and sometimes might interview/approve without waiting for the results and/or request an expediated namecheck. The officer wouldn't say for sure what would happen. My closest infopass center happened to be a satellite office and the officer gave me a number to call my district office for further information/status check. When I called my district office a couple of weeks later, I learned that they have scheduled an interview for me and my wife. I don't know if the name check came back or not but atleast have got an interview....

...for you, I would certainly try going for another infopass, try to explain the different answers you got so far and see if the officer is any helpful...the one thing I noticed in my 4 or 5 trips to the infopass office so far, is that every time I get a different officer and every time they respond differently...
another option is to try talking to an attorney and see if they can be of any help...

anyways..hope you get it resolved soon...good luck!
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I started reading the audit (thanks for the link, dematra !), but it seems focused on the FBI's internals with little mention of what they receive from other agencies (i might be wrong ... i didn't finish reading the document).

It's awesome that you will be having your interview soon. And if they decide to wait for the 180 days to pass, it'll be August and, with the interview done, you'll get the gc in time.

In all my infopasses, I talked to a different officer every time and got different answers every time. I'll try to talk to them again and see if it gets me anywhere, but ...

thanks for your wishes, tp !
 
Hi

I have the same situation. I have been waiting for the interview since January. The last time when I went to the infopass the officer said that I should not worry and just wait for the interview letter. I am going to visit them once again next week. Let see what they would say this time. Probably, they would say the same thing. I was also considering to send a letter to a congressman or a senator; however, so as they always assure me that my case is in the good track, I always postpone this action for another time. Do you think I have to write to a congressman already?
 
pending name checks ... waiting for interview

Yesterday, in my search for more details on what USCIS sends to FBI when they request a name check, I ran into this memo (I attached it in this post : http://www.immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1918556&postcount=2).

On page 7 (under the PENDING FBIQUERY system responses), it clearly states that 'except for n-400 applications, an interview can be conducted' with the mention that 'but an approval cannot be rendered until a definitive response has been received from the FBI'.

I'm going to try to get an interview even tough my name check is yet to be completed.
 
nazarov said:
Hi

I have the same situation. I have been waiting for the interview since January. The last time when I went to the infopass the officer said that I should not worry and just wait for the interview letter. I am going to visit them once again next week. Let see what they would say this time. Probably, they would say the same thing. I was also considering to send a letter to a congressman or a senator; however, so as they always assure me that my case is in the good track, I always postpone this action for another time. Do you think I have to write to a congressman already?
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Do you know when your name check was submitted to the FBI ?

Next week, when you go to the local office, try to find out if and when they scheduled the interview. If they didn't, show them the memo on name checks that says they should be able to conduct the interview with a pending name check. And, if you don't receive anything in 1-2 weeks, write to the congressman having the memo as a evidence that you're entitled to get the interview.
 
nazarov said:
I have the same situation. I have been waiting for the interview since January. The last time when I went to the infopass the officer said that I should not worry and just wait for the interview letter. I am going to visit them once again next week. Let see what they would say this time. Probably, they would say the same thing. I was also considering to send a letter to a congressman or a senator; however, so as they always assure me that my case is in the good track, I always postpone this action for another time. Do you think I have to write to a congressman already?
Click to expand...

You mentioned that at your previous INFOPASS the officer / supervisor said that if your namecheck doesn't come through by the end of July, they would adjudicate the application.

My guess is that writing at this point to your congressman is not going to be useful because they will tell the congressman the same thing that they told you, and the congressman will just suggest you wait until July.

I would schedule another INFOPASS for the end of June, to see if your namecheck hasn't cleared. If it hasn't cleared, I would request to schedule an interview for the end of July. Mention politely that they said they intend to do this at the previous INFOPASS. I would bring the memo on expediting namechecks and the memo on scheduling interviews without namechecks (fjelltronen's post) with me.

If they schedule it, you're all set. If not, then that it would be a good time to write to your congressman. (You may want to prepare the letter in advance.)
 
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fjelltronen said:
Since my last post, no progress has been made for my application.

I had an infopass appointment since then (~ May 16th). I ran into somebody that didn't want to verify any of the info that other agents told me (she said she's not gonna take responsibility about what other agents said ... that I will have to talk to them directly). She said that the decision for the request that the previous agent made (a week before) to see if they can request the expedition of my name check can take up to 45 days to be made ... so all I can do is to wait some more.

That very weekend I put together some letters for the congressman and senator offices. The congressman office contacted USCIS 3 weeks ago and they didn't receive any response from them until now. I talked to them this morning and she said that they used to get a response in 2-3 days ... but now there are some new people there and it just seems that it takes longer for them to respond to her inquiry. She'll send a second one today. The senator office contacted them 1 week ago and there's no answer yet.

