I’ve recently become familiar with USCIS after attempting to apply for an AOS for my spouse. So far it’s been the most stressful, horrific system I’ve ever had to deal with. I’m truly disgusted that our supposedly advanced country is so ineffective and careless.

2.5 months ago my spouse and I meticulously put together our I-130 and I-485. We submitted the I-130 online, expecting that we’d be able to submit the I-485 immediately after or at least in the following week. We’ve had no such luck. My spouse’s current status ends in exactly a year from today, and we’d planned to give ourselves 14 months to ensure we wouldn’t have a lapse in underlying status to avoid any ICE encounters at the interview. We filed our I-130, got our receipt number, but didn’t receive a receipt notice like we were supposed to. It literally says “case was received and receipt notice was sent”. I filed everything I could to remedy this and contacted USCIS several times.

Not only did we get conflicting information and false hope from many agents, but the last one we spoke to said he could quite literally see on his end that they never sent us anything. He also said there was nothing he could do about it. Keep in mind I filed a non-delivery on September 22 which I asked about, he said in response that the last agent I spoke to had submitted another non-delivery which cancels out the first one. Now we’ll have to wait ANOTHER 30 business days if that even works (I doubt it will).

I know people are suffering through so much more than this and in much worse positions due to USCIS and ICE’s antics and reading those stories makes me even more enraged. We paid $600 to submit a form and they can’t even hold themselves responsible for giving us the receipt so we can actually file our case. We’re losing time and I’m so frustrated.

If we were in any other administration this would be a non-issue because of the authorized stay. But now that ICE has shown up to interviews and arrested people for not being in status we have to fear our loved ones being taken at our green card appointment regardless of their record. I’m sorry this is long, and I know it’s nothing compared to other stories on here, but I just can’t believe the absurdity of this system even in the simplest of issues.

Filed March 31,2025
Approved October 24, 2026

Finally! After 2 RFEs, we’re officially approved! 😭❤️ Thank You, Lord, for answering our prayers! 🙏✨
Sending approval dust to everyone who’s still waiting for their good news! ✨🙏 May your approvals come soon! ❤️

I’m so happy to share with you all that I got approved this morning. I did my paperwork myself no legal assistance but got so much help from this thread and @KseniyaInternational on YouTube.

My case:
Family based through marriage to USC. Married 1 year prior to my entry in US on a B1/B2. Filed packet before period of stay expired on I94.

My timeline:

May 19: Packet sent to Elgin via UPS

May 21: Official Receipt date (Package delivered)

May 26: Notified via text that packet was received.

June 26: Biometrics scheduled notice (scheduled for July 20 something, rescheduled to earlier date)

July 2: Biometrics completed (multiple FTA updates on API immediately after completion)

July 9: Interview scheduled. (My spouse is in the military and would’ve been deployed on the day of the interview. I had planned to attend without my spouse after getting advice from this thread. Eventually my spouse was able to submit documentation to command and was cleared to attend interview.) PLEASE EXHAUST EVERY OPTION BEFORE RESCHEDULING AN INTERVIEW, it could delay your case badly.

August 13: Interview at ATL FO. It went well, was relaxed. Officer said walk me through the timeline of your relationship. (We’ve been together a total of 9 years including marriage) The officer was interested in the details so he typed a lot while we spoke. He didn’t interrupt he just used hand gestures which meant “keep talking” so we talked all about everything we’ve done over the years. At the end the officer said “We could’ve been done a while ago but I just let you keep talking.” At the end we went over the 485 questions then he said. “This isn’t apart of the interview I just want to know how many kids do you plan on having.” We found that very funny. He handed us the paper about my case being under review. My spouse smartly asked so “Based on our interview what can we expect?” The officer said “Based on what I saw here I’d say your i130 is looking like an approval but other checks need to happen so I’d give it a few weeks.” We were happy about that answer.

It indeed took a few weeks during this time my grandmother had passed and I wanted to attend the funeral . I did three requests on the basis of humanitarian need. I did an expedite request of my I485 using secure messaging on myuscis website. (Later denied after the funeral) I submitted one congressional and one senatorial inquiry. I only heard back from Jon Ossof after the funeral. I was offered emergency parole by USCIS but was warned not to take it due to several unjustified ICE arrests. So I missed her funeral that was a hard blow.

