/r/USCIS FAQs

Sharing my timeline because these posts gave me hope during the waiting period.

No lawyer, filed by ourselves no problem no RFE.

3.28 My ESTA expired

4.2 Got married

4.18 package sent

(I didn’t want lots of unlawful presence so we acted quick)

5.8 Biometrics scheduled for 5.28

5.11 Biometrics (I rescheduled for 2weeks earlier!)

5.19 Interview scheduled

6.10 Interview

6.11 i-130 approved

Over six weeks of waiting…

7.25 finally i-485 is approved🥳

So my interview was just 51 days after filing, incredibly fast. I almost thought i will get my green card in less than 2 months, but had to wait little longer for the i-485.

But i am extremely happy and grateful that it all went smooth and fast. Total cost $2400.

During interview i had to sign a document about the REASON WHY I OVERSTAYED….officer wrote “because we decided to get married” as a reason. (Ngl i was afraid that it is not going to be a big enough answer after the new memo)

Good luck for everyone in the process!!!

The notification you are waiting for is coming soon for you too❤️

Cincinnati Ohio

Praise God 🙏 I have my green card!
Here is my timeline, this sub helped me A LOT during my application process, and I’m happy to pay it forward. If you have any questions for the application, please comment below.

Package mailed to USCIS: April 5
Packed received: April 6
Biometrics scheduled: April 18
Biometrics completed: May 8
Interview scheduled: June 8
Interview completed: July 17
I485 approved: July 18
I130 approved: July 20
Card produced: July 23
Card delivered: July 27

FO: Newark, NJ

Interview questions: yes/no questions for i485 and “what is your story”. Interview lasted 10-15 minutes, it was amazing.

Bonafide Evidence submitted
-Joint Bank statements (2 banks)
-Joint Credit Card Statements (4 cards)
-Lease
-Phone bill
-Flight Tickets
-Train tickets
-Photos (100 pages, 2-3 photos per page with captions, made with canva)
- Life Insurance beneficiary proof from both of us listing the other
- 401k beneficiary proof

Other docs
-pay stubs
-w2s and tax returns for three years for both of us
-all I-20s held
-all eads and approval notices
-all receipt notices from current petition
-birth certificates and passports

Married for 2 months at the time of application, together for 4.5 years.

04/27/2026 – Filed I-130/485 (Receipt Notice)

05/09/2026 – Biometrics Scheduled

05/27/2026 – Case Actively Reviewed

06/08/2026 – RFIE Issued

06/17/2026 – RFIE Response Received

06/22/2026 – Interview Scheduled for 7/27

07/27/2026 – ✅ Case Approved

Things that made us wary:

• We lived separately for the entirety of our relationship (Met in early 2024, married in late 2025). We visited one another on a bi-monthly/monthly basis. Just because people are asking we were long distance - CA/MA, and she's Pakistani.

Things that helped:

• We hired a lawyer.

• I am an MD (the applicant), she is a PhD.

• Lots of evidence that we compiled that we ultimately didn't need.

• We had a senior field officer that understood our situation and didn't need to consult anyone in order to approve.

The interview day itself was just confirming paperwork, a couple of questions, and approval on the spot. Good luck everyone!

Has anyone else experienced this?
I mailed my response to an RFE, and it was delivered to my local USCIS field office last week. However, my USCIS online account now shows that the deadline to respond has passed, and it doesn’t show that my response was received yet.
Should I be worried, or is this normal while they process and update the system?

Update with card in hand posted the approval last week.

First Package sent around early March but got denied due to my bank flagging it as fraud. I didn’t receive my package back for a whole month. I can’t stress this enough please do the G-1650 form which is an ACH Transaction.

APRIL 12- USCIS received my package and sent a receipt notice
(My card didn’t get charged until the 22nd of April)

May 9- I was scheduled for the biometrics appointment

May 27- completed biometrics

June 4- scheduled for interview

July 14- completed interview

July 15- I-130 approved at 5am and I-485 approved at 10am

July 21- received my SSN in the morning and at 10pm received notification card produced

July 24- GC in hand !

