FBI name check

udacha6

Registered Users (C)
I am a very old user who hasn't attended this website in over five years.
We filed for GC in 2002 and it took me around two years to obtain mine but my husband's got stuck in the FBI name check for over four years. The only reason his application was approved without a lawsuit was because there was a temporary memo in place in 2008-2009 allowing USCIS to adjudicate cases that have been pending for over 180 days and were otherwise approvable. Shortly after that memo he went to an interview and got approved.

We waited for five years after his GC was received (nine years after mine) and filed our N-400s a few weeks ago and received NOAs. What do you think is going to happen to his name check now? Is there anybody on this website whose GC was approved on that temporary waiver? Should we be doing this with a lawyer instead of on our own?

Here is the memo I am talking about from 2008.
http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/name_check_faq-20feb08.pdf

Otherwise our cases are as clear as day - more than five years on GC, less than 50 days of travel, two US kids, still work for the same employer who sponsored my GC, no criminal activity of any kind etc....
 
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They have vastly improved the efficiency of the name check process and now it's rare for people to be stuck in it for more than a few months.

Now it is standard procedure to schedule the N-400 interview only after the name check is completed, so once he gets an interview you can be 99% sure that the name check is done.
 
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From my experience - where I too was affected with delays in name checks during GC (my GC was approved while name check was pending, thanks to the 2008 memo you referred to) - my N400 name check happened smoothly without delays. If this is in any way representative of the FBI's efficiency in name checks, then your name check troubles are over... relax!
 
non_linear, great to hear from somebody who experienced the same thing! Did you have any specific reason to be delayed in the first place (during the GC)? Former military service, security clearance in your home country, research of critical nature? Or was it just a common name similar to other "idents" in the FBI database?
 
As expected my application cleared FBI check in 24 hours and is currently "in line for interview scheduling" and my husband's is still in the "fingerprint" step which means it is still in background checks. What is today's expected time for name check completion? 90 days? I mean when do we start calling USCIS? Also I've had my GC for over nine years but my husband got it a lot later due to the FBI delays so his GC will turn five only at the end of September. Could it be the reason why he is already a few days behind mine in the N-400 process - because they can't put him "in line" until his GC turns 5?
Our application is pending in Chicago, IL.
 
Yes, that might be the reason. As we have observed numerous times at this forum, it won't become "in line for interview scheduling" up until 1 month before his 5th anniversary.
 
So my husband's one-month-before-his-5th-anniversary date came and went and his application is still in the FP stage. I hoped it would move after that date as some people implied here but nada....My application was filed together with his (in the same envelope etc) and my interview is already scheduled (with only three weeks remaining).

Is it safe to assume that his application is stuck in the same check again??? What would be the most appropriate way of getting things moving for him given his past history?
 
I was stuck in so called "name check" as well but I don't think the memo caused USCIS to move on my AOS (adjustment of status) applciation. It was only after I filed Write of Mandamus (see this thread for details, search on my user id), they adjudicated and that was way after March 2008 the time they said in the memo that most applciations will be adjudicate.

Here's what I'm saying unless you or someone knows for sure that "name check" is the real culprit and not processing delays usually associated with USCIS for some applicants for some reason (too many uknowns there), you couldn't say for sure that your GC applicantion was in fact delayed because of name check and same delay will reoccur for Naturlization applications.

In that thread, there were way too many applicants whose applications were pending beyond 2 years and were adjduicated after filing for Writ of Mandamus (lawsuit to compel USCIS to act on unreasonably delayed applications). If name check was actual cause of delay then how come it was conducted swiftly when the matters were in court.

My N400 is not filed yet so don't know if I will be subject to same delays but let see.
 
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Oh, yeah... I know for sure. He has an "ident" every time his name is run through the FBI database, but it is not really clear why as he doesn't have any criminal or administrative record. He lived here when he was a minor so we think it has something to do with it. Maybe the name is the same as somebody else's case. We got the company lawyers involved, USCIS liason etc, but nobody could do a thing until that memo came out. Writ of Mandamus wasn't advised to us because FBI isn't an agency that is covered under it so you can't legally compel them to do anything specially when homeland security is in question.

Most people who spent more than a few years waiting know for sure what caused their delays. So I wouldn't just throw "name check delay" unless I really know. I was the primary applicant. I didn't get invited for an interview, I didn't get transfered to the local office. I didn't get RFIs. Just approved 18months after filing i485 and that was right after 2001 so they didn't delay my case in any way. His case was supposed to be easy.....
 
If your case was approved in March 2008 it might be possible that it wasn't the Writ that essentially got it adjudicated. It might be the same memo that approved my husband's case - it became public on 20th of Feb 2008 but was in place since January 2008. See my original post. The lawyer who was helping us with the case was an AILA officer and had some USCIS connections so she said that as soon as the memo came out the work load at the local officies that by that time held most of the delayed cases (not the national centers) went up five-fold trying to approve all of the cases that were pending because of name checks because nobody believed the memo would be there permanently. They pretty much stopped approving typical cases trying to get the name-check cases out of the way. Well, the memo was rescinded in early 2009.
 
Well my case was approved way AFTER and I believe it was Mandamus that forced CIS to move on it. Draw you own conclusions but that's my story and I'm sicking to it. In fact I think I remember adding the memo as one of the proof that CIS should have approved my case by March or so which they clearly didn't, hence I'm in court :)

I wasn't aware of that the same memo was rescinded later..well so much for a good thing!
 
The memo was applicable only to the FBI name checks pending for more than 180 days and only to LPR cases, not N400, because "USCIS officials stated that the new policy does not apply to citizenship applications since it is much harder to revoke a naturalization than a green card". They rescinded the policy as soon as they showed that they are compliant with the 90-day processing time for 98% of the cases.
 
My interview is tomorrow but my husband's case is still in the FP stage.

Should I expect any questions about his pending case? Should I expect any questions about why I waited for nine years instead of five to apply? Both questions would lead to the FBI name check delays on his GC and USC cases so I am wondering what the interviewer would think about it.
 
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