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DV2008--AOS only

Sorry about your interview badluck2. Hopefully everything will work out good for you.

Guys,
I have one question. Do we need to send W2s along with 485 package or should we just take it during interview. Thanks.

I didn't send mine and only took them to the interview in case, but was never asked for them! Do not show or send more than they ask for...
 
Thank you very much guys for your sympathy,

I discovered the reality behind that type of interview after I discussed the matter with my attorney. My lawyer knew the officer very well by name and her recent history because they work in the same field and they know each other. Here is what my lawyer said about the officer.

She is one of experienced good ranking officers and worked for so long for immigration. And, she was treating badly her applicants who came from “watch list” country for sometime. (Watch list countries contain the majority of 33 Muslim dominant countries mostly located in Middle East and some other countries). Finally, lots of complaints against her pushed her boss to put interview probation for her for sometime. It seems that recently, the probation is removed and she is interviewing applicants while another officer is present. That’s why we had another officer in her office.
My lawyer found a recent memo that clearly says I-864 “Long form of Affidavit of Support” is not applicable for diversity applicants. And, DV applicant should file I-134. So, I am going to let my sponsor to sign a new I-134 form and send it to me. And, I am going to mail that with the memo to the officer and CC her boss based on my attorney advice. Fortunately, Chicago local office will accept delivery confirmation restricted to certain persons in their section.
My attorney said, do not worry too much about the 90 days lead time for decision that she talked about during interview. In fact, she is very famous in fast decision making.
But, still my biggest problem is my pending FBI name checks. I asked my lawyer if I can ask my congressman and senator for help. She said; don’t forget that the officer has full authority to my case now. And, involving congressman and senator may effect her decision negatively. So, She advised me to send the documents by overnight delivery to them and give her a week to decide.
So, I think I am going to do this at this moment and if I don’t hear from her after a week I do an infopass to see what is going on then I ask for congressman and senator help. I hope, it will not be late by that time.

What do you think guys? Any idea or suggestion for me?
 
I didn't send mine and only took them to the interview in case, but was never asked for them! Do not show or send more than they ask for...

Maconcita and dv2008gh and the rest of guys who are waiting for post interview process or pre-interview, I pray for you all to get response very soon and good luck
 
Wow...I'm surprised that her boss still let her do the interview at all (even accompanied by another officer). She seems to be bias on her thinking and that's no good. To be really honest I'm not sure whether to listen to your lawyer's word by word or do what your heart tells you.
But you know what, if you can spare a week, maybe just send the document and wait a week to see if she can make the decision for you. If you heard nothing, then you may want to consider contacting your senator/congressmen.

I'll be thinking of you both till the 6 weeks end--I really do hope you get the GC. Keep us posted..
 
Thank you very much guys for your sympathy,

I discovered the reality behind that type of interview after I discussed the matter with my attorney. My lawyer knew the officer very well by name and her recent history because they work in the same field and they know each other. Here is what my lawyer said about the officer.
What do you think guys? Any idea or suggestion for me?

badluck2, I wish I had a suggestion but for now, I think the best thing for you is to follow your lawyer's instructions as he knows her best and have dealt with her before! I hope she did this with everyone and was just trying to be thorough, once you send her the forms, hopefully she'll have no reason to prolong this case. So maybe they were still auditing her hence the camera? that sounded too weird for me to have a camera in the room. Hopefully this is an experience that will lead to a good ending :D
Good luck my friend and to everyone waiting. I will never forget this experience and this killer wait! but I'm glad I have this forum to make it bearable:cool:
 
badluck2, I wish I had a suggestion but for now, I think the best thing for you is to follow your lawyer's instructions as he knows her best and have dealt with her before! I hope she did this with everyone and was just trying to be thorough, once you send her the forms, hopefully she'll have no reason to prolong this case. So maybe they were still auditing her hence the camera? that sounded too weird for me to have a camera in the room. Hopefully this is an experience that will lead to a good ending :D
Good luck my friend and to everyone waiting. I will never forget this experience and this killer wait! but I'm glad I have this forum to make it bearable:cool:

Thank you very much for your suggestions guys. I am happy to have you guys on this forum too. So, we don’t feel the loneliness in this hard path.
 
We had our interview today

Hi everybody,

badluck2, I wish you best of luck. After reading what you had gone through I was really worried about our interview, which had been scheduled for today. I think you should follow your lawyres advice for now. But I do not have any idea how we can deal with the name check problem.

We ahd our interview today. The officer was very nice, and did not ask for any documents, but our passports and I94s, and my old EAD. However, he did ask us (me and my wife not the kids) all the questions in I485. At the end he said that everything looked good, but he could not do anything becausse our name check was still pending. I tried to convince him to request to expedite the process and showed him the memo. He said, he was aware of the memo, but could not make such request.

Any suggestions or advice?
 
Maconcita and dv2008gh and the rest of guys who are waiting for post interview process or pre-interview, I pray for you all to get response very soon and good luck

Thank you. I wish you the best too. I'm making an infopass appt. today to see the status of my case because I received an email to the effect that my case has not been approved.
 
