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In less than 8 months, despite covid delays, my husband is a permanent resident!!! (Adjustment of Status / Marriage Based / Timeline Included)

I loved reading these posts while we were waiting so I figured I’d share! There were so many things that could have gone wrong during our process, but we were very fortunate.

We got married in February and rushed to apply because we didn’t want to do the I-944. Not because we thought it would disqualify us, but because it was a very time consuming form. It took us longer than we expected to complete all the forms and organize all our evidence, so we didn’t mail it out until February 21. For reference the I-944 was required after February 24.

We shipped it FedEx overnight delivery and delivery was attempted Saturday. No one was there to sign so delivery was not reattempted until Monday, Feb 24. This made us nervous, but USCIS said they would go by the receipt date so we thought we’d be okay. More on that later.

We didn’t get delivery receipts until April 1. We believe this delay was because we overpaid. We realized after submitting our application that we didn’t need to pay extra for advance parole. We thought for sure they would send our application back for incorrect fees, but somehow they only took what they needed! This was blessing #1!

My husband was on F1 status, opt that expired in July. We were hopeful we’d get EAD before that but due to coronavirus that did not happen. He was not able to work after July once it expired. In late August, we contacted our congressperson for help with expediting. This was around the time the furloughs were scheduled to happen (again). Our congresspersons office is amazing. Within 3 days, we had our biometrics notice sent via email. But it was scheduled after the furlough, so we were worried it would be cancelled. To our surprise, the furlough was cancelled! This is blessing #2.

After completing biometrics, we contacted the congressperson again to request expedited processing due to severe financial harm to the company. Our situation is unique, but my husband’s absence made the company he work for at risk of severe financial harm/failing. He has a very critical position and they could not find a replacement. Within a week our expedite request was approved and his EAD was approved. This is blessing #3!

We fully expected to wait 6 months or more for the interview to be scheduled. But to our surprise, our interview was scheduled early Oct (I’ll put exact timeline below). We also consider this a blessing (#4), knowing how long others wait for an interview.

Our interview was Thursday and our officer was very nice. But almost immediately after starting he asked for the I-944. I explained to him that we mailed our application before Feb 24 and the USCIS website says applications sent by courier will go by the postmark date (aka the date it was mailed). He explained how he had never heard about that, but after about 5 minutes of discussion he said he would look into it. if He explained that if turns out we need it, he’d send an RFE.

The interview itself was very easy. Outside of the medicals, he didn’t ask for anything. He had us verify some information like addresses and work history, then asked if we had brought anything new but it’s fine if we didn’t. We had, so we showed him cards people gave us on our wedding day, gave him joint bank account statements and our insurance cards. We also gave him a letter from my husbands employer. He was satisfied with this.

What surprised us the most is he didn’t ask about my husbands birth certificate. My husband does not have an original birth certificate and he is from a country where people born before a certain year can not get a new copy of a birth certificate. We did include a thorough letter in our application explaining this, and we did have attestation of birth, but still I’m surprised this wasn’t brought up. There wasn’t much more evidence we could provide if requested, so that’s definitely blessing #5.

He didn’t ask any questions about our relationship. After he was done we chatted for like 10 minutes just about immigration and corona. He was a super nice guy! We left, not knowing if we’d get RFE for the I944.

Well yesterday we got emails that our I485 and I130 were approved!!! We didn’t need to submit the I944, blessing #6! We are SO thankful! As you can see, so many things can go wrong and things can still go well. Not to mention, this all happened during coronavirus, potential furloughs, printing delays, mail delivery issues and an anti-immigration administration.

I hope that’s encouraging for people who are still early in this journey.

————

Here is our timeline with dates:

Packet Mailed: Feb 21

Packet Received: Feb 24

Text Notifications and Receipt Numbers: April 1

Contacted Congressperson: August 19

Biometrics Scheduled Notice: August 24

Biometrics Appointment: September 8

EAD Expedite Request: September 9

EAD/Advanced Parole Approved: September 17

EAD Card Received: September 23

Interview Scheduled: October 5

Interview: October 28

I485/130 Approved: October 30 🎉

submitted by /u/kb737
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/jlkhna/in_less_than_8_months_despite_covid_delays_my/
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