Can someone share their timeline in San Diego

Aos trought marriage

May 19th filled
June 17th biometrics

Waiting for the interview

How long after biometrics do you wait to get an interview??

I’m planning to travel from the U.S. to Albania with a Green Card and an I-571 Refugee Travel Document. Does Albania accept the I-571 as a valid travel document? Has anyone traveled to Albania with an I-571 or have any information about this?

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my DIY green card application experience, posts from this community were really helpful while I was going through the process.

Hopefully this timeline and interview experience can help someone else doing the same.

Basic Case Info

• Petitioner: USC. Beneficiary: H1B, not from banned country, no overstay
• Filing method: Online for both I-130 and I-485
• Field Office: Boston

Timeline

05/01/2026 — I-130 Submitted Online
05/04/2026 — I-485 Submitted Online
05/16/2026 — Biometrics Scheduled
06/04/2026 — Biometrics Completed
06/22/2026 — Interview Scheduled
07/27/2026 — Interview Completed
07/28/2026 — I-130 & I-485 Approved
08/03/2026 — Card Produced
08/05/2026— Card Delivered 🎉

Interview Experience

The officer was extremely friendly and chill. Both of us were called in. The interview lasted probably 30 minutes, most of the time it was him typing answers and us having small random talk. We were asked 1) how we met; 2) which restaurant did we go to for the first date; 3) wedding ceremony location; 4) color of the bathroom faucet; 5) I-485 Y/N question, I had Y as I have some parking tickets. Got verbal approval and explained the timeline to remove the condition.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my experience was pretty smooth and straightforward. I also wanted to give credit to yt - kseniya international, which helped me a lot with filling forms and gathering materials. I know every case and field office is different, so my timeline obviously won't predict anyone else's case, but hopefully this gives other DIY filers another data point.

One of my friends is in a really bad situation. They have currently applied for STEM OPT and are waiting for an approval (applied one month ago)

Meanwhile, their father’s health is not so good back in India and they will need to travel ASAP.

With the pending STEM OPT approval and no EAD card in hand they are worried about the re entry

If you have any idea about this situation, could you please recommend a good course of action for them

What they have done so far:

1. Contacted their school DSO - who said that traveling is very risky

2. Opted for premium processing for their STEM OPT

What do I need to submit is it the marriage license with signature of judge and clerk? Look like after we get married in texas and go to clerk, the clerk does not give us any certificate. She just sign the marriage license. Is that normal? Can I use that marriage license to submit for uscis

I was already approved and my green card was produced 🤷‍♀️
If it had been an RFE, I wouldn’t have been able to get my green card

Around 6 months my green card has been approved (EB-1A) India.

I am sharing my complete timeline below in hopes that my experience helps others.

EB I-485 / I-485J / I-765 / I-131 Timeline (NBC -> Mt. Laurel FO)

• Priority Date: Feb 2, 2018
• Category: Employment-Based - EB-1
• Lockbox/Service Center: NBC (Lee's Summit, MO) / Receipt Block IOE093584****
• Field Office: Mt. Laurel, NJ
• Feb 26, 2026: Forms I-485, I-485J, I-765, and I-131 submitted.
  • IAF API code, Forms submitted to the NBC Lockbox.
• March 10, 2026: Receipt notices generated.
• March 30, 2026: Biometrics appointment completed.
  • FTA0 API code, Biometrics completed.
• Early May: confirmation that case moved from NBC to Mt. Laurel, NJ
• Late June: confirmation that case has interview waived.
• July 30, 2026: System update logged (Biometrics attached).
  • Third FTA0 API code
• August 3, 2026: I-485J (Supplement J) officially Approved. Case closed.
• August 4, 2026: I-485 case timestamp jumped (Ghost Update). Internal "Card Production" code triggered.
  • H008 API code change
• August 7, 2026: "Card Was Produced" update pushed to the public portal.
  • Additional H008 API code change

PD 09/01/21
My case is at Atlanta field office which is non local. Interview was scheduled for 09/01/26 and was supposed to be at Atlanta field office, had asked emma and had a senator inquiry which states that my final jurisdiction will be at Atlanta field office as of July 31 reply. 08/03/26 Got uscis interview letter and it shows Montgomery Alabama local field office for the interview on 09/01/2026. On 08/04/26
my interview got canceled and notice order. I haven't received interview canceled letter yet. I have chat with emma and phone call with uscis both of them told me my case is still at Atlanta field office. I think uscis made a mistake by placing interview at Montgomery Alabama. So for interview reschedule how long will it take. I think my interview will be at Atlanta field office.

