AOS March 2011 Filers

[IndyThorpe 1]

I just sent AOS package yesterday via usps...now here starts the waiting game..good luck everyone

Edited March 30, 2011 by IndyThorpe

[steminem 0]

And it begins Day 1! They just received the package in Chicago and I got delivery confirmation! even got the lady's name who signed for it...lol...and now we wait! yay!

[steminem 0]

Indy...good luck with USPS...I hate their tracking system...I paid the extra $20 so I could watch it travel city by city =)....good luck though for real!

[Little_My 464]

LlamaInvasion - from what I've gathered so far, since you have submitted your AOS package before occurring any overstay, you are fine to travel. The whole "what is my status after filing AOS from F1" discussion seems very complicated, but the bottom line is that in our case we would be considered overstayed had we not filed AOS before our current I-94s expire. Since we did, no overstay accumulated. Apparently (and this information is totally thanks to JimVaPhuong being super helpful with this matter), if our AOS was denied, we would go back to being under F1 status and would start accumulating overstay right after the denial, assuming our I94s would have expired during the AOS process. This would be for example my case, since I am gratuating this May - so, if I found out in July that we were denied, I would start accumulating f1 overstay from that point and would of course have to leave the country as soon as possible.

As long as you have the AP, you are set to go.

However, both you and me might have another challenge in front of us. I am supposed to be attending my own wedding in Finland on July 30th, and you were going to travel back to Norway to give birth. If our interviews are scheduled for the time we are supposed to be abroad, this will be a very unfortunate situation. Apparently, based on information here on VJ and online, re-scheduling an AOS interview is an absolute NONO, unless it is a life-or-death situation - and, by life-or-death, they actually mean that quite literally. Apparently the only reasons that are really accepted for rescheduling are real unforeseen family emergencies (close family member lying on a hospital bed) and with military spouses, military deploiment. You can try to re-schedule if your interview was originally scheduled for a date when you are supposed to be in Norway, and you do have a legit reason I think, but apparently the problem is that in more cases than not, a "successfully re-scheduled interview" is not actually successfully reschedules, meaning that the IO assigned to your case never gets the information that an interview has been re-scheduled, even if the applicant thinks it is - and once the applicant fails to show up at the first interview, AOS is immediately denied.

So. In my case, I am hoping that my interview will not be scheduled on July 29th or August 1st - since the wedding is July 30th, those days would be beyond inconvenient. If it is earlier in July, we will just have to deal with the extra expenses of flying here for one day and do it. I am actually hoping that NYC offices would continue with their snail pace processing, and our interview would be scheduled for August. That, for me, would be ideal.

Fingers crossed our marriage and giving birth plans don't get ruined because of interview appointments.. But, if I were you, just to be on the safe side I would start looking into insurances and your options of giving birth here. I am looking into how to cancel my venue and catering without having to pay for all of it if needed.. and I hate doing it. But it is what it is.

[Myopia 93]

LlamaInvasion - from what I've gathered ........

Really great advice. Depending on where Llama is , she may be able to get prenatal done at a very reduced rate.There is another VJ member who has to financial aid at one of the hospitals in VA. When I had my son, both maternity hospitals had charities for people who were unable to pay full price and/or were not entitled to medic-aid. You can more than likely get that for your pregnancy and delivery.

Your child will be able to get medicaid regardless when you give birth, if you end up giving birth in the US.

Are you getting prenatal care now?

Edited March 30, 2011 by Myopia

[val_mc 1]

Mailed the AOS!

Your item was delivered at 2:07 pm on March 29, 2011 in CHICAGO, IL 60680 to INS 805887 . The item was signed for by R MERCADO.

[dido121 0]

i got my biometric letter today scheduled for 4/22/2011 in Oakland, CA... i hope i can also do early walk-in

[pathway2gc 0]

Good luck to all of us! I sent mine on 3/8, they received it on 3/10, still haven't heard anything. I mentioned on a previous thread that some of my forms doesn't have barcodes on it. Let's wait and see.

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Really great advice. Depending on where Llama is , she may be able to get prenatal done at a very reduced rate.There is another VJ member who has to financial aid at one of the hospitals in VA. When I had my son, both maternity hospitals had charities for people who were unable to pay full price and/or were not entitled to medic-aid. You can more than likely get that for your pregnancy and delivery.

Your child will be able to get medicaid regardless when you give birth, if you end up giving birth in the US.

Are you getting prenatal care now?