September 29: Email saying USCIS took action on your case. Status change from interview scheduled to currently reviewing. API updates showed multiple FTA1 on I130

September 30: I130 approved (I genuinely thought my 485 would be approved the next day and I could make it to the funeral but unfortunately it did not happen.)

October 21: Expedite request for 485 denied (USCIS did not state why, just unable to expedite at this time. But the funeral already passed so it didn’t matter.)

October 26: API Updated at timestamp now saying October 26. No notifications

October 27: Case approved.

God be praised. Happy to answer any questions.

Hi all,

I received my approval on 10/24, approximately 5 months after interviewing. I posted about my interview some time ago here.

I've been in the U.S. for about two decades years under different statuses. Never out of status, no violations. I had initially come for school on F-1, switched to H1B after graduating, back to F-1 for a graduate degree, and then (cap exempt) H1B again in my current job. Didn't think I'd stay for this long but one thing led to another and I found myself in the green card line. My I-140 was approved in Jan 2021 but I was unable to file for adjustment because I'm from a backlogged country. Along the way I got married so my wife and I adjusted status using cross-chargeability (i.e., using my wife's country of birth rather than my own).

Here is our timeline.

Jan 12, 2026: Application received

Feb 19, 2026: Biometrics

April 6, 2026: I-485J approved. Interview was initially waived (per Emma). I thought I was headed for a quick approval.

April 20, 2026: Interview scheduled at Boston FO.

May 26, 2026: Interview day. It went well but we went in right after the May memo, so were told things would be a bit slower partly due to additional background checks. Got an FTA1 right after the interview.

Mid-August 2026: Contacted senator's office to inquire about our case. Heard back from USCIS saying our case was progressing normally. Based on what some folks were saying back then we thought the inquiry would bring our file some attention and we'd get an approval. This didn't happen.

Mid-September 2026: My wife got a silent update.

October 4, 2026: I got a silent update.

October 23, 2026: Both my wife and I got silent updates within a few minutes of each other. I started thinking we'd get an approval soon.

October 24, 2026: Approvals came in 24 hours and a few minutes after our last silent update.

I'm very glad that our journey has finally ended! I have checked this sub often, especially during the brutal 5 month wait after the interview. I'm super grateful to have seen other people's updates and approvals as these gave me some hope about my own. I thought I'd post about my approval now, in solidarity with all of you that are waiting. I'm really looking forward to traveling to see my family after a long gap and not worrying about getting a visa (have only been back once in the last 7 years because of how hard things have gotten).

Good luck and stay strong during the wait!

Finally It's my turn to post here!

Hi Everyone, I entered on F1 ten years ago.

Applied: Aug 2026
Biometrics: Sept 2026
EAD approved: a week before interview
Interview: oct 2026
Approved: oct 2026 the next day after the interview ( i130 approved in the morning and i485 on the evening)

I had an overstay of couple of years and unauthorized work as well.
Needless to say I was nervous for the interview, specially after it all moving so quickly.
The interview went really smooth, the officer was nice and even made a few jokes. She asked a few questions about the relationship and then moved on to i485 questions. She asked all the questions of i485 and she took her time describing what each question meant also. She was very considerate and helpful throughout.

We were in and out within an hour.

From what the officer said in my case, What helped my case was uploading a lot of evidence in the portal beforehand. I had extra evidence that I hadn't uploaded and I offered it to her at the beginning of the interview but she said she doesn't need them.
Give short answers and only the truth, they really didn't seem to care as long as we told the truth.

It is a huge relief that has been burdening my life for years at this point, many times I felt like I lost hope. Hang in there, I know it really doesn't feel like it but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hello everyone! My husband (USC) and I were approved and we wanted to share our experience as we found it so helpful to hear of others experiences during our process.

We filed concurrently without a lawyer, the day after our wedding.