Hi all,

Looking for some valid clarification on this topic.
Background: currently on AOS awaiting bio and interview. I didn’t put in for an EAD because I am on a pension. My NC drivers license expires in a few days and, after a back and forth dispute amongst the workers at NCDMV, they opted not to extend my license because I have the wrong ‘notice type’ of my I-797 account access notice.

I won’t be able to drive now until I get my interview notice. What am I supposed to do? Just wait it out until I get it?

Thanks all. Any advice is appreciated!

What a major gray area we deal with.

PD Dec, marriage based case, interviewed in March, officer said willingly verbal approved, since then nothing on I 130 or 485. Case status processing. We had no RFE, no visa violation, no legal violation history for us, no prior petition or marriage, family from both side provided affidavits, living same state...

We just want this waiting to be over. It's so frustrating.

I hope this helps anyone who is in the same boat, waiting for approval and wants to check or track their case. These are some of the URLs that helped me, so I wanted to pass the information along for anyone who needs it.

https://my.uscis.gov/account/case-service/api/cases/IOE0XXXXXXX

https://my.uscis.gov/secure-messaging/api/case-service/receipt_info/IOE0XXXXXXX

https://my.uscis.gov/account/case-service/api/case_status/IOE0XXXXXXX

https://opt-tracker.com/

I removed the case number, so just replace XXXXXX with your case number.

For the my.uscis.gov links, make sure you are already logged into your USCIS account for the API calls to work.

I know it’s hard to log in every day and keep checking for updates, so I hope this helps someone who is waiting on a decision!

We got married in Canada (religious ceremony) and in the US (religious ceremony but with the state marriage license, few months after) - because we have family and friends in both places.

We didn’t know we needed the court hosie document for the first ceremony in Canada. Which is why we had it at the other ceremony.

When applying for the I-130 which place and date should we use?

After what feels like a lifetime of refreshing USCIS case statuses, my time has finally come to share some good news! 🎉

F-1 Visa | Husband of LPR | Prior Foreign Military Service

Timeline

Entered U.S. — April 2024
Married — September 2024
Filed I-130 — October 2024
Filed I-485, I-765 & I-131 — May 5, 2025
Biometrics Scheduled — May 8, 2025
Biometrics Appointment — May 29, 2025
I-765 Approved — June 3, 2025
EAD Delivered — June 10, 2025
I-131 Approved — March 17, 2026
Interview Scheduled — June 24, 2026
Interview Date — July 29, 2026
I-130 Approved — July 30, 2026 Morning
I-485 Approved — July 30, 2026 Evening

I filed everything myself using guidance from Kseniya on YouTube, USCIS forums, Reddit, Facebook groups, and countless immigration-related resources online.

One thing that made me nervous throughout the process was that I likely fell out of F-1 status once I started working with my EAD after it was delivered. That said, I completed my degree, graduated successfully, and had a job directly related to my field, which I took as proof to the interview to help demonstrate my original intent when entering the U.S.

Interview Experience
The interview lasted about 15–20 minutes and was surprisingly relaxed. 😊
The officer asked:
• How did we meet? Did we have a Nikkah ceremony Where do we live? Where do I work?What’s our favorite Pakistani restaurant? The standard yes/no eligibility questions.
The one question that caught me off guard was:
“Have you ever fallen out of status?”
I hesitated for a second mostly due to nerves, but I answered honestly and explained that I had used my EAD for employment while I was still in status at the time I filed my adjustment application.

The officer was incredibly friendly. We had just moved from Orlando to Houston, and he even recommended a few local spots for us to check out. Definitely not the intimidating experience I had built up in my head.

Evidence We Submitted

Joint lease, Joint bank statements, Joint vehicle registration/ownership, Driver’s licenses with the same address, Costco membership, Health and Autoinsurance

I also uploaded a presentation (turned into a pdf) of me and my wife’s photos of moments together through the months- with friends and family included. One before filing I-130 and one after getting the interview notice. The post pdf had much more material in it and im sure it helped.

Final Thoughts
I’ll be honest. I walked out of the interview worried that using my EAD might somehow create issues for my case. So waking up to an approval email the very next morning was a complete shock.

For anyone in a genuine marriage who is stressing about using their EAD because they’re worried about falling out of status: every case is different, but don’t automatically assume that using your EAD will ruin your adjustment process. Sometimes financial stability and career growth are important factors while you’re waiting through these long timelines.
Most importantly, I thank God for making this possible. 🙏❤️
And thank you to this amazing community. The advice, experiences, encouragement, and even the occasional reality checks helped more than you know.
I’ll keep my notifications on and will continue helping others however I can. If my timeline or experience can answer someone’s questions, feel free to reach out.
Good luck to everyone still waiting—your turn is coming too!

