Hey mate! I hear ya! I’ve seen people who get their EADs in 50+ days, yet here I am 118 days in and still waiting. I’m living in Illinois, me and my wife have 6 kids and we’re just relying on my wife’s salary alone. As a man who’s worked every day since I was 16 years old, not working doesn’t seem right and/or normal for me. Add to the fact I feel degraded and useless because my wife is working her fingers to the bone to provide for our children and us. I want to work. I’m able to work. But I’m not allowed to work until the US government say so…. Adjustment package submitted August 7th 2022. Received August 10th 2022. Biometrics on September 7th 2022.

@Sean, I hear you, I live in Illinois too, same exact situation 😭

@M I it sucks mate! having to depend on my wife for everything down to a haircut is so belittling it’s unreal!

@Sean Really the same! let's get in touch on instagram or facebook or somerhing mate, what's your nickname?

I live in Illinois, submitted: August 2 nd 2022 received:August 2 nd 2022 biometric: August 24th 2022 I am F-1 visa , My OPT is expired, I am still waiting for my EAD. My employer kicked me out . I called USCIS many time . I am tired , I cannot sleep anymore 😧

similar timeline, still waiting. it’s a joke

Been looking at the data for this quite a lot recently. Unfortunately it’s not good news. They are focusing on approving applications recieved in financial year 2023 (so October 2022 onwards) and then every day, they select a random bin number (IOE091_) to work from. if you don’t get approved instantly after biometrics, you go into the backlog and have to wait until your bin is randomly selected. What it means for us (myself included, PD August) is that the process is quite literally luck of the draw at the moment. you have to wait until your bin number is selected and hope they pull up your individual case at random. There is no queue, there’s no line. You’re just rolling the dice every day. I’m in a very similar position to all of you (and from the UK too, Sean).

I have food stamps on my husband name but I didn't get benefits because I didn't qualify I use food stamps every month don't worry

@M I just search my name mate 🤘🏻🤘🏻✌🏻✌🏻

@C H how’d you find this information? Oh really? I’m from Hampshire, how about you mate?

hi Sean I’m in the same boat there are jobs that immigrants or undocumented people can do that don’t require all that. Not sure if In your state .. I’m a 254 days, filed in March 2022 and still no EAD

I’ve been bored as hell and spending far too much time looking at the daily uploads on hilites.today and other case tracker data dumps. you can clearly see that there are peaks in random receipt number bins each day. Like some days there will be lots of IOE0916, and others will focus on IOE0913. There’s not an even rate of approval, it seems like they select a group to work on at random each day. Go to Hilites.today and plug your receipt number into the insights section. you’ll see how many people have been approved with receipt numbers within 1000 digits of yours. For me, it’s 29%. So the vast majority who filed on the same day as me have not recieved anything yet.

i know it sucks here 🥹

@C H if that website is true, then USCIS should be getting ready to work on my EAD. My receipt number is IOE0917188842 and the last one they approved on the 5th December is 0971788343….

@sean cox what is their get approve for you? EAD?

@Sean Cox that’s a good sign, shows that your bin of cases is still getting activity. Unfortunately I believe the selection process is random so adjacent numbers getting selected is no guarantee. But it does mean progress in the right direction

Hi all, i can really relate to how you are all feeling, every day I wake up I check my progress, my husband says I am not really present, I don’t seem to be able to focus on anything else while this is hanging over me, so hard to be positive. we are all scattered all over the US and share our frustrations on forums, lucky for USCIS… I wonder if there are protests going on anywhere around the country, there are millions of us… they should allow people to work with just receipt notices, not only for extensions, if they cannot seem to fulfil their basic functions. it just sucks, this country is built on immigration, it needs immigration, a total hypocrisy

mine is IOE0917125xxx, close to you Sean, PD Aug 4th

Hi Jules! Hopefully if what @C H has said is true, then we should within days or a couple of weeks at the most between. I really hope at least one of us gets some good news - preferably in time for Christmas….