May 8th: We mailed our physical packet (i485, i130, i130a, i765, and additional evidence)
May 11th: USCIS processed our packet
May 15th: RFE Requested and biometrics scheduled
June 4th: Biometrics appointment LAS FO
September 18th: Interview Scheduled
October 23rd: Interview SLC FO
October 23rd: i130 Approved
October 27th: i485 Approved

The i765 never got beyond “USCIS is currently processing your case” but is now redundant.

We had a pretty straightforward case. No records, no illegal work history, minimal overstay while the application was being processed and the beneficiary is not from a banned country. Our RFE was regarding the affidavit of support, but was a non-issue after we replied with an explanation of how VA disability works.

I wanted to put our timeline out there and offer to answer any questions that might help someone else. We found this community very helpful for us as we went through so we’d like to pay it forward.

Edit: we also responded to our RFE about a week after we received it. They gave us until August to respond but we wanted to get it done ASAP.

This was a J to H COS for physician, hospital sponsored. Had some hiccups with RFEs and biometrics. But alls well that ends well.

OUR TIMELINE FOR K1 VISA TO AOS ( without lawyer)
Beneficiary from Malaysia

1.December,28 2024- We submitted the visa application
2.January 2,2025-USCIS received our visa application
3.January 8,2025-USCIS sent my fiancee text message
4.January 13,2025-My fiancee received the copy of NOA1 in the mail
5.August 27,2025- USCIS approved our visa application (NOA2)
6.September 3,2025- my fiancee received the copy of NOA2 in the mail
7.October 10, 2025- USCIS sent our approved visa application to the DOS
8.September 26,2025- First public inquiry
9.October 17,2025-Second public inquiry
10.October 29,2025-Third public inquiry
11.October 31,2025-My fiancee received K1-FTP via email
12.October 31,2025- In transit (status)
13.November 4,2025-Ready (status)
14.November 6,2025-We fill out the DS-160 form and pay the visa fee
15.November 19,2025- Medical exam (done)/vaccination (Done)
16.December 9,2025-Interview with the embassy (Approved)
17.December 9,2025 -Appllication received
18.December 15,2025-Approved
19.December 17,2025-Issued
20.December 17,2025-Visa in hand
21.February 13,2026-Fly to the United States

AOS ( Adjustment of status) I-485
1.We sent the package to Uscis on-May 20 2026
2.Uscis Received the package on-May 22 2026
3.Uscis text me and email me as well on - May 27 2026
4.Received receipt from Uscis (NOA1)- June 2 2026
5.Biometric appointment scheduled by USCIS- May 29 2026
6.Interview scheduled- September,10 2026
7.Interview Date- October 16 2026
8.Case Approved-October 17 2026
9.Card was produced-October 21 2026
10.Received my GC-October 26 2026
11.Received my SSN without restrictions-October 26 2026

Good Luck Everyone!

Interview experience — Baltimore field office, Oct 27, 2026 ✨

We got there, checked in through security, and sat until our number was called. We waited about 10 minutes. The interview itself was only about 10-15 minutes.

Our officer was a lady, very nice and friendly. We even made conversation about coffee, which helped calm my nerves. She asked my husband questions first, then asked me.

Questions my husband was asked:

- His name and date of birth

- His parents' names

- How many times he was married

- The name of his ex-spouse and current spouse

- Where we live and our address

- Who lives with us

Questions I was asked:

- My name

- Why did I come to America

- If I had any previous names before

- My parents' names

- My address

- What kind of work I did back in my home country

- Whether I wanted to get back into doing nails

When she asked about my work, I got to tell her about my new business — an agency where I help clients find the right care they are looking for. I even told her to check out the website and feel free to refer anyone my way 😂

Then she went through the I-485 yes/no questions.

She told us everything looks good on her side and she doesn't need anything else from us. She had me sign on the iPad and printed a white paper with the box checked for "under review — nothing needed." She said to keep an eye on the portal in the coming weeks.

One more thing — my husband corrected a small error on our I-130 (a date that was entered wrong), and the officer said she sees that error often and it's no big deal. So don't panic if you have a small error like that.

Still waiting on the final decision, but I'm feeling hopeful. For anyone with an interview coming up: be honest, bring everything, and don't be scared. Good luck to everyone! 🙏

This community helped me a lot and I want to help the rest.

