When should my husband and I interview with USCIS (adjustment of status)

USATnT

Registered Users (C)
My husband and I got married in NY in July 2010. I am a U.S. citizen. My husband was born on the island of Trinidad. He came to the U.S. over 5 years ago and overstayed his visa.

In September, we filed to adjust my husband's status. Everything was sent in fully complete. USCIS acknowledged our paperwork on October 1, 2010. In November 2010, my husband did his biometrics and shortly thereafter, received a one year work permit. In December, he applied for a social security card and got a learner's permit. Recently, he was able to obtain a job in this country with his work permit and social.

Since November, USCIS communications have waned. We know the next step is the interview but I wonder approximately when it will be. The person who helped us file our application (an immigration law firm employee) initially told us that the process takes about 3-5 months start to finish. Well, that time has passed and Friday will make the 6 month mark since our application was received. Is this typical??? I heard that the USCIS is backed up but I am wondering why we haven't been scheduled at all for an interview.


Also, is it OK to check the status on the USCIS web site or over the phone. The person who filed our application told us not to do either one (check by phone or internet). Yet, my husband's friend who went through the same process checked his information online and so did one of my coworkers. They never said it represented a problem. We have entered our receipt number on the site to check status and it states "initial review". One time ( a few months ago) we even called USCIS and spoke to a representative who told us that the agency is backed up with cases and were currently working on some filed 2 months before ours. Anyway, is this normal? And will it hurt to check the status?
 
You can check the processing times for your local office on the USCIS website to get an idea of the general wait time. It's all based on the office's workload.
 
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