Thank you. I wish you the best too. I'm making an infopass appt. today to see the status of my case because I received an email to the effect that my case has not been approved.

WHAT? why wasn't it approved? didn't the officer approve it verbally the day of the interview? I'm so sorry to hear all of this. Follow up with them and make sure you get reasonable reasons for denial. I hope they're wrong!:(
 
WHAT? why wasn't it approved? didn't the officer approve it verbally the day of the interview? I'm so sorry to hear all of this. Follow up with them and make sure you get reasonable reasons for denial. I hope they're wrong!:(

Yea....the officer approved it verbally...but they said today that it is under review and pending.
 
Yea....the officer approved it verbally...but they said today that it is under review and pending.

dv2008gh,

I wouldn't worry about that. Remember 2 weeks ago, I was asking everyone about my case status online "under review" right after the interview?
Turned out to be nothing. Few days after that "under review" status, I got another email with "card production".
 
Yea....the officer approved it verbally...but they said today that it is under review and pending.

oh, well that is different from not approved. Pending is a good sign, it means they're working on it! I thought they sent you an email saying it WAS NOT APPROVED! I think it's ok, hopefully they'll change the status soon!
 
Anyways guess, I just got back last nite from my 2wks vacation to England. My POE was Denver, CO and it took less than a min to pass thru immigration officer. He swiped my GC, asked how long i was gone and said "welcome back home". LOL
Anyways, he did not stamp on my passport upon arrival. I guess they can keep track of my travels with the GC.
 
oh, well that is different from not approved. Pending is a good sign, it means they're working on it! I thought they sent you an email saying it WAS NOT APPROVED! I think it's ok, hopefully they'll change the status soon!

The IO advised that I send a mail to the lady who interviewed me and ask for the status of my case.
 
dv2008gh,

I wouldn't worry about that. Remember 2 weeks ago, I was asking everyone about my case status online "under review" right after the interview?
Turned out to be nothing. Few days after that "under review" status, I got another email with "card production".

For my case, I don't see any update not even "under review" so sometimes I feel they are not doing anything about it.
 
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Hi everybody,

badluck2, I wish you best of luck. After reading what you had gone through I was really worried about our interview, which had been scheduled for today. I think you should follow your lawyres advice for now. But I do not have any idea how we can deal with the name check problem.

We ahd our interview today. The officer was very nice, and did not ask for any documents, but our passports and I94s, and my old EAD. However, he did ask us (me and my wife not the kids) all the questions in I485. At the end he said that everything looked good, but he could not do anything becausse our name check was still pending. I tried to convince him to request to expedite the process and showed him the memo. He said, he was aware of the memo, but could not make such request.

Any suggestions or advice?

Hi winner2008,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I was thinking about your case too. I think we are almost in the same situation plus your chance to get your GC should be higher than mine fortunately because of your case number. Yours is AS13XXX , country of chargeability IRAN and mine is AS15XXX from IRAN (if I am not wrong, you mentioned it in your past posts).

Any way regarding FBI name check, I did some researches and read last year’s posts. So, based on that, I think all pending and new FBI name checks requests are automatically expedited after first of July by FBI not USCIS. This is what a couple of people told last year that they got it through infopass. But, we are not sure about that. So, this may be the reason that your adjudicator told you that he can not request for your expeditious handling for you. Because the result will be the same as all our cases are already placed in expedited process. Plus, I read that USCIS has a quota of 500 cases per week to expedite. So, they will not reduce their quota for our cases that already placed in expedited category by FBI. Again, this is not for sure.

On the other hand, I guess FBI activates name checks based on case numbers. And, they consider our case numbers as priority numbers regardless of whether applicant is doing AOS or CP. So, as you may know most of Iranian CP DV applicants are processed by US embassy in Ankara and Abu Dhabi. I am monitoring their FBI clearances online that is posted on their web site. Note, that turkey is a part of Europe for DV not Asia. I found a few AS13XXX cases cleared and they ask the applicant to come back to us embassy to get their visa stamped in their passport. I hope yours will be cleared soon. The other internet source is Mohajersara.com that Iranian applicants are posting their situation and you may look at them. (I hope, you can read Farsi because they type in Farsi).

I suggest you to send a mail to your adjudicator and CC his boss and ask to expedite your case including FBI name check. Attach a copy of the memo that you have. Do not forget to ask for certified mail that they have to sign for you that shows they received your mail. Restrict the delivery to the person. Then if you did not hear for a week write to your congressman and senator explaining your situation and the dead line.

By the way, did the officer take your I-94 or you still have it? She took ours and it means two things for me as I discussed with my attorney.
1- Good sign: if she thought I have a good chance to get a GC and I do not need it any more which I doubt because she was so biased.
2- Bad sign: I am stock in U.S. now. And if I don’t get GC they may not return my F-1 status and I face deportation. And, I do not have an option to leave US voluntarily because I don’t have an I-94. And, applying for I-94 replacement doesn’t work for me because USCIS does not consider me as an F-1 student any more. So, the only way is the hearing of deportation in court which is too bad.