Principal got H008 and approved in the case status

- EB1A - RD10APRIL2026 - PD CURRENT - BIO 22MAY2026 - TRANS TO NJC CRANBURY 14SEP2026 - 4TH FTA0 23OCT2026 - JURISDICTION CHANGED ON 23OCT2026 - EAD NO UPDATED - AP NO REQUESTED

ROW - Europe

Thank you everyone and all the best

I’m asking about my mom’s case to see if anyone is in a similar situation or has had a similar timeline.
Her I-130 has been approved, and we filed her I-485 in December 2025 through family-based adjustment of status as an immediate relative. She received her Employment Authorization Document about a month ago, but there have been no updates on her I-485.
I know every case is different, but I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar.
How long did you wait for your I-485 approval after receiving your EAD?
Is it normal to have no updates on the I-485 while the EAD has already been approved?
Has anyone with a similar timeline received their green card recently?

After waiting for almost 15 months my EAD was finally approved.

Sent demand letter in August, did a congressional inquiry, ombudsman inquiry, I also had an expedited request denied a week ago. If you are religious I also did the St. Expedite prayer for 9 consecutive days and twelve days later an approval and card is being produced. Thankful and grateful prayer work wonders! This community has been a great help, my advice use all avenues available to get your application moving and don't give up

EAD Expedite Request
Has anyone recently submitted an expedite request for their EAD (I-765)? Was your request approved or denied? If approved, could you please share your timeline and the reason for expediting? Any experiences or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone, I’m honestly running out of ideas and hoping someone here has been through something similar.

I’m a green card holder and filed an I-130 for my wife on August 15, 2024. She’s in India, so this is an F2A case through consular processing, not adjustment of status.

In September, USCIS agents told me an interview had been requested at the Newark Field Office on September 3. Another agent later said I was waiting for it to be scheduled. Almost two months later, I still haven’t received an interview notice.

During my most recent chat, the agent confirmed Newark is handling the case and saw no missing documents or outstanding requests. But she said she couldn’t discuss the interview request without an actual notice. She also wouldn’t submit another referral.

I’ve tried Emma and a Tier 2 request, which resulted in an email directing me to the processing times website. My senator’s office has now submitted an inquiry, and I’m waiting for their response.

The separation has been really hard on both of us. I’m not expecting anyone to guarantee approval. I just want to understand what’s happening and whether there’s anything useful left to try.

Has anyone had a petitioner-only I-130 interview at Newark while their spouse was abroad? How long did it take to receive the notice? Did any official follow-up help you get a clear answer?

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences or suggestions.

Please share your experience.

Is anybody else having the same issue? Wife’s green card was produced October 9th, and has been stuck in Kansas City since 10/13. Had to file a missing mail search and shows “in transit” since the 17th. Anybody else going through this? Have not received any updates since

Hi, my husband (beneficiary) and I (USC) finished our first marriage-based aos interview in July 2026. Recently, we got a second interview scheduled in December 2026.

Our background: beneficiary got a pending asylum case, in the first interview, we brought an attorney and the officer asked very detailed questions, but we answered them without any problem. Beneficiary was asked a tiny bit of his asylum case.

For those of you who had a second interview and/or share similar background to ours, what questions were you asked?

Hi Everyone!
I finally got my asylum interview after almost 5 years in Newark office!
Anyone had interview in Newark office? Any tips for me!! I am so nervous!!

Hello! I am writing as a woman on the brink of insanity, almost hahah. In May of this year my husband received his medical exam from a civil surgeon, he then received his first dose of vaccines and we submitted the sealed form to USCIS with our joint filling soon after. He was told to receive a second round of vaccines, which he promptly ignored and then forgot about without telling me…

October 16 was our USCIS interview date and when the officer asked him about his medical exam he then realized he did not get his second round of vaccination. The officer told his he “just needs to submit the vaccines”. We were then issued us an RFE notice about the vaccines.

