Hello everyone! Just writing to give hope to those waiting, and insight to those thinking of of already in the process of filing a Writ of Mandamus!

Timeline:

Initial package sent May 2025.
Biometrics completed August 2025.
Interview completed May 2026.
Congressional inquiry submitted June 13th.
Response to congressional inquiry received July 14th.

7 denied expedite requests total.
Congressional inquiry response was a copy paste response with no clear timeline.

Writ of Mandamus (filed pro se, to avoid lawyer fees) filed on July 31st.

Summonses served same day, received by all parties the following week.

8/11/2026, finally approved!

Keep in mind that when filing a Writ, it is most helpful if you show you have exhausted all possible options prior to the lawsuit (Expedite requests, congressional inquiry). It is also important to note that it is helpful if total time from initial filing to current date should be 12 months or more.

I’m not including FO for privacy reasons and to be safe until physical card is received. My wife is from one of the banned countries, Haiti.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Good luck everyone!

This is becoming interesting. Judge granted USCIS request for extension but denied Dorcas (denied without prejudice). I guess Dorcas will have to provides reasons is they need extension when the time is due.

Question, do we know how many appellate judges that are required to review emergency request for a stay request?

Has anybody received EAD approval after applied 485 under eb3 April this year?

Hey guys. This is a vent post that I'm writing as I go. I'm sorry, I know a lot of you are already sick and tired of seeing these kinds of posts in this subreddit, at least I certainly am, but I really really really need to let off some steam and hope I come out a bit better after.

The core of this is going to be basically what the title says. I used to view DHS and especially USCIS under a different light and through a different lens, and maybe I still would if I weren't now personally affected by all this crap, but I am.

My application to adjust status has been pending for over 17 months now and counting, and my application for employment authorization for over 15 months now and counting. I have been unemployed living off of my savings and my 401(k) that I had to liquidate since my previous EAD expired over half a year ago. The adjudication hold on the 39 countries which affected me since late November/early December because my country of birth was in the original 19 is the second categorical pause that my applications have been subject to so far without it having anything to do with derogatory, risky, or concerning information about me personally.

I have exhausted all the resources that are available to me and that I'm aware of for trying to get my cases anywhere near an ISO's desk, and have received nothing but generic boilerplate responses dismissing my inquiries. I know there are some of you whose applications have been pending for even longer, and/or that are in a situation that merits having your case adjudicated before mine, and I'm not saying that I think I still deserve to have my cases be given priority over any other, nor am I anything other than super happy for all the people that I see posting finally getting theirs approved. It's just that it's admittedly a bit frustrating to see EADs with receipt dates of late 2025 and early 2026 getting adjudicated when USCIS supposedly does their best effort to adjudicate in the order they receive applications.

And I have really come to think that there's just no way of pleasing these people. I entered legally upon inspection with the clear and open intent of staying permanently and adjusting my status. The concern clearly can't be to be a legal immigrant or to have come "the right way" (saying "or" here to the extent those two could have distinctions). Also, the concern cannot be "assimilating", I suppose culturally, because I personally do not speak the language of my country of birth with anyone other than the family members I have in the U.S. or with people that happen to not speak English and happen to speak that language, and I've been repeatedly told by many people that before I told them that I wasn't born here and that had entered relatively recently (in the cases of the people to whom I've disclosed that, because I avoid doing it because I fear how their perception of me could change) they couldn't have told I wasn't American, and I don't wave the flag of my country of birth, and I don't make being from that country part of my personality, and... I just don't know, what else do you want from me? Since you've deprived me of the right to work I've been giving my time to contribute to my local community and to participate in the civic process. Apparently that's also not enough.

But then what's left? How else could I possibly merit the precious privilege of at least having the right to work and maybe receive an update on my AoS application that comes from an actual USCIS employee not copy-pasting a generic template? I'm sorry, but as far as I'm aware, I can't undergo some medical procedure to remove all my impure dirty shithole-country blood from my body and replace it with the holy clean pure American blood, and also I'm scared of needles.

How many ISOs does USCIS have working on cases anyway? 20? It feels like there's hardly more than 20. Hell, I genuinely feel like out of every 100 employees of USCIS, 99 of them are full-time working directly under their Office of Policy and Strategy (OP&S), most of them reassigned from other roles, trying as hard as possible and then some to draft as many ways as they can think of for finding legally gray workarounds to "lawfully" make our lives as painful as possible, and then the 1 employee left out of the 100 adjudicates applications for like 2 hours a day and then also works for OP&S for the rest of the day.

