AOS approved and dinied

[grateful 0]

Well we had our AOS interview in Spokane April 18th. The officer called us all in at once, My husband, myself, and 3 children. And we were in there for 3 hours. She only asked 2 of the usual questions, "How did you meet?" and "WHat day were you married?" The rest of the time she shuffled papers and talked about them, destroying some, giving us back some (old tax papers), and correcting some. With 4 sets of papers, she seemed to find it a bit confusing. And she was training a new person.

However, although I had asked both doctors, in Canada and the civil surgeon in the US, about waivers, as well as a few times on this site, I got no answers. Well at the interview I sure did. the children were refused on the grounds of not having immunizations, and we were given waiver forms I-690 to fill out and send in, along with $265 EACH!!!! And we thought we were all through with this process.

I'm wondering if this I-690 could be added to this site in the forms section, so other people could have it ready when they go to the interview. And the waivers have to be applied for because of religious or moral conviction, NOT because one of your children had adverse reaction, or any other scientific reason. This is what I had written in my earlier requests, and it does not fly, because that is blaming them, whereas religious or moral reasons puts the onus on us. Good enough, but one has to know that.

So I received the Welcome to the US letter and my green card, but sure don't feel real welcome!!!

[planeobsessed 0]

Hey,

I understand the frustration of it all and the feeling of a never ending process...

Just curious though. Do you remember who was your interviewing officer? We have our interview at the Spokane office on May 16th so just curious.

[grateful 0]

Hey,

I understand the frustration of it all and the feeling of a never ending process...

Just curious though. Do you remember who was your interviewing officer? We have our interview at the Spokane office on May 16th so just curious.

Her name was Quarterman. She had a good sense of humour, which helped. She didn't ask for any of the evidence except the marriage license, didn't look at photos or anything.

[desert_fox 32]

Well we had our AOS interview in Spokane April 18th. The officer called us all in at once, My husband, myself, and 3 children. And we were in there for 3 hours. She only asked 2 of the usual questions, "How did you meet?" and "WHat day were you married?" The rest of the time she shuffled papers and talked about them, destroying some, giving us back some (old tax papers), and correcting some. With 4 sets of papers, she seemed to find it a bit confusing. And she was training a new person.

However, although I had asked both doctors, in Canada and the civil surgeon in the US, about waivers, as well as a few times on this site, I got no answers. Well at the interview I sure did. the children were refused on the grounds of not having immunizations, and we were given waiver forms I-690 to fill out and send in, along with $265 EACH!!!! And we thought we were all through with this process.

I'm wondering if this I-690 could be added to this site in the forms section, so other people could have it ready when they go to the interview. And the waivers have to be applied for because of religious or moral conviction, NOT because one of your children had adverse reaction, or any other scientific reason. This is what I had written in my earlier requests, and it does not fly, because that is blaming them, whereas religious or moral reasons puts the onus on us. Good enough, but one has to know that.

So I received the Welcome to the US letter and my green card, but sure don't feel real welcome!!!

And the problem is????????????????

First of all, the cost of filing the 690 is $95

Secondly...you are required to have vaccanations against certain common world wide killers when you immigrant to the US. If you object to them for some religious/moral reason...then that is your business, but you ask for the exemption by way of the a 690.

So what is the problem?????????

[dmartmar 1]

If you had so many problems with the way the interview was conducted and the amounts of money you had to pay, instead of following through, agreeing and accepting everything, you should've just walked out and refused to get the GC.

Still though, you went through with everything, got the GC approved, then come here to bash the USCIS for their approval.

Incredible!

[sjoefl01 1]

I don't blame you for being angry about having to continue this process longer than you had hoped. Your anger seems a little misguided though. A panel physician in your home country, or a civil surgeon here knows nothing about waivers for immunizations. There part of this is to administer the injections. That is all they do. They are not experts on immigration law.

As far as the people here on VJ, we all answer questions based on experience. The information we have is what we have read and learned the hard way. We come here and share what we know and ask each other questions. I don't remember reading your posts about waivers but I don't think I would trust what I got from VJ on that topic because most people just take the shots. I am surprised that there even is a method to come to America without being vaccinated. I am a little confused as to why you were allowed adjustment and your children were not.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Well we had our AOS interview in Spokane April 18th. The officer called us all in at once, My husband, myself, and 3 children. And we were in there for 3 hours. She only asked 2 of the usual questions, "How did you meet?" and "WHat day were you married?" The rest of the time she shuffled papers and talked about them, destroying some, giving us back some (old tax papers), and correcting some. With 4 sets of papers, she seemed to find it a bit confusing. And she was training a new person.

However, although I had asked both doctors, in Canada and the civil surgeon in the US, about waivers, as well as a few times on this site, I got no answers. Well at the interview I sure did. the children were refused on the grounds of not having immunizations, and we were given waiver forms I-690 to fill out and send in, along with $265 EACH!!!! And we thought we were all through with this process.