I’m on the same boat! 463 days waiting … all savings gone and all credit cards maxed out .. got a big debt to pay whenever I finally get my ead! so frustrating

mine is 915

I'm only waiting 169 days but I've been in USA almost for a year. We just couldn't apply earlier. And sitting home for so long is making me crazy, I try to get distracted but doesn't help sometimes. I actually should stop checking this app... when people get their work permissions within 1-2 months it makes me very sad. maybe we all need to get distracted from checking the app at least. it's not helping:(

Guess what I am googling today? how to organize a peaceful protest…Not that it would make a diffrence, just trying to make myself feel better, but my husband told me to wait until I get approved (a bit hypocritical). I am in Houston btw, all cases except I-130 are at NBC…

@Jules my wife tells me the same thing “you’ll get approved when you get approved” but she doesn’t understand that I’m 34 years old and I should be taking care of my wife and children - she shouldn’t be working 2 jobs, have 3 credit cards that are all maxed out, have no savings etc I’m in Illinois and all my cases are with the NBC. I’m this close to writing to Ur Jaddou lol (just joking)

the annoying thing is, most of us would be understanding if the green card itself was taking ages, as long as we got provided with a timely EAD so we could work. But waiting for months on end with no work authorization in an inflationary economy is just straight up rough, no matter how you slice it. I’ve been in the US since the spring, and wasn’t able to file until late summer. That’s 8 months of unemployment and counting, while I could’ve been working, helping US companies make money, and spending money in the US economy.

@C H Agreed. I don't care at all when I get a green card, but EAD would help a lot. It's very difficult when only one in the family provide money. And yes, more EAD = more workers = more money for US economy from our taxes.

@C H mine is only 5.8%

I’m glad we all here just explaining our situation and difficulties… feeling like more of a family than strangers because we all understand what it is like on those side of town.

i find it funny that the USCIS is hiring or looking to hire yet they the ones not giving out EAD! I think they should change their statistics about things. i think that after fingerprint and picture be taken (biometric ) and there’s no criminal charges, theft or fraud either way I think everyone should receive an EAD WITHIN 3 months max. just so they can help family members

I think USCIS should be departmentalized. 1 department deals with non-immigrant visas. 1 department deals with I-765’s. 1 department deals with I-130’s. 1 department deals with I-131’s. 1 department deals with I-864’s and I-485’s etc etc it’s not uncommon to have multiple departments within an organization. But it’s abundantly clear that that’s not the case and that USCIS are just dealing with stuff as and when and it’s just making stuff worse. Their business strategy isn’t working whatsoever. The backlog is still present and frustration among pending immigrants is building.

they do have different departments! that’s why some cases are else where than others cause each department deals with different cases however those departments are moving extremely slow. i think they need a new system that involves with computer vs actually people

Yeah but their departments are all over the place - their should be 1 team dealing with work authorizations etc etc

I read somewhere that as the first step towards efficiency they used the funds to give promotions to existing staff and the hiring will mainly increase in 2023. they need to digitize pronto. learn from companies like Amazon and FedEx not to lose documents. replacement green cards should not be taking forever, a bank issues replacement card within two days, why does USCIS take so long is beyond me. 1mil cases in the backlog are apparently replacement cards. I lived in the UK before, not a perfect system either and it was before the pandemic but I found it much easier than the US and quicker. taxes much easier as well, took me 15-30min to do a tax return all by myself. systems here are designed to benefit the rich and to confuse the poor. 5k for immigration lawyer for AOS as a retainer is what I was quoted. it did take me like 2 months to put together an error free package but I am glad I saved the money. sorry for the rant, i just feel like this situation is not something family or friends can relate to unless they are in the same boat so talking to you all is my therapy. this is the first time in my life I joined online forums. this thread today is becoming my favorite

you right. Canada and Uk system are much faster. i feel like they just unorganized and low on staff with under pay. To top it off they only hiring certain people for certain categories. Not categorizes of AoS or anything but just student visa. The whole system is horrible. There’s people that been married for over 3 years and stilll no GC

hilites.daily is too addictive, thank you for recommending C H, today was more than 3000 approvals for IOE work permits, not sure if it’s a lot or normal, lots of 91778 got lucky today, I really can’t believe though how random the process is, there were 913s and 916s and 912s and 918s too, each of us is just a drop in the sea, at some point I got tired of scrolling down and realized how useless the whole excercise was so back to waiting hoping tomorrow will be my day or the day after … Have a nice day y’all !