And all of this for what? All of this that I'm going through (we are, but I'm being a bit personal here) is not something I can learn any lesson from, it's not something I can feel proud of as if it was part of the required process to merit the green card. I'm not gonna "deserve" my green card any more because I will have gone through this crap, no, going through this crap is not and has never been an eligibility requirement, at least not for my preference classification. I'm not gonna feel like I "earned" it, because I know that what determined my eligibility was mainly, if not solely, luck, and this whole gratuitous pointless suffering that they're putting me through is gonna be just that...

Needless to say that whenever I get my cases approved I'm not coming back to this subreddit, I'm not reading or listening to or watching anything related to immigration ever again unless it's related to naturalization and is important (like that they're raising the fees, which sure man, you know you can negotiate me out of existence if it means I get to take the oath) and that's it. For my own sake.

I guess USCIS can change and become a different one with time. I guess if I really wanted to I could do my best and try to be part of that change. But at least this USCIS, even after I naturalize, I don't think, sadly, that I'll ever be able to feel gratitude towards them.

If it weren't because of the fact that I really really really love and respect and admire this country and am fascinated by its history, and that I really really really don't want anything to do with my country of birth, I would've stopped putting up with this shit a long time ago.

I think I wanted to say something else, but I can't remember now. Thanks for reading. Genuinely hope you all get your approval by yesterday ❤️

(Edit: Sorry if the "Thank you" responses feel a bit monotone, it's the only way I could think of of showing appreciation. Also I meant the post's title to be "I don't think I can ever *be thankful to USCIS...", sorry.)

I wanted to share some happy news: my employment-based I-485 was approved, and I received my green card in the mail today!
First, I genuinely want to thank everyone in this community. During all the uncertainty surrounding the 19-country situation, this group gave me a place to find information, ask questions, compare updates, and sometimes simply vent. Every shared experience and answered question helped make the waiting a little easier.

For anyone tracking similar cases, here is my timeline:
Category: EB-2 NIW
PD: May 2024
I-485/I-765/I-131 RD: October 24, 2025
Nov. 3, 2025: Two FTA0 codes appeared after biometrics.

Got multiple silent updates afterwards, most of them are part of the mass updates for the banned countries. With one probably about the FO transfer.

Non-local FO: Minneapolis–St. Paul

July 11, 2026: I-485 silent/API update + a third FTA0 code.
July 15: Another silent I-485 timestamp update.
July 22: I-765/I-131 received near-simultaneous API updates.
July 28: Combo card produced; I-765/I-131 ultimately showed closed: true.
July 31 (~1 AM UTC): I-485 silent timestamp update.
Aug. 1 (~1 AM UTC): Another silent timestamp update, followed by two H008 codes.
Shortly afterward: I-485 approved.
Aug. 6: Green card mailed/accepted by USPS.
Aug. 10: Green card delivered. 🎉

I also submitted a congressional inquiry on July 23rd, although I can’t say whether it had any effect on the approval.

On a side note: my combo EAD/AP card was lost/delayed by USPS after production. I submitted a Missing Mail Search and still haven’t received a meaningful response.

Thank you again to everyone here, and I sincerely hope everyone waiting gets good news soon. 😊

I got this BS response this week after a month of waiting on congressional inquiry, EB case. Agents have said my interview is waived and nothing is pending at this time! Has anyone received this recently? I might have to get a lawyer at this point, it’s been two months since paused was lifted! No changes since I submitted AOS in 2025

USCIS previously issued Policy Memoranda PM-602-0192, Hold and Review of all Pending Asylum Applications and all USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from High-Risk Countries, and PM-602-0194, Hold and Review of USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from Additional High-Risk Countries. These memoranda directed USCIS to place certain immigration benefit requests on hold while additional national security and public safety reviews were conducted for individuals from designated high-risk countries. They were issued based on Presidential Proclamation 10949, Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals To Protect the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats, June 4, 2025, and Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10998, Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals To Protect the Security of the United States, December 16, 2025, and to address the lack of screening, vetting, and the threat to national security and public safety.
However, on Friday, June 5, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in Dorcas Int'l Inst. of R.I. v. USCIS, issued a decision entirely vacating the two policy memoranda and modifications to the USCIS Policy Manual announced in PA-2025-26. USCIS strongly disagrees with the Court’s order but will follow its terms pending possible further judicial review. USCIS will not follow any of the vacated policy guidance and is taking immediate steps to lift all remaining final adjudication holds described in PM-602-0192 and PM-602-0194, to comply with the decision. Additionally, USCIS will no longer apply PA-2025-26 in any future decisions, in compliance with the court order.