Right now I'm covered under the free healthcare from Norway, but due to various rules and regulations that's only valid during the school semesters, as long as I stay in school and as long as I have loans from the Norwegian financial aid system, Lånekassen. I will not be covered this summer, but have nice family members who can help me with prenatal care costs until I go home. However, my due date is right before the fall semester, and even if I'm so late (and the doctors will let me go that far overdue - I'm a tiny person, so the doctors are very concerned about the baby growing too big) that school's started again, Lånekassen is notorious for not giving out financial aid until after the semester's allready started. So unless I manage a 15 credit course load, give birth after school starts AND have my financial aid in, I won't be covered for anything.

There's no other financial support available to me in my area (there's a Medical Assistance Program, but that's only available to citizens and legal permanent residents), and family and friends can't afford (understandably) to fork out the several thousands of dollars giving birth would be. Getting insurance at this point, since I'm already pregnant, is only possible under a group plan, so my husband would need to find a job with benefits. Our town has a population of about 1000 people, we're stuck here until we graduate, and he's been trying to find work for the last year and a half (McDonald's turned him down like four times) - and recently, the biggest employer in town shut down, so the job market here is impossible. We've looked into other, cheaper labor options like midwives, home births, etc, but we're in a rental apartment and my landlord won't let us, and even then it's a few thousand dollars. Not to mention, if something goes wrong... Going home for the birth is a necessity.

I'm basically trying to do two things: Make sure that my husband gets to see his child right from the start (neither of us want me to be a single mom until the kid's six months to a year old), and to avoid the cost of giving birth in the US. Best case scenario, I get an interview in time to go home to give birth, come home, and both me and my husband finish our last year of college (we're both taking as many online classes as possible for the fall semester). Worst case scenario, I abandon AOS, go home to give birth, drag husband with me, and we'd both have to drop out of our senior year of college to stay in Norway while the CR-1 application is processed.

If worse comes to worst and I have to abandon my AOS, will abandoning it and immediately submitting a CR-1 application look bad? Will an abandoned AOS application negatively affect the CR-1 application?

Edited March 31, 2011 by LlamaInvasion

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Also, I'm fairly certain my child will be eligible for Medicaid even if she or he is born in Norway, since the kid will be a US Citizen?

[Myopia 93]

Of course, your child will be entitled to medicaid as soon as she is in the real world, so medicaid would cover the postnatal tests etc that run into thousands.

I see your problem. What a situation! I dont think an abandoned AOS will affect a Cr1 but I really hope it doesn't come to that for you. It's a shame that there is no way to speed up the application generally speaking. Have you tried calling your congressman to see if he has any ideas? I would do that. You never know. Seems like you are trying to do the responsible thing so there may be a way to get this speeded up.

[Little_My 464]

You can try to re-schedule your interview if it is initially scheduled for the period when you are supposed to be in Norway. And, in the end, if you are 100% set on going to Norway to give birth (which I do understand), then even if you tried to re-schedule, they gave you a new date, the IO would not be informed and would consider you a no-show for the original interview date and denied your AOS, it would have the same end result as you just leaving the US and abandoning the AOS out of "free will", so to speak - so in this case you definitely have nothing to lose by trying to get a new interview date and taking your chances with that. Best case scenario, you get a new date later, and can do the interview after returning from Norway with the new family member, and worst case scenario you can't reschedule and abandon your AOS or the re-scheduling doesn't reach the IO and your application will be denied. Same end result, nothing really lost.

It is a very complicated situation Let's hope you either have your interview in July or after you come back! I definitely can see why you want to go to Norway to give birth. I think the state of this country's maternal care is absolutely abysmal and a total disgrace - but that's my personal opinion, and unfortunately I don't see the situation here changing anytime soon. No one should have to fear going bankrupt because of giving birth to a child - insurance or no insurance. Not in a country as developed and rich as this. I love many things about this country, but this particular issue does make me value my home country's social security and health care system even more than before - and makes me miss it too.

Hope everything works out for you (and me! and all of us!), and let's keep each other posted on progress and hope things move along without any problems.

[LlamaInvasion 76]

I'm not sure the congressman could do anything about this; I hear they only expedite these sort of things for very, VERY specific reasons (avoiding birthing costs not being one of them). XD

Honestly, it wouldn't be near as bad if we could finish our degrees online (or elsewhere), because there are other places where job oppertunities for my husband are far better, but until we graduate we're chained to this #######-hole of a town. Oh, well. We'll just hope for the best and if not, we'll make the best out of it anyway. I'm mostly just worried that either our educations will get nixed, or my husband won't get to see his child, or that I'll somehow incur a ban on myself or make the immigration process more difficult if we have to go the CR-1 route.

[icaruslol 1]

package arrived to Chicago but not delivered yet. I'm waiting patiently haha

[Scribble 1]

We have sent our package on March 11th and it got to Chicago on March 14 and we still didn get a NOA. Shoul I be worried, should I call them? I dont even know the number or anything. I'm pretty much freaking out right now.

Please HELP!