US citizen parents sponsoring over 21 son..

chromedOut, did you have an interview?

yes I did. I was able to file my i-485 at the very very end of june before PDs started being retrogressed. however, it got me at my interview. I was approved, but the IO informed me he wasn't going to order me a GC because the retrogression was affecting my PD (JAN 2001). the VERY next day the NOV 2007 bulletin was posted with a PD that would adjucate me a visa. so now I have to get my attorney to bug my district office to order me a GC on Nov. 1st.

I went for an infopass earlier this week, but they weren't very helpful. the information I got was "a supervisor has your file". that's it. they didn't give me the person's name when I asked and couldn't tell me when they would send off for my GC.
 
Interesting. May I ask, what kinda questions do they ask? Thanks.

ULTRON

chromedOut said:
yes I did. I was able to file my i-485 at the very very end of june before PDs started being retrogressed. however, it got me at my interview. I was approved, but the IO informed me he wasn't going to order me a GC because the retrogression was affecting my PD (JAN 2001). the VERY next day the NOV 2007 bulletin was posted with a PD that would adjucate me a visa. so now I have to get my attorney to bug my district office to order me a GC on Nov. 1st.

I went for an infopass earlier this week, but they weren't very helpful. the information I got was "a supervisor has your file". that's it. they didn't give me the person's name when I asked and couldn't tell me when they would send off for my GC.
 
Unfortunately, yes. I've been waiting on my priority date since 2002. Back in 2002, "current priority" was 1997...it then became 1998 (in 2003)....1999 (in 2004)....etc......It currently is 4/22/2001 (in june 2006).

So in your case it'll be Nov-2002 (in end 2007 end or early 2008...just my guess). But it cannot be over 2009, the max I've heard is a 5 year difference. So add 5 to nov 2002, it'll be end 2007...or else beginning 2008.

you see, I too was looking at the california "processing times" and getting all excited. But when my lawyer's secretary emailed me that priority date listing that crawls slowly every year....I became sorta depressed. But hey, I joined med school and time passed quickly.

ULTRON

mermaid06 said:
So you are saying they are not going to approve/deny my I130 application before my priority date becomes current in 2008, 2009 or later???
 
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ULTRON said:
I live in IL. My med school asked me to choose "premanent resident" or "citizen" on my appl. If PR, they asked me to provide the A#....and thats it.....but it also depends on the type of medical school. However, a GC or EAD is required for residency training.

ULTRON

:eek:

If you are not PR, you shouldn't claim yourself as PR. This may put yourself in big trouble when you try to apply for naturalization years later.
 
princesskate said:
If you are not PR, you shouldn't claim yourself as PR. This may put yourself in big trouble when you try to apply for naturalization years later.

He didn't make the claim in order to gain an immigration benefit, so USCIS can't get him into trouble on that basis. Since he's going to a private school, the state doesn't have recourse. I don't see it as an issue.

My earlier question stands; it may still be of value to get a second opinion as to wether one is grandfathered under 245i even if the 245i-eligible derivative petition gets denied.
 
My petitioned wasn't actually denied in 1999...I just aged out...but I guess it depends upon the definition of "denied." So my lawyer answered "yes" to your question. But I would like to hear what other lawyers are saying. Another thing to consider is I've had my same A# on my "rejected" I-485 application from 1999 and the new I-130 appl in 2002. If my appl was "denied"....my new appl would have a different A#.....I think. Furthermore, my SS#...though not meant for employment.....is still valid since 1999. Thanks.

princessKate, I agree with RealCanadian. I wouldn't get in trouble with the INS. As far as my medical school is concerned, I've met all their requirements, paid all the fees, provided a valid A#, SS#, etc. Since it is a private school, they're considering me as their "customer" who is using their services. My immigration status doesn't matter as long as I pay my fees and don't do anything illegal.

ULTRON

TheRealCanadian said:
He didn't make the claim in order to gain an immigration benefit, so USCIS can't get him into trouble on that basis. Since he's going to a private school, the state doesn't have recourse. I don't see it as an issue.