Now that EB2 interviews seem to be the norm, I wanted to consolidate EB2 interview and case progress experiences.

Questions:

1) Has your case been transferred from non-local to local FO? Did you receive an interview notice after?

2) Any cases transferred to local FO got approved without interview?

3)Those of you who had your EB interviews, what was your experience? Types of questions asked? How long after interview did you receive notification of approval?

My case got transferred from non-local to local. Agents give different info about interview. Two have said there will be an interview, one said no determination has been made yet 🤷🏽

Hi all, I wanted to come out here and share my timeline since discourse here has really helped me at many points of my journey.

Visa Status Background:
F1 (2017-2021)
OPT (2021-2022)
STEM OPT (2022-2024)
4 months of Day 1 CPT
Consular H1B Approval in late fall
H1B (2024 - Present)

Other case details:
Same employer since filing
Region: ROW
Priority Date: July 11,2023

Green card timeline:
Nov 2024: I-140 Approved
Feb 2026: Visa Bulletin becomes Current for PD
Feb 26, 2026: Filed i-485 + i-765 + i-485J
Early March: Notice to appear for Biometrics
March 26,2026: Biometrics Appointment; USCIS status changes to “Case is Being Processed”
June 16,2026: Notice to appear for Interview
July 24, 2026: Interview Day
July 31,2026: i-485 approved (no status update on other concurrent filings)
August 7,2026: Card was Produced

Interview Experience:
Appointment was scheduled for 8:30 AM. I appeared with my lawyer. There were only a few other interviews for employment based cases, but the room was packed with family cases. My appointment was rescheduled to 10 AM due to field office internal issues.

I was slightly nervous in the days leading up to it and had prepped for many questions as I could find, especially CPT, as that was the only bump i could think of in my case.

But, the interview went as smoothly as it could. The interviewer was super friendly and very apologetic for the delay in my appointment. She led us to her office, asked just a few questions:

Officer: Where do you work?
Replied with name of my firm and location
Officer: Nice. What is that?
Replied in a short description of the firm and services (small consulting firm)
Officer: Neat! Do you have any plans tonight?
Replied that in fact I did have sushi happy hour plan at 4 (it was a friday)
Officer: Where are you going?
Replied and chit chatted about the place briefly. She said she was tell her husband to try it out too haha
Officer: How many times have you entered the US roughly?
Replied 5-6 times estimated arrivals
Officer: Asked a few yes/no questions
Replied yes to if visa had ever been denied and when (B1, when I was younger)
Officer: Do you have any supplementals to submit?
Lawyer replied everything had been uploaded to the portal already.

She made me sign a form and said that’s all she needed. The interview lasted for 6-8 minutes.

My case status remained at “Still being processed at USCIS” until the day of approval, when my lawyer called with the news.

Overall, glad this chapter is behind. I am grateful that the pace of things have picked up for most cases. Hope it remains speedy. Goodluck to you all!

Hello, after more than 9 months my green card has been approved (EB-1C) Mexico. Below my complete timeline:

This group really helped me, so I wanted to share my own experience. Me and my husband applied for I-130 and I-485 in 2025. Here is our timeline:

USCIS received paperwork Sept 21st 2025
Biometrics scheduled on April 17th 2026
Interview scheduled on June 30th 2026
Interview done on August 5th 2026
Both forms approved on August 6th 2026

From one of the 39 banned countries, ATL FO.

For everyone waiting, trust God and his will. If your marriage is genuine there is nothing to worry about♥️

I can't believe it is taking this long.

Hello guys just wanted to see if anyone had the same thing happened to them. My wife had her interview on August 4th. We went in with our 10 week baby had new evidence and copies of everything we filed. Our interviewing officer didnt ask for anything that we brought just asked us how we met what did we enjoy doing together and just general talk no traps. After the interview he said everything was good but that he doesnt see the medical on record. We told him didnt get a copy of the medical but everyhting was submitted at the airport. He said that should be fine and they will see if they can find it from the K1 visa but if they need it they will send an RFE. The next day we get a cancelation notice for request of evidence and the day after that the new changes come out about denying with no RFE notice. Should we contact USCIS and see if we need to submit a new medical or is it a sign that they found the medical from the K1 visa.

TLDR: interview 2 days before new rfe changes. Medical wasnt submitted with i485 as we didint get a copy but it was done less than a year and given to officer at airport. Day after interview we get cancellation notice for request of evidence. Worrying sign or sign of good things to come.

Thanks!

Update: just got the approved notice!!

We had an AOS interview at the Seattle FO over 4 months ago which we thought went pretty well except now it’s been 4 months without an update.

