Is USCIS still waiving green card interviews?
Several months ago, I posted a video talking about how USCIS is waiving
many green card interviews and many of you that were excited about this news.
It also sounded like many of you had your own green card interviews waved,
and were the successful owners of a green card
without having to go through that additional step.
But I also got a lot of comments from people asking about how long would
that process take and which type of cases that this applies to.
So in this video, I'll go ahead and talk about the current status of USCIS
waiving green card interviews, what to expect
and how long you might still have to wait for your application.
My name is Moumita
Rahman and I have been practicing immigration law for the past 13 years.
If you would like my help on your case, call our office at 212-248-7907.
We are based in New York,
but we work with immigration clients all over the United States.
Okay, so what is the current status of interview waivers at USCIS?
For those of you who did not see my previous video about how green card
interviews are getting waived, let me give you a little run through.
In its effort to minimize the backlog and catch up with all those cases
that are waiting for a decision for years on end, USCIS has been broadening
its discretion to waive interviews for first time green card applicants.
One of the ways that you may find out that your interview
is going to get waived is if you get that request
for a medical exam in the mail for your I-485 application.
In 99% of the cases that I have seen,
when a person gets issued a request
for evidence for just the I-693 medical examination
or for various other minor documents
such as an I-864W exemption of the affidavit support,
this is usually a sign that all USCIS is doing is filling out
a couple of little check boxes so that they can go ahead and approve
your case and get you issued your permanent resident card.
But if by now your immigration application is still pending
and still waiting for a decision and you have not yet received
this medical exam request for evidence, will your interview be waived?
The first thing that I can share with you is that USCIS is still waiving
the majority of green card interviews, especially for family based cases,
including I-130 petitions filed by spouses of U.S.
citizens or spouses of green card holders and for parents and children of U.S.
citizens as well.
So if you are waiting on a one step I-130
/ I-485 application, it is still pretty highly likely
that you are going to be waived for your initial interview.
Now, there are always exceptions to this rule
because there is no guarantee that you're not going to have your interview.
And in fact, if you have certain complex issues in your case,
such as criminal histories or prior removal proceedings in court
or you are in removal proceedings right now, then it's probably pretty likely that
you will still be called for an interview by the immigration officer.
And how about if you are waiting outside the U.S.
and you're waiting for your interview at your U.S.
consulate in your country?
Will your interview there be waived?
Now, the answer to this is probably not something that you will like
because there have been certain nonimmigrant visas
who have been receiving waivers of their interviews.
And this may include student visa applicants as well as visit
visa applicants who previously already had a visa approved.
But if you are applying for
an immigrant visa to come here as the relative of a U.S.
citizen or as the relative of a green card holder, the chances are unlikely
that you will have your interview waived
because that is still a part of the very formal process
of consular officers issuing visas to persons to enter the United States.
So what kind of applications are still having their interviews waived?
Well, in my experience, what we have been seeing in our office
is that persons applying for green cards based off of marriage
or through a family relationship or through VAWA are still consistently
seeing their interviews be waived with certain exceptions.
And the time frame that it is taking for all of this?
Well, that also still kind of depends on which local field
officer case is assigned to, because even if the interviews are being waived,
there are still certain field offices that are still busier than others.
And even if they waive those interviews, they still have to do that
paper and administrative work
of getting through file after file and application after application.
So what I could say is that the longest that I'm seeing for
some cases is still hovering right around a year.
And the quickest that I'm seeing for other cases
is somewhere between six months to ten months.
Again, depending on your local field office.
And also, please remember that USCIS is not just
sending medical exam requests for evidence by mail.
They're also still sending them by email.
And what I can also report to you right now is that some of the requests
for evidence for the medical exam that we’re seeing come through email
actually don't technically have a due date on them.
And you have to read everything very closely
to see if there is a deadline, because if you miss your deadline,
then your case would get denied, so make sure that whether you get
your request for the medical exam by post mail or by email, you read everything
really, really closely to make sure you get down all the information
and the dates by which you need to provide immigration their information.
Also, keep in mind, USCIS will never ask you to send money
through a wire transfer or through PayPal or through Venmo or through Cashapp.
The only way that USCIS takes payment is by check, money order, certified check,
or by credit card made payable to the Department of Homeland Security.
So if you are still waiting for a decision on your immigration case, rest assured
that you will hopefully see some movement and some activities soon.
Always check the processing timelines on the USCIS page and make sure you have
everything ready in terms of documentation in case you do get called
for your interview.
If you want my help navigating your immigration case, give us a call
at 212-248-7907.
I will continue to make videos sharing my knowledge and if you have
enjoyed this so far, give me a follow and make sure you follow me
on all of my other platforms, including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
My name is Alameda Brockman. I'll see you next time.