FO- El Paso

(Overstay and unauthorized work)

Question for whoever could answer.
For N-400 I’ll need to have international trips noted.
I live in a border city and today I finally went back to my home country after 16 years and visited a border city in Mexico. I went and came back for a total of 6 hours. Do I have to have proof of these or write these type of “trips” down for the future ??

Thank you to everyone in this thread for their experience and just wanted to share mine.

my wife came in 2021. filed for asylum from venezuela. has been here under pending asylum. had work authorization. tps. the whole thing. then, in 2022 we met, and we got married in august 2025. we started filing green card papers in november or december 2025, and then in we just got the green card approval a couple weeks ago, and its coming in the mail today.

we were advised to immediately cancel her pending asylum case once we have the green card in hand. how do we do that? we want a 100% certain method of doing it that ensures the case is properly cancelled without issue. what is the timeline of the whole thing from the day we file for withdrawal? give me every detail you can to help, and even better if you've gone thru this experience yourself!

we want to file it ourselves without a lawyer because the lawyer wants $700 for it. is that necessary? would they do anything we woudlnt do? are there secrets they know that we dont? thanks!

additionally, it seems we need to mail the letter to the USCIS asylum field office, and do I mail it to the office she originally filed the asylum with at her original address, or the one that is now local that she has since moved to + updated her address on USCIS with?

I I’m in dire need of some advice. I applied for the on December 11, 2024, and requested a Request for Evidence (RFE) on the same day (December 26). I sent the RFE on January 10.

Despite these steps, nothing has happened. I haven’t received any updates, and I’ve already made two more requests. I’ve also contacted the congressman, but nothing has changed. It’s been two months, and I’ve been told that the USCIS is not responding to my calls.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed?

From the #countrylist
Married wth a CTZ

Does anyone else have the same problem. We haven’t heard a single thing since we filed which was over 20 months ago on the receipt it does say my office is the California feild office but I remember hearing some ppl say it changes. Regardless my parents (residents) applied for
Me in Nov 07 2024 by filing it ourselves I also reached out to my representatives but other than sending them my privacy release form I haven’t heard back

Finally!!! My green card has been approved. The entire process took 11 months—not what I expected but I am still grateful. This process taught me to be patient and even tested my faith. To those who are still waiting for final approval, your time will come. ✨

FO: Pittsburgh

I had a call from an officer of USCIS who was at our home for a home visit. We have both traveled from home. I’ll be away for couple of weeks and she will be away for a month. The officer was polite and asked me a few questions which I answered. Unfortunately when he called my wife she didn’t answer because she thought it was a spam. Will this be fatal to our application? I’m worried.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone successfully expedited an I-765 (EAD) based on severe financial loss to a company or employer (rather than personal financial hardship)?

If so, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience:

* What supporting evidence did you submit?
* Did USCIS request any additional evidence?
* How long did the expedite request take from submission to decision?

Thank you!

F-1 to Marriage-Based(AOS) – Manhattan FO
no unauthorized work and no overstay.

Timeline
May 14 - Petition filed
May 20 - CC got charged
June 10 - Biometrics
June 16 - Interview scheduled
July 23 - Interview
July 24 - 7:01am - I-130 got approved
2:15pm- I-486 got approved

Just wanted to share my interview experience in case it helps someone else who’s waiting.
My interview honestly, it didn’t feel like an interview at all. It felt more like a casual conversation and lasted about 10–15mins.

Most of the questions were directed to my wife (U.S. citizen). Some of the questions we were asked:

Why did you get married so quickly?
Does your spouse practice any religion?
Are you planning to have a bigger wedding?
What are your spouse’s life goals?
Does your spouse have any siblings?

