Donut

The forum members may be interested in the following timeline

6/5/2000 Marriage to american citizen - out of status for about a year

4/2/2001 AOL Application receipt received

5/9/2001 EAD received - with wrong Alien number

9/20/2001 Fingerprinted - using the wrong Alien number from EAD

9/27/2001 Interview in Santa Ana, CA - no problems, but no FBI approval
received yet

12/10/2001 Notice discrepancy in Alien numbers - new fingerprints
submitted with correct number

4/15/2002 AOS approved with conditions, about 20 days before 2nd wedding
anniversary

1/17/2004 Removal of Conditions application submitted

1/27/2004 Receipt received - Green Card extended by 1 year - eareliest
adjudication date listed is december 2004 (330 days minimum)

7/21/2004 Conditions Removed

7/22/2004 Passport stamped - new GC expected within 6 months

I had an attorney to help with the process up to and including the
interview - the Removal of Conditions Application I filed myself. The
service center was Laguna Niguel and the offices I dealt with were in
Santa Ana, CA. Although the process is slow and one expects fanfares and
brass bands with some of the milestones, everyone I dealt with was
unfailingly courteous and helpful. But it is frustrating that we - most
of us, anyway, go to incredible lengths to submit documents and
applications in exactly the right way. We agonize over the tiniest
detail - I spent half a day huntimg down just the right kind of fastener
to clip the documents together, for example. And all of that is to waste
when someone transposes a couple of numbers and a simple mistake like
this sets you back months. In my particular situation, the delays did
not have a major negative impact and i should not sweat the small stuff.

I got a lot of info from this forum over the last 2-3 years and a vote
of thanks has to go to the savvy regulars who must spent a lot of time
sharing their knowledge with us. Also, I suspect that there are a few
actual INS officers here - I'll never know - and I often wondered
whether their job is a gratifying one or they go home at the end of the
day frustrated. Probably a mixture of both, but if they come here and
help out with sharing knowledge, that's admirable and thanks for that.

Best of luck to everyone!

Donut