@Jules the sheer randomness of it is absolutely astonishing! 88855 a card was delivered back in September! Thats 13 cases difference between mine and theirs - I’m 88842. This just clearly shows theirs no system and no fair adjudication of applications that USCIS state are processed on a “first in, first out” basis.

@Sean Cox they’ve issued statements saying that their priority is to complete applications filed in Financial Year 2023 within 3 months. So yeah, quite literally first in, first out. Sucks for people like us who filed before FY23 started in October 2022. @Jules S 3000 is quite low, most days it’s usually around 7000 or so.

@ C H it is terrifying that FY2022 filers will just get added to this huge backlog like 2020-2021 filers, I just hope to be within those lucky 80% who get their EAD within 8.5months, scary to end up within those unlucky 20% I wonder if I file again if they would reject me

on the lawfully app I’m at 9 months still waiting on my EAD and I try explaining to my lawyer to expedite it but she’s saying “ oh you’ll have to ask your employer to show proof and blah” I was like ok

@gigi what employer? lol you’re not allowed to seek or undertake work, so what is your lawyer waffling on about? lol

@ Sean cox at this point I have no idea. I’m not sure if I should ruffle her feathers by cursing at her so she can talk to uscis or just wait it out. i filed in March and we’re in December. my case at nbc so I’m not sure what really going on and my husband not working , I have a one year old. I’m doing babysitting jobs ( family and friends) just to get something. honestly sometimes I wish I could just go back home. at least I would be LEGAL and know how to work around the system.

@gigi I know exactly how you feel. My wife is working 2 jobs and it’s nowhere near enough to maintain our house as well as our 6 kids. At the end of the day, your lawyer is hired by you and therefore that would make you her boss. I would probably give her an ultimatum - expedite my case or you’re fired! As much as this is stressing me the fuck out, I don’t regret making my decision to remain here with my wife and kids - I’d do it over and over again if needs be. I just want to work. I’m able to work. But im not allowed to work! It’s ridiculous!

in previous months I saw many posts on facebooks where people expedited showing bills and were successful, in the last 4 weeks seeing fewer of those stories. you don’t need a lawyer to expedite. you call USCIS and wait 40 minute or you go to Emma and say infopass or ‘connect to live agent’ and you tell them I want to expedite on severe financial loss to individual, they give you a bunch of generic statements and you just keep saying I have a severe financial loss and I want to expedite and finally it gets you to the point where they let you type a 900 characters statement. May be you can show how much money you spend every month and how you have no insurance, lease or mortgage, whatever issues you have just have documents to prove. I don’t think it impacts I-485 application. after everything they give you the reference number of your query but after that nobody knows what happens, they might call, might send an email asking for additional evidence or might just totally ignore you. I am planning to wait a little bit more and if after 7-8 months I get nothing from them I will go senator or confressman route. and I will start calling them everyday or might show up at USCIS office with no appointment in March when I am 8months pregnant (we have a baby boy on the way). dunno, but I am not going down the 12 months waiting route without a fight

@Jules I just expedited! Me and my wife have 6 kids - 13, 11, 8, 4, 2 and 2 months old. My wife is paying the rent, electric, gas, and catering to our children’s needs all by herself. I got my reference number and now I just wait. I’m sure they can already utilize information contained within an application submitted to USCIS (I-864 etc).

@sean cox, omg god !!! and I bet you they know all this and still they don’t want to approve. makes me sick to think that America was built on immigration and undocumented people yet at the same time they don’t want to help us after years of being successful by us. Majority of our family lineage came here without papers years ago and help built this nation. sigh this is too much. all them kids and as a man I know you want to help your family. i know you want to provide and take off the burden off your wife back ..

@ C H, I can see on hilites daily many IOE I-765 cases are getting Initial RFEs and then are getting approved. I thought work permit cases rarely get RFEs, wondering if all of those are requests for evidence after expedites, thought you might have figured it out. thank you!