I wish you good luck
I placed the embassy clearance link and mohajersara link below for you.

http://turkey.usembassy.gov/immigrant_security.html
http://abudhabi.usembassy.gov/immigrant_status.html
http://www.mohajersara.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=6
 
The IO advised that I send a mail to the lady who interviewed me and ask for the status of my case.

do you have her contact information? My case is similar, nothing changed since Monday other than the date. It still says fingerprint fee received. I don't want to panic yet! Hopefully if your case is pending, it might mean pending draft of the welcome letter/GC? This is so confusing. I thought I would know by now where all of this is heading, unfortunately we're still in the dark (most of us)
Good luck dv2008gh!
 
do you have her contact information? My case is similar, nothing changed since Monday other than the date. It still says fingerprint fee received. I don't want to panic yet! Hopefully if your case is pending, it might mean pending draft of the welcome letter/GC? This is so confusing. I thought I would know by now where all of this is heading, unfortunately we're still in the dark (most of us)
Good luck dv2008gh!

I only have her first name, so I'll write to the office but addressed to her
 
Hi winner2008,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I was thinking about your case too. I think we are almost in the same situation plus your chance to get your GC should be higher than mine fortunately because of your case number. Yours is AS13XXX , country of chargeability IRAN and mine is AS15XXX from IRAN (if I am not wrong, you mentioned it in your past posts).

Any way regarding FBI name check, I did some researches and read last year’s posts. So, based on that, I think all pending and new FBI name checks requests are automatically expedited after first of July by FBI not USCIS. This is what a couple of people told last year that they got it through infopass. But, we are not sure about that. So, this may be the reason that your adjudicator told you that he can not request for your expeditious handling for you. Because the result will be the same as all our cases are already placed in expedited process. Plus, I read that USCIS has a quota of 500 cases per week to expedite. So, they will not reduce their quota for our cases that already placed in expedited category by FBI. Again, this is not for sure.

On the other hand, I guess FBI activates name checks based on case numbers. And, they consider our case numbers as priority numbers regardless of whether applicant is doing AOS or CP. So, as you may know most of Iranian CP DV applicants are processed by US embassy in Ankara and Abu Dhabi. I am monitoring their FBI clearances online that is posted on their web site. Note, that turkey is a part of Europe for DV not Asia. I found a few AS13XXX cases cleared and they ask the applicant to come back to us embassy to get their visa stamped in their passport. I hope yours will be cleared soon. The other internet source is Mohajersara.com that Iranian applicants are posting their situation and you may look at them. (I hope, you can read Farsi because they type in Farsi).

I suggest you to send a mail to your adjudicator and CC his boss and ask to expedite your case including FBI name check. Attach a copy of the memo that you have. Do not forget to ask for certified mail that they have to sign for you that shows they received your mail. Restrict the delivery to the person. Then if you did not hear for a week write to your congressman and senator explaining your situation and the dead line.

By the way, did the officer take your I-94 or you still have it? She took ours and it means two things for me as I discussed with my attorney.
1- Good sign: if she thought I have a good chance to get a GC and I do not need it any more which I doubt because she was so biased.
2- Bad sign: I am stock in U.S. now. And if I don’t get GC they may not return my F-1 status and I face deportation. And, I do not have an option to leave US voluntarily because I don’t have an I-94. And, applying for I-94 replacement doesn’t work for me because USCIS does not consider me as an F-1 student any more. So, the only way is the hearing of deportation in court which is too bad.

I wish you good luck
I placed the embassy clearance link and mohajersara link below for you.

http://turkey.usembassy.gov/immigrant_security.html
http://abudhabi.usembassy.gov/immigrant_status.html
http://www.mohajersara.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=6

Hi badluck2

Thank you for the info and sorry for the delay in my response. I am out of town now. Yes, we are from Iran too, with the case # that you mentioned.
What you are saying about all cases being expedited after July 1st does not seem to be true. If this were true, I think, the interviewing officer would have told us about it in response to our request. Are you sure that the FBI knows about our case numbers, and the fact that our application is DV based? I don't think so. I think that the USCIS requests name chaecks from FBI without telling them the basis of the application. Please correct me if I am wrong. I also think that the way this issue is handeled by the USCIS is dfifferent from the state department, and that is why that CP applicants have a better chance of success.

I think your suggestion to make a request in writing is one of the things that I can do. In fact the officer told me "you may request this in writing and we will consider it" or something like this. The thing is that I had to leave for a meeting the day after the interview and my wife is very busy too so I will have to do it next week.

The officer did not take our I94s. I doubt that one becomes out of student status just by filing I485. Some lawyers say so, but some say the opposite. I don't know what happens if the application is denied, though.
I guess there is no clear written rule about this issue. I must add there is a difference between our cases. We did not apply for EAD or travel documents.
 
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