They were asking for a completed I-693, with specifically an updated vaccine record. Here is where the trouble began. When we contacted the civil surgeon we were told that they have never seen anything like this and they are unsure of what the RFE is requesting. They told us to contact an attorney or USCIS for clarification. I have since been in a vicious cycle of being told “I don’t know”.

I contacted the USCIS call center and told me that they do not give “legal advice” and that I need to contact an attorney. So I paid $200 to talk to an attorney, only for her to tell me immediately that she does not give “medical advice” and that I need to talk to the civil surgeon. The civil surgeon is refusing to make an updated form with an updated vaccine section. They said they will only “fill out the vaccine section and leave the rest blank, or we have to go through the entire medical exam process again from the beginning” Our RFE is due November 18, he is getting his vaccines tomorrow. Please Help 😭😭😭 It seems like no one knows the answer to this??

I recently sent USCIS a polite email asking for review/adjudication of my long-pending marriage-based case. I explained that the interview has already been completed, we have tried normal administrative channels, and that if the delay continues we may have to consider other lawful remedies such as a WOM/APA action.
It has been 3 days and I haven’t received any response yet.
Has anyone done something similar before filing mandamus? Did USCIS respond or take action after receiving the email, or did it make no difference? How long did you wait before moving forward with the lawsuit?
For your own situation, 3 days without a response is not surprising. I would not interpret the silence as either good or bad. The main value of the email may be documenting that you made another reasonable attempt to resolve the delay before litigation, rather than expecting USCIS to act immediately because of it.

I am a US citizen living overseas with my non U.S. citizen spouse (the intending immigrant).

I’ve submitted my I-864 however I have not earned income in the U.S. in 12 years. I listed my most recent tax returns which show very low income because of the foreign earned income exclusion. I submitted payslips demonstrating my current income overseas which is more than enough and I listed my current income. but in reality I will have to quit my job when we move back to the U.S.

I also submitted bank statements for US investment accounts demonstrating that I have assets in excess of the required amount to support my household size.

Domicile: I left the US in 2014 for a job, fell in love, stayed in the new country, got dual citizenship. I have maintained strong ties to the US: my retirement/investment accounts, regular trips to visit family/friends, regular filing of US taxes. My husband even went to our intended State for 2 weeks to suss out neighborhoods for us. We cant get a rental until we have a timeframe for a greencard, and we cant enrol my US Citizen children in school/daycare until we have a rental address.

Do you think I will get an RFE?

Should I have put “$0 income”?

Do I have enough evidence of intent to establish domicile in the US?

My lawyer has confused me.

They filled out things like ‘travel in Canada’ in the physical address section of Part 4 - Information About Your Residence when I only spent 3 days in Canada in the last 5 years.

They think this is ‘safe approach’ but it means the form doesn’t fill out all the boxes in physical addresses as there is no city or town mention and he has hand written annotations in the margin referring to vacation.

This is all very strange way to fill out a form. Is this normal? Is there any basis to his logic?

I’ve been waiting for my naturalization since after I graduated BMT In June. I put in my application in May 6 along side my fellow airmen during BMT but couldn’t get naturalization because of the ban(NIGERIAN) ever since the ban as been lifted I’ve not heard anything. I’ve gone multiple time in person to the field office handling my case but every time they only tell me to watch for email from them that’s it’s been processed. Last month I put in expedited request on my Uscis account and uploaded a letter from my commander regarding expediting my naturalization application and how it’s important to support the military mission. I also send the same letter to congress which after few weeks I received response from congress where Uscis state they have approved the expedited application and that my application will move forward for an interview as soon as possible. Few days after I receive the good news from congress. Uscis email me personal and say my expedite request is not approved. Right now I’m kind of confused what exactly is going on and is there anyone here who has ever had there expedite approve and what’s the timeless from when you receive the expedite approval to interview scheduling.

It takes 7 weeks to get naturalized in basic training. Why should it take forever to get same application processed outside basic. Still same military service. And currently waiting time is saying 13months.

My field office is Detroit,MI.

In the initial application I answered no to this question but during the interview the officer asked the question without mentioning the reentering part and I got confused and answered yes. Now that the interview is over I’m waiting for the decision but I think I should’ve answered no. Has this happened to anyone and if so could I send a correction?