In this video, we'll talk about marriage interview waivers. Marriage interview waivers are happening.
So, we'll talk about who's getting them. And also, a full update about other applications
that are being processed really fast, like N-400 interviews, and other applications. So,
I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody. In this video, we'll talk about marriage green card interview waivers. Those
waivers are currently happening right now. Quite a few cases have been waived in our office,
also from the update from our Facebook group members of the group that were reporting this,
and also other colleagues. I wanted to kind of put it all together in one video and give you a full
update on this. And also, a quick update about a few other adjudications that are happening
with USCIS, to give you an update on timelines of cases, that are being processed in case it applies
to you as well. Before we dive in, if you're here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to our
channel. Click that bell to be notified so you don't miss any of our videos. And also, give us
a big like so YouTube is going to be able to share this video with many people just like you. My name
is Jacob Sapochnik, and I am an immigration attorney located in San Diego, California.
And I represent clients in all 50 states. And I made those videos for viewers just like you. So,
let's talk about marriage interview waivers. As you know, I was the first to report about
interview waivers back in April, if you remember… and we’ll link that video here as well… where
I reported about our clients started to get interview waivers for Adjustment of Status,
mostly employment-based. In the beginning, it was employment-based. So, USCIS started
waving those cases because, again, USCIS offices were closed and they had their own internal
reasoning behind it. Again, there was never an official policy, there was never an update, this
just started to happen. And then more and more attorneys and more and more clients were getting
those notices. And it became a kind of almost like a policy, not a policy but almost like a matter of
practice that they started waving interviews. As I remember back in the old days a few years ago,
employment-based cases never needed an interview. There was also… it was all done automatically. And
since Trump came into office, some of the policy changes. They started to interview
employment-based cases, which led to even more and more delays in the cases. However,
in recent months, we've also seen marriage-based cases like Adjustment of Status based on marriage
also were getting a waiver, which, again, was really surprising. But we also had those cases.
I know quite a few colleagues were getting them, and members of our Facebook were reporting. So,
this is something that is happening right now. And more and more cases are being waived. Now, again,
the reason behind it is that USCIS offices, as they're being reopened, the capacity to make
those interviews under the COVID-19 regulations… and again, we've done a video where we kind of
explained the reopening of USCIS offices that there's a limited amount of people,
you have to wait, you cannot be inside, in the lobby, and all the different requirements. So
as a result, their capacity to conduct interviews is also impacted. So, it seems like they've been
waving interviews. The kind of interviews that we've seen being waived are the following. So the
first, we've seen couples that are married to military personnel. So, when we have
people that are in the military, we had quite a few cases. I don't know if it's intentional
but those are the ones that we've seen and we want to report it back to you. If the US citizen spouse
is in the military, Navy, Army, quite a few of those cases are also getting interview waivers.
But again, remember, this is specifically for the first green card. When you have a green card,
and you’re married less than two years, it's only a conditional green card. So, I think the logic
behind it is this. Even if we waive the interview, the couple will need to be able to show the
government properly in less than two years, that they're still together. And most likely the same
couple will be interviewed when they go to move the conditional status of the green card when they
file form I-751. Then at that point, there will be an interview because they didn't have an interview
the first time. So, it's not like they're never going to have an interview, in my mind. They will
have an interview. And again, it's not something unreasonable. If they're trying to work with the
backlogs, if they're trying to work with their system, even if they wave interviews right now,
they will catch those couples and see them again in person when they go to remove the conditions.
The second type of application that we've seen interview waivers are our clients, they came to
the US on a fiancée visa. As you know, when you apply for a fiancée visa, it's quite a lengthy
process and then the fiancée goes through an interview at the US Embassy overseas before they
get the fiancée visa. Right? So, the interview consists of questions about the relationship,
very, very extensive evidence to show who they are, and fiancés will arrive in the US
for a 90-day period, and then they will marry the United States citizen, file the Adjustment
of Status applications. In those cases, quite a few of those, they will file Adjustment of Status
[inaudible] waivers. Again, perhaps USCIS is saying, we know [inaudible] cases, that
is a little bit less high risk because they have already been interviewed once by the US Embassy.
And now they're going to get their Adjustment of Status. And then they can get interviewed
again when they remove the conditional status of the green card. So, we may just skip that,
save some time, and let them get a green card by mail. So, that's another class of applicants
that we've seen. They had their interviews waived because they already came here on a fiancée visa,
and only then they had their Adjustment of Status. And finally, the last group of applicants we've
seen had interviews waived are those that have been married for more than two years.
So, we have quite a few applicants that were married three, four, or five years, and now,
they are filing their Adjustment of Status. Quite a few of those cases also had their interviews
waived. And again, maybe they are looking at those cases. And they see the couple have been
in a long term relationship. And some of these cases have been chosen for interview waivers.
Again, everything that I'm telling you is not a policy. I've never seen anything come from
the USCIS in writing to state that that's the case. But they're just something that we've seen
that happen in our office. We have reports in our Facebook group. We have close to 8000
members in our group. Once again, I encourage you to join the group if you want to see more of these
back and forth and updates between members of the group. The link
is in the description of this video. So again, this is some of the kind of
case examples that we've seen. And they continue, the USCIS, continues to send.
Again, the way it happens is that either the status will change online that the card is being
produced, or most of the time, it’s just a green card that has been sent in the mail. And that's
kind of how it is. So, we'll see. Hopefully, that will continue. Again, it's really going to help
speed up the process and help people just not wait that long. The other thing that I want to mention
in this video is the speed of the processing. So, for example, we have some examples here,
some DACA cases that we filed. And these cases were filed in May. And they already have their
approvals in June. So, about a month wait. And quite a few of those cases are here,
about a month wait for DACA. And here we have an N-400. There's a notice for an interview
for somebody that filed in the beginning of 2020, we have cases from the end of 2019 that
are getting their interviews just now. That's a good sign. So, interviews are coming for N-400s,
for cases that were filed late 2018, beginning of 2020. And the DACA pool was getting really, really
fast, about a month or so. That's good news. Also, I-90 applications to renew green cards, we've seen
those in our office. They have been approved in 30 days or less. I-90 applications are being really,
really sped up specifically in California. And we also have one case on the East Coast as well. So,
this is just some updates about interview waivers. A lot of these marriage case interviews are being
waived. And we hope to see more of those. And also, some applications are being processed really
fast like DACA renewals. Beginning now, we started to finally get N-400 interviews being scheduled
for our cases that were filed early in the year, late last year. And finally, I-90 process,
I-90 applications to renew green cards are going really, really fast. So, some good news report
here. Let's hope for more good news coming up. So once again, thank you for watching. If you’re here
for the first time, do not forget to subscribe to our channel. Click that bell to be notified and
give us a big like so that YouTube will be able to share the video with more people just like
you. Thank you for watching, and I will see you in our next video. Hey friends, we're not done yet.
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