I'm wondering if this I-690 could be added to this site in the forms section, so other people could have it ready when they go to the interview. And the waivers have to be applied for because of religious or moral conviction, NOT because one of your children had adverse reaction, or any other scientific reason. This is what I had written in my earlier requests, and it does not fly, because that is blaming them, whereas religious or moral reasons puts the onus on us. Good enough, but one has to know that.

So I received the Welcome to the US letter and my green card, but sure don't feel real welcome!!!

The I-690 is right on the USCIS website.

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-690.htm

[grateful 0]

The cost for filing the I-690 is $265 each. Until recently it was $195.

And yes, I asked on here several times about whether and where to find a waiver form. But I can also understand that very few on this site bring children with them, and fewer still would need waivers. I simply thought that it may come up again, and so if I say something, someone else might be helped and saved extra time. I'm sorry if it seemed that I was blasting this site, that is not the case.

It took 9 months for the USCIS to get around to sending me the AP ( my father is 94 and I have children and grandchildren in Canada), and that only with the help of the Senator (they were about to kick us out of the country because they misplaced one of our papers and wouldn't tell us what the problem was) so yes, I am frustrated. And it HAS cost a LOT of money and 4 trips to Spokane. Remember, there are 4 of us. And this is only part of the story.

An older daughter had an adverse reaction to the immunizations, that is why we chose not to have the rest done. I think most people would be careful after experiencing that. See www.thinktwice.com .

[sukie175 0]

Wow - I don't blame you at all

[sjoefl01 1]

I don't think anybody will fault you for being frustrated with all of this. It sounds like your family has had more than your share of problems.

We have a 5 hour drive to the "local" USCIS office ourselves. So far we have only had to make this trip once, but our nerves were pretty much shot. We left at 2 AM and got home at 5 PM the next day. We all had to miss work, and school so making a vacatation out of the trip was not an option. On top of that our " local" office is in New Orleans which is more or less a wasteland. If the trip would have been unsuccessful I would not have been a happy fella. I can understand your anger.

I think I can put the pieces together on your problem with injections. Your daughter probably had all of the shots at once and had some sort of bad reaction. If this happened durring the medical for the visa then she probably took the Varicella injection along with the rest. If so then she is required to have a second Varicella shot now. Since you don't know which injection it was you don't know that it wasn't the Varicella that caused the reaction. Since Varicella is for chicken pox, which is a relatively harmless sickness you probably feel that it isn't worth the risk to take another shot. That would make perfect sense. We are behind you 100%. Please keep us posted on your progress. I don't remeber a case like this on VJ.

[notrepetiteashley 0]

Oh man, that is terrible. I know what you mean, too...you only have time to put bits and pieces of the fact here and sometimes people make assumptions about you or your character or what you are saying. And what's more, some people on this site never have anything nice to say at all. Seriously, it's amazing. I have really noticed that over time...seems to be the same people.

You have the right to complain. Immigration is complicated. And my sincere congratulations to anyone who doesn't think so. But we can't all be such experts, now can we. There is so much conflicting information. So much confusion. They lose papers. It happens. This is not your fault and you have every right to complain about it.

So there.

[grateful 0]

Thanks for the support, I do appreciate that. The new paperwork went in the mail Monday, so now we wait to see what happens. The children have been left out of several things here in the US because although K-1s can get a temporary SS number, K-2s cannot. e.g. they took a hunter's training course for young people, passed with 95% and 100%, but were not issued the license. However, they have been able to take riding lessons, have good violin teachers, etc., so in many ways it has been a good year as well. Lots of new experiences, and a phone plan for $5/month unlimited to Canada has helped too.

After having lived near the US border all my life, and crossing it dozens of times without problems, just a smile and a "Have a good time!!" this just all took me by surprise.

[desert_fox 32]

The cost for filing the I-690 is $265 each. Until recently it was $195.

.

The cost for filing the 690 is $95. My wife had to file one....$95.

I just checked the website......$95

So I have no idea who is telling you $265

fill it on-line, download it from the USCIS site.....file it....$95

good luck

[dmartmar 1]

The cost for filing the I-690 is $95. My wife had to file one....$95.

I just checked the website......$95.

So, I have no idea who told you $265.

Fill it on-line, download it from the USCIS site and file it....$95.

Good luck.

Some people tend to over-exaggerate things and/or situations in order to make them bigger/worse than what they truly are.

The OP should've done her research on waiver pricing BEFORE coming here to bash the 'CIS.

Edited April 28, 2006 by dmartmar

[Yodrak 7]

grateful,

Did you discuss this concern with a Civil Surgeon to see if a 'medically inappropriate' determination was called for when filling out the Vaccination Supplement for the other children?

Yodrak

...

An older daughter had an adverse reaction to the immunizations, that is why we chose not to have the rest done. I think most people would be careful after experiencing that. See www.thinktwice.com .