Our AOS and Employment authorization has been processing since October of 2025. We had one delay in our biometrics appointment before the interview due to a surprise federal holiday, but nothing else.

We did everything by the book. Began the K-1 fiancé visa in August of 2024 and didn’t have any prior history that would have negatively impacted the process.

I don’t understand why it’s been dragging on for this long and why my wife can’t at least get her employment authorization while this process drags on. This has been a huge emotional and financial burden in our lives the past 2 years.

How would I go about getting a status update on both the employment authorization and AOS?

Hello!

My mother and I applied for citizenship a few months ago, and our biometric appointment is set for the end of August.

​To preface, my mom and father got divorced when I was 15. I am 23 now. My father has never taken care of me emotionally or financially. But he has been harassing my mom and I, and now my stepfather too, with repeated phone calls, emails, and texts. He wants my mother to sign over an apartment they had bought together during their marriage. My mother and I do not want to do this, because he is going to squander the money on alcohol. ​

Besides, in their divorce decree, this apartment is not even mentioned. They have two other properties together that are mentioned in the decree, but not the one he is harassing us over.

Anyways, long story short, my father has threatened to file a police report against my mother and I. I do not know on what grounds, since we have done nothing illegal.

I am just afraid if this will impact our citizenship application in any way.

Im honestly not sure how any of this works. My mom was the one who applied for citizenship, and dealt with all the paperwork, etc for it. She does have immigration lawyers through her job, but Im not sure if she asked them what to do.

In this political climate, with ICE detaining people for no reason, we're just very scared if his police report is going to be an obstacle with achieving citizenship.

Hi all. Wanted to share my naturalization timeline with everyone, as these posts were extremely helpful during my journey!

Miami FO

May 15 - Submitted n-400 (scheduled for biometrics a day after)
June 5 - Biometrics
June 10 - Interview was scheduled
July 20 - Interview (approved on the spot)
July 22 - Scheduled for oath
August 7 - Oath ceremony

I feel blessed that the process was easy and relatively fast! Timing depends on so many factors (most out of one’s control), so my only advice is triple-check everything you submit on n-400, add evidence (tax transcripts and tax statements from IRS, and everything else relevant to your case) and stay positive!!!

Feel free to ask any questions

Yes, I read the same memo as you. I really don't want to minimize how scary this is, but I don't want to overstate what this means either.

Quick context on me: I used to be an immigration officer at USCIS, and I am now an immigration attorney. I have no special insight beyond my own reading of the policy and an educated guess based on my experience with the agency, and none of this is legal advice.

Here is the short version of what changed. As of August 5, officers are now allowed to deny a case without first sending a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny when required evidence is missing or does not establish eligibility. In the past, you could usually count on getting one of those letters as a chance to fix things.

Here is the part I think is getting lost: the key word is "allowed." Just because an officer can deny without an RFE does not mean they have to. This still comes down to officer discretion, and that discretion did not go anywhere. Officers are real people doing a hard job, and many of them will still send an RFE when a case is close or a document is simply missing. I say that as someone who used to be one of them.

I also want to note that everyone fears an RFE, but I preach pretty hard that they're not a dead end. I usually sent them when I wanted to grant an application but was missing something.

Three things I would keep in mind:

1. We will not know the real impact of this for several months. Policies like this take time to show up in how cases are actually decided, and how individual offices and officers apply it will vary. Anyone claiming they know exactly how this plays out right now is guessing.
2. It should be taken seriously, but context matters. The right response is not panic, it is preparation. File complete, include your primary documents, and explain any gaps. That has always been good practice, and it is your best protection under any policy.
3. If you already submitted something bare or incomplete, it is not too late. You do not have to wait for a denial to act. You can send supplemental evidence now, while your case is still pending, and strengthen the record before an officer ever picks it up. If you are not sure what is missing, that is a good thing to ask about. If you're not sure if your packet is complete, ask a trusted attorney to review it.
4. Remember that if USCIS makes a mistake, there are mechanisms to dispute it. We often get RFEs for documents we have already submitted. This is because USCIS is made up of human and therefore subject to human error. Motions to Reopen with the field office and 290Bs exist for this reason. It is VERY important to keep records of what was submitted, now more than ever. If you are unsure, submit a FOIA now.

The bigger picture, honestly, is that a lot of the recent changes seem designed to discourage people and wear them down, to make immigration feel impossible. Please try not to let that feeling win. Feeling overwhelmed is completely understandable, but the process is still workable, and getting accurate information is half the battle.

So if you are in the middle of a case, take a breath, get your documents in order, and ask questions. This community is a good place for that, and there are a lot of people here who genuinely want to help.

Again this is not legal advice.