My earlier question stands; it may still be of value to get a second opinion as to wether one is grandfathered under 245i even if the 245i-eligible derivative petition gets denied.[/QUOTE]
 
Interesting. May I ask, what kinda questions do they ask? Thanks.

my interview was a piece of cake. here's the account I posted a day after the interview:

yesterday I had my AOS interview for my AOS -- family sponsored preference/unmarried son of citizen -- I filed at the very end of june. my father (my sponsor) and I arrived at the center 45 minutes before my interview. we had to walk under a metal detector after emptying our pockets and putting our briefcases in the conveyer belt to be run past the x-ray machine.

we were called in by my interviewer right when scheduled and followed him back to his office after introducing ourselves. he asked to see both of our driver's license and he wrote the numbers down on a NOA paper inside my file. my file was a legal-sized brown folder; one side had all the forms I had submitted including my opened medical examination (they even had kept the sealed envelope with "confidential" stamped all over it, ha) and the other had a series of what seemed to be check lists and internal paperwork. the topmost check list had the following written in red along the left margin: "receipt?", "single?", "i-130". I did sneak a peek at a sheet under that check list that stated that my fbi namecheck had come back "NO RECORD". wheew!

he made us sign a waiver or something since my attorney was not present. then, the officer explained that he was going to ask us a series of general questions under oath. he swore us in and his first question was: have any of you ever been arrested by the police? my dad and I replied "no". he then asked me if I had ever been deported. another no. asked me if I was single. yes. each time I replied he made notes on the checklist. last time I entered the country -- he even let me look at my i-94 for that one. and those were all the questions I had to answer.

he took a moment to leaf through my file and told us that there was no proof that I had paid the $1,000 overstay penalty but that he read in my attorney's statement that they were submitting it. he asked to see a receipt. we didn't have one exclusively for it, just a cummulative one. he added up the fees including the penalty and came out to the same figure for the receipt we had and crossed out "receipt?" from his margin notes. next, he told us that there was no i-130 in my file and before I could produce our copy he just told my dad to fill a fresh one out and he would approve it right there. we did.

he went off to make a copy of the fresh i-130 and typed some stuff into his computer. leafed through my file again and informed me that I was approved...but that at the moment there were no numbers available for my priority date. my attorney had told me this would happen, but I was still hoping he'd be wrong. he said my file would be set aside and monitored periodically and when my date came up again they would send for my gc. as we were leaving -- still in a state of shock -- I asked him if I was truly done. "yep. you are approved. no more fees, no more finger prints, no more interviews. it takes five days for our gc to be made after we send it off when your date comes up".
 
Thanks for the interview details. Personally, I've never heard of I485 filers getting interviewed...and my lawyer never mentioned anything about it...except the ones marrying a US citizen. Has anyone else experienced this? Do they interview all applicants or do they randomly pick ppl for interviewing?

Also, it seems your papers were incomplete (due to INS mistake): they didn't have proof of you paying the $1000, and your I130 was missing. I think these errors made it necessary to call an intervew. But I don't understand how these errors came to be! :eek:

ULTRON
 
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even before my father filed my i-130 we were told that I would eventually have to be interviewed before I could complete my AOS process. might have been a formality as evidenced by the few questions. or maybe they called me to interview to review my documents as you suggested. my packet was really tight and impeccable. everything was spelled correctly, forms were filled by computer to eliminate any handwritting confusion, and all information was presented.

files get passed around between offices and handled by many people. it doesn't surprise me that papers fall out in the process. fortunately, I had kept backups and backups of backups of everything submitted.
 
ULTRON said:
Another thing to consider is I've had my same A# on my "rejected" I-485 application from 1999 and the new I-130 appl in 2002. If my appl was "denied"....my new appl would have a different A#.....I think.

Not at all. An A# isn't a petition number, it's a number assigned to YOU as a person. Unless you became someone else, you will have the same A#.

