On Mar 11, Friday, at 7:42 pm (yes evening), I got the "magic" emails with my approval. I know that eventually the green card gets approved, but for some reason, I had lost all hopes. My FP2 was done in July 2004 and my case had been stuck in security check. I got no RFEs. Repeated status inquiry by my lawyers were in vain and received standard response that the center cannot predict how long adjudication will take. My lawyers also wrote to the FBI in Jan, but we have not heard anything from FBI yet.
I wrote to my senator (Barack Obama), and his office was very responsive. They told me, 1 month ago, that I should get the approval within 60 days. For those in IL facing delay, I will highly recommend contacting him (I can't remember the name of the caseworker, but if anyone needs it, I can check the letter and send a PM). In the meantime, my lawyers wrote to the center director and some other officials whose name they did not reveal to me. In 2 days I received a letter from the center director that my case was undergoing special handling and I should hear from them "very soon". In 5 days, I got the approval.
The journey has been very long and full of bumps. My 140 got denied early last year due to some processing error. The letter mailed to me had said that "there were no grounds for repeal for the decision". My lawyers had to make a few phone calls and in less than 24 hours from the receipt of the denial letter my 140 got approved. This was followed by the very long wait for the 485 approval.
So my routine of checking for the approval on uscis website and then reading the posts here will end. I thank the members of this portal and Rajiv for a very informative chat site and wish everyone a speedy approval.
I wrote to my senator (Barack Obama), and his office was very responsive. They told me, 1 month ago, that I should get the approval within 60 days. For those in IL facing delay, I will highly recommend contacting him (I can't remember the name of the caseworker, but if anyone needs it, I can check the letter and send a PM). In the meantime, my lawyers wrote to the center director and some other officials whose name they did not reveal to me. In 2 days I received a letter from the center director that my case was undergoing special handling and I should hear from them "very soon". In 5 days, I got the approval.
The journey has been very long and full of bumps. My 140 got denied early last year due to some processing error. The letter mailed to me had said that "there were no grounds for repeal for the decision". My lawyers had to make a few phone calls and in less than 24 hours from the receipt of the denial letter my 140 got approved. This was followed by the very long wait for the 485 approval.
So my routine of checking for the approval on uscis website and then reading the posts here will end. I thank the members of this portal and Rajiv for a very informative chat site and wish everyone a speedy approval.