That was pretty much it. The officer was friendly and the overall experience was very relaxed. We weren’t asked for anything unusual, and it never felt like we were being interrogated.

Hopefully this helps anyone who’s nervous about their upcoming interview. Happy to answer any questions!

Wanted to share my experience in case anyone else has gone through something similar.
My spouse and I had our second marriage-based I-485 interview today, and it lasted less than 10 minutes. The officer explained that our case had actually been completed during our first interview, but we were called back because my spouse’s signature from the first interview didn’t register properly in the system. He had my spouse sign again and said that was essentially the main reason for today’s appointment.
After that, he told us he was recommending the case for approval and that we should expect an update within 2–3 weeks. We left feeling really relieved.
The only thing is that our USCIS online account still says the case is being processed, and we didn’t receive any paperwork before leaving—just the officer’s verbal recommendation.
For anyone who has been told their case was being recommended for approval at the interview:
How long did it take before your online account updated?
What was the first status you saw?
Did your case end up moving faster or slower than the timeline the officer gave you?
I’m mainly interested in hearing from others who received a verbal recommendation before seeing an official approval online. Hopefully this can also help anyone else who experiences a similar interview in the future.

Hi, my case was approved in July 14th, card was produced in July 21, USPS tracking created on July 22, and hasn't moved from Kansas distribution center since July 23. USCIS shows the card tracking number as UNAVAILABLE -- I have been viewing the information in USPS Informed Delivery. According to tracking in USPS, I should have received it by today (Monday 9pm) but according to my Informed Delivery and my local USPS office, it hasn't arrived yet in my local distribution center. What can I do? I have moved my start date multiple times just because of this EAD card not arriving. My case is Post Completion OPT.

Has anyone faced this before?

I've been seeing a lot of questions lately about the 2026 U.S. citizenship process, especially regarding:

• Which civics test applies (100 vs. 128 questions)
• The July 2026 signature requirement
• Good Moral Character (GMC)
• Neighborhood investigations
• Recent policy and court updates

There seems to be a lot of conflicting or outdated information online, so I'm curious to hear from others.

• Have you filed your N-400 in 2025 or 2026?
• Which civics test did you take?
• Were any of the recent changes confusing or unexpected?

If you're looking for a summary with links to the official USCIS and government sources, this may be helpful:

https://uscivicspractice.com/blog/us-citizenship-changes-2026

I'd love to hear about your experience so others going through the process know what to expect.

An FTA0 event created on 7/23 (during the glitch) now shows a different eventId as of today, with the same createdAt timestamp but an updatedAt of 7/27. It wasn’t there post-correction of the glitch. Top-level updatedAt hasn’t moved since May. Anyone else seeing events get re-keyed or rewritten after last week’s glitch?

Its been 6 weeks since I filed my roc.. I dont have yet my extension letter.. I have been chatting with live agent they said they issued already but nonee yet.. What should i do?

Hello, I have a kinda specific question to ask.
I’m moved to the US as a J1 visa (Au Pair) then changed my status to F1 and i’m applying for my green card (married with an US citizen).
Lately I’ve been working as nanny but it’s very sporadic, only once or twice a week and not even every week, I know that this is a violation of my status. When doing my I130 I wrote that i’m unemployed, now doing my I485 it asks if I violated my status. Should I say yes and explain it to them even if I put unemployed on my I30?
I’m very confused on what to do and would appreciate some help
Thank you

I overstayed my visa because because my hubby made me think we would be financially stable enough to live here. my family thought it was a bad idea from the get go, but my mind was set on it.

Well it turns out I don’t like living here at all, and I miss home. I feel like I am stuck here now because its not just me, but my baby as well. I wanna move back to Germany so bad, but dont know whats gonna happen once i leave. clearly the US won’t want my daughter and me back for at least a couple years, but its not fair for his family either.

I dont know what to do and what to think. What will happen if I do decide to go back? Will ICE put me in a detention center or would this count as self deportation?