Furthermore, my SS#...though not meant for employment.....is still valid since 1999.

SSNs never expire, either.

You shouldn't draw any conclusions from the fact that your A# or SSN haven't changed, and yes the original I-485 was denied when you aged out, since they had to dispose of the case and you were no longer eligible to adjust status, since you no longer qualified for a derivative immigrant visa number.

Again, I'm not suggesting that you're not eligible for 245i relief, since 245i grandfathering is one of those arcane areas that I hardly ever see and never had any interest in. It's just that the ramifications of not being eligible are so great that you probably don't want to discover that your attorney was wrong at the time of your interview. ;)
 
I don't know if there's a specific form that you have to submit to have your i-130 upgraded. I'm looking through my packet and I can't find anything of the sort. only thing I see is a brief statement drafted by my attorney that was a cover to my i-485. it states:

the second preference petition filed by mr. chromedOut on jan 2001 is automatically converted to a first preference petition upon his naturalization on june 2006.

visa numbers are available for the month of june 2006 for 1st preference applicants for adjustment of status as demonstrated by the attached excerpt from the june visa bulletin

I guess that's all it took to have mine upgraded. I have mentioned in the past that I received a receipt/NOA for my i-485 and my fp notice before my original i-130 was touched and then transfered to csc. maybe filing the i-485 as all it took to jolt them into action re: my i-130.

don't wait for uscis to take action. I used to think that you had to wait for your i-130 to be approved before you could AOS, but apparently you are eligible as soon as your PD becomes current under whichever preference you fall in.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Not at all. An A# isn't a petition number, it's a number assigned to YOU as a person. Unless you became someone else, you will have the same A#.

I was on F-1 status before getting GC.

My A# on my EAD (OPT based) is different from the one I have on my EAD (AOS based) and later the GC. So I guess ULTRON might get a new A#.
 
Interesting. So they actually hinted you would have an interview before the filing of I130 app. I'm still wondering why would they do that? As for my appl, I just got the I130 reciept from the INS. Nothing was said about an interview.

chromedOut said:
even before my father filed my i-130 we were told that I would eventually have to be interviewed before I could complete my AOS process. might have been a formality as evidenced by the few questions. or maybe they called me to interview to review my documents as you suggested. my packet was really tight and impeccable. everything was spelled correctly, forms were filled by computer to eliminate any handwritting confusion, and all information was presented.

files get passed around between offices and handled by many people. it doesn't surprise me that papers fall out in the process. fortunately, I had kept backups and backups of backups of everything submitted.
 
ins/uscis never hinted that I'd have an interview. my attorney told me I would be interviewed. maybe it was due to the fact that I'm 245i :confused:

I don't think they do interviews for i-130. only for AOS, which you start when you file an i-485 after your PD becomes current.
 
I think the question at this point is what the hell will the bulletin due out in what now... 10 days or so.... will offer? Are we going to finally get past April 2001 for F1?

My lawyer, as well as a second opinion both told me the same.... that an aged-out child gets grandfathered into the original petition, thus making him eligible for 245i relief.

Should I get myself ready for a BIG shock when being interviewed?

Also another question. Do you get notified by the USCIS that the PD is current and to file the I-485... or does one go by the bulletin and file the I-485 as soon as the bulletin shows the date to be current?
 
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Do you get notified by the USCIS that the PD is current and to file the I-485... or does one go by the bulletin and file the I-485 as soon as the bulletin shows the date to be current?

GO BY THE BULLETIN, do not wait for uscis to notify you as they may "forget" to send you notice. apply the first of the month your PD becomes current.
 
chromedOut said:
GO BY THE BULLETIN, do not wait for uscis to notify you as they may "forget" to send you notice. apply the first of the month your PD becomes current.

It'd really be a big weight off my shoulders if everything goes as smoothly as my parents becoming citizens within a few months, and for the PD to be current to mine so that I can file my I485 right away without a wait.... but then again I might just be dreaming :)
 
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