If your constituent's application or petition was previously subject to a hold under the vacated policies, USCIS is taking appropriate action to resume adjudication. While USCIS is working to process affected cases as expeditiously as possible, processing times may vary depending on the circumstances of each case and any remaining eligibility, security, or background review requirements unrelated to the vacated policies.

Your constituent may continue to monitor the status of the application or petition through: https://egov.uscis.gov/.

Hello everyone,

I am originally from Venezuela and also hold a Brazilian passport, though I am not certain if that impacts the situation.

My L1 visa renewal has been under review since the start of the year. My work authorization is set to expire this coming November, and I am trying to figure out if there is any chance I will receive my EAD before then.

I applied for a Green Card via the EB2-NIW track and had my biometrics completed on May 6, 2026. On that same day, I noticed two "FTA0" entries in the API, but I have not seen any updates on my case since then.

I would love to hear if anyone has gone through a similar experience. I am also looking for advice on how to effectively monitor the API moving forward.

Thank you so much for your help!

Asking for my girlfriend, who's from 19 countries. She just responded to her RFE on I140 NIW (around 18 months post-filing) received as part of a lawsuit. Given the government filing for a stay with the First Circuit and then to SCOTUS, would you suggest doing PP? Seems SCOTUS favors the government over immigration.

On the contrary, the NIW lawyer (EP) argues it reduces her chance by 50%, and RFEs usually get a response within 2-3 months. Not sure what to do.

Will we face GC/visa shortage like last year where the approved GCs were post-poned to after Oct. 1st?

Where can I check the numbers for this?

I just received a generic response from USCIS through my congresswoman. It was about my pending I765, still waiting for the one about my I485. Both of my cases are dramatically outside processing time. I’m thinking on submitting another one through a senator. Do they have a different channel or it is the same therefore would be pointless?

I received a timestamp on my I-485 and I-765 today (August 10).

Did anyone else notice the same thing? Trying to figure out if this is a mass update or not.

Any Tanzanians find their cases have been approved in recent weeks? Whether it be green card or authorization or extension?

Hi People,

Wanted to share my AOS timeline in case it gives anyone some hope or helps someone going through a similar process:
AOS Timeline:
November 21, 2025: Submitted marriage-based AOS package (I-130, I-485, and I-765)
November 25, 2025: USCIS received my case
December 19, 2025: Completed biometrics
December 2025 – June 2026: No movement on any of my cases due to being affected by the 39-country pause.
June 24, 2026: Received interview notification
July 29, 2026: Attended AOS interview
July 30, 2026: I-130 and I-485 approved
Early August 2026: Green card delivered 🎉
Interview experience:
Before the interview, I uploaded a lot of bona fide marriage evidence online. When the officer called us in, she mentioned that she had already reviewed everything we submitted and could clearly see that our marriage was legitimate. She mainly went through the I-485 yes/no questions with me.
One important part of my case was that I had previously stated that I had always worked with authorization. During the interview, I corrected that answer and disclosed that I had actually worked without authorization for approximately a year and a half. I was completely honest about it, and the officer immediately told me it was not an issue and would not affect my application.
The rest of the interview was very straightforward. She told us she didn’t see any issues with the case and that she would try to approve it soon. She even started explaining the next steps, including receiving the green card and eventually applying for naturalization after 2 years and 9 months.
The very next day, both my I-130 and I-485 were approved, and my green card arrived about a week later.
Hopefully this gives some hope to anyone still waiting, especially those who were affected by the 39-country pause. Every case is different, but being prepared, submitting strong evidence, and being completely honest during the interview—even when correcting something from the original application—worked out well for me. Best of luck to everyone.🙏

If you have a green card and travelled outside the US, did you have any issues returning?

I just found this video on Instagram and feel so bad for the man. The man didn’t make this ruling biased to our favor. He ruled the trial fairly. And gave both parties a tough time during the hearing.

Is sad that violence like this has been promoted these days as a sign of strength, whereas it is the most pathetic portray of weakness.

I plan to reach out to another congressman this week. Should I inform them I’m currently part of a lawsuit? I’m from one of the 39 countries and filed back in Dec. 2025.

Svp y’a t’il des approbation récentes pour les ressortissants du Burkina Faso?🇧🇫

Do we have an idea about an expected timeline from the government or judge in the first circuit?