My green card processing timeline

As I mentioned earlier, once I had obtained my K1 Fiance visa, there wasn’t much of a rest before I arrived in the USA, gotmarried and began the next phase of the immigration procedure which included more form filling, appointment attending and evidence gathering for the USCIS.  As the green card processing went on over a period of months, I thought it might be useful to write a summary of it as a chronological list - so here is my green card processing timeline.

IMPORTANT: Be aware that not everyone’s application follows quite the same pattern as my own.  I have read various accounts and the time delays can vary considerably, as can the order of events (for example, unlike me, many people receive their temporary work and travel permits before they get their green card).

January 14^th – My wife and I got married.  This fulfilled the requirements of my K1 fiance visa.  To become a permanent resident and obtain the necessary documents for getting work, however, I needed to apply for a green card next.

February 2nd - I received my social security card after applying for it at a social security office 10 days earlier.  Although it is not essential to the process of getting a green card, doing anything official can be difficult in the USA without a social security number, which is used as a form of I.D. proof, as well as for tax purposes.  The card had written across it that I could only work with DHS authorization.

January and February - My wife and I make up a list of everything that we would need as evidence and began gathering it together for my green card application.

February 25^th - Attend a medical and get my I-693 form filled out (confirmation of my vaccine records by a US doctor).

March 14^th - Put in the application for greencard (I-485), along with applications for a temporary work permit (I-765) and travel permit (I-131), all our evidence, a check for the fee, and a green receipt card for the USCIS to stamp and return to me.

March 18^th – Received the green receipt card I sent with package back, stamped by USCIS Chicago.

March 25^th - Received notification that my forms and fee money had been received (including receipts for the temporary work [I-765] and travel [I-131] documents as well as the green card) – but also informed that I’d forgotten to include payment for the biometrics appointment and I needed to send them the money before my case would proceed.

April 3^rd - Received confirmation that they’d received the money for the biometrics and that they would send me a date for my biometrics appointment in due course.

April 17^th - Receive a “Transfer Notice”, informing me that they have transferred my case to the California Service Center to speed up the green card processing.

June 30^th - Invited to attend a biometrics appointment on July 20th.

September 18^th - Receive notification that my green card application has been accepted and they will send me a green card shortly.

September 20^th - Received my green card in the mail.

Now that the green card process was complete and I had my green card, I requested that my social security card be changed to remove the writing on it that stipulated I could only work with DHS authorization.  Received my replacement card on September 26th.

I can take a breather now regarding immigration bureaucracy until my green card runs out in 2 years time and I have to replace it.

USCIS I-693 form and Vaccination Supplement

After getting married in the USA (Florida), I now had to file an I-485 Green Card application for permanent residency.  This is also called seeking an adjustment of status (AOS).  If all went well with that, then I would be issued with a USCIS Green Card.  Before I could do that, however, I needed to get certification to show that all my vaccinations and health checks etc. were in order.  This was to be done with a USCIS I-693 form, I discovered, which I had to get filled out and then include when I sent in the I-485 Green Card application package. 

As I had had a K1 Fiance Visa Medical Exam back in London only a few months prior and had brought my copy of the vaccinations sheet with me to the USA, that made things a little easier when sorting out the USCIS I-693 form.  Essentially, because I had had my K1Fiance Visa Medical Exam within 12 months previous to putting in my I-485 Green Card application, I didn’t need to undergo another medical (phew!) and I only needed the USCIS i-693 supplemental form filling out, not the entire I-693 form.

The I-693 supplemental form relates only to the vaccination supplement part of the form and has to be filled out by a designated civil surgeon, which basically means a USCIS approved doctor.  There is a list of practices on the USCIS website that I used to help me find a designated civil surgeon.  Apparently, prices vary considerably, so you are supposed to shop around.  In my small city, however, there were only two practices with a designated civil surgeon and one of them never answered my calls, so I didn’t have a great deal of choice.  The price wasn’t bad, however.  I forget what the fee was but it was somewhere in the region of $35.  I had to keep telling them that I only needed the I-693 supplemental form doing, however, and did not require the entire medical (which would have cost considerably more and was completely unnecessary in my case).

Anyway, I booked an appointment and it was all very straightforward.  As it had already been determined that I met the US vaccination requirements for the medical exam back in London, I just took along my passport as ID and my copy of the vaccine worksheet that I had been given to me after my London medical and they copied my details from the vaccine worksheet over onto the USCIS I-693 supplement.   I didn’t need any extra vaccinations.  The I-693 supplement was then stamped and signed by the designated civil surgeon and I was given a sealed envelope that I was told under no circumstances should I open. 

Now that I had sorted out my USCIS i-693 supplemental form, I was ready to put together my I-485 Green Card application package.