Tomorrow I have another infopass. I don't even know anymore why i'm going there. I'm not gonna get a strait answer from them, they're gonna tell me to wait some more time and they're gonna give me bogus information ... unless, a miracle happened and my name check is clear and they actually plan to continue processing my case.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear you're still having trouble with your namecheck.

I would wait until it's 45+ days since the request to expedite was placed (this is going to be soon, right). Follow-up with your congressman and senator at the end of this.

I would schedule an INFOPASS once it's something like 47 days.

* Point out that there was a request to expedite your namecheck.
* If the officer does not acknowledge what the previous officers said, explain politely that you're not dealing with private persons but with USCIS as an agency. That your situation is out of the ordinary (DV + namecheck submitted multiple times) and it has to be dealt with accordingly.
* If the officer does not acknowledge that your situation is unusual and just gives standard answers, explain that the DV has a time limit and ask to involve his/her supervisor.
* If the officer refuses to involve his/her supervisor, or the supervisor is not helpful, ask to write to the local office director. If they refuse, I wouldn't argue.
* The memos that you discovered should help.

If you get nowhere with this INFOPASS, and nowhere with the congressman and senator, the only thing I can think of is to get a good lawyer.
 
Card Production Ordered

In'shallah we are done with this.

We had our interview at the USCIS NYC Federal Plaza office today. Showed up half an our before our appointment time. Security was very quick and easy, and sign-in was also quick.

Interviewer called us about half an hour late. Discussion went as follows:
- Passport, drivers' license, I-94.

- "Employment authorization."

Showed DS-2019 paperwork and authorization from school for J-1 academic training. Interviewer had no idea what a DS-2019 was or what academic training was, and accused us of making fraudulent papers at home and being an overstay student. (No, I am not making this up.) Obviously we said this was not true and explained what academic training was, what a DS-2019 was, who issues it, etc.

Interviewer went away for 15 minutes and came back and asked if the DS-2019 had been "approved" by USCIS. Stated that this was not necessary. Frown from interviewer.

- Tax paperwork. Interviewer asked several questions about our state tax returns. Not quite an audit but it was unexpected. Kept original employee copies of W-2 forms.

- J-1 HRR waiver. Interviewer took our original J-1 waiver paperwork. Skeptical inquiry about why the address on the waiver approval letter was different from our current address. Explained that waiver was sent to school address a year ago and we moved after we graduated. Frown.

Left for another 15 minutes.

- Checked diploma, birth certificate, DV fee receipt and AOS EAD.

- Took phone number. Asked whether the number was a cellphone and where its area code was from. Frown when told her the area code was from where we went to school.

- Stated that we were "mostly approved," that she had had a question about being in status but had verified it in "another system" (most likely SEVIS), and that we would hear in 3-4 weeks.

No discussion of name check and didn't see any benefit to raising additional questions at end of interview. Did not get stamp.

Spent the day wondering wtf "mostly approved" meant.

Late this evening, got "Card Production Ordered" from CRIS.

Suggestions:
- Don't get intimidated by a hostile interviewer. Our theory on her behavior was that she was just trying to see if we would crack under pressure.
- Bring all conceivable paperwork.
- Keep in mind the interviewer has very limited authority and it's less likely that a nonsense reason for a denial would get past a supervisor.

We clearly were very fortunate not to get stuck in name check.

Our timeline:
- 2006: enter lottery
- May 2007: receive DV notification letter
- Summer 2007: J-1 212(e) waiver process, approved (a whole story in itself).

- January 2, 2008: Sent papers to KCC and DV fee payment to Pittsburgh
- January 4, 2008: KCC sent AOS acknowledgement; Pittsburgh sent receipt.

- February 28, 2008: sent I-485 packet UPS Overnight
- March 3, 2008: delivered
- April 21, 2008: receipt generated for I-485/I-765/I-131
- April 23, 2008: biometrics letter generated
- May 9, 2008: biometrics
- May 12, 2008: interview letter sent
- May 14, 2008: advance parole/EAD approved
- June 11, 2008: interview/card production ordered

Good luck to everyone -- hope this is helpful.
 
orangeandwhite said:
Showed DS-2019 paperwork and authorization from school for J-1 academic training. Interviewer had no idea what a DS-2019 was or what academic training was, and accused us of making fraudulent papers at home and being an overstay student. (No, I am not making this up.)
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Awesome. :)

orangeandwhite said:
Obviously we said this was not true and explained what academic training was, what a DS-2019 was, who issues it, etc.
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